Package held at customs

[kca7157]

Greetings,

I had purchased a product about a month ago and only recently had I found out that it had been rejected by the Canadian Border Services Agency. 

We regret any issue in regards to the customs clearance of the shipment you are currently expecting, 
and apologize for any inconvenience caused as a result of this situation.

According to our information, Canada Border Services Agency rejected the entry into customs and requested
additional information for the clearance of the shipment.  Unfortunately the FedEx Import department in Mississauga
Ontario was unable to contact you for the required information due to an incorrect contact telephone number. 
They had requested your contact information from the sender, however it was not received. 

I have forwarded your inquiry to the FedEx Broker currently assisting with the clearance of the shipment for follow up and assistance.
Thank you for your patience. 
Regards, 

With no updates from the Broker nor the Border, and the seller is quite lost and confused as well as I am, what are my options?

I am tempted to just request a refund since this has been such a hassle and the seller has not made much attempt into solving this issue with me. The seller had also not given the correct contact info nor responded to Fedex as indicated in the email. Do I have claim here?

[momcqueen]

I think your best course of action is to open an Item Not Received case and get your money back. If the item is stuck and the seller is not helpful, you cannot do much unless Customs contacts you directly.

Plus, if it's coming from FedEx, you'll pay heavy brokerage fees. The latter part is not the point, however, the point is that your seller is obligated to get the order to you in a timely manner and should not have overlooked the request for contact information from Canada Customs. That's a no-brainer. At least the seller should get their product back this way, or at least that's what I would expect.

Who sent you the message though? It doesn't sound like it came form the seller, was this a Global Shipping Program order that went awry?

[kca7157]

The message was from Fedex. 

The seller sent me a message indicating that I had requested a self-clearance, which was not the case. 

Since it was set to self-clear, and my contact info was wrong, no messages or communication was given to me about the item being held up until the seller brought it up to me nearly a month after.

[femmefan1946]

Slightly off topic, but-- did you know the seller would ship by FedEx?

This is one of the most annoying couriers, not just because they charge a $25+ customs brokerage fee*, but they don't necessarily charge you before you accept the package.

Instead a week or two later, you get a bill in the mail for the brokerage plus duty and Sales Taxes.

Most US sellers know nothing about this. They use couriers because at one time couriers would pickup at their houses and offered tracking, which is now also true of USPS.

*Which you can avoid by self-clearing.