I think Canada Customs destroyed my Vino

[PJ the Comic]

Its the only thing I can figure.


I sent of the second of my three vinos to a brother across the border. I packaged this up with great care, same as I sent the first one off. I used Styrofoam on all four upper and lower corners cut to fit precisely. Bubble wrap, taped the humidity beads in a freezer bag inside the tray and taped them to the side walls so nothing would sloosh around. I taped the doors to the body to assure the door would stay closed for the trip. I used a hanging clothing box cut down to fit and used the metal rack you would hang clothes from to reinforce the top off the box. In other word I went to great lengths to insure its safe arrival. The first box shipped from Las Vegas to Connecticut and arrived perfectly, with comments from that brother on how good a pack job I did. At this point I figured the packaging method was sound and proceeded to prepare this second unit.

Someone opened this box, ripped the door off the vino, removed all the beads, and busted all the plastic off the bottom. It arrived with the exterior box in good shape but the vino loosely packed with out the upper styrofoam. The damage could not have been caused with out removing the unit from the box. The door could not have been opened with out removing the unit from the packing. The two 1-gallon freezer bags that were holding the beads were inside the unit but no beads.

This really sucks for the botl who bought this. What recourse does he have against customs? Can they simply open and destroy a lawful package that was properly declared? The box itself arrived without damage so I don't even think UPS will be responsible because the box didn't appear to be mishandled.

I am very disappointed in this outcome and hope someone has some brilliant Ideas.


Help???


PJ

 

[thinde]

If the second unit was packed anywhere near as good as the first one and the cardboard box was not damage, there is no way in hell the unit got damged without someone fugging with it. :angry:

 

[Shamrocker]

Canada Border Services Agency

No toll free number outside of Canada unfortunately.
Service in English:
204-983-3500
506-636-5064


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Or you can also contact the Minister of Public Safety (or their office). LINKY

edit for formatting

 

[Mr Peat]

Good luck with getting this corrected. I had a package that went through Customs. The box had been crushed by them. They then opened up the box and inspected the contents and sent the box OPEN. Yes, it was delivered to me open. Anyone that handled the box could have taken the contents out and no one would have got caught. Thanks to the US Customs. But I was lucky in the fact all the contents was still in the box when I received it. What pissed me off was the fact Customs didn't reseal the box. I had no problem with them going through it but to not reseal it was BS. So I say again...good luck with getting this corrected.

 

[PJ the Comic]

If the second unit was packed anywhere near as good as the first one and the cardboard box was not damage, there is no way in hell the unit got damged without someone fugging with it. :angry:

Tom I packed it exactly the same. I appreciate you chiming in here because I felt as though I took extreme precautions against damage with my packing.

The fuggun door was ripped off the hinges! This would be impossible to do without removing it from the box. At that point was opening the door really harder than ripping the damn thing off the hinges?

PJ

 

[Rural Guy]

I'm sure someone will know this better than I as I've only had a bit of involvement with UPS, mainly for bike parts.

I believe UPS works as it's own customs brokerage. And will charge the person receiving the package extra for that. Basically my understanding is that UPS ensures it clears customs and does that work for you. They drop it off at customs and pick it up once it is cleared. I would believe that since that is the case and they are accepting the package from Customs they'd be responsible for accepting it and the damage that happened. Now, I can't imagine a lawyer with UPS letting that liability not be covered by some fine print but it might be worth exploring.

Hopefully someone with some first hand experience can help.

Best of luck,

Mike

 

[Cooolish]

As I said in my emails and phone call.. It will be a useless chase.

I don't have the time or nerve for it.

BTW guys am the guy on the other end

I'm sure someone will know this better than I as I've only had a bit of involvement with UPS, mainly for bike parts.

I believe UPS works as it's own customs brokerage. And will charge the person receiving the package extra for that. Basically my understanding is that UPS ensures it clears customs and does that work for you. They drop it off at customs and pick it up once it is cleared. I would believe that since that is the case and they are accepting the package from Customs they'd be responsible for accepting it and the damage that happened. Now, I can't imagine a lawyer with UPS letting that liability not be covered by some fine print but it might be worth exploring.

Hopefully someone with some first hand experience can help.

