UPS Delivered a Package Late; 'Made It Right' by Sending to Me Overseas and I Got Hit with a $700 Duty Fee. Small Claims Court to Recover Losses?

[adamtoronto]

TL;DR: I paid a $180 premium for ‘NEXT DAY’ on a free warranty repair before a trip to South America. It was late, so I argued and argued. UPS settled by sending it to Colombia, now Colombia UPS wants $700 in duty.





Would love some advice on this! I know there are a lot of details, so bear with me.



I recently sent a $2000 drone for a warranty repair in California (from Toronto). When they were done fixing, they were going to send it back for free with slow shipping, but I opted for a $180 ‘next day’ shipping upgrade as I was leaving 2 days later on a 4 month trip to Colombia.



This was the sequence of events.

1. NEXT DAY PACKAGE DELAYED - I was flying out early the following day, so I couldn’t receive the package in time. I called their support line all day - eventually driving to the shipping facility where it was being sorted, but they said they were too understaffed to help me.

2. DRONE DELIVERED AFTER I HAD LEFT - The person who answered the door explained that I had left the country and it should have been there yesterday. The drone is sent to a convenience store UPS access point.

3. UPS SENDS DRONE TO COLOMBIA (AFTER 1.5 WEEKS OF ARGUING) - Now I’m in Colombia trying desperately to get my drone and also the $180 I paid for next day. After hours and hours of calling and days of back and forth e-mails, UPS ends up making an offer. They say they’ll send the drone to the apartment I was staying in Colombia.

4. CUSTOMS - I had heard customs and import taxes are a bit of a pain in Colombia, so I wanted to insure I was being covered. I asked UPS if they’re covering any import duties and they said no (they didn’t seem to understand the logic that it’s THEIR fault the package is being sent to Colombia). I called UPS Colombia and they said if I write “Free Shipping - Nothing Paid - Warranty Return” in Spanish and English I won’t be charged anything (I put this note on the waybill, the invoice, and a huge printout taped to the outside of the box).

5. DRONE ARRIVES $700 CUSTOM FEE - Today the drone arrived at my apartment in Colombia and I wasn’t home. The security guard said the driver wanted approx. $700 in taxes / duty and that he’s coming back tomorrow.



I’m totally lost at what to do, here are the options I’m seeing -



- PAY AND SUE - Pay the $700 (ontop of the $180 I already paid for next day) and attempt to sue UPS in small claims court when I get back to Canada.

- AVOID PACKAGE - Avoid the package and hope it’s returned to sender, or if lost I am compensated for my $2000.

- REFUSE PACKAGE - Refuse the package due to the high customs fee, if lost try to get my $2000 of compensation.





IMPORTANT CONSIDERATIONS



INSURED - The package value on the waybill was marked $2000, so the drone is insured as far as I know.

RECORDED - Regarding small claims court - a lot of these conversations are recorded and the general misinformation I received from UPS is apparent.

REFUSE DELIVERY - I read in some cases that refusing delivery will void my insurance incase the drone is lost.



This whole thing has been such a pain in the ass, I really want to sue UPS for both the cost of this and the hours and hours of wasted time. UPS has such terrible reviews already I don’t think adding another with my situation is going to help or get any real support for this problem.



Any advice someone might have on this would be amazing.



Thanks,

Adam

 

[Taxing Matters]

We only deal with U.S. law here. You'll need to find a site that handles Canadian law. Were you in the U.S., you would not get anything for the time you spent on this or anything for the Columbian customs duties either. Your contract with UPS also very likely limits liability for late delivery of packages, too. Indeed, in U.S. contract law the general rule is that consequential damages are not recoverable in a breach of contract case unless the breaching party knew at the time the contract was made that the breach would result in those damages.

 

[LdiJ]

The first thing that I did was go and look up the tariffs for Colombia because the amount they are asking you for is about 35% of the value and that seemed overly high. However, tariffs on consumer goods for Colombia are 15-20% and they have a value added tax of about 12-16% so its possible that you could have a combined tax and tariff of about 35%. Its not surprising that UPS would refuse that pay that tariff and tax.

You have to make your decision based on the value of the drone to you and the availability of the $700.00 in cash. I do not think that you will get anything else out of UPS.

 

[adamtoronto]

Thank you very much for the input.

At this point, I suppose it would be best to avoid delivery and hope it gets returned to sender, or find a customs broker in Colombia and hope they can remove the tax / duty. (Again, before sending they said it would have no tax or duty for a warranty repair being returned.)

I would pay $700 if it means not losing a $2000 drone, however in no way do I think I should be responsible for paying $700 in this situation.

 

[HighwayMan]

I called UPS Colombia and they said if I write “Free Shipping - Nothing Paid - Warranty Return” in Spanish and English I won’t be charged anything (I put this note on the waybill, the invoice, and a huge printout taped to the outside of the box).

How did you put anything on the box if it wasn't in your possession?

 

[adamtoronto]

How did you put anything on the box if it wasn't in your possession?

Good question.

After UPS offered to send it to Colombia, they said the only way was to have a local contact go to a UPS store and fill out a manual waybill. I had a family member go and do it. I also sent them a print out to attach to the outside of the box.