buy gear from US

I always have my stuff shipped "UPS Expedited" to Alberta from B&H and receive it within 36-72 hours. I receive a tracking # from B&H and can track the package (location plus arrival & departure time at each stop) on the UPS website.

It may be bad timing but whatever the case was. They had no idea what happened to my lens once it got to Edmonton. Wednesday at noon was the last they scanned it and was supposedly going to be delivered wed, then Thursday. It didn't' show up either day and they just stopped putting a delivery date on the website. When I phone them they had no information. A manager in Edmonton was supposed to call me but never did. All this together does not equal good service in my books. It may be a one off problem but I'll use another shipping method next time to see if it's any better.

James

By the sound of things the customer service in the Edmonton depot is lacking a bit.

I'll post my experiences for the good of the community... I just ordered a bunch of stuff from B&H late Tuesday night and the UPS guy was trying to deliver the packages to me today (Fiday) around 3:00pm so that was pretty quick. Unfortunately I wasn't home to pay the fees so I have to wait until Monday

Anyways, this isn't my first order and I thought I knew what the fees would be, but I had a few surprises. I used UPS expedited, but they charge a $4 brokerage fee on each line item after the first five (freebies).

As well, I got some duty charges which surprised me, as it's all photographic equipment and I thought that was exempt from duty. Maybe I'll find out what the culprit is when I get the receipt.

In total, I will pay about $60 in duty and brokerage not to mention the taxes. But even still, after all is said and done, I will save almost $800 over Canadian prices! Gotta love B&H

I probably should have mentioned that I was charged GST and 2% duty. I'm not sure but I think I can apply to get the duty back but really it was 30 dollars. My total cost for a 70-200 f2.8 IS will end up being around $1730 since I will be getting the UPS shipping charges reversed. If I get the duty reversed then it will only have been 1700 total which is pretty good considering the prices locally.

James

Matoch wrote in post #4113845
It may be bad timing but whatever the case was. They had no idea what happened to my lens once it got to Edmonton. Wednesday at noon was the last they scanned it and was supposedly going to be delivered wed, then Thursday. It didn't' show up either day and they just stopped putting a delivery date on the website. When I phone them they had no information. A manager in Edmonton was supposed to call me but never did. All this together does not equal good service in my books. It may be a one off problem but I'll use another shipping method next time to see if it's any better.

James

You ordered the lens on Saturday (B&H was closed) and B&H would have got it to UPS on Monday or more likely Tuesday (since you ordered during their 10 day store closure due to a holiday). Based on this UPS Expedited should have got the lens to you Thursday or Friday.

The only beef I have with UPS in Edmonton is their depot is a pain to get to since I live on the south side. The delivery person that works our route is outstanding. I've never had to use their customer service though since for me they have a perfect track record.

Matoch wrote in post #4115099
I probably should have mentioned that I was charged GST and 2% duty. I'm not sure but I think I can apply to get the duty back but really it was 30 dollars. My total cost for a 70-200 f2.8 IS will end up being around $1730 since I will be getting the UPS shipping charges reversed. If I get the duty reversed then it will only have been 1700 total which is pretty good considering the prices locally.

James

If you shipped UPS Expedited the customs broker messed up if you had to pay any duty so I think it's really appropriate that they eat the cost. You should only have to pay GST.

Did you use UPS Expedited, or did you choose a different UPS option when you ordered?

LuckyRobJ wrote in post #4114883
I'll post my experiences for the good of the community... I just ordered a bunch of stuff from B&H late Tuesday night and the UPS guy was trying to deliver the packages to me today (Fiday) around 3:00pm so that was pretty quick. Unfortunately I wasn't home to pay the fees so I have to wait until Monday

Anyways, this isn't my first order and I thought I knew what the fees would be, but I had a few surprises. I used UPS expedited, but they charge a $4 brokerage fee on each line item after the first five (freebies).

As well, I got some duty charges which surprised me, as it's all photographic equipment and I thought that was exempt from duty. Maybe I'll find out what the culprit is when I get the receipt.

In total, I will pay about $60 in duty and brokerage not to mention the taxes. But even still, after all is said and done, I will save almost $800 over Canadian prices! Gotta love B&H

Do you know which items the duty applied to? I'm wondering if the government has made a few recent changes to tariffs ...

Bob_A wrote in post #4119605
If you shipped UPS Expedited the customs broker messed up if you had to pay any duty so I think it's really appropriate that they eat the cost. You should only have to pay GST.

Did you use UPS Expedited, or did you choose a different UPS option when you ordered?

Hi Bob,

I chose the world wide saver option when ordering from B&H. My beef wasn't really that it took too long to get here. My issue was with the fact that I took a full day off work based on the website delivery date and a phone call with UPS. I waited 12 hours at my house for a package that was never delivered. I'd even called at 6pm to see what time they delivered until and the person said it would here by 8pm. Then when I phone for information about what is going on nobody had any real answer and the people that were supposed to phone me locally never bothered to.

I really think they just need better communication internally so that the status of a delivery get's updated if they aren't going to be able to complete their delivery's on a particular day.

James

Bob_A wrote in post #4119622
Do you know which items the duty applied to? I'm wondering if the government has made a few recent changes to tariffs ...

I don't think they have. Before I ordered I had found pdf's of the current duty information and it still indicated that camera lenses were 0% duty.

Here's the pdf http://cbsa.gc.ca …riff2007/01-99/ch90ne.pdf and I think the relevent part is 9002.11.10 "For photographic cameras" and the tariff is Free.

James

Not yet, but if/when I find out I'll let you know.

I read in another thread that someone else was wrongly charged duty from B&H because the wrong product codes were used. They were able to clear it up and have UPS refund the duty.

LuckyRobJ wrote in post #4122441
Not yet, but if/when I find out I'll let you know.

I read in another thread that someone else was wrongly charged duty from B&H because the wrong product codes were used. They were able to clear it up and have UPS refund the duty.

Do you have a reference to that thread? I'm trying to figure out how to work that out.

Thanks,

James

Matoch wrote in post #4120011
Hi Bob,

I chose the world wide saver option when ordering from B&H. My beef wasn't really that it took too long to get here. My issue was with the fact that I took a full day off work based on the website delivery date and a phone call with UPS. I waited 12 hours at my house for a package that was never delivered. I'd even called at 6pm to see what time they delivered until and the person said it would here by 8pm. Then when I phone for information about what is going on nobody had any real answer and the people that were supposed to phone me locally never bothered to.

I really think they just need better communication internally so that the status of a delivery get's updated if they aren't going to be able to complete their delivery's on a particular day.

James

Ah, I understand. The only other option I suppose is to just miss the delivery and wait until it is off the truck and available at the depot. I guess I've been fortunate that someone has always been home during the day when the brown truck arrives.

Matoch wrote in post #4120028
I don't think they have. Before I ordered I had found pdf's of the current duty information and it still indicated that camera lenses were 0% duty.

Here's the pdf http://cbsa.gc.ca …riff2007/01-99/ch90ne.pdf and I think the relevent part is 9002.11.10 "For photographic cameras" and the tariff is Free.

James

Same deal here. UPS is going to charge me 2% duty for the Canon lens. According to their customer service, it's because the lens is made in Japan. The Tariff code they refer me to is 9002.11.90 SS 90.

I'll wait for the billing information to come in (tomorrow) and will probably call CBSA for clarification.

Matoch, were you able to reverse the duty charges in your case?