Canada order seized: pay for a reship or take the partial refund?

can_pep

can_pep

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Hi,

One of my orders headed to Canada seems to have been either seized by Customs or lost/stolen by the final-mile carrier. My rep cant give me a straight answer, and all I have is a 17track number showing it was handed to a different company plus an E-Mile number saying they never got it. She says she checked with the logistics company and came away convinced it isnt turning up.

So I was offered what sounds like the standard menu:

-Pay 50% and they will reship. No promise the same thing wont happen again.

-Take 30% of what I paid back and swallow the remaining 70%.

What do most people do in this spot? Just write it off? Eat the reship fee? Has anyone had both the first shipment and the reship fail? If you have Canada-specific experience I would really like to hear how it played out.
 
I wouldn't describe those as the standard choices. Out of two orders that never arrived, I was offered either a no-cost re-ship or a complete refund. I went with the re-ship on 1 and it did arrive. For the other, I took the refund.

Might be worth finding suppliers that are better...
 
I'm not certain, but my understanding is that our Canadian friends aren't being offered the same choices by the reps, because their shipments get seized so frequently. From what I've heard, the situation up there is quite poor.
 
Yes, it definitely varies by company.

In my case it was kind of a forced situation: I placed an order from the local warehouse, and the same day they told me the local warehouse couldn't ship, so my choices were to get it from China or wait an unknown length of time while they got their Canadian warehouse running again.

At the time I figured China would be an acceptable option. Guess that was a big mistake.

The rep did mention the 50% payment arrangement for seizures before the order was finalized, but claimed their success rate was really good and told me not to worry. I'm not entirely convinced it was a seizure. The rep has only given me 2 options. Hindsight is 20/20.

They've been great to deal with for the local warehouse orders. But I won't be doing anything from China with them ever again.
 
I realize that re-ship rules likely vary from one country to the next. That's the reason I'd like to hear from other Canadians.

I'm not certain whether it matters, but the order came to more than $600USD, which works out to nearly $1000 Canadian once conversion fees and everything else are included. A re-ship would run close to $500. So it would be a sizable amount to pay for a re-ship only to have nothing show up a second time.

I'm just curious how likely that outcome is.
 
At the point they informed you the Canadian warehouse was unable to fulfill the order, was a refund put on the table? Or was the only response that you should either wait on the warehouse or source it from China?
 
Oilersfan35 said:

At the point they informed you the Canadian warehouse was unable to fulfill the order, was a refund put on the table? Or was the only response that you should either wait on the warehouse or source it from China?
Click to expand...
My suspicion is that the product was never stocked in the Canadian warehouse from the start. It looks like a bait-and-switch, except payment was taken in the middle. It's possible that no Canadian warehouse exists at all.
 
Oilersfan35 said:

At the point they informed you the Canadian warehouse was unable to fulfill the order, was a refund put on the table? Or was the only response that you should either wait on the warehouse or source it from China?
Click to expand...

Only 2 choices were presented to me: China, or wait.

That said, I didn't push hard for my money back.
 
FartfulCodger said:

Oilersfan35 said:

At the point they informed you the Canadian warehouse was unable to fulfill the order, was a refund put on the table? Or was the only response that you should either wait on the warehouse or source it from China?
Click to expand...
My suspicion is that the product was never stocked in the Canadian warehouse from the start. It looks like a bait-and-switch, except payment was taken in the middle. It's possible that no Canadian warehouse exists at all.
Click to expand...

A Canadian warehouse was absolutely part of their setup. Several orders came through it without a hitch, all smooth.

My suspicion is that when the payment was taken, she already knew the Canadian warehouse had gone dark and the shipment would be routed via China. That leans pretty clearly into bait and switch territory.

Once I meet the requirements to post a review, I'll lay out the whole story. Canadians in particular ought to see how sales and problems get handled when the China warehouse is involved.
 
My initial gray purchase came from a warehouse in China. Customs seized it, and I was given the choice between a reship or a refund. I chose the refund. After that, I stick to US warehouses only and haven't run into any issues.
 
FartfulCodger said:

Oilersfan35 said:

At the point they informed you the Canadian warehouse was unable to fulfill the order, was a refund put on the table? Or was the only response that you should either wait on the warehouse or source it from China?
Click to expand...
My suspicion is that the product was never stocked in the Canadian warehouse from the start. It looks like a bait-and-switch, except payment was taken in the middle. It's possible that no Canadian warehouse exists at all.
Click to expand...

can_pep said:

FartfulCodger said:

Oilersfan35 said:

At the point they informed you the Canadian warehouse was unable to fulfill the order, was a refund put on the table? Or was the only response that you should either wait on the warehouse or source it from China?
Click to expand...
My suspicion is that the product was never stocked in the Canadian warehouse from the start. It looks like a bait-and-switch, except payment was taken in the middle. It's possible that no Canadian warehouse exists at all.
Click to expand...

