Sending Documents Roundtrip (Fedex, DHL, etc.) ???

[Looking4Wife 0]

Yesterday I sent off some documents to my sweetheart in Barranquilla, Colombia, using Fedex.

Common sense would dictate to me that I should be able to pay upfront for BOTH:

1. Me sending the documents to her, and

2. Her sending the documents back to me

Unfortunately, it was apparent that the people working at the FedexKinkos knew much more about making photocopies than they did about international mail... understandably so.

Has anyone tried to send documents roundtrip using Fedex, DHL, etc. to Colombia, or another foreign destination???

[lquin 0]

Yesterday I sent off some documents to my sweetheart in Barranquilla, Colombia, using Fedex.

Common sense would dictate to me that I should be able to pay upfront for BOTH:

1. Me sending the documents to her, and

2. Her sending the documents back to me

Unfortunately, it was apparent that the people working at the FedexKinkos knew much more about making photocopies than they did about international mail... understandably so.

Has anyone tried to send documents roundtrip using Fedex, DHL, etc. to Colombia, or another foreign destination???

Used UPS.. they were pretty good.. although documents were a day late..

[Looking4Wife 0]

Resolution:

1. Opened a PERSONAL (not a business) account with FedEx, so I was assigned an account number.

2. Had to fax a written authorization to FedEx Rep in Colombia, authorizing my sweetheart to use my account number.

NOTE: Not sure if this authorization will be good for the next time, so just to be sure, I will always send an authorization with any documents. I will also include a general authorization for her to copy and reuse.

[bradentejas 0]

Looking4wife...

My wife is from Barranquilla and I have received/sent many things to and from...so I speak with experience. First I will say that you wont get better servie or prices than DHL. I personally have had problems with USPS and FedEx because both (especially USPS) have been known to or regularly use 3rd party carriers once it gets to Colombia. DHL uses its own company at all times, and has EXCELLENT customer service in Barranquilla. DHL is also cheaper, but the only down side is that you have to visit the actual shipping facility to send something - you can not use an agent for DHL, and if you do you risk the package getting tied up and maybe sent back before it even leaves the country.

As for the round-trip thing, I'm afraid it is not possible. The reason is, for homeland security purposes, you cannot prepay for something to come back into the country if you cannot verify exactly what it is or you were not the one to send it. The international package must be prepared, paid for and verified/signed by the sender at all times. I personally doubt that even FedEx will let you do this internationally on one of their user accounts (I have one but never asked about the round trip thing). The guy above me says yes, but the process looks like a regular pain.

Do what I did and get a low-limit credit card, get a copy of the card in her name, and send it to her. Let her use it for DHL payments and Cajero visits for cash. You will get an awesome exchange rate (currently 2560 pesos for 1 USD) and pay way less when she pays for things like DHL or receiving money from the Cajero.

Edited June 28, 2006 by bradentejas

[Shortie81 0]

Yesterday I sent off some documents to my sweetheart in Barranquilla, Colombia, using Fedex.

Common sense would dictate to me that I should be able to pay upfront for BOTH:

1. Me sending the documents to her, and

2. Her sending the documents back to me

Unfortunately, it was apparent that the people working at the FedexKinkos knew much more about making photocopies than they did about international mail... understandably so.

Has anyone tried to send documents roundtrip using Fedex, DHL, etc. to Colombia, or another foreign destination???

I just scanned all the documents and sent them to my wife via email, and it worked so much faster than mailing or fedexing

[miker32us 6]

Good idea, I have a digital sender that transforms everything into PDF's. What documents did you scan... The DS-230? If the person has Adobe Acrobat on the other end they can even fill them in, Adobe reader will not allow this though.

quote name='Shortie81' date='Jun 29 2006, 01:12 PM' post='280786']

Yesterday I sent off some documents to my sweetheart in Barranquilla, Colombia, using Fedex.

Common sense would dictate to me that I should be able to pay upfront for BOTH:

1. Me sending the documents to her, and

2. Her sending the documents back to me

Unfortunately, it was apparent that the people working at the FedexKinkos knew much more about making photocopies than they did about international mail... understandably so.

Has anyone tried to send documents roundtrip using Fedex, DHL, etc. to Colombia, or another foreign destination???

I just scanned all the documents and sent them to my wife via email, and it worked so much faster than mailing or fedexing

[Looking4Wife 0]

Shortie81:

Great idea! Now may be a good time for me to learn how to use my copier/printer/scanner

[phirephly 0]

I've done this through the shipping department here at work and it's been fine so far:

Send a fedex envelope. Inside (folded in half), is another fedex envelope that's already preaddressed and has the account number, etc. on it already. So basically, all she had to do was put the docs that needed to be returned into the envelope that was already prepaid and already addressed, seal it, and drop it off at the the closest fedex.

Maybe there are a couple details that I'm missing since the shipping guy filled out some things, but apparently it's possible. He said that there's even a way to make a return label (that could have just been enclosed in the envelope and affixed to an envelope that she'd get there), but he didn't know how to do it since he's never really had to do it. ttyl,

mich

Yesterday I sent off some documents to my sweetheart in Barranquilla, Colombia, using Fedex.

Common sense would dictate to me that I should be able to pay upfront for BOTH:

1. Me sending the documents to her, and

2. Her sending the documents back to me

Unfortunately, it was apparent that the people working at the FedexKinkos knew much more about making photocopies than they did about international mail... understandably so.

Has anyone tried to send documents roundtrip using Fedex, DHL, etc. to Colombia, or another foreign destination???