Strange Customs happenings

dingus

dingus

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OK well heres a intresting chain of events for other guys importing.
Two guns sent in one box from USA sits in Quebec Customs for almost a month.
(just for the record Quebec has been one of the better customs offices for me in Canada)
Tracking shows parcel released after 28 days.
Thats about the longest stay yet anywhere.
Parcel shows up at my place but theres only one gun in the box !
The Weight of the parcel lable shows there was two guns in there
the tax form filled out by customs shows Revolvers not revolver.
the box was not damaged or split open after it left customs.
 
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Had Customs opened the box at all and is it possible that the gun was stolen in the mail? I recall a fellow receiving a case of ammo from eastern Canada and the first box went missing, the second one had only 1/2 the shells and the third box with no return address and nothing on the outside but the mailing address, made it through untouched

cheers mooncoon
 
mooncoon said:
Had Customs opened the box at all and is it possible that the gun was stolen in the mail? I recall a fellow receiving a case of ammo from eastern Canada and the first box went missing, the second one had only 1/2 the shells and the third box with no return address and nothing on the outside but the mailing address, made it through untouched

cheers mooncoon
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No the Tax form says revolvers frames and reciver/ revolvers
Opened.
Customs was the only one to open the box other than me its a priorty mail MFRB which has a zip pull opening and the box only had the one cut where customs went in then taped it shut.
 
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Yes although it was with a shipment at Air Canada Cargo. Two handguns missing after a customs inspection. After a cursory investigation we were told that they were not there to begin with:rolleyes: Of course there was never any mention of an incorrect invoice or shortage from the original inspecting officers. Nobody seemed very concerned about resolving the issue.
 
Never had that happen but i did have an antique RIC sit in customs for 4 weeks once. Also had two that got grabbed by Homeland Security and held for a couple days before being released back to USPS and sent onwards to Canada. But never had one go missing.
 
jethunter said:
Never had that happen but i did have an antique RIC sit in customs for 4 weeks once. Also had two that got grabbed by Homeland Security and held for a couple days before being released back to USPS and sent onwards to Canada. But never had one go missing.
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Yes ive had long wait periods to before.
Looks like its found now and will get sorted out.
Xmass rush tons of stuff in customs right now.
Guess my Karmas still hanging in there LOL
 
Shooting Centre said:
Yes although it was with a shipment at Air Canada Cargo. Two handguns missing after a customs inspection. After a cursory investigation we were told that they were not there to begin with:rolleyes: Of course there was never any mention of an incorrect invoice or shortage from the original inspecting officers. Nobody seemed very concerned about resolving the issue.
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That sucks at least they found mine.
Im guessing yours were nice shiney new guns to.
Ive had a few small items go missing never to show up.
always small boxes tho nothing biger.
 
I think it's christmas - had something sit for 3 weeks in the states and another 4 weeks in canada customs. The box was flagged "check export compliance" for the states and has both US and Canadian customs tape on it.
 
I love a happy ending!!!!

Here is a story for you. V:I: Caused me much indigestion.

I have a buddy, a Scotsman who lives in Germany, who went on a vacation in England. He found a wooden forearm with nosecap for sale of a type that I had been looking long and hard (about ten years). He snagged it and mailed it to me here in Canada as an antique wooden carving. I was so excited when it arrived at my back door by courier obviously opened by Customs.
The courier had customs documents etc and an invoice, he needed $256 (cash or cheque):onCrack: before he would hand it over to me.

:kickInTheNuts:

I refused delivery and we ticked "Return to customs for review" box and off it went back with him.

It disappeared into limbo and after a few weeks, no expected call from Canadian Border Services. Calls to Post Office and Can Customs came up blank. Customs said it was a Post Office issue, Post Office said it was CBS issue. Six weeks later after calling CBS once a week, nothing. It had just disappeared. Sadly, I had no tracking number for the return to Customs. Nobody could help me, or were interested.
H:S:

So I talked to my Post Mistress at my small local post office and she went to an old school hand written log book that was kept up to date by her letter carriers. They write in the log and peel a bar code sticker off return packages and stick it in there. She found a ref number and went on line, poked around for a while. She found that it had been tagged 'undeliverable' and 'return to sender'. Problem was the sender had now finished his vacation, was long gone and was back in Germany, the package was on its way, somewhere between Canada and England (again, no tracking).
TWK

Oh ya, forgot to tell you. This was a forearm for a rare 1896 Martini Enfield Mk.I cavalry carbine, nice shape with minty nosecap. Not easy to find one, never mind another. So close (my back door step) yet so far. I would lie awake at night pissed off.

