LETTER OF THE DAY - Customs fees oppressive
Published:Thursday | June 13, 2013 | 12:00 AM
THE EDITOR, Sir:
IT IS REALLY sad how Customs is apparently overcharging duties on incoming items. Recently, I visited home (Jamaica) and brought four little pants as a gift for a friend; the cost was US$80.
The sizes were too big and since I was only visiting for the weekend, I took then back and exchanged them in the States, then sent them back to Jamaica by courier at a cost of US$153 - as time was of the essence. Customs held on to the package and my friend had to pay a total of J$15,000, inclusive of processing fee of J$1,000 to change address as I had addressed it to a workplace for FedEx delivery and now my friend had to change it to a home address, due to the items being picked up. Mind you, the address was rewritten by my friend, on the paper provided, yet we had to incur a cost of $1,000 for an address change - unbelievable! The overall total paid to Customs was approx. US$156 at the time. This is almost twice what the items cost.
In an attempt to establish that this was just a gift that came and had to be exchanged, it fell on deaf ears at Customs. How can a department justify these enormous charges? Nowhere should a resident be expected to pay more than 100 per cent of cost for customs dues. All receipts of cost and shipment are available and the customs official was told that it could be provided to justify cost, but to no avail. I would love for someone to address this abuse of consumers and residents.
This is another typical example of why our lovely country is not looking favourable in the eyes of residents as they travel back and forth. Paying reasonable customs dues is acceptable, but this far outdid the cause. I have provided my email contact and would love to have feedback from Customs on customs protocol and if there are channels to appeal and benefit from a refund of what I consider gross overcharge in this case. I trust someone from the customs area close to the airport in Kingston will take the time to respond. This will hopefully heighten awareness about what people should expect.
MAUREEN ALJOE