FEDEX

[newlyweds 0]

so my hubby and i went on a tour to chocolate world, we bought a bunch of chocolates to send home and drove to fedex to have it expressed since he doesnt trust the ever doubtful postal system in the country ( he sent me a package thru united postal service once and it arrived after more than a month or maybe 2)

so i was so shocked we paid $212 for 12 lbs but he was like ok, we'll just deal with it .. and then the package arrived in effin manila and my mom was called by the local fedex in the city that they wil collect 1900 pesos for the package i was like ####### the stuff in that package would only amount to $70 why the heck would they want about $42 for tax??

has anyone ever experienced something like this? or is this one of the hocus pocus shenanigans that they have under their sleeve? does anyone know the % hey usually ask for the tax?

i did call up the toll number for fedexand they said for international packages, the country of destination may ask for tax but she said it is up to the fedex there....

and the friggin fedex people were askin my mom if the sender was her fiance since i put my husband's name there instead of mine.. i was like, was that a cue of the mentality that white people are always rich like they grow dollar bills in trees rich? it's so embarrassing...

maybe they thought that since the sender was a white guy and my parents house looked like a mansion in their eyes (ahahahha) they thought money is of no issue

[Scott and Mhay 57]

I sent a couple of boxes to my wife... i think she has had some sort of fee when she picked it up, but it definately wasnt that much...i know it was less than 1000 pesos. I cant remember how much though. Yeah fedex and the postal service suck and are rip-offs. The "flat rate" box to the philippines through the postal service is like $56!!

Honestly i do think the post office and fedex down there pocket the extra money because they think americans are rich and of course the girlfriends or family want to get what is in the package.

Funny thing...I was talking to one girl on tagged...she had a BF in england i think. He "sent" her an engagement ring and a laptop i think. She was called by the carrier that she needed to pay a customs fee. It was quite a bit. I think more than $200. Anyway, she said her bf put cash in the box to pay that, but they would not release the box until she paid first. I told her not to fall for that...it sounded like a scam to me. I dont think she ever got the box...just told them to send it back. I dont think she is with her bf anymore either....She has other issues now.

Edited November 17, 2009 by Scott and Mhay

[tallcoolone 102]

I have experienced something similiar when shipping something to PI.

My rule now, is I try to just bring it with me on the plane and not have to mess with customs and duty

I think another way to get around it , is to send a Balikbayan box.

[newlyweds 0]

yikes! but yeah, i was so mad when my mom called me to inform me.. she was upset too coz it was supposedly a nice thing to get something on the mail.. but yeah, i think it's they are trying to pocket that.. i just emailed my mom that she should ask them again about it.. i mean seriously, who on earth would charge more than 50% for taxes..

the fedex rep on the fedex toll # said that it is based off on the package, she said on the value or something like that..so i just think it is just way too much to be charged something like that!

and if they dont give an official fedex receipt then there must be a greater issue there.. i know my mom refused the package first because she had never experienced that either..my dad sends a bunch of packages from the middle east but we never had to pay tax..and when my then fiance sent me stuff from japan, i never did pay for anything too..

this is just so awful.. it's a shame our country is that corrupt

[newlyweds 0]

I have experienced something similiar when shipping something to PI.

My rule now, is I try to just bring it with me on the plane and not have to mess with customs and duty

I think another way to get around it , is to send a Balikbayan box.

a friend of mine from michigan also told me about that, which courier can i do that though? and she said it takes 6 weeks but the weight is unlimited so sounds good enough

there was a case with my old friend too regarding Phil. postal, he sent a big package from belgium and it somehow magically disappeared. i mean seriously, he said it was a really huge box, there is no reason it had magically evaporated in thin air...

[Nenita and David 1]

this is just so awful.. it's a shame our country is that corrupt

We could start an entire thread about this sort of corruption. It really is sad. Aquino, Estrada, Arroyo, all promised reform and an end to corruption. What's happened...?

i was like, was that a cue of the mentality that white people are always rich like they grow dollar bills in trees rich? it's so embarrassing...

