[Genetic]

I sent my Etys to change the cable old version for the 50$ that they ask for that operation. I even included an additional, and unrequested, 10$ for the shipping cost.
I came back home today and there was that UPS InfoNotice stick to may mailbox with a request for 43,85$ (canadian) as brokerage fees....

(BTW, they never mentionned that were planning to use UPS)

Does anybody had the guts to send it back, in fact refusing delivery, to the point of origin?

I'm about to do it and I ask to the Ety people to use, this time, US Postal Service.

Any idea about my chances to make them follow my way of doing things?

Amicalement

P.S. I miss my Etys.....but on principle, the one about not using the worst carrier on earth, I can wait many lifetimes....

 

[Bunnyears]

Do you mean that they were charging you the same amount of money that you paid for the repairs? You should immediately call Etymotic and inform them that a $43.00 delivery fee for repaired headphones is ridiculous because that combined with the cost of the repair is close to half the price of new headphones from discount dealers!!! I hope that you have not opened the box, for if you have not opened it, you can have it marked "delivery refused" which should bounce it back to Etymotic. By then, you should be able to work out a way to have it shipped for a lot less. If you fedexed it overnight, I doubt it would cost more than $25 - 30 (US) for delivery. The price seems way out of line, ups ground should not be more than $10 (US) and probably less, and tell them to insure it only for the minimum amount.

 

[Bunnyears]

If you go to UPS.com they have a shipment cost and time calculator. You can see how much they want to ship something via ground from the address of etymotic to your home address (or office if you would prefer delivery there). Using that as a guideline, you can talk to Etymotic and UPS to find out why your delivery cost is so very out of line.

 

[DanT]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bunnyears If you go to UPS.com [...]

The problem with UPS is not shipping it is broakge fee
Here my recent senario.

Value of duty 42.83 CAD

Taxe 6.44CAD
Broakage Fee 30.84CAD
Taxe on Broakage fee 2.00CAD
Total to be paid at reception 39.28 CAD

As you notice the brokage fee is more than 5x the taxe value and the total to be paid almost the value of the goods which in my opinion is simply grand theft. All those extra fee are not that easy to calculate and notice but buried somewhere in the UPS website to justify.

That why I tend to try to never use UPS always ask what shippement the compagny used.

 

[Bunnyears]

That's not a brokerage fee, that's robbery! I don't know why the Canadian government hasn't regulated these fees, because they certainly have the power to do so. Definitely mark the package as delivery refused. That should bounce it back to etymotic.

 

[Genetic]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bunnyears Do you mean that they were charging you the same amount of money that you paid for the repairs? You should immediately call Etymotic and inform them that a $43.00 delivery fee for repaired headphones is ridiculous because that combined with the cost of the repair is close to half the price of new headphones from discount dealers!!! I hope that you have not opened the box, for if you have not opened it, you can have it marked "delivery refused" which should bounce it back to Etymotic. By then, you should be able to work out a way to have it shipped for a lot less. If you fedexed it overnight, I doubt it would cost more than $25 - 30 (US) for delivery. The price seems way out of line, ups ground should not be more than $10 (US) and probably less, and tell them to insure it only for the minimum amount.

Hi Bunny,

As DanT wrote the problem is not for the shipping cost in itself but with the, in my case, more than 32$ for the brokerage fee imposed by UPS.

And yes I will refuse delivery for this....

It cost more in brokerage fee for that little transaction 50$ US

that when I bought them from HeadRoom with many additional items (almost 400$ US....)....

Amicalement

 

[Oink1]

It would seem the UK is not the only nation that gets shafted by it's government...

 

[Bunnyears]

I went to the UPS site and noted that they say that they have competitive customs brokering, but there should be no customs charges for items that are being returned after repairs as customs usually only applies to newly purchased items. This probably has to do with etymotic declaring the value of the headphones as new. this is a real mess. If I were Canadian, I would think very hard about getting something repaired in the USA.

