FedEx and DHL suck

Okay, first the story about DHL

I get a call one day stating that I owe taxes and fees on an item I'm receiving. Not a problem, except that I didn't order anything that I would normally be paying tax on. I import a lot of items so I know the rules for importing and I also work at a post office.

 

I was receiving a gift for $35 which is tax exempt. DHL files the item for taxes then charges $15 in fees on top of the taxes for a total of $25.

 

That's over 50% of the value of the item on a tax exempt item. I got into an argument with the lady on the phone and she said she'd send me the form so that I can review it. I get it and it's exactly as I thought. I respond telling her that she should hold the shipment until we get this sorted out.

 

Next day, the DHL driver shows up and I tell him to leave because I'm not paying these scummy fees. He tells me that's fine and he marks it as refused payment and tells me that DHL customer service will contact me.

 

I get home late the next day (Friday night) and I see that they redelivered it while I was out and talked my family into paying them.

 

Of course their customer service is closed all weekend so I'm sitting here with a bill fuming because this company is such a POS.

 

And my experience with Fedex...

I ordered some earbuds and they arrived by fedex. Paid the normal taxes as expected THROUGH FEDEX.

That's not the bad part.

The bad part came when I had to send and receive the earbuds for repairs. I sent the earbuds back and forth twice for repairs under warranty and each time fedex filed the value for taxes then charged a processing fee on top (about $20).

 


However they didn't inform me of this ahead of time, they just deliver it to me then at about the same time I get the bills for both.

I started by ignoring it since I know it's tax exempt.

 


> 8\. Goods that are returned to Canada after being exported for repairs, equipment additions, or work done abroad may, under subsection 101(1) of the Customs Tariff, qualify for partial relief of the duties owing. Subsection 101(1) relieves the requirement to pay duties on the Canadian value of the imported goods if the goods meet the conditions of section 102 of the Customs Tariff.

> Where the goods were exported to be repaired under warranty, section 8 of Schedule VII to the Excise Tax Act provides for GST/HST relief for “goods imported after having been exported for warranty repair work.”

http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/publications/dm-md/d8/d8-2-1-eng.html

 


They sent me a letter for each invoice.

I called them and told them I'm not paying it because my item was tax exempt and they shouldn't have charged me taxes. They told me I'll need to talk to their "professional customs brokers" (so professional right? That a regular consumer can find the applicable law stating that the shipment is tax exempt in a few minutes).

 


Of course the office isn't open so I get sent to voice mail. Few days later I called back and they said "Oh yea, we got your message" (but didn't think to call back...?).

They explain to me that they can't do anything.

Wtf?

They hang up without doing anything.

 


Some time goes by without any calls or letters. I think maybe they finally cancelled the invoices. Nop, not with my luck. A letter from a **debt collection agency** shows up stating that I owe money. I call them the next business day and they tell me they can't do anything unless Fedex cancels it on their end. I'm furious and call back. Of course the useless support does nothing.

Basically tells me again that they can't do anything and that I have to call their professional customs brokers again

Talk to them again and the same thing as last time happens again.

Dang these people are scummy.

I call again a few weeks later and finally get someone from support that offers to actually do something about this *themselves* (not redirecting me or anything. I wish I kept her name).

She opened it as a case right away so that the debt collection agency backs off, confirmed with me that this will not impact my credit score and proceeds with actually helping me.

She asks for the original customs form that I had for the payment of the earbuds and a couple of other things. I scan and email all these things to her and AFAIK everything is cleared up.

Maybe if I had talked to someone competent like her right away I wouldn't have had to take **6 months** to deal with this.

Either way, I will never use these companies again.

On the other hand, the National Postal services are very clean and standard. UPS is also very good in my experience.

What are your shipping company horror stories?