Well… that’s one way to do things. For the past 20 years, I’ve refused all shipments via UPS from the US. I always ask sellers who they plan to ship through, and if it’s UPS, I tell them that’s a deal breaker. I also encourage others not to accept shipments via UPS from the US.
I’d switch to this method but it’s just such a headache to go through the dispute process.
I did have one parcel that arrived via UPS in 2020. They dropped it at the door without ringing, and sent the bill for their customs processing in the mail. I called them up and demanded they drop the fees because a) I don’t accept international packages from UPS (as the local UPS guy knows), and b) they have no evidence I ever received the package. When they investigated the signature, it wasn’t mine, but was the delivery person’s.
They dropped the charges.
You can always self-clear your package. Then they don’t see any extra fees from you.
Super simple
- Tell them to email you the commercial invoice.
- Bring invoice to Canada customs and pay any duties or taxes-they stamp your paper.
- Bring stamped paper to courier and they have to give you your stuff with no additional fees.
Done
Done it many times. Super easy here because UPS and Canada customs are a 5 minute drive from each other.
I’m glad this is working for you. When I tried (a few years ago), UPS refused to send the commercial invoice and bounced me around from person to person on the phone, all of whom seemed to have no idea what I was asking for. My partner tried and had the same experience. I think we tried about 5 different times and got nowhere.
For us, they had delivered the boxes while we weren’t home and then sent the bills later and then to collections (their own private collections company as it turns out). We sent a demand letter to them requesting proof that we accepted the delivery (we obviously hadn’t), and ultimately never heard another word from them. Collections letters and phone calls stopped. Not saying this will work for everyone, but we were relieved as we didn’t actually owe any duty (we were shipping our own stuff) and tried so hard to complete the process the right way.
Summarized the transcript using Firefox Orbit
- The speaker had an unexpected experience with UPS, a shipping company, regarding high brokerage fees for a package shipped from the US to Canada.
- UPS charged significantly higher fees than competitors for customs clearance, holding the package hostage until the fees were paid.
- The speaker ordered a hot sauce collection and was not informed of the shipping company used, resulting in unexpected fees.
- The fees included entry preparation, disbursement, and GST, with the entry preparation fee being more than the initial shipping cost.
- The speaker contacted UPS to dispute the fees, citing the Consumer Protection Act of Alberta and arguing that the fees were unfair and an unwarranted additional cost.
