Just as well I wasn't in a hurry...
Rant/
Since Triumph are currently offering an accessory pack with the run-out of the old model Street Triple, I briefly considered trading the Speed Triple I bought earlier this year.
After contemplating what I would likely get for a trade, the additional cost to buy a 675, and that I wouldn't have as much fruit salad as I have now, I decided to keep the litre bike for a couple of years.
In a box out the back of the house there was an Ohlins shock, and since the bike is going to be sticking around for a while, I've asked Dr Robert to arrange for the shock to be transformed to fit the Triumph.
Now the shock on the Striple is very exposed and is constantly blasted by the various detritus flung at it by the rear wheel, so a hugger is in order to protect the investment in the Ohlins.
After consulting various Internet resources I decided to buy the required item from Shift-Tech having had a good experience with them previously. The original query was emailed maybe 10.00PM, which according to my calculations means that most of the USA is asleep, but I had a reply within a few minutes.
Next day I received an email with a tracking reference and eagerly followed the progress of the package - then things slowed down a bit. Eight days after posting the package arrived at Customs in Auckland on the 3rd Nov.
Being ever so slightly OCD about such things I've been checking the letter box for a Courier card a couple of times a day this week. Today a letter arrived from the "Parcels Team" New Zealand Post Limited, Auckland. Well, one page was from them and two pages were from Customs. Things have changed since I bought my last hugger, now the value was such that it would attract at least $60 GST, so it had also attracted the interest of Customs. Customs had thoughtfully supplied a break down of the charges and a list of the various methods by which payment could be made.
Now I've had experiences with Customs previously, both through work and on my own account, and I do understand that they aren't all idiots. There was the time though I imported two new rims for my Cheney B50MX. In due course a round, brown paper parcel arrived at Customs parcels, it was about the diameter of a front MX rim and about as thick as a rear rim, and when shook the package went "clank". The female Customs officer looked at the parcel for a while then a a flat tone said, "It doesn't look like rims to me." She then opened the package to inspect the contents. Although tempted, I thought it wiser not to inquire what shape wheels were on her planet.
So, to todays transaction details…
My parcel - including freight - had attracted GST of $64.50. Fair enough.
But GST is payable to the IRD, so Customs had charged an "import transaction fee" of 22.00 for collecting the GST.
Then, I was charged $3.30 GST on the fee I was charged for paying the GST!
LIke something out of Monty Python.
But, as they say in the ads, that's not all!
There was also a biosecurity levy $11.10.
Now I find it hard to believe that anyone from biosecurity inspected my two bits of carbon fibre wrapped in bubble wrap. I'd actually find it easier to believe that the entire biosecurity staff stopped what they were doing, and rushed to inspect my parcel while another ton of foot and mouth infected Chinese pork products passed through undetected.
Of course the biosecurity levy also attracted GST, $1.67. So my $64.50 GST has ballooned to $102.57. WTF it's payday.
So having read the page detailing the various methods of payment I telephoned the 0800 number used to make credit card payments. This seemed the quickest option.
The word "quickest", of course, being a relative term in this instance.These guys would make a glacier look hasty.
I then spent some time listening to a succession of messages advising me that all of the operators were busy. Finally I was connected to a gentleman who sounded like a native of the sub-continent. After several attempts he got the card number right and told me that he would advise "Parcels" to release my package and that I should receive it in a couple of days,
A couple of days? Don't these bastards realise there's an overnight courier service from Auckland these days? Actually, on reflection, if my new Asian friend is sitting in Mumbai he probably doesn't.
The package is going to take as long to get through Customs to me as it took to get to Auckland on a slow boat from Florida.
Welcome to our new third world parcels service.
/RANT
There is a grey blur, and a green blur. I try to stay on the grey one. - Joey Dunlop
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Originally Posted by pritch
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