I would absolutely recommend you find anyone else to deal with as your customs broker I contacted Patrick 8/19 regarding the import of two Maine Coons from Russia, I was not told by the breeder that I needed a customs broker until the last minute so I frantically called around in an attempt to find someone who could get it done on short notice. When I got ahold of Patrick he assured me there was still enough time to get everything accomplished so they would be released a few days later upon arrival. I sent all the paperwork and never received a response that day, so I called the next day to ask if it was received to which he said no and that he hadn't contacted me because he assumed I decided to go with someone else. I explained that was not the case and I had in fact sent all the requested information. I then proceeded to forward the email that I initially sent and got confirmation that all was good and the kittens would be cleared for release upon their arrival that weekend. I was told and I quote in this email "paperwork received will advise updates as available"
Cut to pickup day hours previous to pickup. I had never received any updates so I call and no one answers, then I send him an email regarding pickup and he emailed back almost two hours later (right before I was heading for pickup) that paperwork had been filed and will update as available. I arrive to customs and let them know why I'm there, they let me know they have nothing one file and haven't even heard from the customs broker. So I call again several times and receive no answer. Then after waiting almost two hours at customs while my poor kitties sat in the customs warehouse in 86 degree summer heat with no water left in the bowl I finally sent another email which is responded to by Aldina instead of Patrick that they had filed everything and they would advise when they had updates.
Finally after around 3 hours of waiting at customs my kitties were finally released dehydrated but luckily still alive. The real issue here is when I initially spoke to Patrick he said the kittens would be released immediately upon my arrival to customs and it seems he and his team didn't even bother to start the paperwork until they had already arrived. Extremely unprofessional behavior. The best part is I never received an apology or even an acknowledgment that everything was done until 4 days later when I get the invoice from Patrick. I asked how I could go about paying said invoice and then emailed him back with the credit card information.
So imagine my surprise when checking my spam emails today to see a threat of legal action for an unpaid invoice that I sent payment information for several months ago. I responded to let them know exactly that and then proceeded to resend the credit card information (hopefully they actually receive it this time seeing as they seem to have trouble with emails)
Long story short, they aren't worth the trouble and if I ever make the mistake of importing something again I'll know better to go with this unresponsive unprofessional customs broker. read more