Problems with Angel Of Dream

For these things I distrust the new houses. Communicate with the shop, they have to be played the role responsible for his mistakes. A lot of luck.

 

You will already see that it will be solved !! You must talk whit AoD. !!! I will be whit you ! Dont worry !! U_U

 

My goodness, ecchi ;_;

Have you contacted AoD again?

 

I'm sorry this has happened to you, but it is not the company's job to handle your custom's taxes. They do not have to pay them for you, and honestly, it is illegal for them to mark down the value of packages or mark them as gifts.

They take a huge risk when they do that for a customer. Companies can get in serious legal trouble for that, to the tune of being blacklisted by a government or postal system. It happened to Luts in Canada. When a company is blacklisted, not only do you still have to pay the customs fees, the company has to pay outrageous fees, as well.

Also, a lot of times when dolls go through customs, the package is opened, and customs contacts the buyer and asks for a reciept to prove how much you payed for it. If it is more than it was declared, guess what? Customs fees.

I understand that you are upset, but you cannot blame the company for their misunderstanding, and you are really asking something rediculous by wanting them to refund the customs fees.

 

Unfortunately, because they sent it through UPS, even if they marked it down as a "gift", you still would've been charged outrageously with customs fees. Because UPS isn't federally regulated, but instead is a corporate business, they have to hire "brokers", who work on International packages and inspect them through customs. Basically, what you had to pay, is a "brokerage fee" -- a fee that the brokers charge UPS, and in turn, UPS charges you.

I only know this because I work for UPS and work closely with our International ODC clerks. Even if you raised a big stink about how much you had to pay for customs, they really are within their legal right to ship it however they want, and to not mark down the package. It's possible the Angel of Dream has noticed that other larger ABJD distributors have been getting charged exhorborent amounts of money for illegally marking down their products.

While it would've been nice if they had shipped it through a non-courier and marked the package down, we can't expect a company to pull illegal strings just to appease certain customers.

Don't be hard on Angel of Dream -- they did everything right in this situation. It's just unfortunate that you were stuck with the brokerage fees.

 

Yes, I agree with this. The custom fees someone gets it's not the sender's responsibility.

But maybe she can negotiate to get the money she paid for the doll back (maybe she will lose the cost of shipping, but at least the doll cost) if it's sent back or something. If that's what you want of course, ecchi!

If you really want to get your doll, I hope there's something that can be done with customs so they don't charge you that insane amount!!

 

As already said...AoD have'nt done anything wrong and they are not liable for your customs fees.
Having said that why did'nt they use a different delivery service? They sent my doll by a different service (can't remember off the top of my head which one it was) and i had no hassle with customs charges.
I know that AoD did ask here whether customers would be willing to use a different service rather than EMS as it would be cheaper, maybe that is what they have done? It has'nt worked out cheaper for you has it?
You poor thing - i can understand why you feel angry even though technically it is'nt AoD's fault.
I would probably want to shoot them if it was me.

 

I'm not really understanding the calculations. What's 351% tax? What kind of tax is it? Did you check laws in your country? Because I never heard of such ridiculous numbers.

Was there your phone number on the parcel? Your customs or UPS should have contacted you either way to let you know that they have your package if they need fees covered before delivering it. It's also ridiculous asking you to cover storage fees, if you didn't even know they had your package (and you're not obligated to have tracking numbers and check it every day).

And what's the problem with "free sample"? How is that all of a sudden a subject of sky-high taxes?

I suggest you check your local customs policies and try to work it out with them. Normally, if you bring original payment invoice, they would have to calculate taxes out of the numbers there, instead of whatever is written in declaration. So call them, or go visit them (if the office is close to you), bring along payment papers and explain that you have no idea how and why the company marked it, but this is what it is, a purchase, and they should calculate the right tax for you. And since they didn't contact you, they have no right to charge you $50 of storage fees as well.
_____

And if nothing else works, if you simply refuse to pay the fees, they should ship the package back. It would however take a while for it to arrive back, as it's sent surface.

