Quoted from pins only

My list is shorter too, but for entirely different reasons!

BK2K is still set up and not going anywhere. Good luck getting Bill Davis to do another set of those playfields!

Dave

Can't say I miss the pin.  There's still a few more Steve Ritchie titles I want to try out depending on theme.  

Quoted from TwilightZone

You didn't pay tax? Should have been more than that just based on tax.

Tax is the only thing they can make you pay when bringing a machine back yourself. There is no duty on items made in North America (like most pinball machines).

Came up through Quebec from Vermont with my HS in the back of my truck. Border was one guy who comes from what looks like his house. You get to the border, have to ring a doorbell and wait for the dude to put his shoes on I guess. Easiest border ever. Guy asks what I got, I tell him, he says, right on and lets me through.

Detroit border, takes me with my buddy 4 hours of waiting just to get into the US. Guy asks me what I'm doing and I tell him, picking up a pinball machine. By the time I get through its midnight. Yay, midnight in Detroit. By the time I get back guy asks me what I'm doing here, I tell him, just picked up a pin...he says, at THIS time of night? Writes me the duty for the $350 I claimed it was (non working, and it was a non working machine) and I was on my way. I had a hand written receipt for that amount too but I lost it immedietely...I found it a year later in the truck.

What I've also done before is disconnect a few connectors and get rid of the batteries just in case they want to pull me aside and test it out, I make sure it'll never fire up.

Stan

The drive would have been only 4 hours one way - 8 hours total.

The border crossing is easy and ver nice to deal with

The inspection is visual just to confirm the paperwok makes sense.

My fingers are so crossed that those greasy customs guys don't get their
hands or egos into my machine.

I should know by tomorrow so at least not too many sleepless nights

Just figure out where you'll put LOTR and IJ.  

Quoted from HP5P

He just bought it from the US.

I'm confused easily but not THAT confused.  


Sounds like a pretty poor system to me...almost like the U.S. embassy in Canada is still considered U.S. soil.  I guess the with the amount of manifest crossing the border, they can't take the time to potentially inspect every vehicle.  But why not ?  Hire more agents.  Further modernize the inspection process.  Have you ever cleared customs yourself ?  They just sit there sipping coffee and typing on the computer with their index fingers.  It's pathetic.

Umm, are there any customs agents on MAACA ?  If so...I'm just repeating what ottogd told me.    

Quoted from mrniceguy

Umm, are there any customs agents on MAACA ?  If so...I'm just repeating what ottogd told me.    

What happened to 'what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas'? Sure, I may have had one or six too many daiquiris and I may have talked a little too much ... but I don't remember a thing! I just met her that night and never in a million years thought I'd propose but sh!t happens, right? Right??? She said her name was Lola and, I can assure you, we never consummated the marriage. I never ran so hard in my life!

... what was the question?  

Quoted from sinpin

So my HUO LOTR made it's made it's way from the lower USA to the Canadian border.  My broker took care of all paperwork and everything went smoothly.  Arrived to Canada yesterday after only 6 days since my order!!!

Then when I call to go and pick up at the warehouse I find out that Canadian Customs marked my shipment documents as requiring and inspection.  No one can tell me why -  Just random bullshit, I guess.

However, now my shipping company needs to ship to Canadian Customs warehouse.  Canadian Customs will keep for a day, unbox, unwrap, inspect and probably mess something up.  Then they rebox, re-pallet and mess more things up.  Then my shipping company picks up again and brings back to their warehouse for me to gather up the pieces...

That sounds like a pain in the a** and many potential problems with everyone pointing fingers at everyone else.  However - Canadian Customs also charges me an inspection fee for this service!!!  Could be $100 or more.

OUCH!!!  Not sure if anyone else has gone through this but I am concerned and upset about this process so thought I would share my fun.

I did'nt take the time to read all the replies so I don't know if this was mentioned...But One of my games was opened and inspected at the customs....They broke the Backglass broke pieces on the playfield and they did'nt even put the game back in the box,

There's a big chance that, them being very unfamiliar with pinballs, open the crate scratch the cabinet and break the game trying to find a way to open it to check what's inside,
I hope not but this is quite possible.....

Quoted from ALJO

I did'nt take the time to read all the replies so I don't know if this was mentioned...But One of my games was opened and inspected at the customs....They broke the Backglass broke pieces on the playfield and they did'nt even put the game back in the box,

There's a big chance that, them being very unfamiliar with pinballs, open the crate scratch the cabinet and break the game trying to find a way to open it to check what's inside,
I hope not but this is quite possible.....

