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DHL customs charge sent to a credit-agency!

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DHL customs charge sent to a credit-agency!

Old 06-18-01, 01:42 PM
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Amazon decided to be nice, and decided to 'upgrade' my regular worldmail shipping option. This was back in January, and I got ny dvd's via DHL, instead of Purolator. I was kind of suspicious of customs fees with DHL, so I asked the driver and he said I had nothing to pay.
Every Puro order I've gotten from amazon has been customs free(I'm in Montreal), but 2 weeks after my DHL parcel arrived, I got an invoice for $27.35 to cover customs taxes paid by DHL on my behalf!
I returned the bill stating that it was a replacement order, costing me $0, so it was not taxable. And that I had asked the driver for charges, and he confirmed none were to be charged. I would of refused the parcel if I knew.
This is very slick on behalf of DHL, and I wrote to them explaining why I REFUSE to pay based on these reasons. They continued to send the same bill every few weeks, which I kindly returned writing refused on it, until today.
I got what seems to be a warning letter from AAA Credit & Recovery Services Inc. that basically threatens my credit rating if I don't pay them $27.35!
My initial instinct was to ignore it, seeing as it's a small amount, I figure they won't persue. Can they mess up my rating with just my name and address (no cc info...)? Can they seize my car for $27.35? All in the name of dvdz?Anyone with a similar problem or any ideas?
Old 06-18-01, 03:46 PM
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I'd phone all those involved.. AMazon, DHL and the Credit Company. In that order... No reason you should have to pay for a replacement...

I had a similar experience when I signed up for a "reserve your domain name" offer. Turns out I purchased my name. I canceled it and three months latter got a collections letter. My wife informed me that a US collection agency can not make an entry in your credit report for matters under 100.00.. So I told them that. Haven't heard anything in over a year and my credit report appears fine...

Old 06-18-01, 04:38 PM
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I have a few outstanding supposed duty charges from DHL as well. Even one bill for a delivery that was stolen because they just left it on the stairs without ringing the door bell. DHL called me a couple of weeks ago asking for payment and I tried explaining to the woman why I wasn't going to pay. She just started talking louder and louder until she was almost screaming at me and for the first time ever I totally lost it on a csr. I told her this is why her *** company was useless, because they wouldn't listen to.....

and she ironically hung up on me as I was complaining that she wouldn't listen to me.

Dhl sent me another invoice last week, but I won't pay. It hasn't gotten to the credit rating thing yet, but from what I've heard they can't do anything to you.

My father is a head guy at my credit union and he tells me not to worry about it. He says that since I never opened an account with DHL that they can't make me pay for a service that I never asked for.

He also said that even if they could put something on my credit rating it wouldn't matter. He says that credit rating only matters if you are out of work or not making a stable income. All they look at for loans is how much you're making and how long you've been working at your current place of employment. Of course assests help too.

So I wouldn't worry about DHL they are total scam artists. They also were are trying to charge me for an order that said value of $0 and they also charge Duty on Amazons regular price. Who pays their 25-40% regular price ever?

Let me know how your predictament turns out and I will do likewise.
Old 06-19-01, 04:38 AM
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I have had nothing but bad experiences with DHL. I ask that they NOT be used when I order stuff. It's a shame that Amazon was trying to be nice.

By law the collection agency has to give you 30 days to dispute the charge. If you dispute it, they have to go back and investigate that it's a legit charge. Write a letter of complaint to Amazon and have them put some pressure on DHL to drop it.
Old 06-19-01, 01:11 PM
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Most Canadians I know just ignored the letters and never heard from them again. If you reply with a "REFUSED" in big red letters, their ego's going to come into play and they'll make it a point to come after you.


Just curious, did you send a photocopy of your Amazon invoice with the "Value: $0" circled"?


Old 06-19-01, 03:07 PM
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The DHL/waybill sticker stated the value of the dvd's, so DHL says "customs must charge the tax for orders over $20". I've always gotten a refund from customs before by sending in an actual receipt of the disc's (from the reel.com days when I used to use coupons, but they always labeled it full price on the box). In this case I can't send it to customs directly because DHL brokered the parcel.
My previous 'REFUSED' reply to DHL looks like it will turn into an 'UNKNOWN AT THIS ADDRESS' return to the collection guys
After doing some research on the laws regarding collection agencies, it seems they cannot do anything to collect short of filing a motion in court (unlikely for such a small sum). Anything other than that can constitute harassment, and you can legally refuse to talk and give any info to anyone from the collection agency.
NEVER give your particulars (SIN, CC #'s, driver's license#...) to any of these vultures, and if you have the need to pay something, don't use your personal cheques or cc so they can then track you or leave a negative credit-report on you.
I've been trying to call DHL to complain, and demand a retraction of the charges, but they seem to run their business from a voice-mail system.
On a positive note, I got an e-mail response from amazon saying that they will re-imburse my extra charges from DHL (due to the fact that I complained that I never asked for a shipping upgrade and would never of ordered if I knew it would cost so much)! DHL can take a lesson in CS from these guys.
Old 06-19-01, 05:00 PM
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I never sent anything to DHL and I will have nothing to do with them. I've tried explain my side of the situation to them, but they won't listen so I won't bother with them anymore.

