Have you heard about this scam fee for shipping from the US to Canada. They have a 'brokerage fee'.

On two gifts my parents mailed to me I was charged an additional brokerage fee of $50.40, plus $2.52 GST on the brokerage fee.

Apparently this fee is for all the hard work they do of processing your order.

Well no other shipping company charges fees like this at all.

My dad paid $24 to ship a 2lb box with gifts. Then I had to pay $27.18 for GST & PST on the gifts, which I shouldn't have been charged anything for one of them as it's under $60. So I called up UPS and the lady in the US said ohh we could probably get the taxes reduced when they correct the gift thing. You only pay the taxes on the amounts over $60.


So then she said I'd have to talk to UPS Canada. So I called them up and asked them about this. Well the brokerage fee you pay on the full amount they don't care if it's a gift or not, which is dirty. I said so your told this fee upfront, she said 'Yes there's no hidding fees it's all fully disclosed'

Well how can that be if the US lady said there was no way to know what the brokerage fee was till it got to CA, and the CA office is the one that asses this.

She was sooo rude to me too. I said your telling me my dad knew I was gonna pay a bogus $50 fee on top of everything else, AFTER he'd paid for the shipping, He's used UPS all his life for personal and business and he's gonna be livid if he hears his daughter had to pay $80 just to open a gift he sent. '


she said well if he uses us all the time he'd be aware of our fee. I said he uses ups in the states, and he's shipped stuff to us using other couriers and NEVER have we been charged this, with any other company.

My husband said there's all kinds of lawsuits out there about this, especially from Ebay and stuff because a lot of sellers only use UPS, and then your order comes you pay shipping and fees, then at the door it's COD this brokerage fee that you didn't know about.

It's happened to my hubby before with UPS, and they didn't disclose this to him in advance, and no other company does this.

It's criminal so just to let you know DO NOT USE UPS to ship from US to CA!!!!!!! I mean if they're upfront with it and you know about it, then well you can use another company or bite the bullet, but just out of the blue, and to COD on a gift. What I'm supposed to tell my dad when he asks???? I mean how ungrateful will I sound that he sent me a lovely gift and I'm pissed at the price. I mean I paid basically 50% of the purchase again. Really takes the wind out of the nice gift.

The worst part was the lady was so RUDE to me, I guess she's tired of this complaint, but that's not my problem, so when she said 'I'm not going to discuss this further with you' I said fine, but I'm posting about this on every website I go to and telling them not to use UPS because it's insane!!! So here I go.

Ven

That was Ven - venting.

I don't blame you for being UPSet.

Actually I think it's unconscionable and unscrupulous and I'm fed-UP So much so that I'm down.

Sorry Ven, I don't know what got into me.

Seriously, you got burned and it's is sucky, but I appreciate the heads-up. (or is it head-ups?)
We will not be using UPS when there's a choice.
Thanks for bringing that to our attention.
Christina

Hi Ven,

I have had that problem too over the years. My brother sent me a chair once from Wyoming and I had to pay 70 dollars on it. I sent a mouse back to US to be fixed under warenty and they sent it back UPS and I had to pay 15 dollars on it. I should have just bought a new one. I did ship some things of my mom's after she passed away and they have a fee that is a certain percentage of what the goods are worth. It is crazy because all the goods were free for me to import because they were inherited yet they took a chunk to facilitate going through customs. Not that they did much I am sure!


If I can avoid it, I try not to use UPS to ship from the States to Canada.
Karen

I appreciate the heads up as well - I will not use UPS whether domestic or not. Thanks, Ven!

hahhaha Yes that was me venting. That lady got my ire up.

In the light of day I'm not as upset, lesson learned. But now I hear from some other people that UPS is one of the most hated companies by Canadians. Esp those that order stuff from Ebay and us regularly. There's some lawsuits on going as well.

I'll let you know if anything else happens. Didn't want to see anyone else get burned. I mean it was a gift, I shouldn't have to pay for that!!!

Ven

I appreciate the head-ups too. I ship all over the world, never heard from some customers again. All of them were in Canada.

Thanks for letting us know.

Wonderful what a poisoned customer can do, isn't it? Your single letter on this board will cause UPS to lose 200 customers. They certainly deserve that loss.

The above is a proven fact. Write more on other boards.
zeneagle

quote:

That was Ven - venting.

I don't blame you for being UPSet.

Actually I think it's unconscionable and unscrupulous and I'm fed-UP So much so that I'm down.

LOL the post above was so serious and then I read that haha

Anyway, thanks for the info, will avoid UPS in future and really look at the shipping costs of these companies more closely!

I really avoid using UPS whenever possible for some reason they nearly always screw up deliverys to me. Sometimes I will be home all day waiting for an important package. I do not see the UPS guy, I call the number "Oh yes, he came by" I used to work at the mailroon in the Daily News In New York. They cancelled service with UPS only use Fedex. I was there when two UPS representatives came by to try to talk the manager into renewing service. To sum it up he said no way! Trevor

I learned an important lesson many years ago: Whenever there's a "Broker" involved, that's what I become.

Peace,
Rick Garzaniti
Practitioner and Instructor

"Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it." - Steven Wright

Ven, thanks so much for letting us know. I buy from ebay all the time, and I'll be sure to pay attention if I should get anything from Canada, and tell the buyer up front they'll have to use something different!

Rick,

That was a good one! Very witty.

Blessings and love