 

Bunny Boo, the customs laws in Mexico are... weird to say the least. Of course that could be said for all the other laws too...

But the thing is that an item coming from China WILL be charged an insane amount of percentage in fees here. And yes, they DO charge for storage after a week.

Don't ask why, it is ridiculous, but that's the way it is.

They charge for everything and anything and even if you complain, little can be solved *sighs*

 

Ugh.. from what I understand that any sort of packages or letters are open or retained in mexico because their postal system is so corrupt.

Cutom duties are the buyers responsbilty though . I know it can be a nasty suprise when you get there but maybe you can ask fo a loan from someone before the storage fee goes up anymore?

 

Exactly

 

In most countries customs inspectors are legally allowed to open any package to look for invoice or to verify if there's no prohibited items, without presence of addressee. And if they suspect that the information on declaration is not right, they're again allowed to retain it.

And just to clarify, because it seems many people are confused about this: customs and postal system are completely different organizations. Post is responsible to deliver the packages to customs, pick them up after inspection and collect fees if there are any. Post is not responsible for anything that's going on within customs.

 

Well, customs here act ridiculously too, but at least everything is justified by law. Yes, they hold everything coming from Asia. Yes, they put packages in "Temporary storage" for weeks. But they don't charge some unknown taxes. That's why I wonder what kind of tax is that 351%.

Here we pay 21% VAT, 5% importing tax and a few various fixed fees from 0.50€ to 7€ to cover printed form and handling.

I'm just wondering what kind of tax could possibly be 351%...

 

Maybe I'm misunderstanding the issue, but I don't believe any company is obligated to misrepresent the contents of a package it is sending you.

 

I can totally understand the frustration with having to pay high custom costs--that really sucks. However, there is risk involved trying to get out of paying. I've seen several posts where things have gone wrong trying to sneak past customs, and I don't think this is AODs fault. They obviously tried to get it past as a free product, and it just didn't work.

 

You asked them to lie on the customs forms, and they didn't lie in the precise way you wanted, so you feel you deserve a refund?

That sounds a little, well, unrealistic.

 

Hmmm... In the situation where the company misrepresents the customs declaration info on regular basis to please customers and fails to do (wouldn't know if they confirmed they would do it to the customer, that would make it even worse), and without warning the customer ships the item by different method (UPS instead of EMS) which in the particular country is subject to high broker fees AND doesn't give the customer tracking number in time, which results in $50 of storage fees - yes, indeed, refund is very much deserved in my opinion.

It's a series of unfortunate events. Surely, the company is not supposed to know all the details of sending goods to every country in the world. But would they inform the customer about how they're going to declare the package, which shipping method they're gonna use and what's the tracking number, much of this could have been avoided.

 

Broken? Did they take the doll apart, or what happened?

Since they didn't ship by EMS, and they didn't give you the tracking information in time, then you should really take it up with the company.
​

 

I think that is a bit unreasonable..
If you buy an article than the customs are your responsibility no matter what you buy and how expensive it is.. and customs are something you always want to add to the price of your doll. After the doll leaves the warehouse and shipping has been paid for it, all the costs after that will be your responsibility.
So they can't be blamed for everything.. Yes you should get an apolagy and perhaps some money back but canceling the whole purchase seems to push it too far. You will be better of discussing it with customs and AoD in a reasonable way and I am sure some form of agreement can be made.

There are in no way obligated to actually give you a full refund. After all, they did deliver the goods. It than can snatched by customs which happens too so many dolls... That is sad, but they did nothing wrong. Many companies these days refuse to mark it as a gift or sample becasue of these reasons.. Customs will fine them..

Tbh expecting them not only to pay the bills of the doll being send back but also probably an additional fine from customs is something that is very unfair for AoD.

