MetaChat - @!!*#*%$@%$!!!!!

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19 December 2006

@!!*#*%$@%$!!!!! →[More:]Oh, DHL/US Customs is really driving me up the wall! I had my brother courier me a bag of hot chocolate from Ghana (similar to Ovaltine) before thanksgiving. a week after thanksgiving, i get a call from DHL US saying that i should have DHL ghana fax a copy of the airway bill because it got lost in transit. So fine, i contact my brother and he has DHL Ghana fax a copy of the airway bill to DHL US. Then a week later i get a call from DHL US saying that customs needed a copy of my social security card. I don't have any clue why they would need my social security card, but i fax the copy of the card as requested anyways. Then the next day they call to confirm the number because the fax wasn't clear. Fine! Then 2 days later they call me and request my HOME address, meanwhile the shipping address was to my place of work because i won't be at home to sign for it. I ask WHY they need my HOME address, and DHL's answer is well Customs wants it for their records. So fine! I give them the address. Then yesterday morning (at 4am, because DHL is so stupid they don't think about time zone differences) i get a call from DHL US asking me to confirm what was in the package. I state succinctly, a powdered chocolate drink, similar to Ovaltine. Then TODAY i get a call from DHL saying that well now they have to return the package to the sender, because the Food and Drug Administration is refusing to allow the item to clear. So i ask DHL why the FDA wont clear the item, and DHL says they don't know! Arrgh! So i lose my cool, and DEMAND that as their client, DHL owes it to me to find out the reason why the FDA won't clear the package of hot chocolate into the US. If they think it's drugs, they should test the damn thing already. Yes it's just a packet of hot chocolate, but it's the principle of the whole thing that is pissing me off...especially after demanding my social security card/home address etc!
I guess i should let it go, but it's really bugging me now that they have my ID details in their system. I now feel like any parcel i have shipped to me internationally is going to be subject to double scrutiny, when all i want is my hot chocolate...REALLY!

post by: ramix at: 17:24 | 12 comments

(this is nowhere near your pain, but...) did I ever tell you about the time I ordered a 3 CDs from Amazon, and they had to ship one from god knows where? And it took more than a 6 weeks, when I finally complained, so they split up the order into 2 CDs and then the one rare one? And then I got the rare one first? Fucking Amazon.

posted by muddgirl 19 December | 17:38

See, you should have got your brother to ship the hot chocolate clevery disguised as a hidden shipment of cocaine - people don't seem to have many problems shipping them around the world.

posted by dg 19 December | 17:52

You just know that Nestle is behind this somehow.

posted by cmonkey 19 December | 18:21

i once ordered 100 1 mg Xanax from one of those no questions asked online pharmacies. paid a pretty penny too, but 1 mg is 4 times the usual prescribed dose. the money disappeared from my account but no Xanax ever arrived. 15 weeks later, after i had written the whole thing off and forgotten about it - there it was in my mailbox, unmolested by any DEA or HSA or FDA hands! i stumbled around in a daze for about a week. then i started taking them.

posted by quonsar 19 December | 18:57

That must be some hot chocolate.

posted by jonmc 19 December | 19:33

Those fuckers at DHL are nice enough to leave my packages in the apartment office, but too fucking lazy to come to my apartment and leave the tag on my door like UPS and FedEx does.

And the iPod nano I sold on eBay was stolen out of the package.

So no more DHL.

[and Nestle might be behind it somehow... FDA doesn't want the Ghana choco milk lobby to wrestle with Nestle's biznatch]

posted by birdherder 19 December | 19:37

(((((((BUBU)))))))

I can send you some from here if'n you want - it's probably not the Ghanan type you're looking for (it's not the Ghanan type you're looking for). BUT there are some yummy chocolatiers out this way that can easily make you forget your shipment.

In fact, once I tell them this story, they will consider it their personal mission to make such a thing happen.

posted by Lipstick Thespian 19 December | 19:38

I've always felt sorry for DHL drivers. Those red and yellow uniforms are hideous.

posted by cmonkey 19 December | 19:50

Yeah, UPS drivers have the cool brown ones. Chicks dig those. (seriously. every place I've ever worked there's chicks who want to ravage the guy in the brown van. I'm not sure I understand it myself)

posted by jonmc 20 December | 09:24

That is a tale of utter ridiculousness.

P.S. Is your brother anywhere near as cute as you? Say hi to him for me.

posted by matildaben 20 December | 09:51

There's no reason I can see why anyone but an employer or the tax man to know your ss#. WTF¿

The address makes sense for receiving a parcel, but puhlease.....you must be in the USA.

quonsar "i once ordered 100 1 mg Xanax from one of those no questions asked online pharmacies."

How the hell do you know what you're getting¿
I'd probably trust the street drug dealer than some online pharmacy. Yoiks.
pssst, how much for 60 Paxil, Dude¿

posted by alicesshoe 23 January | 18:50

I remember reading it the first time and this is where knew you were in trouble:

i get a call from DHL US saying that i should have DHL ghana fax a copy of the airway bill because...

WTF? DHL wants you to call DHL and tell them to get their act together?

posted by PlanetKyoto 23 January | 20:05

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