Customs?
 

I think I've figured it out... the rash of defective HL tanks... Mato mailed my replacement on the 2nd and still no tank.

Customs is working with the international retailers and performing quailty control for them and "testing each tank" [as they claim is done] prior to allowing them on to their destinations in the US! Little battles in the back room... I can see it now. "Oops! I fried a board... nothing to see here... box it back up.... hmmmmm"

IT'S BEEN TEN DAYS - WHERE'S MY TANK!!! [:@]

I've got my antennae mod built and the parts for the 360 turret mod... and no tank [:o] Expedited US from Canada states 6-12 days so I guess it isn't officially late, but the initial shipment took 5-6 days.

...thanks for letting me vent. I feel better now

[tracking only show accepted on the 2nd and nothing further]

Ernie

RE: Customs?
 

as far as I'm concerned, customs shouldn't mess with techy stuff. They might be customs officials, but that doesn't mean they are compatible with fragile stuff ;)


They should just check the item is what its supposed to be, and repack it CAREFULLY. Many toy steam collectors get owned by customs when their mint in box steam engine has a load of customs brand tape slapped over it. Of course, when you remove the tape, it ruins the box, damaging its value seriously.

Of course customs officials don't think like that.

RE: Customs?
 

I don't blame you for venting...! I ordered T-34 metal gears from TankToko in the Netherlands last year..and those gears sat in the VANCOUVER(!) Customs Office for 3 whole weeks!. Now, since there was no "tank" for the Guys to play with, what were they doing with those gears?????

Customs seems to be "A Law Unto Themselves" and do what they want. By the way, my last order (which came from the US) was still "Being reviewed by Canada Customs" -- according to the tracking number,--while the Mailman was delivering it to my door!! That I won't try and explain....BTW, that package had been "sitting" in CC for a week, but had taken only three days to get from Texas into Canada [X(] !

You got a problem with this...? Talk to The Badge ... !

RE: Customs?
 

I don' think it is customs. It is Mato and the Canadian Post. I ordered a Pz IV on the 3rd. The last update on the Canadian Post website was on the 5th (Canadian Post is a joke). I got the tank today but I did not receive the metal tracks I ordered with it. I sent them an EMAIL today and hope they will respond promptly.

Almost forgot to mention, I PAID $50 FOR SHIPPING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


GIVE ME A BREAK!!!!!!!!!! [:@]

RE: Customs?
 

should have used ups me thinks for orders to the USA.

RE: Customs?
 

You might want to check the details. Canada post only tracks the package until it clears the border. Once it arrives in the US, it is all up to your customs folks and post office to get it the rest of the way. Bigmig swears by Raidentech and Banana hobby, and they are stateside so you won't have any customs issues. Give them a try.

RE: Customs?
 

I swear by raidentech as well local store there only about 80 miles from me.. i ordered a walker bulldog I got it 2 days later in perfect condition. and only paid 9 bucks shipping and 5 bucks tax.

RE: Customs?
 

Better than the $70+ I pay if I ordered from them :)

RE: Customs?
 

Yes for us outside the US the shipping kills us. Shipping is at least $35 from these places, and many US vendors simply refuse to ship to Canada. Mato gets beat up lots for their shipping cost out of Canada, but if you compare apples to apples on cross border shipping, I think you''ll find that their cross border shipping practices are better then the others that have been mentioned.

So if you think Mato is bad, at least you have the option of buying stuff. Imagine if you wanted spare boards and were willing to pay the shipping, but MATO simply said, Sorry Canadian Customers only. That is the kind of response we Canucks get from many US sites. Luckliy I have a sister in Virginia, and I always have the option of getting things via her.

I just went through the ordering process from Raidentech. Went through the shipping calculator and to get that $89.99 PZVI to me in Canada Via USPS is $75.00. So how does Mato's cross border shipping rates stack up against that?????:D

RE: Customs?
 

I am amazed that it is that bad and didn''t know it went both ways. I wonder why this is. I don''t think customs can account for all of it.

RE: Customs?
 

The longer your packages are on the road the more suspectible they are to damage or loss. I used to use Canada Post/USPS from Mato before he had UPS option. Small packages weren''t a problem, the tank sized ones took weeks, even months and were always somehow misdelivered by USPS at the end. They sat in somebodys customs warehouse for too long.

Then I urged Mato to start using UPS, it was more expensive but I wanted service! My tanks averaged 18 hours through customs now. Always delivered to my door in a timely fashion, FAST!

You get what you pay for, private industry is nearly always more efficient then government.

RE: Customs?
 

I think this customs problem is going to become old new''s here on the forum due to the fact that most of it has been because of a supply issue dealing with HL tanks with the metal gearboxes,and the electronic control boards.Now it appears this issue will be going away because these items are now going to be avaible here in our own backyard. BIGMIG ;););)

RE: Customs?
 

So you think UPS is better for cross border deliveries??

The following is all for the same item...

So far I have paid the UPS driver the duties imposed by Canada Customs...
Received an invoice for customs duties from UPS...ignored it as I paid the driver...
The shipper of the item has received an invoice from UPS for the duties...
The shipper paid the duties which he shouldn''t have but wanted UPS off his back...
I reembursed the shipper the duties, so I have paid twice now.

UPS or USPS/Canada Post???

That my friends is a no brainer...POST OFFICE all the way, at least they know what they are doing!!!