 

Customs might be her responsibility, but if they are going to break it and write on it with marker that will ruin the doll; because they thought they would be "nice" and mark the form as a free sample is not her responsiblity.

I get sick of companies marking dolls as gifts. It seems like for every doll that comes through customs just fine, we get more of these stories. Customs are starting to catch on, and if people want to buy a doll, they should deal with paying the taxes on a doll that's been properly marked.

 

Not asking the company to lie on the customs form would have avoided this entire dilemma. AoD probably had no idea that free samples would be written on with marker -- I would imagine that to them "gift" and "free sample" mean pretty much the same thing. I bet they thought they were abiding by the buyer's wishes.

No good deed goes unpunished, I suppose. I doubt after this that they will honor such requests in the future, and that's probably for the best.

 

She say me:

And....

---------------------------------------------------------

AoD has been lying to her from the beginning. Because they said that the package was declared with a value of $20 @_@

 

Does that mean it's not declared as a free sample, then? So she'll be able to pay the taxes and get it intact?

 

No, it mean AoD lied to her about what it was marked as.

I cant believe some people are in the favor of the company. The "customer service" they have shown this person is just plain horrible.

*Jen

 

I think this a case of I mean I am sorry this happened to you but you did take a risk here. Trying to get around your own country's laws just to avoid paying taxes and you got caught. There's a reason for those laws and yes we could all get along without paying all those taxes but your taxes are there to help support things like army, social services, etc, etc...

In my country we do get hit by taxes with our dolls and it comes with the territory. Yes, it saddens me that I have to pay taxes but you know what that's the law. How much would you have been hit with taxes if the doll had been declared as it was supposed to? probably much less.

The problem now is that now you have risen a flag for that company and they might be even more suspicious when somoene in your country buys a doll.

It's sad and it could have been avoided but you DID ask the company to lie. Maybe in china if you write FREE SAMPLE you don't get hit by taxes but gift might be. I know in Canada even if it's written gift, if it's over 20$ and from a company you'll get hit by taxes! if a friend send you a gift and it's over 60$ you get hit by taxes. (or it might not happen it depends how anal the Custom officer is) Samples do not (or maybe that changed recently) Knowing that maybe since they knew it was in the Americain continent and you wanted to avoid paying taxes that is what they wrote.

I never ask the companies to mark down my packages... because if I did that and the package is caught, it will give them and me trouble.

I know it doesn't give you your doll and it's really sad but really how is it the company's fault if they did what you asked (in this case lie) to accomodate you? I hope you both find a way to solve this problem. And I think from my POV that you have your share of responsability in this. Yes AOD didn't do things exactly like you wanted, but they probably did it like that to save you money, just like you asked.

I'd say you both have a share of responsability in this but don't put all the blame on the company. Because they cannot know the laws regarding taxes and customs in your country.

That being said... I think it's completly stupid for your customs to write on the doll with marker and break it. But maybe, just maybe, they are forced to do so because too many people try to cheat the system.

 

Issues such as lack of communication and any shipping snafoos are worth bringing up with the company. However, a mishap due to someone trying to get out of paying customs (which is how this whole thing started) has nothing to do with their customer service. They are not obligated to break the law on her behalf. The only way she could have gauranteed that there would be no mishap, would be to have money saved back for customs--especially since there have been other customs related horror stories lately. Marking it as a free sample may have been the way they thought she could get her doll customs free.

Mexicos whacky laws aren't AODs problems, and I doubt they're going to know the ins and outs of customs in every country they ship to (especially since it's the buyers responsibility to pay up). I feel bad that her doll is stuck in customs--it's awfull that that happened, but it's not AODs responsibility to fix. I don't stand up for companies no matter what, and there are times that issues need to be brought to their attention. However, it does bother me when people get highly accusatory over things that don't fall under the comany's responsibilities.

By the way, if AOD declared the package as $20.00 it wouldn't also be a free sample, so which is it? (In case I misunderstood something). Aren't the customs people throwing a fit because it's marked as a free sample?

