canada customs sucks.......

[danwelsh]

So.....I'm kinda gagged at canadian customs. Why would they hold resistors, caps, pots and wire for 3 days???.....I ordered my parts for my tube amp build and the rectifier tube separately.  The tube was ordered the day after the parts and I received that Friday but the components stayed at the border for 3 extra days......I don't get it?

[GermanCdn]

All depends who gets the package.  I've had guitars sail through customs in a day, I've had guitars sit it customs for three weeks.  They don't have set rules.  I used to think they were slackers, but then my wife made me watch a marathon of Border Security and there are a lot of unscrupulous individuals out there trying to import things into the country.  I just take it as the cost of doing business these days.

[kothoma]

"Looks like wires on the x-ray? Uh-oh. I'll have my colleagues open that one."

[juansolo]

So.....I'm kinda gagged at canadian customs. Why would they hold resistors, caps, pots and wire for 3 days???.....I ordered my parts for my tube amp build and the rectifier tube separately.  The tube was ordered the day after the parts and I received that Friday but the components stayed at the border for 3 extra days......I don't get it?

3 days! LOL, you don't know how good you've got it. A month or more is quite common for UK customs. Then they charge you for the pleasure, and don't even deliver the bastard. You've got to go an pick it up from you local sorting office to pay the fee.

...and that can be on anything over the value of £15 INCLUDING delivery. What's more amusing is if you go over that £15 by a couple of pounds say. You get taxed on the £17, not the £2 it went over, and they stitch you up for £8 handling fee.

Anyone would think that the UK gov doesn't want you buying anything from outside the EU...

Makes getting parts from the US completely pot luck for us as to whether we get them in a couple of weeks or over a month. Had a record recently where a delivery from Canada, which normally takes about a week if customs aren't involved, took two months.

[GermanCdn]

Yeah, definitely with JS with regards to it being a lot worse in the EU.  When I was living in Germany, ordering stuff from the US routinely took 6 weeks with customs, then you'd get hit with 20% VAT on both the goods and the shipping costs (even though 90% of the shipping was done out of country).  And I had to go to the customs office, not the post office, to pick it up.  Huge PITA, sadly was still cheaper than buying domestically however.

[Cortexturizer]

So.....I'm kinda gagged at canadian customs. Why would they hold resistors, caps, pots and wire for 3 days???.....I ordered my parts for my tube amp build and the rectifier tube separately.  The tube was ordered the day after the parts and I received that Friday but the components stayed at the border for 3 extra days......I don't get it?

3 days! LOL, you don't know how good you've got it. A month or more is quite common for UK customs. Then they charge you for the pleasure, and don't even deliver the bastard. You've got to go an pick it up from you local sorting office to pay the fee.

...and that can be on anything over the value of £15 INCLUDING delivery. What's more amusing is if you go over that £15 by a couple of pounds say. You get taxed on the £17, not the £2 it went over, and they stitch you up for £8 handling fee.

Anyone would think that the UK gov doesn't want you buying anything from outside the EU...

Makes getting parts from the US completely pot luck for us as to whether we get them in a couple of weeks or over a month. Had a record recently where a delivery from Canada, which normally takes about a week if customs aren't involved, took two months.

This is exactly what I'm experiencing in Serbia as well. Makes for a sour taste in the mouth once I get the parts definitely. Bummer.

[stevie1556]

3 days! LOL, you don't know how good you've got it. A month or more is quite common for UK customs. Then they charge you for the pleasure, and don't even deliver the bastard. You've got to go an pick it up from you local sorting office to pay the fee.

...and that can be on anything over the value of £15 INCLUDING delivery. What's more amusing is if you go over that £15 by a couple of pounds say. You get taxed on the £17, not the £2 it went over, and they stitch you up for £8 handling fee.

Anyone would think that the UK gov doesn't want you buying anything from outside the EU...

