Friday, September 2, 2016

Rant | Dealing with Customs Authorities

I like to try new stuff. It's part of who I am. I love to get new products and shopping and new stores! And I am always so happy when any store or company contacts me and say "hey we want to sent you some things for you to try out for free!". I get so existing when I get these offers. But I hate having to deal with customs and with the post office to get my stuff.



Most of these stuff comes from China. And now portuguese customs authorities are really freaky about big packages arriving from China. If it is a small thing, like if it comes in an envelope, they always let it through. But if it is a package,  like if it needs to be delivered, they hold it. They hold it and they send me a letter asking for my personal information and for me to send them an invoice or a receipt for the payment with the price and description of the items. Well, if it's a gift I don't have any of that! I din't pay. But trying to explain this to the guys in costumes is really hard. So they told me to write a statement where I explained this, gave the prices and description and this work fine a few times. But last time, when I was trying to get my package from Gamiss, they did not accept this document. I called. They told me that the items contained tags and that the tags didn't match what I was stating -- that the values were higher. And they also told me that they had opened the packaging. I didn't knew what to do. They wanted an invoice. And couldn't give them that! So I had to talk with the person that contacted me. I asked the girl if she could help, if she could send me a statement with the prices and saying that i din't pay for anything. She sent me a document in really bad English, with prices waaaaaay under the prices that I'd sent before ( really, like 1 USD for each product -- it was just absurd and ridiculous). I sent that to the customs office,  and guess what? I got the exact same answer... the values don't mach, bla bla bla. At this point I didn't knew what to do. Then I had the brilliant idea of sending them the statement I created initially and a print screen of my order on the website. This had pictures, prices and everything they wanted to know. I wrote a small text on the email saying that this is what they told me the price was, and again,  it was a gift, because I have a blog... and it finally worked! This took me more than 3 months! It's so crazy. And when I finally got.the package I understood why they were all relutante and not believing what I was saying: one of the product had a 70€ tag (I posted the picture on the other post, you can check it out!) ! And I was saying that it costed 7 or 8€ ! I mean, it's logical that they would believe.

Now I know how to deal with this situation, and I wanted to share with you in case this ever happens to you! If you need/want the template for the statement I used, send me an email and I'll be happy to give it you! And don't forget, always attach a print-screen of your order!!

18 comments:

  1. Percebo-te muito bem! Já tive uma situação parecida e quase que ligava para lá todos os dias. Mandei uma data de documentos inclusive PrintScreens, e para eles perceberem o porque de eu não ter pago nada foi um trbalho!
    Agora estou com outro porblema: encomendei um telemovel que não se vende aqui em Portugal e ficou na alfândega. Não seria um problema tão grande se eu não fosse sair do país. O meu namorado já tinha mandado vir o mesmo telemovel para ele e para o irmão e tinha de ser logo o meu a ficar. A minha sorte...

    http://aboemiacatita.blogspot.pt

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  2. Fogo por coisas destas dá mesmo vontade é de não se aceitar nada. Mas depois do teu post também ajudas a lidar com isso caso alguma vez aconteça. Obrigada pela partilha.
    Beijinhos
    elisaumarapariganormal.blogspot.pt

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  3. I feel your pain!
    I once received a replacement for a lip gloss that I ordered online that was broken... It got stuck at customs and I got the infamous letter... I didn't had an invoice and when I contacted the store for one and they just sent me the original invoice with my first order, which was an invoice with 4 ou 5 products... it was horrible trying to explain that it was just a complementary gift from the store.

    Pink Ivory ɷ

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  4. Obrigada pelo conselho, espero que não volte a acontecer! xx

    www.catmorais.blogspot.pt

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  5. R: Já estou de volta :)
    Beijinho.

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  6. As autoridades deviam-se preocupar com coisas mais importantes em vez de desconfiarem das encomendas..
    Beijinhos

    Mia | my-world-vibes.blogspot.com

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  7. Ajudaste imenso!

    Beijos
    http://loverofthings27.blogspot.pt/

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  8. Oh my! Sounds terrible! I really hate when it comes to national post problems =_=

    KireiKana

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  9. oi td bem? achei bem burocrático, 3 meses que dificuldade. mas que bom que vc conseguiu, o blog salva nessas horas, seguindo flor o seu blog, achei fofo, tbm tenho um blog e ficarei muito feliz se você vier fazer parte, sempre estarei aqui beijos

    Taynara Mello | Indicar Livros
    www.indicarlivros.com

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  10. A minha vó passou por algo semelhante. Recebeu uma encomenda - que neste caso era enorme - mas foi uma prenda também, ela não sabia o que continha, o meu irmão teve que ir com ela à alfândega e explicar a situação mas eles não quiseram saber... deram um valor para ela pagar e pediram todos os detalhes da encomenda, ela acabou por dizer que não ia pagar que podiam mandar para onde veio, ela não pediu nada não tinha que pagar, mas continuaram a insistir e blá blá blá, já vai quase 2 meses e ainda não ficou resolvido e nem vai ficar porque ela não quer a encomenda.

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  11. Obrigada pela partilha, é realmente muito chato mas ainda bem que terminou bem ;).
    Beijinhos.

    misscokette.blogspot.pt

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  12. R: está mais ou menos...tenho tido um ano muito cansativo emocionalmente e estou a começar a sentir por isso não tenho energia suficiente para coisas mais sérias como o blog...prefiro ficar mais longe fo que fazer as coisas sem vontade =P

    PS: deus do ceu, eu ODEIO a ATT, tiram a piada a tudo!!!

    xoxo

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  13. Até agora tenho tido sorte com a alfandega, mas por vezes é stressante a espera, pois tenho ouvido relatos de grande injustiça. Ainda bem que o desfecho te foi favorável :)

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  14. Felizmente tudo se resolveu!...
    Não tinha ideia, que fosse assim tão problemático tal situação...
    Excelente post!
    Bjs
    Ana

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  15. Wow, three months, that's really crazy. But at least it's good that you figured out how to handle this situation in the future, because it is likely it will happen again.
    Cheers, Victoria

    https://fashionstylebeautyandmore.blogspot.ca/

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  16. Nunca tive de lidar com essas coisas, e ainda bem porque é uma enorme chatice. Tento sempre encomendar coisas de sites em português para evitar isso... Ainda bem que encontraste a solução e obrigada pela dica, nunca se sabe quando pode ser necessária :)

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