FedEx Custom Charges

[vewyphishy]

Couple of questions... just got my bill from FedEx for the 2 boxes that I recently got from Promo - $55!!! opeyes:

Are you f*cking kidding me?

First off, I thought Promo used UPS. I also remember the charge being about $6 or $8 each box.

What the hell happened? If this is the norm, I aint buying shit from them anymore... even if you buy during one of their promotions, the $ you save you pay right back in custom charges.

This is some bush. :angerFU:

 

[Legends of the Playground]

They used Fedex on my purchase too. I only got charge $7+ for one box.

 

[Mikes]

that is NOT normal Mike. Send rony an email with the fedex payment form so he can look over it and correct the problem. I am sure it is just a mistake.

keep us updated

mike

 

[GuyMcBeerdrinker]

damn! that is high. I agree with mike that it isn't normal. you must have had a rookie customs agent.

I especulate that what happened is they charged you for "business" use instead of "personal" use. check the copy of the paperwork that came with your fedex invoice.

 

[vewyphishy]

Dear Michael
Hope you are doing fine my friend,
We are very glad to hear from you that you have received your Cigars in good condition
Please note that FEDEX has nothing to do with the Customs duties ( same case for UPS or DHL)
there is a new Tax called IR Tax ( Internal Revenue Tax) which it is standard for USD 20 + Variable Tax of USD 6 or USDF 7
the organization who put the taxes and not the Shipping co
As for the IR Tax , it is depends , they dont bill you for each order, they
bill you each 5 or each 10 Shipments ( depends on the person from the Customs )
For example you receive now these 2 Bills, who knows when you will receive other IR Tax, maybe after 10 shipments, maybe after 30 Shipments
and now We noticed that they are not charing the IR anymore
Best regards
Sam
Passion for Cigars

This is the reply... I don't think we're talking about the same thing. At the same time, what he's saying doesn't make any sense.

The bill I received was definitely Customs Duty... as it says exactly that as the line item.

What's going on here?

 

[Mikes]

Wow I have no idea what to say. The response is not clear and does nothing to offset the costs to you. Did you scan in the paperwork and send it to rony? I was going to order a few cabs from him but now I don't know b/c I could pay the same price (with the 50$ tariff?)_ and get intact stuff. I STILL think this is some sort of customs mixup but with the amt of money KL/promo makes they should do something for you or to fix this problem.

weird

 

[GuyMcBeerdrinker]

call fedex and ask them to look into it. sounds like you got charged for business use, they have different tariffs for that.

as someone who deals with international shipments frequently, I wouldn't peg this on promo/kl. they have no control over what a custom agent feels like charging. it isn't like they get a cut from it. I would only expect them help you clear up a customs mistakes if they charged you for business use. I always look at their paperwork and they make it very clear that these are cigars for personal use.

 

[vewyphishy]

I got about 6 sheets per transaction from FedEx directly. I can decipher it for sh*t. I can try to send a scanned copy of the copy I received, but I doubt anyone will be able to read it.

I'm not necessarily blaming KL/promo. I do want to know where the problem originated from. Was it the way they filled out the forms? Or was it FedEx doing something screwy?

Regardless of the matter, if I have to pay $25 extra per box for whatever reason, then as Mike said, there are other places I can buy from without the same hassle.

 

[GuyMcBeerdrinker]

sounds like fedex fucked up. I honestly think they charged you the business tariff. meaning, when the agent was processing the shipment he treated you like a cigar shop owner/tobacco importer/cigar manufacturer so you got billed for a greater amount.

this would be akin to ordering espn college gameplan for your house and getting billed $1,400 when you were expecting to pay $149.99 for the season. what most likely happened was that the cable/drirect tv billing department fucked up and billed you the commercial rate (the ones they use for bars, clubs, offices, etc.) instead of using the personal/home rate.

 

[vewyphishy]

that explanation makes more sense.

so wtf was sam talking about when he referred to IRS taxes and stuff?

 

[Legends of the Playground]

so wtf was sam talking about when he referred to IRS taxes and stuff?

Sounds like he was talking in a different language

 

[GuyMcBeerdrinker]

as best as I can decipher it, he must mean there is a tax that the irs might try to pin on you. but that doesn't make sense as the irs wouldn't have any jurisdiction, I'll leave that up to scott to answer.

maybe they are trying to crack down on international mail orders and The Man is looking for his cut. I heard that at the rtda the atf and louisiana comptroller showed up and where trying to collect taxes from mail-order retailers for the past 3 years.

here's what I would do:

call fedex at 1.800.go.fedex
say "international"
say "rep"

when you talk to a rep ask to be connected to a consumer advocate. explain to that person the situation and that you believe there was a mistake made. say you suspect the customs agent must have charged you for business use, instead of personal use. they shouldn't, but if they ask, say you plan on handing those cigars out with invites to your bachelor party, that's why you bought them overseas since they were cheap nicaraguans. they will give you a case number and look into it. advocates are a hell of a lot faster than reps who just keep writting tickets that seem to be unanswered. they actually do all the investigation themselves and call you back ASAP.

 

[vewyphishy]

as best as I can decipher it, he must mean there is a tax that the irs might try to pin on you. but that doesn't make sense as the irs wouldn't have any jurisdiction, I'll leave that up to scott to answer.

maybe they are trying to crack down on international mail orders and The Man is looking for his cut. I heard that at the rtda the atf and louisiana comptroller showed up and where trying to collect taxes from mail-order retailers for the past 3 years.

here's what I would do:

call fedex at 1.800.go.fedex
say "international"
say "rep"

when you talk to a rep ask to be connected to a consumer advocate. explain to that person the situation and that you believe there was a mistake made. say you suspect the customs agent must have charged you for business use, instead of personal use. they shouldn't, but if they ask, say you plan on handing those cigars out with invites to your bachelor party, that's why you bought them overseas since they were cheap nicaraguans. they will give you a case number and look into it. advocates are a hell of a lot faster than reps who just keep writting tickets that seem to be unanswered. they actually do all the investigation themselves and call you back ASAP.

Hey, these cigars could very well be handed out at my bachelor party... just aged for about a year.

Thanks for the help, Jorge. I'll give them a call and see what I kind of rocks I can kick over.

 

[Mikes]

so what did they say?

 

[vewyphishy]

I got transfered through to 3 different departments. None of them actually gave an explanation as to why the tax was as high as it was. One agent described as an excise tax that gets applied to random packages that come into the country that qualify (ie: wine, cigars, etc). When I asked how why this was $20 vs less than $10, she couldn't answer.

Let me ask you all this. When you get your FedEx Airway bill, 1) how many pages is it and 2) what line items do you have on there and what are the individual costs associated to each one?

(i'd scan these pages in, but I don't have a scanner)
I've got 6 pages per package.
1. line item for $0.35 at a rate of 1.4% ($25 declared value)
2. line item for $0.57 at a rate of $0.57 per kg (1 kg)
3. I.R. Tax 0.0457 rate totaling $20.72
4. Advancement fee $5.00

Total bill $26.64.

Tell me some of this looks familiar?

I hate FedEx now.

 

[Mikes]

i will tell ya next week. Got 3 cabs on the way and am keeping my fingers crossed.

 

[vewyphishy]

One more thing to add... I received 2 airway bills... one for each box. Both were for identical I.R. tax amounts of $20.72. Last person I spoke to recommended that I file a dispute with FedEx. I'm still deciding on that.

FYI - IR Tax = Internal Revenue Tax... whatever the hell that is. Never heard or seen it before.