hi everybody.....

We arrived in Toronto late afternoon on Monday 18 August (It is now Wednesday evening here ) and until today, it's been fabulously easy and fantastic....However, when we got back to the hotel today, it was to an email from the shipping co-ordinator here in TO to say that our container full of stuff is held in Montreal and is due a full inspection by customs. We have a 20 ft container (and about 750 cubic feet of stuff in it) and we have shipped nothing but books, furniture, clothes and shoes Why are they checking our container? The whole reason we went with our removal company was because they said that customs would be easier if they (the removal guys) did all the packing and paperwork. They also said full inspection hardly ever happen and that we didn't need to worry about it.....

Now we are being told there are charges involved but I have no idea what they are.... I am seriously freaking out here.... I did a search on the forum but only found one post which mentioned that $800 was not an unreasonable charge We don't have that sort of money

Has anybody got any experience with this? Please tell me something re-assuring???

So far, everything has been going so well.....Immigration was a breeze, 3 year TWP issued without any problems, we got out cable/tv/phone due to be installed next week (although we're probably moving that date on because we are moving to the top floor flat of the same building instead of staying in the ground floor one we originally rented that means we'll have been in that flat for about 2 weeks....shortest I have ever lived anywhere ), bank account was no problem, getting the SIN number took five minutes...and now this..... argh!

Today was a bit of a rubbish day anyway actually.....Sears wouldn't let us have a credit card *or* the sears storecard! Even though we had every bit of paper they could possibly have asked for!....

anyway....please tell me all is not lost and it doesn't have to cost an arm and a leg to have that full inspection done....please? pretty please?

Mrs B (nervously waiting in TO....)

Some are opened purely randomly.

As long as you have nothing smuggled you should be OK, so don't worry about that part of it.

$800 sounds about right for a container, you either pay-up are they send it all back to the UK, at your expense (at least thats the option(s) my Wife has been given when importing stock for the store). Not good news, sorry.

Sears cards are useless, 35% annual interest so don't worry about not getting one.

Our container was opened by Canadian customs back in 2001 during the UK foot & mouth outbreak. They disinfected all garden equipment and push bikes, in the process damaged quite a few of our belongings.

The charge for their handy work was around $180 payable before the container was released.

Off topic but WTF are they called push bikes (usually by people who are half blind and 90 years old) if they are ridden and pedalled ?

R.

I suppose its because people tend to push the bike when a steep hill confronts them, and also its to distinguish it from motor bike.

Most of the containers that are opened are "random-checks" you just got unlucky. You will have to pay for this service though...

I would get used to the Credit Card thing though, getting credit on a TWP is not the easiest thing in the world. Although there are many on here who just breezed through and were given a 5K card almost at the airport, there are plenty of others who struggled to get anything other than a "bonded card" i.e where you deposit the "credit limit" in cash with the bank and they give you a card with that credit limit on it.

It took me 5 months of pleading to get a card without a deposit, and that was from the same bank as I used for 20 years in the UK. Apparently I might not repay the card as I wasn't a resident, I pointed out that as my UK home is mortgaged through them it wouldn't be hard to track me down.

Once you become a PR the credit companies are all over you just as if you were an unemployed 18 year student in the UK, i.e. you'll have trouble opening the door you'll have that many 'pre-approved' card offers coming through the letterbox

Thanks for the replies folks.

Well things sorted - we cleared customs today. Yes it cost a pretty penny but not as bad as feared.

Regards,

Mr B.

Supposedly its random but it seems to be certain things that sets it off. In your case probably shoes - they may have been looking for soil.

Or it could be the Canadian Handling company - adding a little value to their service! I know all about that one.

Because I usually spend half the time pushing my bike up the hills

Maybe because you push the peddle with your foot in order to make the wheel go round?

I think it is because before peddle propulsion was incorporated in the design of bicycles, the rider sat across the bike and pushed the thing along with their feet.
I think they were called "Hobby Horses" of something like that.

Can't help with your container thingy but don't panic about the Sears card. Sears cards are one of the hardest to get (I used to work at Sears and still couldn't get one).

I applied several times before I got one, I only kept applying as the staff get a $3 bonus for a refused card and a $6 one for an accepted. I managed to get an HBC card after about 3 months of being in Canada the Sears one followed about 18 months later, saying that hubby has done nothing to build a credit rating, we have no mortgage, just a line of credit, all the bills are in my name with him as an addition and he was refused a Sears card in January.

OH! Forgot to say the Sears card has one of, if not the highest interest rates of all the store cards out there so you want to be either interest free buying or paying off your bill each time.

Hi Mr & Mrs B
Can I ask, was any of your items listed as packed by owner?

I have been told on a number of occasions that this is a bit of a red flag to customs. We actually unpacked boxes of books we had in stroage and had the packers re-pack them to avoid this.

Just a thought, it may explain why your container got inspected.

Nope, everything was listed as packed by movers. We too were warned about this...actually, that's the main reason we let the movers pack everything, so we could avoid this....No idea why they stopped our stuff...doubt we'll ever find out either.... It might have been the shoes, it might have been the fake christmas tree that was labelled "Christmas tree" instead of "plastic Christmas tree"....but surely, they wouldn't think we were *actually* importing a real one?