:tired:
It's almost over.
There are many reasons it took over 5 years to take advantage of the "one time" exemption extended to new residents. The main reason was I didn't file for residency for 4? years when the DR gubmint decided to crack down on scofflaws such as myself. The secondary reason was I didn't really have anything I needed...and to a certain degree, even wanted. Life is less complex here.
But I HAVE been paying $475 a month for 1200cu.ft. of climate controlled warehouse space-a total of over $30,000. In February 2008 I had a team of pros from Suddath come to the house and pack everything for an international move. They did a fine job. And, yes, that was money flushed down the toilet. I know numbers.
So the time came to pull the trigger. I got numerous referrals and a variety of estimates and modalities, and a wide array of prices.
I had 1200cu.ft. of things. A 20' container is right at 1200cu.ft. I initially decided to leave some items behind and just use a 20' container to save $1000, but when the hassle factor and "where will I put that stuff" and a plane ticket was factored in, no way. Just too much baloney to deal with, so a rather loosely packed container it would be.
The lowest bid for Largo FL to the DR was Trailer Bridge, but I had to pay the storage company to bring the boxes to the loading dock, and hire a crew to load the trailer. TB ships to POP, not a great selling point. The estimate was $3750 dock to my door in Jarabacoa, plus port fees. The highest was a joker from Sosua who bid $8700 for door to door (yes: $8700. I wonder how many suckers use his service). The bid from the folks at Suddath where the stuff was stored was $4200, door to door, arriving Caucedo. I decided that since they loaded the stuff, stored it, would ship it to Caucedo and deliver it to my door, any problems would point to...them. This was a good decision.
I paid them.
I got excellent communications: a container had been packed at the warehouse, then trucked to Miami, then on a ship, the ship was at sea, the ship is in the port. Then emails, documents and phone calls with Latino Express in StoDgo. Finally the day, July 8, came and we went to StoDgo to meet with Latino, sign some papers-one was an inspection authorization-and then with their agent to Caucedo for the inspection.
We got to Caucedo and checked in, then walked to the inspection area. This area was highly organized with tight security. The container was about 400 yards away, and when we got the container was open and guys were bringing all the boxes and furniture out, while some humorous Customs sourpuss walked around with a clipboard. It was HOT and sunny-and we had no sunscreen. I walked around in somewhat of a daze, because in 5 years I'd forgotten how much stuff I had, for better or worse. At some point Don Sourpuss left...and we chased the shade for him to return. An hour later he came back, everything was put back into the container, and Don Sourpuss made a big deal about closing and the sealing to the container. He didn't understand I didn't want to write the number down. I took a picture of it instead.
I did notice the Latino agent greasing the palm of El Jefe, and El Jefe spread some love around.
We got a call from Latino that I had an "interview" with Adaunas for the exemption. This made me nervous knowning what a disaster could happen if there was a problem. We met the Latino rep at Adaunas and he nervously told me to only speak what was necessary in the interview-and his advice made me more nervous. So my name got called, Alida and I went in, she as interpreter if necessary, and we met with a nice, pudgy old guy who did nothing hut ask my name, thumb through some papers, had me sign something and told us to wait. WTF? Did I pass? Fail? Back to the waiting area.
Name was called again, and we went to another office and sat at a hipster's desk. Yes, a Dominican hipster. He took my freshly minted cedula, stamped it and sent us on our way. The whole thing was a non-event. Mr. Nervous Latino Express seems genuinely relieved. Back to Jarabacoa we went.
I got a call later that afternoon saying that Adaunas has disapproved three items for the exemption. Get this:
The next day we got a call from Latino saying their crew would be headed to Jarabacoa the next day with all my household goods. Yea!!! So my worker came over with a friend and we cleaned the garage out, putting the bikes outside, so there would be a staging area for boxes.
Next day, on time Latino and crew came with the container truck and a shuttle truck, since the container couldn't get to the house. It took maybe 3 hours, but finally everything was in Camp Moto, many pieces for furniture sent to various rooms (including upstairs, yea!) and the movers left.