 

[Bunnyears]

Just make sure that the phones get bounced back to etymotic. You can do that by calling etymotic and making sure that they understand the problem. I am sure that they will want to help out with this. Hopefully, they will learn from the experience and never again ship to Canada via UPS. Btw, if you buy something from Amazon or Tower Records on line, how do they treat the shipping?

 

[DanT]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bunnyears This probably has to do with etymotic declaring the value of the headphones as new. this is a real mess. If I were Canadian, I would think very hard about getting something repaired in the USA.

I believe ety declaired the replacement cable as new so a 50$ value for custom if they have put a 330$ value on the headphones well I would guess you receive a nice suprise bill from USP

Competitive price my ass USPS/Canada post charge around $5 brokage fee or some low percent for high value item.

 

[stevesurf]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bunnyears That's not a brokerage fee, that's robbery!

Could not have said it better...that's why the shipper should mark the contents of small items like this as gifts, product litrature or tell the shipper you'll be taking care of the customs process. Check out this link

 

[Wodgy]

Boy, they charge you tax on the brokerage fee too? (Sort of sums up the Canadian and Quebecois government attitude towards things.)

Seriously, one of the best sites I've found for information about shipping stuff to Canada is here:
http://www.madisound.com/order.html
Scroll down to the section titled "Canadian Customers."

From that page, the UPS brokerage fee schedule is this:
0-40 $6.25
40-100 $16.75
100-200 $23.25
200-350 $30.00
350-500 $34.00
500-750 $38.25
750-1000 $43.25
which makes sense, given that the item was probably declared as having a $200-350 value, incurring a $30 brokerage fee, plus federal and Quebec taxes on the $50 cable replacement, plus the tax on the brokerage fee, gets you to Genetic's $43.85.

UPS also seems to charge brokerage fees based on the item's actual value, not its purchase price, which is probably the choice that maximizes their profits.

FedEx apparently has much better policies, except for one little wrinkle: you may need to file a power of attorney form with them to expedite things. See the page I linked to.

 

[Wodgy]

Oooer, actually I was thinking in US dollars. The brokerage fee might even have been $34.00, since you need to convert the valuation into Canadian dollars before using the table above.

Isn't Quebec tax 7.5%, plus GST 7%, for 14.5%? So you're looking at $7.25 tax on the actual item. Then $34 brokerage fee. Then tax on the brokerage fee of $2.38 (apparently just GST), for a total of $43.63. That's pretty darn close to the $43.83 Genetic says he was charged.

 

[tsplash75]

i fought with a broker for months over the cost of their broker fees and i refused to pay it.

tried to charge 40cdn on something i bought for 50cdn... no way in hell i was about to pay that much.

i sent them an email letting them know that since i did not tell them to pay my duty fees for me, they shouldn't have and if anything they just did me a favour that i do not plan to pay back.

they sent another email back insisting i pay, since FedEx uses them for ALL their duty (doodie hehehe..) solutions, but i told them to talk to the sender about that, since i did not choose them or fedex as my courier service.

i considered molotov cocktail bombing their building at the peace arch crossing, but they stopped sending emails back about it.

i'm not sure if it put a mark on my credit history, but i never got another bill from them for it and it's been 3 years.

 

[DanT]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wodgy From that page, the UPS brokerage fee schedule is this: 0-40 $6.25 40-100 $16.75 100-200 $23.25 200-350 $30.00 350-500 $34.00 500-750 $38.25 750-1000 $43.25 which makes sense, given that the item was probably declared as having a $200-350 value, incurring a $30 brokerage fee, plus federal and Quebec taxes on the $50 cable replacement, plus the tax on the brokerage fee, gets you to Genetic's $43.85.

that doesn't include all the other hidden fee. that why I said it's not easy to calculate

Check Photo of my invoice

$42 value get charge $31 brokages fee. I don't know what a $300 value would be charge but I suspect is would be more.