I run a business where I deal with FedEX, Purolator, UPS and Canada post. These businesses are all top notch. I guess DHL is just making up for the fact that most other delivery services are reputable
Old 06-20-01, 07:24 PM
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Originally posted by GoldfishLegs
Most Canadians I know just ignored the letters and never heard from them again. If you reply with a "REFUSED" in big red letters, their ego's going to come into play and they'll make it a point to come after you.

Just to back up GFL here, I've gotten numerous packages from Amazon going to Montreal, and most of 'em came by good ole' Purolator. But sometimes (knowningly and unknowingly), I get packages from amazon by DHL, and sure enough a couple of days later, I get a bill from them. At first, I was kinda pissed at seeing this bill for stuff that I got free anyway (due to GCs), so I just ignored it and nothing ahppened. I kept ignoring them all, and nothing's ever happened. The last one I got was about 7 months ago, and I've pretty much forgotten about DHL now. So don't take it too seriously, and if they ever ask, I'll just show 'em the $0 value printed on the Amazon receipt, so they can't charge me customs on a $0 order.
Old 06-21-01, 11:26 AM
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I had a similar problem with a DHL invoice (some of you might remember - they billed me for a fine assessed by the IRS because a canadian retailer lied on the customs declaration form).

DHL told me, that they bill all import duties etc. to the shipper's DHL account if the recipient refuses payment. According to the DHL Terms and Conditions the shipper is finally responsible for ALL charges associated with export shipments. I don't know if this also applies to DHL Canada, but I guess it does.

I just called them and they said it was okay.
Old 06-24-01, 06:45 PM
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They tried to screw me too. An replacement shipping from Amazon was taking more than a week to arrive, so I checked the tracking # and Amazon's site said "awaiting customs declaration" or something. It had been there for 4 days, so I started calling this customs centre.

Here it comes: Since it had a value of $0, DHL had guessed it's value to be able to report something to customs. They had guessed 2 regular (MSRP $25-30) dvd's to be worth NLG 286 (approx $120). So customs billed me about $25.

But they never called me - the parcel was just lying there, waiting for me to pay for it. Only when I started calling I found out about this. After several hours of debating and me forwarding my Amazon invoice ($0) to them they decided to ship it to me free.

Worked out in the end, but caused quite some aggrevation on my part...
Old 06-25-01, 01:19 PM
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Originally posted by Len2000
They tried to screw me too. An replacement shipping from Amazon was taking more than a week to arrive, so I checked the tracking # and Amazon's site said "awaiting customs declaration" or something. It had been there for 4 days, so I started calling this customs centre.

Here it comes: Since it had a value of $0, DHL had guessed it's value to be able to report something to customs. They had guessed 2 regular (MSRP $25-30) dvd's to be worth NLG 286 (approx $120). So customs billed me about $25.

But they never called me - the parcel was just lying there, waiting for me to pay for it. Only when I started calling I found out about this. After several hours of debating and me forwarding my Amazon invoice ($0) to them they decided to ship it to me free.

Worked out in the end, but caused quite some aggrevation on my part...

Since you're - just like me - from The Netherlands one word of warning: if you think DHL is bad, UPS sucks *MAJOR* when shipped from the USA. I can fill out a complete page with horror pages (but I won't): just avoid at all costs IMO.
Old 06-27-01, 03:33 PM
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Originally posted by exm
Originally posted by Len2000
They tried to screw me too. An replacement shipping from Amazon was taking more than a week to arrive, so I checked

(snip)

Worked out in the end, but caused quite some aggrevation on my part...

Since you're - just like me - from The Netherlands one word of warning: if you think DHL is bad, UPS sucks *MAJOR* when shipped from the USA. I can fill out a complete page with horror pages (but I won't): just avoid at all costs IMO.
Hmm ok I'll keep it in mind, exm. Too bad all these companies suck so bad!

NB - Eindhoven, hier
Old 06-28-01, 10:21 AM
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Guess it has to be FedEx.... Lelystad calling!
Old 06-28-01, 05:37 PM
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Originally posted by exm
Guess it has to be FedEx.... Lelystad calling!
) blijft toch grappig, dat internet !
Old 06-29-01, 03:41 AM
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Originally posted by Len2000
Originally posted by exm
Guess it has to be FedEx.... Lelystad calling!
) blijft toch grappig, dat internet !
Inderdaad. Soms denk ik wel eens met weemoed terug aan de wereld voor Internet...
Old 06-29-01, 08:16 AM
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Well,then i must be a pretty lucky boy here in Switzerland as DHL is a very good company. Always fast (only 2 Days from US to Switzerland) and with replacement orders valued $0 i never was charged any Taxes!
Old 06-29-01, 02:00 PM
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) blijft toch grappig, dat internet ! [/B]
Inderdaad. Soms denk ik wel eens met weemoed terug aan de wereld voor Internet... [/B]
Ja vreemd is dat he, ik ben nu 26 en ik kan me gewoon al bijna niet meer anders voorstellen... Best wel erg, eigenlijk. Sommige dingen zijn er wel beter door geworden, maar het is niet allemaal rozengeur en manenschijn...

Len

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