Zip

RE: Customs?
 

In my experience it works better. Our packages don''t travel in the same direction so different laws apply. I think your grievances come from Canadian tariffs, not US. We don''t pay anything additional.

RE: Customs?
 

I have ordered and recieved 2 HL tanks from MATO TOys and have never waited more than 7 days for either of them. It took the USPS longer too get them too NJ. than it took too get fromm Canada too the US.

RE: Customs?
 

It''s not actually tariffs. We do have to pay provical/federal sales tax, but then UPS smacks on a big brokerage fee (basically the fee for looking up the correct item code to avoid tariffs and filling out the paperwork). If you ship UPS standard, it can be as much as $25 on something that costs around $80!!!. UPS Express/Expedited includes the fee, so sometimes it makes more sense to pay for the faster service and either pay the same or only slightly more than the additional cost...plus no dicking around with UPS bills. Fedex does the same. This is for US -> Canada...not exactly sure if it''s the same the other way, but I''ve heard it''s "similar". That''s one of the reasons why I''m glad Mato is in Canada. Hope he doesn''t go anywhere soon. :)

Mostly it''s UPS being a bit of a ogre when it comes to charging and collecting these fees.

USPS/Canadapost both only charge a $5 brokerage fee, and of course the taxes.

D.

RE: Customs?
 

That has been my experience as well. Blitz sent me a free speaker to try out, and shipped it to me UPS. They wanted $32 from me for a box that was 6"X6"X6". I said no thanks and then sent it back. I am not sure if Blitz ever got it back again????

They then turned around and sent me an invoice for $32.00. When I phoned them, they told me to ignore the bill???? What is up with that???. You send out bills hoping someone will pay them by mistake???? If this was a legit practice another bill should have been sent to be crediting the transaction. The credit slip never did arrive. So I honestly believe this is a practice of theirs. Send out bills and hope in the busy lives of some people, the bills will get paid by mistake.

Maybe UPS works well into the US and across the US, but I absolutely refuse to deal with them.

Too many times I have been charged outlandish import brokerage fees. It literally takes a person 30 seconds to fill out a green declaration sticker and slap it on a parcel. UPS charges $25.00 for that service. I am telling anyone who will listen. If you are shipping things into Canada, stay away from UPS.

RE: Customs?
 

This is one of the benifits of the forum,you can learn from other''s and not learn everything the hard way.One of my main goals on here has always been to pass on any good deals or buys that I have ran accross for other''s to benifit from in addition to myself.Information on here is free and for all to use if they choose.I have used a lot of it myself. BIGMIG :D:D:D

RE: Customs?
 

Waiting 10 days for a tank is a b*tch...waiting 30 over days for some parts is worse.

Alas when will my parts from germany arrive :(

RE: Customs?
 

It doesn''t matter whether a parcel comes to me UPS or Fedex, if I order from the States. Both of them "nail" me with Horrific "Brokerage" in addition to Customs Charges .....If an item is sent through the Mail, I just pay $5.00 for "Canada Customs Handling Fees" plus Provincial and Federal Sales Taxes (both based on item cost converted to $CDN)

Dan is absolutely correct ....Not only is it a hassle to get inbound Items via Courier but it''s "Expensive".....!!

RE: Customs?
 

I can''t believe this thread is still running... I guess I''m not the first. I stayed away from UPS because of a bad experience as a seller on eBay sending to Canada. I sent the guy the item he bought from me and he got hit with the extra charges and I felt bad.

Day 13 update is still no tank. I called USPS today and gave them the tracking number. You''ll love this - they do not have the location, date & time information until the item is delivered. Um, what good is it then? It''ll be nice to hear them tell me that the tank has been delivered when it''s in my hand. Geeze! USPS told me to have the sender initiate an investigation with Canada Post. Again, Um, the tank was accepted in the US on the 2nd. How is Canada Post going to know the whereabouts after it has crossed into the US...

[:@][:@][:@][:@][:@][:@][:@][:@][:@][:@][:@][:@][:@] <- one per day of waiting

Planedev... I feel your pain. But, at least you expect to wait that long. The initial shipment from Mato took five days, and to make it worse, I looked up their address and could drive there is less than nine hours from where I am at in Ohio.

RE: Customs?
 

UPS is on my black list to. charged me almost 35 bucks for 4.75 GST... brokerage charges they claimed.

RE: Customs?
 

Nope, i did not expect to wait that long, there was an error in my address (no fault of mine) and the package is going back to Germany after sitting in my local post for 2 weeks, thing is I have no idea what kind of post was used to send it back to the seller, till now they have not gotten it back and I paid in full for it and still waiting.

Oh well I guess its been a really bad month for me begining with being in a car accident earlier on this month and car is still in the work shop (accident not my fault again)

I seemed to be ranting, I just hope your package arrrives soon and so does mine.

RE: Customs?
 

So far for me it''s been smooth on all my orders. No hiccup whatsoever. I''ve ordered from quite a number of countries and I have received them quite on time. In fact just ordered some stuff from Germany, Denmark and they arrived quite promptly.

RE: Customs?
 

What''s obvious from these posts is that UPS works FASTER for sending a package FROM Canada to USA and Canada Post/USPS works BETTER/LESS EXPENSIVE for sending packages TO Canada from the USA. Can everyone agree on that? :D