Amazon = Customs charges!!! ...Post your deliveries here.
11-10-00, 02:13 AM
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I thought that with the current spate of charges we are incurring on our Amazon orders, it might be a good idea to post all deliveries here, whether charged or not, so that we can all get an idea just how big a problem this is. It will also give us a general idea of how much we can get away with, how much we could expect to be charged if 'caught' and whether DHL/UPS are being consistent.
I received replacement number 1 for 'Dusk till Dawn' last week from DHL, no charges at all. This week, replacement number 2 arrives from UPS, £8.84 !! ...well I'm not paying that so they can just send it back.
I am STILL waiting on 'Toy Story UTB' shipped on 17th October, you'd think that customs would notify you that they have it, Christ, they charge you enough!!
Anyway, before I go off on one, I hope that you will respond to this post as it will benefit us all in the long run, we might even have to start ordering discs individually, or even buy region 2 (god forbid).
To start with then:
4 discs, value(inc p+p)=$87.34, shipped 24/10/00, received 2/11/00, charges=NIL
I received replacement number 1 for 'Dusk till Dawn' last week from DHL, no charges at all. This week, replacement number 2 arrives from UPS, £8.84 !! ...well I'm not paying that so they can just send it back.
I am STILL waiting on 'Toy Story UTB' shipped on 17th October, you'd think that customs would notify you that they have it, Christ, they charge you enough!!
Anyway, before I go off on one, I hope that you will respond to this post as it will benefit us all in the long run, we might even have to start ordering discs individually, or even buy region 2 (god forbid).
To start with then:
4 discs, value(inc p+p)=$87.34, shipped 24/10/00, received 2/11/00, charges=NIL
11-10-00, 04:03 AM
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Well I have had one order back in the last week, Amazon decided to put it in a box big enough to hold 100 DVD's (despite the fact there were only two in there!) and got stung by customs...
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Welshlad
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Welshlad
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11-10-00, 03:43 PM
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nomaan, anyone who is 'International' can post as I'm sure it has relevance for each country (obviously it has no relevance whatsoever for US citizens, so I'm not being anti-American here).
13, as far as I know DHL and UPS are both used for express shipping. All my 'standard' shippings, so far, have come by regular mail.
13, as far as I know DHL and UPS are both used for express shipping. All my 'standard' shippings, so far, have come by regular mail.
11-10-00, 04:29 PM
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DHL is used for express shipping to canada (so you pay big bucks to amazon and big bucks to DHL)..
I always use standard shipping (its 9 bucks anyway!) and the last three orders i've received (i usually get on a week) have all been UPS and no duty.. Actually all 37 of my orders have been UPS except the one express where i was charged 30 someodd dollars by DHL, but that was a work thing and they paid it..
>Terry
I always use standard shipping (its 9 bucks anyway!) and the last three orders i've received (i usually get on a week) have all been UPS and no duty.. Actually all 37 of my orders have been UPS except the one express where i was charged 30 someodd dollars by DHL, but that was a work thing and they paid it..
>Terry
11-10-00, 06:47 PM
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I thought express shipping was always likely to get charged so I've always stuck to standard.
Has anyone had an order standard shipped to the UK customed?
Has anyone had an order standard shipped to the UK customed?
11-11-00, 03:27 AM
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quote:<HR>Originally posted by 13:
I thought express shipping was always likely to get charged so I've always stuck to standard.
Has anyone had an order standard shipped to the UK customed?<HR>
My order was standard shipping
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11-11-00, 09:07 AM
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I just received 'Toy Story UTB' finally, customs had it! (...and this was only standard shipping)
The details:
3 disc boxset, value(inc p+p)=$50.94, shipped 17/10/00, received 11/11/00, charges=£8.49
...I'm sweating over next week's order of 'Anna and the King, Perfect Storm, MI-2 and Fantasia Anthology', it's going to cost me a fortune!!!
The details:
3 disc boxset, value(inc p+p)=$50.94, shipped 17/10/00, received 11/11/00, charges=£8.49
...I'm sweating over next week's order of 'Anna and the King, Perfect Storm, MI-2 and Fantasia Anthology', it's going to cost me a fortune!!!
11-12-00, 06:51 AM
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The customs must really be on the ball at the moment I received 2 used DVDs on Wednesday from djangos with £5.66 of custom charges they were sent DHL then on Friday the same thing happened again £7.72 in charges they are really taking the piss but what I cant understand is I thought used DVDs had 0.00 value.
11-12-00, 08:18 AM
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MOZZ, what were the value of your packages and did they have the blue "Port Payes" sticker on them?
Boys and Girls, it’s only going to get worse in the run-up to Xmas as customs brings on extra staff to ensure Santa doesn’t sneak any packages into the country without ensuring that the government gets it’s pound of flesh. An example: Friday I received a package from A&B sound which when I ordered it was just under the £18 limit. Currency fluctuations between the time of ordering and it arriving meant the package had increased by £0.70 in value pushing it 50p over the limit for which I had to pay an additional £4.49! What kind of twisted country is it that allows you to import £18 worth of goods but then taxes you on the entire amount if you are a penny over that?
[This message has been edited by jonathan.e (edited November 12, 2000).]
Boys and Girls, it’s only going to get worse in the run-up to Xmas as customs brings on extra staff to ensure Santa doesn’t sneak any packages into the country without ensuring that the government gets it’s pound of flesh. An example: Friday I received a package from A&B sound which when I ordered it was just under the £18 limit. Currency fluctuations between the time of ordering and it arriving meant the package had increased by £0.70 in value pushing it 50p over the limit for which I had to pay an additional £4.49! What kind of twisted country is it that allows you to import £18 worth of goods but then taxes you on the entire amount if you are a penny over that?
