annabella

I will and drink to your good health at same time. Only made up that story of the lost package so somebody would write to me and tell me to have a drink to cheer myself up!

Teacup

I've sent Xmas pressies back home and it is really expensive. Worse still, for 2 years running and despite sending them early and properly addressed, etc, Canada Post managed to lose track of them and all my pressies to my parents eventually arrived in February - and I had paid for airmail! I called them about it and I was easily given my money back because the attitude was a 'shrug-of-shoulders' one. Another time my parents sent me gifts and they got stuck in a depot in Ontario and I got a letter telling me I had to pay some money to get the parcel out of the depot! It wasn't that I was paying any customs duties - it was that a third party was being used to help deliver parcels. When I rang to find out when I could have the parcel and ask why I had to pay, I was basically told if you want the gifts pay up or else - it was total blackmail. Canada Post blamed Parcel Force and Parcel Force blamed Canada Post. In that instance I actually believed Parcel Force. So now I do what most people on here seem to be doing and that is shop online - it's quicker and easier and all the gifts we ordered last year arrived on time.

I understand too that if you mail more than 6 cards at once at Canada Post, you don't pay tax so though the stamps are expensive, you save something.

iaink

Its not quite blackmail, it was brokerage fees. Similar though I suppose if you arent clued up on it. Typically anything large or valuable coming into canada will be assesed for duties and taxes, even if marked as a gift in some cases. Regardless of whether either apply, canada post charge a flat $6 or $8 rate for brokerage. If you use the courier companies like FedEx or purolater it can be waaaaay more than that, so for that reason alone if Im buying from the states I specify USPS, and if that cant be done Im very careful to check out the details.

annabella

I know the 'shrug of shoulders' bit too. Went to main POffice in town the day their site was down and was really encouraged to do things myself. This I have done. Made the claim online in spite, too, of being given misleading info. at PO. We'll see what transposes from that.

Teacup

I see what you mean but here's the thing - I knew enough about brokerage fees to ask specifically. The letter I got said it wasn't a taxes or customs fee at all - it was actually a processing fee that the depot decided to charge and did not seem to be in the same category as a brokerage fee in the way I know or understand them. That's why I felt it was a con and that's what made me cross! It should have been explained that extra charges might be applied before my parents purchased in the UK to send to Canada and in this case, the parcel wasn't even that large. All other parcels sent here to me had never had that issue before. Ultimately it turned out to be a different and first time arrangement that year between the UK and Canada Post (so Canada Post said) but there were trillions of complaints by Brits in the UK and Canada as a result that I think it caused Canada Post and the UK Post to re-visit the whole thing. To me, if it was a brokerage fee then it should have been clearly stated as such - call a spade a spade and then there's no risk of a misunderstanding or, of course, you choose to buy online!