As with everyone else, I wish I could give them negative stars.
I just ordered my third recent shipment from Seattle to Edmonton. The first one was a nightmare, the second was a pain, this one might be better, but so far looks like it's going to turn into a nightmare-in-progress.
The first package arrived on time, I could track it every step of the way, everything was good. Until "Receiver must pay duty or tax on package" showed up in the tracking. "Whatever", I thought, it was a 90 dollar package so I should only pay 3 bucks. Which I did, to CBSA. When it showed up at my door the driver asked me for 40 bucks, which when added to the shipping charge was 2/3 the value of the package. Turns out they add a brokerage fee if it gets assessed any tax or duty, which would also be fine, except the fee climbs with the value of the package, so even if you do a big order from wherever it still costs you about 1/2 the value of the package. This fee is payable by visa/mastercard/amex? over the phone, or cheque. No cash, no debit. But they won't take ALL visa, visa debit won't do despite having the same processing system. So if you don't want to shell out 60 bucks for a chequebook, and you don't have a credit card, better hope you're home when the delivery shows up, so consider quitting your job. But even with all that, you'd better hope the driver's willing to bend the rules and take your visa debit. Essentially you can be in a situation where you're unable to pay for the package you already paid for.
The second package was sent as a replacement for one of the items in the first one, $25 dollar value, the company sent it for free and paid the shipping, great people. Package gets here, I come home to a notice on the door, $29 COD. If I had paid for the shipping, UPS would have charged me DOUBLE THE VALUE OF THE PACKAGE just to get it here. For a light, small package. Managed to trade a family member cash for a cheque, left it in the mailbox and the package was delivered. $55 bucks in profit to UPS later, on a $25 package. Unbelievable.
This third package, tracking says it'll be on time. $120 dollar value, $40 brokerage fee and $35 shipping fee. So ~60% of the value to UPS. Managed to use a family member's credit card, called and paid it over the phone, after 30 minutes on the line with their customer service representatives. They're so so so inefficient and seem determined to waste as much of your time as possible. I should get the package tomorrow, except it left Richmond, BC at 1AM yesterday, it is now 2AM today and it still hasn't been scanned in. For some context, Richmond to Edmonton is a 10 hour drive, I've done it a few times. I'll come back and edit this tomorrow, cause my guess is it fell off the back of the truck or got lost or the driver decided to give himself a present for working for such a great company.
If you're shipping anything, no matter how small or cheap, from the US to Canada DO NOT USE UPS! Go with USPS or Purolator for a far lower brokerage fee and probably better customer service, or use FedEx, which includes brokerage in the shipping fees, which also tend to be less than UPS. Either way, you'll know what to expect and won't have your shipments held for ransom. read more