Canadian EF Users... Is there any way to avoid custom charges. They are a B!

Well, here's the thing, though (at least in my case, and I'm not going to apologize for "complaining" here on the forum): The amount I was charged did not match the amount I would have been charged simply to cover taxes. I've done the calculations, and the amount was WAY off. It just seemed to be an arbitrary number that was pulled out of someone's ass.

I think part of the issue, too, for most of the people commenting is that most of us had *never* seen those charges before -- I know I hadn't. Yes, yes, I know -- paying brokerage fees and taxes are "part of living in Canada and ordering internationally", so on and so forth, ad nauseum, but why are we seeing these charges *all of a sudden*, when some of us have been ordering online from the US for ages? Honestly, I think that's the part that bamboozled most of us.

Like others have said, for ME it wasn't the fact of the amount of the charges (although, as I said, I have done the calculations over and over again, and the amount I was charged does not match the amount of HST I would have been charged in a Canadian store had I purchased my items there). So the thing is, I can sit here now and try to figure out ahead of time how much I'm going to be charged for my latest order, but it may never match what the delivery guy tells me when he knocks on my door. THAT's my problem with it, personally. What is the charge for and how are they calculating it?

Having to listen to people "complain" -- well, that's going to happen when people are confronted with charges they've never seen before and, in some cases, were totally unprepared to pay, causing (in some cases) their packages to be sent back to EF without their knowledge or consent. It's a legitimate problem, and I think we have a right to bring it up and want an answer. less

My partner and I plan on moving soon, and I'm worried that our new UPS man won't accept cash like the UPS man we have right now. I was talking to him (he's an awesome chatty delivery man) and he said he knows the guy who does the route in the town over (where we are moving) and he said he would talk to him and suggest taking cash from us, but he said that he doesn't think that he will..

So as far as UPS accepting cash, it is not everyone. If a driver chooses to accept cash, that is their own thing.

Since they don't take gift credit cards or cash, I'm not sure what we are going to do because I don't have cheques, and I do not have a credit card any more. I hope this new guy will break down and accept cash from us.

As for the gift credit cards we had used awhile back when our fees were like $50bucks each, well, I just got a letter last week from UPS saying that I owe on those packages, even though we gave them gift credit card numbers. This really pissed me off at UPS because gift credit cards are NOT reloadable and silly me.. I didn't keep the credit card because I had assumed the balance was taken from UPS for the fees on the package. So basically, we threw out gift credit cards that still have balances on them since UPS obviously didn't take the money from the cards (or at least I assume because why would they be sending me bills).. Ugh. Just had to rant. less

OK, so I just placed another order over the weekend, and it was shipped today. I'm hoping to stay ahead of any "surprises" in terms of fees and be ready when the Purolator guy comes knocking.

When you say "..email UPS and ask if there will be any COD charges once it shows your package has cleared customs"...right now, my package is showing an exception on the UPS website. The package data is being processed by brokerage. Should I email them now, then, or wait until it *physically* clears customs upon arrival in Canada? The last estimated delivery date that showed on the site was December 23 by the end of the day; I don't really expect it to arrive that soon, but who knows. And as I said, I'm trying to stay one step ahead here. less

I'm honestly starting to get frustrated with all of you complaining about the fees being charged. Those of us who posted in the first few pages of this thread were overcharged, which is why EdenFantasys was kind enough to reimburse us. From what I understand, they are still reimbursing folks (Which I've NEVER heard of another company willing to do), but the honest truth is that these fees are the buyers responsibility. Not the sellers. These are your country and province taxes. The same taxes you pay when you shop anywhere else. You receive a package valued over $20 cdn, you pay the taxes. That's just how it works!

If your package has been taxed at the correct value, you should be paying the fees yourself instead of asking for a refund.

/end rant less

Could you get the credit card numbers from them? That is a really, really frustrating situation. I would tell them that if they can't get those card numbers back to you and "refund" you that money they can just shove it because they've essentially just doubled your fees and left you absolutely in the dark. It's safe to assume that many people would throw out giftcards they had every reason to believe were empty. UPS totally screwed you here, that's maddening. less

I doubt very much if anyone will answer this today, it being Christmas Day and all, but I figure it's worth a shot!

When paying brokerage/tax fees by cheque, who do you make the cheque out to? Dumb question, I know, but I'm honestly not sure, and I want to have the cheque ready to hand over to the delivery guy in the morning.... less

I doubt very much if anyone will answer this today, it being Christmas Day and all, but I figure it's worth a shot!

When paying brokerage/tax fees by cheque, who do you make the cheque out to? Dumb question, I know, but I'm honestly not sure, and I want to have the cheque ready to hand over to the delivery guy in the morning.... less

I'm also wondering this. I'm about to place an order and I'm waffling over whether I want to give USPS a go or if I want to keep choosing UPS despite how much trouble they've given me in the past months. Has anyone had any experiences with USPS recently? less

I'd try USPS and see if it works. A couple weeks ago when all this was going on I thought I'd try that too. It let me choose it but as soon as I hit the button to carry on to the next part of check out I got a note popping up telling me that EF doesn't ship USPS to Canada. less

I have no idea. I thought the same thing when it did it to me. I was being told to ship that way because it would help. Tried to do it and it wouldn't let me. I'm not sure how it would fix the problem either since it's customs having the issue and the packages would still have to go through customs. less

I'm not convinced it IS a customs issue, but it could be. I do know that UPS is a company I am sick of dealing with, however.

I am going to be paying extra close attention to this package shipment, and I'll definitely be calling once it's gone through brokerage to ask how they're calculating the COD charges, since I assume they'll be some again. If it was all just taxes, I would expect it to be an amount reflective of the package's worth, since it'd be a percentage calculated from that. However, they try to charge me $40 every time, no matter whether it's a package worth $500 at full retail or $100. That's just fishy. less

Question, Has anybody ever been charged when their packages shipped UPS Expedited?

My last few packages have shipped that way and no extra charges. This package ships UPS Standard and suddenly I'm getting charges again. Is there any way we could add Expedited as an option for shipping, and/or USPS (For Canada it doesn't work when you try to ship with it) ? less

They did recently have this problem again, but I believe it's been fixed. I had received a package with a 49something brokerage fee, and then a 30something fee in taxes. It's all worked out now, but Serenesub, you should look on the UPS receipt and see if it has anything under the brokerage fee section. less