Ever get a package stuck in customs, Story time.

[Dikdikvandik]

Over the Summer I started buying up tons and tons of games from Japan. Super Famicom, PS2, Saturn, a handful of Famicom games.
2-3 weeks tops. They pass right through Customs no problem.

HOWEVER I got some Saturn games for my birthday, most of it came with in a few weeks. But this one package containing Advanced VG and Sega Rally Plus never came. I waited...and waited...and waited. So I contact the Seller via Amazon, I tell him I suspect it was lost or stolen implying it was refund time. He dances around the idea of giving me a refund but does offer to help. A week into talking to this guy I found a tracking number. I ordered the games on my birthday August 15th, they shipped on the 20th and a mere 6 days later were in the country but vanished in New York. I tell the seller the US Postal service is going to look into it, I file the form, with tracking number and a day later I'm informed my package is in Customs. After consulting with my dad who for his old job at Uconn delt with Customs in New York on a regular basis told me DON'T EVEN TRY to talk to Customs. So I spoke with an Amazon agent they said I absolutely could get a refund. They sent an e-mail to the seller on my behalf asking for a refund...seller refused and pretended to not even get the e-mail. I filed an AtoZ claim and got my refund. This pissed the seller off. It also occurred to me this seller doesn't even know what Customs is and likely didn't fill out a declaration form before sending it out. Taking all this into account I left negative feedback on the seller. THIS REALLY pissed the seller off and I got a flood of e-mails several hours apart asking and demanding I remove my feed back, He even bribed me. I have my price but it's not $20. After two days of this I went to Amazon and reported him. HE STILL wouldn't leave me alone. He finally did after a few days and I haven't heard from him since as of the making of this thread.

I have a guy who told me he can get me pretty much any game from Japan I want so I emailed him. We didn't bother with Advanced VG as I got the sequel and he already had Sega Rally Plus in stock. I ordered Sega Rally Plus and a few obscure Super Famicom games from him and they were at my door within a few days.

SO, any importers got any Customs stories that can top what was basically a Yakuza Side story?

[Anapan]

I have lost a few to customs, but they were brass knuckles, powerful tasers, and cheap cigarettes. I just wrote them off. Most of those type of things i've ordered made it to me no problem.

[bmoc]

No customs story but I have had a similar experience with an Amazon seller. I bought an HDMI switch that was advertised as auto-switching. It was even printed in big letters on the switch itself. Once it arrived, it didn't auto-switch. I contacted the seller who then claimed that model doesn't auto-switch. But guess what? They just happen to have a more expensive model that does. I sent it back for a refund and left a bad review for the seller and the product. The seller hounded me daily for about a week to remove the feedback. Bribery was also involved but I declined.

After the harassment subsided, I checked the product page for my review - just to see if they had responded in any way. It had been deleted. The seller somehow managed to convince Amazon to remove it. I don't put much stock in 3rd party seller reviews anymore.

[Dikdikvandik]

The package FINALLY arrived today. The customs declaration form was indeed improperly filled out.

I also got a letter from the US postal service asking me on behalf of Japan post if I got the package. I filled it out but just to be a dick I'm going to wait a month to mail it.

[samsonlonghair]

The package FINALLY arrived today. The customs declaration form was indeed improperly filled out.

I also got a letter from the US postal service asking me on behalf of Japan post if I got the package. I filled it out but just to be a dick I'm going to wait a month to mail it.

Great followup

Years ago I bought an iPhone 5s on eBay. Straight out of the box, the iPhone was stuck in a boot loop. resetting the iPhone didn't help. I messaged the seller and asked for a refund. He immediately accused me of scamming him He furthermore insisted that he had written down the serial number of the logic board, and when he got my return he was going to use this as evidence to call the police on me.

Luckily for me eBay practically always sides with the buyer. I got my refund, and I never bought from that guy again.

[Jagosaurus]

I have lost a few to customs, but they were brass knuckles, powerful tasers, and cheap cigarettes. I just wrote them off. Most of those type of things i've ordered made it to me no problem.

First thing that came to mind...

[pierrot]

Yeah, so I've noticed things getting caught up in customs for longer than usual, recently. I had a few things earlier this year that took about a month to get to me. The first time it happened, I was watching the tracking, and contacted the seller after about three weeks of it just saying that it had left Japan. Literally the same day I contacted the seller, it updated to saying that it was at customs, maybe because the seller had contacted Japan Post. I'm just fairly certain that it had to have been sitting in customs for a lot of that time. It still took at least a week to clear customs at that point, though. I had looked up why things might get held up in customs, and what kind of recourse there might be, and ended up reading through a bunch of horror stories about dealing with them. Good times.