Makes getting parts from the US completely pot luck for us as to whether we get them in a couple of weeks or over a month. Had a record recently where a delivery from Canada, which normally takes about a week if customs aren't involved, took two months.

I fell your pain! I ordered a guitar neck from the states for an Ibanez I'm building up (unfortunately the only place I could find with a 24 fret S series neck after 8 months of seaching), and had to wait just over 3 weeks as it was stuck at customs, the customs charge was stupidly high, a £14 charge for the privilege of them charging me the customs fee, and £3.99 for the delivery fee!!!!!!

I only order small shipments from Tayda at a time now as they generally don't get caught in the jiffy bags (the boxes always get caught) and a lot of the SMD transistors, diodes, etc generally come from China in batches of 100 at a time, and don't get caught. 

[davent]

Strictly anecdotal but it seemed that StewMac orders in their fancy standout packaging would always get pulled aside and incur extra charges where plain Jane brown boxes always sailed through unnoticed including a couple guitars.
dave

[muddyfox]

yeah, you have it sweet. i'll just cut a very long and painful story short and say I never order anything more expensive than 30ish euro and over half a kilo in weight. my experiences with local men in white rubber gloves have gone way down since...
to recap, count your blessings!

[alanp]

Between Customs, and shipping taking bloody AGES, I don't know whether to laugh, LOUDLY, or buy a plane ticket and punch someone in the nose whenever someone from a certain large country bleats about something taking a whole WEEK to get to him (poor baby.)

[GermanCdn]

Strictly anecdotal but it seemed that StewMac orders in their fancy standout packaging would always get pulled aside and incur extra charges where plain Jane brown boxes always sailed through unnoticed including a couple guitars.
dave

And to prove it's completely random, I've never had any customs issues with StewMac shipments.

I'm fairly certain it's more to do with who's working the desk (and possibly the port of entry, typically stuff coming through Vancouver is cleared quicker than Toronto) the day your package comes through, especially from the States.

[kothoma]

yeah, you have it sweet. i'll just cut a very long and painful story short and say I never order anything more expensive than 30ish euro and over half a kilo in weight. my experiences with local men in white rubber gloves have gone way down since...
to recap, count your blessings!

I try to keep it below €22 for Germany. But even then once the declaration on the parcel was somewhat cryptic ("gift") and I had to drive 21km (13 miles) to the customs office and have all documents regarding order and payment handy to prove it.

But usually it is better to have several small orders.

[jkokura]

Yeah, the stuff that goes through Langley and then moved through Richmond is always, always faster and less likely to be an issue than the stuff through Toronto.

Honestly though, as long as it's not UPS I'm not going to complain. UPS is the worst. I never complain about the Canada Post customs process because of my experience with UPS.

Jacob

P.s. My American brethren - NEVER USE UPS SHIPPING TO CANADA FOR ANY REASON WHATSOEVER.

[mremic01]

P.s. My American brethren - NEVER USE UPS SHIPPING TO CANADA FOR ANY REASON WHATSOEVER.

This. I bought a Klon from a Canadian fellow a few weeks ago and UPS wouldn't give it to me until I had written them a $77 cheque for a 'brokerage fee'. Apparently, they don't give you the option of doing the paperwork yourself and then charge you for doing it for you along with the customs fees. The didn't give me a receipt either. Pretty shady.

[GermanCdn]

Yeah, the stuff that goes through Langley and then moved through Richmond is always, always faster and less likely to be an issue than the stuff through Toronto.

Honestly though, as long as it's not UPS I'm not going to complain. UPS is the worst. I never complain about the Canada Post customs process because of my experience with UPS.

Jacob

P.s. My American brethren - NEVER USE UPS SHIPPING TO CANADA FOR ANY REASON WHATSOEVER.

Canada Post/USPS has gotten a lot quicker as of late (customs delays are something entirely out of their control).  I've been shipping guitars to the Eastern States that are arriving in a week and a half, which never used to happen.

UPS is thoroughly unpleasant for international shipping for private individuals.