 

Ehehe! Sorry, I couldn't help but laugh at that part. No, I'm not laughing at you or your comment, please don't take it personally.

It's because... it's Mexican laws and taxes you're talking about. All that money goes Gawd knows where, to the pockets of a president, governor, deputees, federal workers, etc etc etc, but never to any of those services you mention. That is if the customs officers/postal workers (they sometimes are the ones who take the money from customs fees) didn't keep the money themselves!

But anyway, that's not the point.

The point is, she was getting her first doll, and yes, she asked them to mark it down and as a gift like tons of other people do, maybe because she heard that was a good thing to do from the other people that have done it.

But the company (or the company they used to ship it) didn't send it through the mail carrier they have told her, DHL, instead it went UPS and everything went wrong.

Now if they did mark it as $2660 something dollars, it may have been a conversion mistake, who knows. But the fact is she didn't know that til just now, before that she thought it was marked as $20. And since she was unable to pay the insane amount of fees they were charging her, the doll ended up being sent back.

If she can get a refund, because obviously she has no doll now, at least she could get another doll. Or maybe AoD can send the doll again and this time make sure it won't go through UPS ^^;;
I don't know! I hope they can work something out!

ok, sorry if I'm ranting too much, I just hope everything turns out fine, cause it's sad to see this kind of situations happening ;_;

 

tho in reading over at the AoD thread, ecchigirl has said even if she paid the customs, what she'll receive is a broken doll marked with SAMPLE on.

Even if the company didn't mean to and it was a mistake, that is a bit of a shock for anyone, even more so for their first doll. Off putting.

Corruption... lovely in every country tho this sounds more serious than anything. Not having to pay customs is one thing. But paying a sum of money for a product, paying the taxes and then receiving it broken is bound to upset anyone.

If the doll is sent back or broken, i reckon they should refund the doll or replace it. The tax paid shouldn't be refunded but the initial price of the doll should.

 

The part about it being worth some 20000blah blah dollars was a mistake. I read she got THAT part straightened out, because it's 350% of 20 dollars, just like it was marked. They didn't lie about anything. And 'Free' and 'Gift' mean the same thing in many languages. They checked a box and thought they were doing what the customer asked.

Refuse the package and it'll be sent back to sender. Then they can refund the cost of the doll. I do not see how they are liable for anything else.

 

If the doll arrives broken or damaged because of actions taken by the company, she's entitled to a paypal refund. As for the permanent marker - get out your sanding paper - joys of BJDs - it may come off.

Sue

 

TheSaint, UPS told her today that the package was registered with a marked value of $2600 and something. She didn't figure it out, they told her. But they didn't tell her that from the start, but until now. She thought all the time that it was marked as $20.

And well, yeah, I agree, they may have confused the meanings of Free sample and Gift. Like someone else said, the customs laws for these could be different in China or they just confused the meanings.

But anyway, the doll was sent back as she couldn't afford the fees they were charging her, and of course she wouldn't take a broken and stained doll for $20! So now she's waiting for AoD to get back to her, to see if she'll get a refund or what's going to happen.

ETA:

Hobbysue, we all wish that was the case! They would mark all over her with a Sharpie and then break her. Yeah, break the doll, as completely destroying it, not unassembling it, and rendering it useless beyond repair.

So cruel ;_;

 

But it will also come BROKEN! How will she fix that if she pays the customs? ANd it's PERMANENT Marker. you never saw the head on here that was "painted" with those type markers. It NEVER came off!

 

This was posted in the other thread.

If the value was really marked as $26,957 and they want 350% that's $94,349.50...not $140. They are charging her for a package worth $20. It is my understanding that this was a mistake on the part of the shipping company. They got that part worked out, but the regulations say a 'free sample' cannot be in good working condition, for whatever reason. Most likely to stop people from doing exactly what she tried to do...breaking the import laws.

