Those *******s did it to me again. I am posting this and will continue to tell everybody I know in person and in open public forums everyplace I can. They are competely ripping people off. I just gat a package shipped into Canada and they charged $40 to ship it. on top of that there is $99 to the governement for duties, on top of that is $65 to UPS for what they call brokerage fees. That is bloody murder. This has got to stop. this in not the first time this has happened to me and I know what the billing is for they are charing $30 per box for a 2 box order with one tracking code. they have done this to me before and this WILL BE THE LAST TIME EVER that I will deal with UPS.

 

Been burnt myself on a phenolic spacer for my Mustang that ended up costing me double. I think it was 18$ on ebay plus shipping so like 40$ total and the good folks at UPS made me dig out 35$ extra...nasty. Use USPS whenever possible and avoid the dreaded brown truck.

TFC

 

I agree. I got someone in the States to ship me some rims for my truck (just shipped today actually). BUT, there is a place just over in Port Huron that will accept the shipment for me and then call me. So, I go over and pick it up and bring it over the bridge myself. Works better.

-Matt

 

Yup, never use UPS, did once same story , paid more in brokerage than I did for the item!!!
I have never had to pay brokerage when using the postal service.

Brown is BAD!!!

 

I usually call or e-mail to see if the part can be mailed. If you live close to the border you can have it delivered to a drop box. I don't have an address but somone else may know.

I try vendors across the country before ordering from the states, not so much national pride but the damn duties. Also Summit has that fancy shipping charge they tack on. I've used MOPAC out west and they usually beat Summit and shops in Ontario, plus they carry an extensive line of parts.

Don't try to order through Keystone at Crappy Tire. Keystone has several price guides and CT has the highest due to the returns.

 

Yeah, UPS = bad. We've shipped overweight stuff at work before, and unless you have insurance on it, it gets "lost" into someone's scrap metal pile.

 

I agree that using the Postal Service is the cheapest way to go BUT there may be another problem here that UPS has no control over. I am not defending UPS here. They are a "major pain" and it seems that they are trying to monopolize the cross border shipping buying up trucking companies and smaller shipping businesses but I find that they are only as good as the info they are supplied. You have to realize that the "Customs House" part of UPS only sees the paperwork or computer entries filled in by the shipper. If the paperwork has the wrong descriptions or "Tariff Codes" UPS Customs has no way of knowing and they charge the Consignee the duties and brokerage fees that are listed on the schedule for the Tariff Code used as well as the dollar value of the item. Of course, the duty rates are set down by Canada Customs and the brokerage fees are calculated by UPS Customs Brokers (which is supposed to be) based on the dollar value of the items entering the country and the amount of work they do on behalf of Canada Customs.
Here are a couple of things to look for:-
1) make sure the shipper is using the right "Tarrif Codes". There are a lot of Automotive parts ( and other items such as Electronics) that are Duty Free but if the shipper uses the wrong Tarrif Codes there will be Duty charged and , again, UPS won't know any different. The Tarrif Codes for items entering Canada are on the Canada Customs Website and anyone can access them. One thing that may have happened here is the shipper in the USA used Tarrif Codes set up by the US Customs, for items entering the USA, which are different than the codes set up by Canada Customs for items entering Canada. Believe me when I say "I've been bit by this a couple of times". We do a lot of our own customs clearing work and part of my job is getting product both into and out of the USA. There are days I am buried in paperwork.

2) Just because an item is being shipped to you by UPS it dosn't mean that they have to clear it at the border. You can request (through your shipper) that they use another Clearing House such as "Peace Bridge Brokerage" which has better rates that UPS Brokerage. The same rule applies though... The paperwork has to be correct.

3) With USPS and Canada Post they will transport parcels over 8KG if requested. Of course that shipping rate goes up because of the weight ( from Ontario to California an 8 KG parcel runs about $25.00 for shipping) but any parcels that come into Canada by Post is cleared by Canada Customs Agents and the shipper only has to declare that value of the parcel (which can be "fudged a bit lower") and description of the product on the shipping documents. They don't have to worry about the Tarrif Codes. The Duty rates are based on the dollar value of the pacel, plus GST, plus Customs Charges which are a LOT lower than UPS. I have never looked into Purolator (which is owned by Canada Post) but I imagine the rates would be a bit cheaper through them as well.

I hope this helps!

 

Well I guess you no what my obvious reply would be, but I resist. I sent a Trifold Hard cover to a guy near Ottawa, Delta Ontario. DHL sent it to Delta BC. There dont take customer calls on Saturdays, but there people on a Saturday decided to send it back by ground to Kingston. It arrived 10 days later after I was billed twice for the wrong shipment in the first place. Our duirect ship has so far touch wood worked flawless and Purolater has been great and reasonable cost. to send a set of power running boards to northern BC was $109.

 

The U.S. postal service was far far far better and way way way cheaper than UPS.

I ordered Carpet for my 1979 Bronco the carpet was $220 U.S. $40.00 U.S. postal shipping Gst and Pst $5 Canada post handling charge for a grand total to my front door of $280.00 Canadian.

Had I gotten it shipped UPS I would have had to pay brokerage fees my guess is $60.00 plus what ever else UPS wanted to charge me my guess is another $100.00 so I bet it would have been $380.00 for the very same carpet if I used UPS.

Rick.

 

I think we all have burned by UPS or Fed-ex or another big time carriers. I refuse to buy parts or other jnuk if shipped by them.

On ebay or other US store source, I always ask how they would ship the item. If they do mention UPS or Fed Ex or other, my response is always the same; "My apologies, UPS is not a Canadian friendly service, due to their huge brokerage fees, I refuse to proceed with the order" Many times they'll ok with USPS sending the item. I once had some "oversized" steel come in trucks from Texas. I say oversized because USPS/Canada Post can only handle parcels weighing and sized under a reasonable size/weight. I'm not too sure what measurement they are. But what I had coming was a pair of steel steplates from a '64 cab. They were trucked by Yellow Freight from Texas and Manitoulin Transport picked them up at the border. I didn't pay any fees or extras. I think I only paids about $60 for the shipping./ I can't remeber the package size and weight.

No more UPS or Fed-Ex for me. Unless shipped from Canada. If you work for this company, absolutely use my name and comments, ask them to revise their surplus charges. I am still awaiting for my appology.

Tyl

 

We have had issues with DHL as well. I once asked the driver how many shipments were sent by mistake to Peterborough, England rather than Peterborough Ontario? He stammered for a little while and then said "none!"

 

Yeah, DHL is brutal in Canada for sending stuff to the wrong destination...