Jeese why give the poor guy a heart attack.  (On top of that I don't know any freight companies that will themselves insure the true value of goods beyond a certain weight to cost ratio... oh behave! )

If you have a good broker, who did the paperwork correctly, and the pinball was properly wrapped and packed, and you didn't do any funny business and the declaration and the code numbers are all correct and it didn't spend any time sitting next to a medical marijuana shipment or a box of fireworks, and you've properly declared it as US made, then why worry BEFORE something unimaginable happens.  For gosh sakes they ship hundreds of these things North in containers. It's not worth doing your worrying after the fact.

But I always had this theory as a child, "if you imagine the worst possible thing that could happen, then the chances of it actually happening coincidentally are astronomical". Maybe that's Aljo's approach?   And maybe that's why I never win the lottery, because I'm always spending my winnings before I've actually won....

Quoted from ALJO

I did'nt take the time to read all the replies so I don't know if this was mentioned...But One of my games was opened and inspected at the customs....They broke the Backglass broke pieces on the playfield and they did'nt even put the game back in the box,

There's a big chance that, them being very unfamiliar with pinballs, open the crate scratch the cabinet and break the game trying to find a way to open it to check what's inside,
I hope not but this is quite possible.....

That is a very nasty story.  However there is a difference here.  I am not importing the item directly myself.  The machine has been shipped to the Canadian Customs warehouse for inspection.  The shipping company then has to pick the item back up and bring it back to their warehouse.  THEY ARE NOT going to be able to leave the pieces scattered about and ask the shipping company to come and pack it up.  No way.  That is why it is a visual inspection of the item combined with looking at the paperwork only.  If it makes sense, no problem.  It will make sense and there should be no problem - Other than the time delay and money I will need to pay.

If they want to open up the item and kick the mess out of it - I will hold the shipping company's insurance responsible for the damage because I have not signed and taken delivery yet.  They insure a $25/pound which equals almost enough for me to get a NIB LOTR - Not the gold editon either.  A NIB original LOTR  

OK you didn't hear it from me, but there is a way to get around the inspection, well sort of.
Your customs entry is all done on a network with your customs broker.
You customs broker basically fills out the customs form on the screen, presses send, and the reply comes back from customs if it needs to be inspected or not, or any other issues.
Then your broker tells you about the issues, and you get frustrated.

The way around it is as soon as your broker advises you its in for inspection, tell your broker you made an error and gave him the wrong details about the shipment, to cancel the entry, and then to re-enter the information as a new entry altogether. Then send him new information with something different on it. Change the value by $25 or the description of something minor. Make sure he cancels the entry and doesn't simply amend it. It's like a lottery, and your number may not come up again.  If your broker asks you what the hell you are doing, just tell him to do it the way you ask because your paperwork system will get all screwed up if he only amends the entry and you need a new one. He doesn't care, but may charge you and extra $50 for a new entry.

My wife used to be a customs broker and said many importers would lie about the contents to avoid duties, and when customs said they would inspect it, the importer would all of a sudden find out he gave the wrong information, and the contents would change. It was a big game, and customs never penalized them if they came clean, BEFORE the inspection. Then once the change was made, it wasn't automatically inspected again.

Don't worry about customs, get on the phone, express your concerns, not that they are idiots, but that it may be damaged if not opened properly. Tell them that you want to help them get inside of it, and help them look in it. Tell them it can only be opened a certain way, and if not damage will occur and etc., etc.. They won't have a problem with you, and won't arrest you since you aren't doing anything wrong. Just remember, BE POLITE!!

Good luck.

OK - first the good news - Received my machine in 100% working order.  Only one screw fell out in the shipping process. She is mint condition and very very nice...

Customs.  They received the item on Thursday, did not open it.  Probably looked at it and made a check mark on their sheet.  Customs Canada charged me $180 for the "inspection fee" plus another $45 for overnight storage because they did not do the inspection until Friday morning.

What a country we live in.  What the hell do all the taxes we pay actually pay for.  I don't understand how I have to pay for an inspection when my taxes already pay their salaries!

Anyhow - my word of advise would be to drive the item accross yourself.  I will never again ship cross border.  I will ship to the closest city and pick up there myself.  Live and learn.  In the meantime it looks like my MINT HUO LOTR has costs me $5000 all in.  Not a really super deal but a very nice, collectors machine which is what I wanted.

In the end, I am happy - I guess there is one thing missing - NO KEY FOR THE BACKBOX!!!!