At our wedding reception, some local cops crashed the party, came in and helped themselves to some food, then charged some drinks on my tab. They figure I'm not going to say anything because 1.) they're the cops, 2.) I'm a white guy so I must have so much money that the cost of the drinks is nothing to me, and 3.) because I know the wedding guests are all safe with a gaggle of cops at the reception. They're right on counts 1 & 3, but dead wrong on count 2. There's really nothing I could do about it, but it's really sad that officials there feel so entitled to do as they please and let the Filipino tax-payers, balakbayan, and foreign visitors pay the bill for their privilege.

[newlyweds 0]

this is just so awful.. it's a shame our country is that corrupt

We could start an entire thread about this sort of corruption. It really is sad. Aquino, Estrada, Arroyo, all promised reform and an end to corruption. What's happened...?

i was like, was that a cue of the mentality that white people are always rich like they grow dollar bills in trees rich? it's so embarrassing...

At our wedding reception, some local cops crashed the party, came in and helped themselves to some food, then charged some drinks on my tab. They figure I'm not going to say anything because 1.) they're the cops, 2.) I'm a white guy so I must have so much money that the cost of the drinks is nothing to me, and 3.) because I know the wedding guests are all safe with a gaggle of cops at the reception. They're right on counts 1 & 3, but dead wrong on count 2. There's really nothing I could do about it, but it's really sad that officials there feel so entitled to do as they please and let the Filipino tax-payers, balakbayan, and foreign visitors pay the bill for their privilege.

wow that is the 1st ive heard about that.. i bet they knew someone in the party and that someone thoughtfully invited everyone! that happens a lot.. party crashers..i hate that!

when i had my farewell party before i left the country, i had a full list of invited people.. i prepared a party for only about 60 people and yeah guess what happened, my party ended up having about 40-50 crashers! i was so embarrassed to some of my real guests because it became too crowded in our house!

It was so hard when I planned the party coz everyone thought, oh hey, dollars, white fiance, millions! sheesh! we're young and saving up for the future, there no way in hell i am gonna let us spend so much just for 1 party for people i really didn't like being there!

i wanted a party with just my immediate family, but my entire clan, the neighbors, and other friends expected the party of the year! my mom kept telling me, we couldn't avoid that pressure either because my family is well-off accdng to philippine standard of living

[loveaboo 0]

I had the same experience when my fiance sent me a prepaid phone. On my case, the tax is so much more than the declared custom value of the item which my fiance sent. I asked FedEx (air21) about it, they sent me a computation which my fiance and I think are just made up. They included in the computation the Value, Freight and Insurance costs as well as Php265 stamps and Php250 "others". And took 12% of the total as VAT. Then they added a so called IPF. After that, they added another Php265 stamps and Php40 Custom Forms plus Php10 Notarial.

I argued that there's a redundancy in the addition of stamps cost. They explained that the one will go to government and the other will go to Custom. I argued that Custom is a government agency so it's still government. I added in the e-mail that since based on computations, the higher the freight cost and insurance are, the higher the cost of tax, then it won't be practical to use an expensive courier such as them to ship items. The personnel didn't respond at all. I think she finally gave up knowing that she won't be able to convince me that the amount they are asking me to pay is right.

Anyways, I didn't want to pay the amount but my fiance really wanted me to have that phone during my trip to US so he insisted to have the bill sent to him. Until now, the bill hasn't posted...

Edited November 17, 2009 by loveaboo

[loveaboo 0]

What's funny was even though my fiance contacted FedEx and told them he will shoulder the bill, on the day of the delivery of the phone, FedEx/Air21 was still insisting on me paying for it. I asked the courier to contact the main office so they will know that all taxes and fees will be paid by the sender and informed them that if I won't get the phone that day, they can send it back to US since that day was the last day prior my departure. After 30 minutes the courier returned and gave me the item. It's been 2 weeks since the delivery, until now the bill hasn't posted to my fiance's account so we're still waiting...

