A convoluted tale.
Our daughter’s old [6 years] laptop computer was dying and she called in great distress, since she used it for communication, to take her online courses and for many other purposes. I said I’d get another and ship it off to her, thinking nothing of it [well, knowing the expense, but Christmas is coming up]. I got the new one [an Apple] that day and researched how to get it to her and, via US Mail, selected the “Global Express International Guaranteed” service. I packaged it in an international priority mail box to send to her in Chile and went off to the US mail. I had already printed out the $184 in postage fees on the label for Global Express mailing [6 pages in all including a customs copy]. That was all I knew to do. I’ve sent other International Priority packages to Chile and though they take about 2 weeks to get to her [packages come once a week] they do get there; I figured sending it expedited might make it quicker.
I went to the main post office, thinking they’d best know what to do, and the postal officer wouldn’t take the box because it was a Priority Mail box and even though marked for international use it wasn’t a Global Express box. So, the next day I repackaged it and took it to the E. Des Moines office, which the USPS web site said was one of the few to understand how to do this. The person there had never done this before and I asked for someone who had, but he was the only person in the office. So we both carefully read the instructions and followed them to the letter. And I thought it was off to her. This was on Friday the 23rd.
In the mail on Saturday afternoon was the box, returned, with a FedEx label on it saying “commercial invoice required”. Of course, I had marked it as a gift and declared fully what it was, but evidently I needed that document, the other 6 pages wouldn’t do, despite one being marked as a Customs copy. And the USPS offices were all closed.
So, thinking that FedEx had be involved in the shipment [it is evidently contracted with by the USPS for some overseas deliveries - remember the movie “Cast Away”?], I went to the main FedEx office. There I found out that there is a whole separate “Commercial Invoice” form to fill out and that I couldn’t just resend from there but had to go through the USPS office, which would be closed until Monday. So, I paid another bunch of money [$284] for expedited service to Chile, thinking that would work. No one told me of any further things needed and I filled out the additional document with full declaration of value.
Off the box went and it did, finally, make it to Chile. Then, up on the tracking screen popped up “clearance delay” and we then learned that the package was hung up there, in Santiago [Kate is 12 hours south in a tiny town]. It had to be released to a non-FedEx customs broker to walk it through customs, a point which was not made plain to me by anyone, whether the USPS or Fed Ex.
Fairly irate, I contracted Fed Ex’s international desk and after being transferred up the ladder to someone a bit more versed in the issue, she did all she could to help. I can’t really complain of Fed Ex’s treatment, other than not warning me of this need and to make arrangements. Evidently, once you send something out of the country it might need a customs agent to work with the country’s customs department to get a package through customs and on its way. No one told me, nor did I know this nor did I read the warning anywhere on the websites. So, now the package is in Santiago, Chile, hopefully in safe storage at FedEx and we are hunting all over for a customs broker who can facilitate the last steps so it can get to our daughter. Today is Thursday the 26th and it’ll be a week from when we tried to send it “expedited” to her.
I posted the Q of how to find a customs broker and who would be reliabel on LinkedIn [in the Discussions area], Facebook and Twitter. No responses so far from the latter two, but within one hour someone on Linked In answered my Query, explained it a bit, gave me someone to contact and wished me luck. Subsequent to that four or five other persons have also sent information, and I’ve spent the better part of two days tracking down someone in Santiago to do this. And, just a few minutes ago I received a kind email from someone [at www.panalpina.com] who will see if they can try to help.
I sent to him the waybill and tracking number and he has asked someone in his office to see if he could help. So, Kudos to LinkedIn!! And, I hope, to that kind customs person in Chile.
