Jim,
I've had a couple of bad experiences with UPS shipping to me in Calgary
as well. On the one occasion I refused to pay any of their brokerage
fees as they came to more the the package was worth in the first place
in the end they relented after about 10 phone calls to St. John's and
released my Harbor Freight sand blast cabinet to me with just a GST
charge. On another occasion I was the winning bidder for a Monza exhaust
on E-Bay the winning bid was $20.00US the shipper put the original
retail value for the item on the UPS shipping label so I ended up paying
a brokerage fee and GST on a $229.00US exhaust that was really only a
$20.00US exhaust.
On all TR items you have shipped to you in Canada have the shipper
write PARTS FOR CAR OVER 25 YEARS OLD on the customs form and state
TARIFF CODE 2441 that way you aren't charged duty but you still pay GST
and in your case PST.
In my experience the Postal service is usually faster than UPS ground
and you only pay a flat $5.00CAD brokerage fee if you go to UPS's web
site you can download their table of charges for brokerage fees it is
based on a % of the item value the lower the value the higher the %. In
my business I ship Fedex or Postal service for all my cross border
packages UPS Canada are criminal in their charges and the fact that they
aren't up front with them. One other thing you can have the shipper
check the box that allows you to broker the package yourself it's a bit
of a hassle in that when the package arrives at the depot you go pick up
the paper work then take it to Canada Customs pay the charges for GST,
etc. they stamp the documents and then UPS can release your package to
you with no brokerage fee.
Doug Hamilton
1960 Triumph TR3
1963 Fiat Cabriolet
>Date: Fri, 18 Oct 2002 12:49:07 -0400
>From: jim wallace <wallaces@superaje.com>
>Subject: UPS warning!!
>
>Why I hope you will all avoid UPS, by Jim Wallace:
>(This applies primarily to goods crossing the border into Canada.)
>
>I have ordered many parts over the last few years from various individuals and
>parts vendors for the restoration of my TR3a, and more recently for my
>Ferguson
>TEA20. On a few occasions when they have used UPS, it cost a bit more, so I
>have generally asked people to use someone else if they can.
>Today I got a major shock that others should beware of:
>
>I agreed to buy $300 US worth of parts from a person who lived in an area that
>was only served by UPS (or the post office I guess), so we agreed he'd use UPS
>and I was prepared to pay a bit extra. He emailed me telling me that they had
>charged him $34.38, and I will be reimbursing him for that. He also mentioned
>that they had made him itemize everything in the box (a long list).
>
>Yesterday I called UPS to see what they would charge me for getting the goods
>across the border, and they told me $45 brokerage fees (a very high amount,
>for
>what you get), but it's $Cdn at least.
>Today the package was delivered, and the charge was $171. As this is a little
>different than $45, I called to get a breakdown. Here's what they told me:
>
>$33.85 GST
>$38.39 PST
>$33.93 import freight
>$ .34 fuel surcharge
>$36.95 entry preparation fee
>$ 5.50 disbursement fee
>$14.00 additional tariff lines
>$ 4.00 COD charges
>$ 3.95 GST on the brokerage fees
>$ .28 GST on the COD
>- ------
>$171.19
>
>GST = goods and services tax
>PST = provincial sales tax
>Import freight = shipping from the border to my house. (The initial $34.38 US
>was only to get the goods to the border, they tell me now.)
>Entry preparation fee = covers the "very difficult" paperwork that gets filled
>out. I will check but do believe that other couriers do not charge for this.
>Additional tariff lines = extra fee because there were so many items listed.
>COD = because the extra shipping was not paid in advance.
>
>So first I was told that it would be $34.38 US. Then I was told that it would
>be an extra $45 CDN. Then I was charged $171.19 CDN. And I still owe the
>seller
>over $55 Cdn!
>
>The biggest problem here is that I and the seller were both given bad
>information. If UPS had been up front about all these charges we could have
>decided to do something else, like use the post office, but they weren't. And
>after my conversation with a very friendly and reasonable agent at UPS, I now
>know that they will do absolutely nothing about it.
>So beware! Things are not what they seem!
>Thanks for your time, had to get it off my chest,
>Jim
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