 

Did she actually ask AOD to mark the doll down? Every doll I've gotten from a company has had it's value marked down and marked as "gift". My Flexi-body was marked at $10 for crying out loud! I live in the US, so I'm not asking these people to mark down anything, they're doing it themselves, so I'm wondering if she was the one that asked or if they did it on their own. (I'll have a better idea in a day or two, my AOD is in NY right now)

So I'm not sure we should be jumping on the opener, I'm just annoyed that these companies are taking it upon themselves to do this. It's one thing if you, as a purchaser, ask them to do something like this, then it's sort of your own bed when you get caught, but what I'm getting sick of is the companies doing this without asking.

 

oh I see! Thanks for the correction ^^

And I'd better stop replying here, I seem to understand nothing lol ^^;;

Best of luck in this anyway, ecchigirl!! I hope both you and AoD can agree to something.

 

She said in her first post in this thread that she asked AOD to mark it as a gift.

I still suspect that to AOD, "gift" and "free sample" mean pretty much the same thing.

 

Sorry, that's what I get for reading a thread over a couple days. That makes me less annoyed at the company though.

Someone with a clue about Mexican customs, what would the taxes have been on it if it had been declared at full value?

 

It's usually 15%.

 

It`s about the same value in Canada so that means if the doll had been declared at 145$ about 21.75$ of taxes.

I know you say that Mexico is corrupted and all that but that`s the system you got and unless you can chenge your goverment that`s not going to get any better. I wish I could know what to do to help you but I can`t.

A lot of people around the world have to pay taxes for their dolls, they justcalculate it in their cost. It`s your first doll and I`m sorry you had to go through this but if you want your doll you have to pay your taxes.

We all know now to never write FREE SAMPLE when shipping a package to Mexico now.

 

Just to clarify things here, the parcel is marked at $20 and not $2000+ As for marking down the value, ecchigirl has given us instructions to do so along with many of our customers. So because of that, we have been marking down the parcels we ship out.

We are now offering her a full refund for her doll as long as the package is sent back safely or, we could pay the customs fees for her. The management have decided that it was our mistake for marking the package wrongly and we should be responsible for the mess this time.

Also, due to this complication, we will NOT be marking down anymore parcels when you place an order in our website unless you specifically request for it. But if things continue to go wrong, we may refuse to mark down the packages altogether. Even so, if you get charged custom fees for the marked down packages, it will not be our responsibility.

I have already given instructions to the factory to declare all these packages that have been marked down as 'GIFT' to avoid anymore trouble.

Once the item leaves our factory, we will provide the customer with a tracking number and we will not be responsible for anything that would happen to it. Unless there is a problem with the doll, of course.

Also, we weren't avoiding her emails. >_< We are aware that she's anxious about her doll and are already trying to attend to her emails first. We generally try to respond to emails ASAP, but there has been a sudden influx of emails lately and we need a little time to repond to all of them. But all emails are replied within 3 business days.

And I know I've stressed this many times in the AoD incoming doll thread, but ecchigirl, please give us time to respond to your email! Sending us too many emails in less than 2 hours will clog up our inbox and cause even slower replies. >_<;; Please give us at least 3 business days before you send another email or if it's really urgent, send it as a high importance email. That'll ensure that we get back to you ASAP.

 

And there we have it. Thank you for your response clearing things up, Izumiyavi. It was very kind of you to offer to settle with the buyer in this way. It speaks highly of your company's concern for its customers.

All this over what would have been a $21.75 customs fee. What a shame.

 

About the first part, yes. It wasn't that big amount so the taxes wouldn't have been high ;_;

Ehehe, yeah we all know. But it's been like this for decades, if not centuries. It won't change overnight, sadly. Let's hope the future gets brighter! *sighs*

izumiyavi, I feel bad for all of this happening, it must have been stressful for you too. But I'm glad that both your company and ecchigirl have talked and maybe agreed on something by now.

