Topic: International shipping and our problems this March
I'm frustrated and I feel like venting about the problems we've had with shipping. Those who are following along with
Stage 1 may find this interesting... or not. Regardless, it makes me
feel better
Around Mar3 we had headlights in transit to the US and their packages made it to São Paulo, where they underwent some sort of inspection before leaving the country. During inspection the many packages were somehow deemed "commercial" in nature and were returned to the sender. We noted upon return that none had
not actually been opened for inspection. Hmm, read on...
What I haven't mentioned before is that each package had an
Air Waybill - "
AWB" - a single sheet, filled-out at the time of shipment, which shows the sender, recipient, category of item ("Gifts"), Tariff Number (which is indicative of the contents, "Electrical filament lamps"), declared value, weight, etc. AWBs are typical, and I emailed copies to each recipient when their package shipped. AWBs contain identifying information so I've never posted one in this thread.
Evidently, during inspection it was concluded that the Air Waybills didn't jibe and the shipper said: "Foul, these packages are commercial. Your waybills are incorrect. We're sending everything back to you. Have a nice day."
In the process, the shipping charges were all deemed non-refundable.
We've contested their determination and it's been on-going. Yesterday they responded with this (this is a Google translation from Portuguese so it reads a little oddly):
Reply: Dear Customer, We inform you that it is the responsibility of the sender to make sure of the correct documentation for shipment, as well as the laws and rules in force in Brazil and in the country to which the shipment is intended. We clarify that Individuals cannot trade, it is necessary to be a PJ (MEI has to issue an Invoice when it comes to export). Legal Entity when exporting must issue NF, Commercial Invoice and the AWB must state that it is a sale. In view of the fact that the order was returned due to a failure in the documentation, there is no provision for reimbursement of the postal prices paid. We appreciate your contact. Regards, Postal Customer Service Center
BUT... what we really want to know is
"Why were the packages deemed commercial?" because we need this information for future shipments. The shipper has only explained the requirement for
correct documentation for a commercial shipment.
So here we are today. We've re-opened the matter with the shipper but we're not sure we'll get our answer ("
Why deemed commercial?"). If we're refunded some of the charges that would be nice too, but I've already written them off as a learning experience.
We've since (re)shipped, sending only
one package to minimize risk (see my recent posts), and we're waiting for it to clear customs before we ship the next.
(edit) I've attached an Air Waybill form for reference