Best of luck,

Mike

Totally agree with you..

Called UPS and ..

Useless phone call

Anyway if anyone looking for replacement parts for vinotemp LMK

 

[jnknzz]

Pics?

 

[JHolmes763]

Yeah, hopefully you took a lot of pics. Sorry to hear about this, too. Hope there's some resolution.

 

[thechenman]

Damn...sorry to hear about this. Good luck to you in trying to resolve this issue.

 

[2K6TBSS]

Sorry to hear about the bad shipping experience. Hope all gets worked out.

 

[PJ the Comic]

Well Amar,
You were right. I did call and file a claim. Ups wants to pick up the package with the original packing. They will look it over and render a decision in a few days. Not a good resolution but you may be able to get a couple bucks back on the deal.

I would hold onto the cedar shelves and drawers as well as the fans and maybe get a little something back.

I am putting another package in the mail with the Hygrometer I forgot and will get that out tomorrow.

Crappy deal all around, I am disappointed it went this way. You certainly didn't deserve it.

I always wondered what the big deal about shipping to Canada, and why some of the brothers here were not willing to do so. I wonder if this is why some are reluctant to help you northern BOTL's out?

PJ

 

[Rural Guy]

Well Amar,
You were right. I did call and file a claim. Ups wants to pick up the package with the original packing. They will look it over and render a decision in a few days. Not a good resolution but you may be able to get a couple bucks back on the deal.

I would hold onto the cedar shelves and drawers as well as the fans and maybe get a little something back.

I am putting another package in the mail with the Hygrometer I forgot and will get that out tomorrow.

Crappy deal all around, I am disappointed it went this way. You certainly didn't deserve it.

I always wondered what the big deal about shipping to Canada, and why some of the brothers here were not willing to do so. I wonder if this is why some are reluctant to help you northern BOTL's out?

PJ

I've had many many packages come across without incident. I can't speak for big packages such as vinos as generally the shipping offsets any savings so I don't bother. Plus it's usually cheaper just to take a day and cross the boarder and bring something back if it is that good a deal.

I've heard very little and had no problem myself with small and medium size shipping from the US.

 

[Cooolish]

Well Amar,
You were right. I did call and file a claim. Ups wants to pick up the package with the original packing. They will look it over and render a decision in a few days. Not a good resolution but you may be able to get a couple bucks back on the deal.

I would hold onto the cedar shelves and drawers as well as the fans and maybe get a little something back.

I am putting another package in the mail with the Hygrometer I forgot and will get that out tomorrow.

Crappy deal all around, I am disappointed it went this way. You certainly didn't deserve it.

I always wondered what the big deal about shipping to Canada, and why some of the brothers here were not willing to do so. I wonder if this is why some are reluctant to help you northern BOTL's out?

PJ

I had many many stuff shipped from all over the world...

Never had any issues ...

This is the first.

 

[TonyG]

Wondering .... won't the UPS method cause you to incur customs, exicise, Harmonized Sals Tax and brokerage fees? I once bought a box of cigars that was shipped UPS and by the time the bill arrived it made the whole exercise cost prohibive.

 

[StatHaldol]

I'm sorry to hear about your experience. I had a similar experience last summer, but I'm not sure if it was Fedex or Canadian Customs. My wife and I shipped $2000 worth of ham radio equipment from Louisiana to Halifax. We picked it up in Halifax to use it while we were in Nova Scotia (Cheticamp) for 10 days. It arrived in Halifax in good shape.

We packed it up at Fedex in Halifax and shipped it back to Louisiana. Fedex did all the paper work. A couple of days after our flight arrived at home I had a phone call from Canadian Customs. A nice gentleman asked me if I wanted the contents of the package destroyed!!

I told him I would appreciate it if I could get my radio and tuner back in good shape. He was really helpful and said it was Fedex's mistake. The next day, I got a call from Fedex. They told me my equipment had been destroyed by Customs and it was a custom's mistake.

To make a long story short, the equipment had not been destroyed as indicated by Fedex and I got it back, but it wasn't packed as carefully as we originally packed it. There was almost no padding. It was returned in working order.

In custom's defense, I know any type of unusual looking electronic equipment will get a lot of scrutiny (as it should).