Rant: Canada Custom Appeal

Heads up for those Canadians who shop online and your packages come from outside of Canada.  I ordered a pair of heels from Yesstyle.ca back in late September.  They arrived in Canada in mid-October and I finally get my hands on them today, mid-November.  Ridiculous or what?! It was NOT because of shipping.  Rather it was CUSTOMS! CanadaPost arrived at my door in mid-October asking me to pay $19 CAD for a pair of $22.50 CAD heels.  Uhhh, hello?!?! I could use that money to buy another pair of shoes if I had paid custom.  So hell no am I letting you (customs officer) rob me of my money! So I stopped the postal dude and told him to leave me a delivery notice.  For those of you who don't know, you have a few options when your package arrives at your door and customs is asking for a good chunk of money.  You can refuse it and it gets sent back to the sender (which I don't recommend but then again weigh your cons and pros), pay for it (then see if you can get it reimburse either through the seller or customs office), or ask for a delivery notice.  I took the delivery notice and printed out an online invoice that was sent to my e-mail inbox where I clearly highlighted the price I bought it at, which I declare as the true value of my shoes, along with a handwritten note to ask the customs officer to accordingly reassess my package.  My note wasn't rude but I had to take a hard stand at my argument.  Anyways, I took my note, delivery notice and invoice to the post office and told the CanadaPost woman (and how unfortunate of me, it's that cranky old woman AGAIN - if you've been following me, yes, it's that same old woman that gives me a hard time!) to send my package back to customs as I needed to get it appealed.  This reassessment process takes approximately 1 month, so be patient!

It's an easy process to send packages back to customs for an appeal, but seriously it's time-consuming.  So if you've ordered online and have been hit by customs, know how the process goes! Google about customs appeal, even after writing the note and asking for appeal, you do run the risk of them denying your request.  And if they do deny your request, you have to pay that customs fee PLUS the additional shipping - which I think is $8.50 CAD

My thought on this issue? You can really tell government is pulling funds from EVERYWHERE when you get four packages sent to your door step in the past 2 months and THREE of them are charging custom fees.  As most of us online shoppers know, in the past, packages that arrive at our door doesn't always get taxed.  Well that was when the economy wasn't slipping away and falling into a deep deficit hole.  For now, I think I'm going to hold off on the online shopping.  It's just too much work and time-consuming to have to get my stuff appealed!

Plus, you know what really pisses me off? The fact that when I opened my package, the shoe box was teared off and just shoved back into the box.  Clearly wasn't handled with care.  I thought everyone knew this right conduct: if it's not yours, you handle it with care.  Even though the shoe box will be tossed out, I'd like my stuff to be in piece and not mistreated.  I know custom officers get a certain degree of authority, but that does NOT justify the way they use that power nor the right to misuse it!