A few months ago I was down in Seattle visiting my friend Lynn. I happened to leave my engineering ring down there, and so last week Lynn offered to mail it to me, which obviously seemed like a good idea at the time.
To get started, I want to point out that my engineering ring is worth, oh, about $15. It’s just a shoddy piece of aluminum cut from something that closely resembles a hollow pipe. However, it is what all engineers in Canada wear, so it’s actually kind of important to me. So today, I look in my mailbox and see that it has arrived at a location on Davie street, and that I can pick it up. But to do that, I need to pay the $75 worth of duty they charged me crossing the border.
That’s right sports fans — $75 worth of duty on a $15 ring. Needless to say I called Canada post today, fully prepared to unleash the hounds of hell on them. Unfortunately, thanks to the stellar six hour day they put in down there, I was unable to reach someone at 2:30pm PST to talk about this. Perhaps the sun will be in the proper position tomorrow for me and Indiana to use the Staff of Ra and figure out just when in the day I can call these guys to sort this out.
Seriously, I’m not going to pay one cent worth of duty on a ring that I already own, and I’m fully prepared to just kiss it goodbye and order a new one from the engineering people. But I really do have better things to do than spend an hour on the phone sorting this garbage out.
That’s the best rant I’ve read in a while. me and Indiana… Staff of Ra… *snort* Good luck with figuring out how to get those mofos on the phone!
Check the back of the customs/duty form you have, there should be details on how to appeal the amount you were charged. I had a similar thing happen to me and talked with the person at Canada Post and she said you just have to fill in the form (usually on the back of the customs doc that gave you sticker shock) and mail it in….takes a little time but you should get a cheque for the amount assuming they agree you were robbed…I was able to reclaim about $40 from a watch I bought on ebay no problem…