Best of luck to both of you!

 

AoD very well for recognizing your mistakes. I hope that they learn of these experiences and are every time a better shop.

 

ecchigirl i hope it all goes well soon

still the postal system is that corrupt to destroy the 'free sample' why tho? If someone sends a free sample to their cilents they receive it destroyed. It's just wrong

all could have been avoided if the correct value was stated. I rather pay the value customs rather than have it broken

 

I have a problem with AoD too.
They didn't reply my emails after I sent them three times.
Earlier this year, I placed an order of a pair of boots there, I totally forgot about it until i started cleaning up my mailbox. So, we all know, there's this link below their invoice saying "click to view order", and thats just what i did. Instead of redirecting me to my order, I was redirected to the homepage. I was dumb-struck. So I mailed them and asked if the invoice was still legit, as I want to settle payment as soon as possible. After another 2 mails and no replies, I just got frustrated.

 

Hi,Do you refer to AOD website or the seller on ebay?

 

the website. I'm starting to think they're avoiding me.

 

acexkeikai: Stop writing "gift". Write "souvenir". Has worked every single time for me sending things all around Canada and then from Canada to America (I lived there for three years and had to mail all my crap back). The Post people at Shoppers will even tell you to do this. There is no need to pay "gift" taxes ever.

Wow, note to self: Send nothing to Mexico, ever. O_o

 

Ouch!
I gotta tell you, after i posted this, its sort of worked out ok for me! (sort of)
I know I shouldn't be flaunting my joy here, but after my complaint here, I got a mail from AoD!

But I guess this is where my problems start, eh...the whole shipping thing.

I hope there isn't a problem..On their mail, it says their office is somewhere in Singapore? (I hope this is right) And Malaysia is just right next to Singapore (you could practically drive there!), so I hope there isn't a problem.
But if its not in Singapore, the closest I got to getting packages from China was Hong Kong, and that was from Mimiwoo!
I hope everything turns out ok everyone..I'm starting to worry the more I read this thread.

 

Canada to Canada = no customs.
Canada to USA = no customs for USA person on most items (including toys/dolls)
Inbound into Canada = weird customs for everything, save food usually.

Writting souvenir will change nothing, as any Canadian citizen entering Canda from a vacation needs to declare what was purchased, the value and pay customs if it is over a certain value (depending on how long you were away, ie- going to the US for a weekend and you can bring back 100$ in items per person).

As for the original post- don't ask companies to break the law for you. Simple as that.

 

I have to say that you might have it a little off here, kokoryta. My parents were not charged customs to send packages to me in Canada, and they sent a wide variety of things, nor was I charged customs to receive them. So I don't think your "Inbound into Canada" is quite correct. "No customs for USA person" means nothing when it's the USA person doing the sending, as well ^.~ Too, I don't see what the vacation thing has to do with anything...we're discussing Canada Post, not Mounties at the border ^.~

Trust me on this one. Living on both sides of the border gives you an interesting perspective.

 

Quite aware of that, thanks. However, weird customs means its completely random if you are charged, what you are changed and so on. Ask anyone collecting dolls in Canada, or maybe take a gander at some of the posts about how messed up Canada customs is.

(Oh, and the border does have a customs office, FYI. Just becaused you lived here, doesn't mean you know all the ins and outs of our customs system. )

 

Aye, "weird customs" that randomly charge effect the UK before too.
List of items i've not been charged on:
My doll
A BB gun Ak-47
Over £200 of DVDs from America

And yet, what has been subject to customs charge, each and every time, all three orders....
A bunch of wigs for cosplay.
I kid you not. It's like UK customs has something against wigs.

But yeah, on the original topic: If you don't like the charges your country implements, don't import. It really is that simple.

 

But it is. The customs regulation is in place and will be charged. To try and sidestep it is wrong.
Do you try to sidestep paying for your groceries? No.
So why should this charge be any different?