Things That Annoy You!

[Rudy]

Here's something that annoys me right now: Slovene customs. So, I'm expecting this big box with 7 Sierra games, right, not purchased through eBay. As usual, I get a letter from customs, asking for a proof of purchase so they can charge me a fat import tax (and I do mean fat, heck they even tax the shipping cost as if that's a valuable item inside the box). Anyway, so I send the Paypal payment confirmation through email. I got an email back, stating that "PayPal payment is not enough for customs purposes". Now figure this one out: on the letter (which asks for payment confirmation) there is a paper attached from the US Postal Services, stating the exact value of the items in the box and the shipping cost, a total amount which exactly matches the amount of the Paypal confirmation I sent them. What more proof do they need?! To make things even more pleasant, I get sent around to 4 different people when calling them, with the 4th one saying I should call back later to another person "who will be able to help". Stop pulling my leg, you incompetent bureaucrats, and give me my Sierra games!

[BBP]

Aw dear Rudy...
That sounds like the Dutch customs issue we had. My father bought an old Dinky Toy on eBay (one that you can't find here of a car my uncle used to have, a very very old and rusty car with two wheels missing). It cost 99 cents.

The seller put 99 c (with a stripe through the c) on the value part of the form. That was a bad idea. Customs mistook the price to be $99 and charged 19.63 euros tax.

Eventually, a lot of phonecalls later, the issue was resolved, Dad got his 20 euros back and could finally open the box. Unfortunately he spent some 20 euros on phone costs to get that result, so he lost most of his money anyway.

[Jules]

Ouch! (to both incidents)

Rudy, could you call customs? Sometimes it's better speaking with a human about the issue.

[Collector]

It seems as if customer service has been suffering, even as so many jobs being replaced with service jobs I hate it when you call someplace and after you get past the IVR no one knows anything so you get caught in a loop of being transferred from person to person, sometimes without warning, only to eventually talk with the same person from an earlier loop.

[QuestCollector]

I'm guessing that's the box I sent you Rudy?

I'm not sure what's going on exactly with the customs (over here the box is just delivered to the house, and they don't ask to be paid for the customs, maybe I'm supposed to submit them on my income tax form?)

If there's anything I can do to help, if you need papers or whatever, let me know.

[Rudy]

I'm guessing that's the box I sent you Rudy?

I'm not sure what's going on exactly with the customs (over here the box is just delivered to the house, and they don't ask to be paid for the customs, maybe I'm supposed to submit them on my income tax form?)

If there's anything I can do to help, if you need papers or whatever, let me know.

Yep, your box indeed . I've sent them another email (phone calls were useless) with more proof (link to your thread, screenshots of our PMs,...). If this doesn't work, then those people are beyond help.