Then one morning, I got an email, it had showed up back in Old Blighty. Buddy did a quick trip before Christmas, recovered the package, sent it on to my father in northern England who repackaged it and sent it on to me with Christmas stickers on it and marked it as a 'gift'.

The thing was back at my back door again last week, unopened, no duty or takes payable. Woohooo!:dancingbanana:

I love a happy ending ;)
 
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Canada Post site is telling me from 6 to 30 business days after it is received by customs. Pay the duty & fare thee well taxman & I'll be on my way...
 
englishman_ca said:
Here is a story for you. V:I: Caused me much indigestion.

I have a buddy, a Scotsman who lives in Germany, who went on a vacation in England. He found a wooden forearm with nosecap for sale of a type that I had been looking long and hard (about ten years). He snagged it and mailed it to me here in Canada as an antique wooden carving. I was so excited when it arrived at my back door by courier obviously opened by Customs.
The courier had customs documents etc and an invoice, he needed $256 (cash or cheque):onCrack: before he would hand it over to me.

:kickInTheNuts:

I refused delivery and we ticked "Return to customs for review" box and off it went back with him.

It disappeared into limbo and after a few weeks, no expected call from Canadian Border Services. Calls to Post Office and Can Customs came up blank. Customs said it was a Post Office issue, Post Office said it was CBS issue. Six weeks later after calling CBS once a week, nothing. It had just disappeared. Sadly, I had no tracking number for the return to Customs. Nobody could help me, or were interested.
H:S:

So I talked to my Post Mistress at my small local post office and she went to an old school hand written log book that was kept up to date by her letter carriers. They write in the log and peel a bar code sticker off return packages and stick it in there. She found a ref number and went on line, poked around for a while. She found that it had been tagged 'undeliverable' and 'return to sender'. Problem was the sender had now finished his vacation, was long gone and was back in Germany, the package was on its way, somewhere between Canada and England (again, no tracking).
TWK

Oh ya, forgot to tell you. This was a forearm for a rare 1896 Martini Enfield Mk.I cavalry carbine, nice shape with minty nosecap. Not easy to find one, never mind another. So close (my back door step) yet so far. I would lie awake at night pissed off.

Then one morning, I got an email, it had showed up back in Old Blighty. Buddy did a quick trip before Christmas, recovered the package, sent it on to my father in northern England who repackaged it and sent it on to me with Christmas stickers on it and marked it as a 'gift'.

The thing was back at my back door again last week, unopened, no duty or takes payable. Woohooo!:dancingbanana:

I love a happy ending ;)
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so to make a long story short, next time you find an almost unobtainable item, dont be stupid and send it back. I would surmise the $256 was worth your several months of acid reflux and worry, then?
 
scianna54 said:
You could have paid and then disputed - with receipt.
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Yup, sound advice. From now on, that'll be the way to go.

I just paid $75 duty and tax on a $10 120 year old MLE sight leaf that arrived in a small flat envelope. Customs papers marked as 'telescopic sight'.

I paid and have put in an appeal.

Seems that if CBS don't know what something is, they just guess a value, or fit a description to it at semi-random from some ref book.

But at least I do have my sight leaf in hand, albeit an expensive one.

I will be interested to see how long the appeal process takes.
 
infidel29 said:
so to make a long story short, next time you find an almost unobtainable item, dont be stupid and send it back. I would surmise the $256 was worth your several months of acid reflux and worry, then?
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Yup, stupid is as stupid does.

This was the first time that I didn't just cough up the funds, pay the bill, and be pissed off about it later.

I live and learn.
 
The appeal works as long as you have proper documents (receipts with your name on it and correct sender) to show the value because they like to increase value.
 
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