A Canadian warehouse was absolutely part of their setup. Several orders came through it without a hitch, all smooth.

My suspicion is that when the payment was taken, she already knew the Canadian warehouse had gone dark and the shipment would be routed via China. That leans pretty clearly into bait and switch territory.

Once I meet the requirements to post a review, I'll lay out the whole story. Canadians in particular ought to see how sales and problems get handled when the China warehouse is involved.
Click to expand...
Yeah, that's pretty sketchy. I'm eager to check out the review once you're able to share it.
 
How did you handle it in the end? If it were me, I'd have written it off and avoided placing any future orders with that seller.
 
krsct said:

My initial gray purchase came from a warehouse in China. Customs seized it, and I was given the choice between a reship or a refund. I chose the refund. After that, I stick to US warehouses only and haven't run into any issues.
Click to expand...
From what I can tell, no US-based warehouse offers shipping to Canada. Have you placed any orders lately?
 
When it comes to getting orders from China into Canada, the process has consistently been tougher than shipping from China into the US. Because of this, most vendors' re-ship policies end up either stricter or completely absent.

For anyone in Canada whose package from China was seized or sent back, my standard suggestion is to look at other options—like sending orders to a package agency located on the US side of a border crossing. I get that not everyone is within an hour of the border, but arranging a day trip or getting help from a friend near the border tends to be much more reliable for actually receiving an order than repeatedly attempting the direct route.
 
It never crossed my mind to use a US parcel service as the destination. The border is only 15 minutes away from where I live, so that could work well.

Even so, I think a border inspection would still make me uneasy.
 
tbaby said:

How did you handle it in the end? If it were me, I'd have written it off and avoided placing any future orders with that seller.
Click to expand...

Up to this point, nothing has come through. Paying them again for another shipment out of China does not appeal to me.

They say a fresh Canadian warehouse will be up and running shortly (from what I understand, Health Canada and the RCMP closed their earlier one)

I'll wait 1 month. Should that new Canadian warehouse be operating within that time, I'll hand over the 50% so the order goes out from there. If it still isn't open, then I'll simply accept the 30% refund.
 
Ahobo1 said:

It never crossed my mind to use a US parcel service as the destination. The border is only 15 minutes away from where I live, so that could work well.

Even so, I think a border inspection would still make me uneasy.
Click to expand...
Smuggling peptides over the border isn't something you should want to do. Having an order get seized is one matter. Getting inspected and having them log you is something else entirely. Every border crossing would just become a hassle. Imo.
 
FartfulCodger said:

Oilersfan35 said:

At the point they informed you the Canadian warehouse was unable to fulfill the order, was a refund put on the table? Or was the only response that you should either wait on the warehouse or source it from China?
Click to expand...
My suspicion is that the product was never stocked in the Canadian warehouse from the start. It looks like a bait-and-switch, except payment was taken in the middle. It's possible that no Canadian warehouse exists at all.
Click to expand...
There is a Canada warehouse, though as of late it's been struggling with getting orders out. So if your purchase happened at a certain point, it's possible the operation was genuinely closed down before an order could be placed. On top of that, the date they said they'd be back up has shifted repeatedly, which suggests they believed it would be running again prior to receiving the indefinite suspension.
 
RegularDegularGuy said:

Ahobo1 said:

It never crossed my mind to use a US parcel service as the destination. The border is only 15 minutes away from where I live, so that could work well.

Even so, I think a border inspection would still make me uneasy.
Click to expand...
Smuggling peptides over the border isn't something you should want to do. Having an order get seized is one matter. Getting inspected and having them log you is something else entirely. Every border crossing would just become a hassle. Imo.
Click to expand...
Yes, that looks like a significantly bigger risk.
 
Ahobo1 said:

RegularDegularGuy said:

Ahobo1 said:

It never crossed my mind to use a US parcel service as the destination. The border is only 15 minutes away from where I live, so that could work well.

Even so, I think a border inspection would still make me uneasy.
Click to expand...
Smuggling peptides over the border isn't something you should want to do. Having an order get seized is one matter. Getting inspected and having them log you is something else entirely. Every border crossing would just become a hassle. Imo.
Click to expand...
Yes, that looks like a significantly bigger risk.
Click to expand...

That single instance when I crossed into the border to pick up a parcel and returned 2 hours afterward (it was apparel, not peps), they completely tore my vehicle apart on the return leg - I was a 26 year old female, no criminal record, etc.

A seized package is preferable to me over taking any chance at the border.
 
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