[This message has been edited by jonathan.e (edited November 12, 2000).]
11-12-00, 07:10 PM
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My last order from Amazon to Canada shipped using DHL worldmail. I don't get this. I thought they only used Purolator for ground shipping. I didn't use express shipping, and when I called up an Amazon CSR, she said that Amazon is moving away from using Purolator to DHL 'cuz apparently DHL provides tracking services. I immediately pointed to her my entire order history all of them Purolator and WITH tracking #'s. Then I could feel that she was kind of pissed off 'cuz I corrected her mistake, and she wouldn't give me any more info about the switching over to DHL thing. Has anyone heard anything else about this? On a side note, my last order shipped half DHL worldmail and half Purolator. The Purolator packages have tracking #'s, and one of them already arrived, the second one will arrive on tuesday. Meanwhile, I don't know what the heck is going on with the DHL packages since they have no tracking #'s and have not yet received them even though they shipped 2 whole days before the Purolator ones. I mean it doesn't take more than 2 days delay even if it did ship from the other side of the country...... Once again, Amazon fails to pull through. They had it right with Purolator but they just had to go and screw it up.
11-12-00, 07:37 PM
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My first order that came was for $30 it wasn't the usual blue port paye it was a white label saying Zurich then my second order was for $42 which had another white label saying port paye frankfurt allemagne and don't you just love how Mr posty sticks that post office clearance charge on top for doing absolutely f*** all
11-13-00, 10:11 AM
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Canadians should always request that orders be shipped by Purolator to avoid border charges. DHL will almost always charge you (and not at the time of delivery -- you get the bill in the mail a month or two later). From my experience, Amazon delivers replacement orders by DHL and regular orders by Purolator. There reasoning is that DHL is quicker -- which it is, but only by a day or two at best.
11-13-00, 10:57 AM
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den291, good luck!
I've chickened out and cancelled my $100+ order for next week(Gladiator etc.). I've decided that, for the moment at least, I am only going to order single items which will minimize my customs charges. Of course, this won't help me at all with 'X-Files - season 2'!!
...I'll try and compensate for the extra shipping costs by using $5 referrals.
I've chickened out and cancelled my $100+ order for next week(Gladiator etc.). I've decided that, for the moment at least, I am only going to order single items which will minimize my customs charges. Of course, this won't help me at all with 'X-Files - season 2'!!
...I'll try and compensate for the extra shipping costs by using $5 referrals.
11-13-00, 05:31 PM
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I always order 2, sometimes 3 DVD's at once. Almost never 1, because the shipping is way too high then, but not more than 3, because customs is almost sure to get their hands on it.
I'm in Holland, and customs seem to be pretty arbitrary about charging foreign packages: I once had an order of about $80 and it came through no prob, where another one of $30 got caught.
It pisses me off each time it happens, because it's like a fine: you don't get anything in return for your money.
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I'm in Holland, and customs seem to be pretty arbitrary about charging foreign packages: I once had an order of about $80 and it came through no prob, where another one of $30 got caught.
It pisses me off each time it happens, because it's like a fine: you don't get anything in return for your money.
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Born free ... taxed to death
11-13-00, 07:24 PM
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I don't know if this is going to piss people off, or if I have just been lucky, BUT, here in Ireland, I have NEVER (YET) been charged on any of my DVD deleiveries.
I originally used Reel, then Express and lately Play247 and Future Entertainment. I don't know if I have been lucky OR that Irish Customs is not as particular or vigilant in checking packages or their (value) contents -- some of my orders have been over $100.00 -- but I'm not complaining.
I've had packages from DHL, UPS, USPS, Royal Mail, etc. and no problems. Maybe some of the countries that the posters here live in just like to screw people more.
Cykedout
PS. jonathan.e
Governments are not the only ones who do this. Just think, that with all the DVD buying we do (especially online), using the "dreaded plastic", the credit card companies do the same thing when you don't mangage to pay back ALL you have spent on building your movie collection, within the set period. To our cost!
I originally used Reel, then Express and lately Play247 and Future Entertainment. I don't know if I have been lucky OR that Irish Customs is not as particular or vigilant in checking packages or their (value) contents -- some of my orders have been over $100.00 -- but I'm not complaining.
I've had packages from DHL, UPS, USPS, Royal Mail, etc. and no problems. Maybe some of the countries that the posters here live in just like to screw people more.
Cykedout
PS. jonathan.e
quote:<HR>What kind of twisted country is it that allows you to import £18 worth of goods but then taxes you on the entire amount if you are a penny over that?<HR>
Governments are not the only ones who do this. Just think, that with all the DVD buying we do (especially online), using the "dreaded plastic", the credit card companies do the same thing when you don't mangage to pay back ALL you have spent on building your movie collection, within the set period. To our cost!
11-13-00, 09:22 PM
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If we get custom charges from Amazon to ship to Canada, im going to send all my packages back... I mean we already pay around 8-10$ per package for regular shipping so with customs, the dvd costs like 15-20$ more... yuk.
11-14-00, 04:54 AM
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I had to pay customs on my latest dvd shipment only to open the package and find that Amazon had f**ked up and sent me two *books* I didn't order! Can I claim the customs back? Will Amazon refund me the customs?
11-16-00, 10:50 AM
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My brother inlaw received his first order today from Amazon and was charged £15 for a $97 order, he lives in Ilford (East London)I hope I have better luck with my 2 orders of $135 and $138.