Help! Customs snag in Philly!

[RJman]

... so I placed an order for some shirts from the UK over the weekend and got the tracking no for their shipment via Pharos, where in my spare time I tracked its progress over the pond. Lo and behold, I now get the message on the tracking screen that my shipment is in "Exception" status at Philly International Airport as:
ADDITIONAL CLEARING AGENCY INFORMATION OR DOCUMENTATION IS REQUIRED FOR CLEARANCE
DELIVERY RESCHEDULED

Is there a number to contact Customs at over there? Has anyone had this happen before? It's irritating being able to watch my package get held up but not knowing how to get it.

 

[stache]

Are you in Philly?

 

[RJman]

DC

 

[Carlo]

No sweat - call the shipper.  They will fax you a form, you fill it out, shipment clear customs the next day and basically they give you your stuff and slap you with a customs bill and clearance fee.

...been doing that today - got 500 ties sitting on a loading dock while they call me asking for info they have in thier computer already (Argh.)  ...weekend before the exposition I am flying to ROme, going down to Naples and then flying back home WITH the new stuff for our show rather than risking the near certain customs delay.

The tariff will be around 15-20% depending on whether your shipping agent is good - even with harmonized codes it is arbitrary best I can tell... you may get slapped with a $50 customs fee by the shipper for clearing it for you.  Basically that is just a 'because we can fee' - they submit the form after you fax it back to them and get an extra 50 bucks for handing the form to customs.

 

[RJman]

thanks Chuck... this is what happens when they don't ship Parcelforce...

@#_@_#

 

[Carlo]

RJ- We learn from the mistakes of others... by that definition I am a gifted teacher.