[ladylyn 0]

I have experienced something similiar when shipping something to PI.

My rule now, is I try to just bring it with me on the plane and not have to mess with customs and duty

I think another way to get around it , is to send a Balikbayan box.

. Same thing I did with mine too. I usually just send a balikbayan box because it's more handy for me. My mom doesn't like to deal with those corrupt people in the post office or FEDEX branches because one time, they asked her to pay for what they call a "tax" but was worth more than the stuffs in the package.

[newlyweds 0]

What's funny was even though my fiance contacted FedEx and told them he will shoulder the bill, on the day of the delivery of the phone, FedEx/Air21 was still insisting on me paying for it. I asked the courier to contact the main office so they will know that all taxes and fees will be paid by the sender and informed them that if I won't get the phone that day, they can send it back to US since that day was the last day prior my departure. After 30 minutes the courier returned and gave me the item. It's been 2 weeks since the delivery, until now the bill hasn't posted to my fiance's account so we're still waiting...

wow.. good God these people put the shame in our nationality! there's no question why we get a lot of skepticism.. geez! my mom paid for the so-called tax... i am never ever gonna do that thru them.. as much as they can they wanna have a cut on everything.. like wow.. it is amazing how much desperate they get.. i asked my mom about the receipt and she showed it to me, it was a receipt from the branch not an official fedex receipt so there is really something wrong with that

I have experienced something similiar when shipping something to PI.

My rule now, is I try to just bring it with me on the plane and not have to mess with customs and duty

I think another way to get around it , is to send a Balikbayan box.

. Same thing I did with mine too. I usually just send a balikbayan box because it's more handy for me. My mom doesn't like to deal with those corrupt people in the post office or FEDEX branches because one time, they asked her to pay for what they call a "tax" but was worth more than the stuffs in the package.

i know right? i mean heck, our "tax" was more than 50% of what's inside! i was so furious when i found out about it.. i've never heard that before! i mean seriously, tax for what???

Edited November 17, 2009 by newlyweds

[adiiann 163]

Is there someone who could suggest any good courier services?

Hehehehe... I have same issue.... I'm gonna send something for my aunt and brother this christmas... it's too expensive... just to send something.....

[Deputy Purple 1,294]

The problem with shipping things via FedEx or UPS is that they use the same corrupt criminal local shipper Air21.

If you must use a courier to send from the US to the PH then use DHL. They actually have DHL employees in the PH and if there is a bogus tariff issue you can apply pressure from the US to the PH employees. They got a 12,000Php import fee reduced to 600Php on a laptop computer!

We've also used DHL to ship from PH to US and everything arrives in the package. They catalog the contents before sealing & shipping the boxes.

[newlyweds 0]

The problem with shipping things via FedEx or UPS is that they use the same corrupt criminal local shipper Air21.

If you must use a courier to send from the US to the PH then use DHL. They actually have DHL employees in the PH and if there is a bogus tariff issue you can apply pressure from the US to the PH employees. They got a 12,000Php import fee reduced to 600Php on a laptop computer!

We've also used DHL to ship from PH to US and everything arrives in the package. They catalog the contents before sealing & shipping the boxes.

aww darn it! we were gonna use DHL but the closest one we saw was fedex! frggn air21!!! yeah they are a bunch of corrupts selfish A** es lol pardon my languaged but I am just so ticked off about it..

[annaprice 17]

when my husband sent me my laptop originally the tariff cost P12,000 but after talking to dhl it was reduced to P600.

next scene my husband sends me iPhone. he shipped it thru fedex,now fedex turn in the package to air21,when they went to my house for delivery they said pay 4,000 for tariff. i was so shocked, they did not even bother to call me,and say hey you have a package coming and tariff cost 4000.no! just showed up at my house. and i talked to them said theyd do something about the tariff but guess what 6 months past never heard from them. nice eh? FEDEX sucks!! air21 too!