The total additional charges, including all port fees, additional manpower, and the shuttle truck: US$1200.
But something wasn't right. It dawned on me: two large sofa's, one a queen leather sleeper, and a cushion for the leather chair that matches the sleeper weren't there!
I made calls to Latino, and the next day to Suddath. They said they'd research. Well, the research lasted over a month and emails and calls (to Suddath, since the sofa's were not on the manifest therefore Latino had no culpability) went unanswered.
I finally got to a supervisor and registered a complaint. The next day I got a phone call from Suddath that they had found the sofas and would be shipping them down.
In the meantime I discovered just a few missing items...three boxes were missing, one with seat cushions for the dining room table, one with some kitchen items (dehydrator, bread maker, a toaster oven) and one with all my aviation gear: logbook, approach plates, calculator, headsets, and a handheld GPS. I called Suddath and they emailed me a claim form I've yet to fill out. I wanted to wait until the sofa's came.
And three days ago on the 26th, Lo and Behold, a truck and two guys arrived and moved the sofas...and missing cushion...into the house.
I'm almost whole.
I will fill out the claim form. I was told that if receipts weren't available, that insurance was "replacement cost" so find the item at a retailer-online is fine-and they would pay for them...without shipping. She also said that a price on the items HERE would qualify...so I guess THAT would include shipping.
Almost at the finish line.
I will say that it's nice to have many items back, tech/audio/video equipment that is pretty good (even 5 years older), MY BED!, table & chairs, decent sofas & chairs, many excellent kitchen items, pots/pans/knives/stainless/dishes, some rugs, bicycle, TOOLS!, lawn equipment, WEBER GAS GRILL!, etc. It's kinda like being whole again. Some things I don't want or need, all nice and good quality, and may be placing an ad on DR1.
What I have learned, the "Take Away":
I'm not the first to go through this, but if I can be of assistance, drop me a PM and I'll be happy to offer what advice I can.
I'm just glad it's almost over...:cheeky:
It's almost over.
There are many reasons it took over 5 years to take advantage of the "one time" exemption extended to new residents. The main reason was I didn't file for residency for 4? years when the DR gubmint decided to crack down on scofflaws such as myself. The secondary reason was I didn't really have anything I needed...and to a certain degree, even wanted. Life is less complex here.
But I HAVE been paying $475 a month for 1200cu.ft. of climate controlled warehouse space-a total of over $30,000. In February 2008 I had a team of pros from Suddath come to the house and pack everything for an international move. They did a fine job. And, yes, that was money flushed down the toilet. I know numbers.
So the time came to pull the trigger. I got numerous referrals and a variety of estimates and modalities, and a wide array of prices.
I had 1200cu.ft. of things. A 20' container is right at 1200cu.ft. I initially decided to leave some items behind and just use a 20' container to save $1000, but when the hassle factor and "where will I put that stuff" and a plane ticket was factored in, no way. Just too much baloney to deal with, so a rather loosely packed container it would be.
The lowest bid for Largo FL to the DR was Trailer Bridge, but I had to pay the storage company to bring the boxes to the loading dock, and hire a crew to load the trailer. TB ships to POP, not a great selling point. The estimate was $3750 dock to my door in Jarabacoa, plus port fees. The highest was a joker from Sosua who bid $8700 for door to door (yes: $8700. I wonder how many suckers use his service). The bid from the folks at Suddath where the stuff was stored was $4200, door to door, arriving Caucedo. I decided that since they loaded the stuff, stored it, would ship it to Caucedo and deliver it to my door, any problems would point to...them. This was a good decision.
I paid them.
I got excellent communications: a container had been packed at the warehouse, then trucked to Miami, then on a ship, the ship was at sea, the ship is in the port. Then emails, documents and phone calls with Latino Express in StoDgo. Finally the day, July 8, came and we went to StoDgo to meet with Latino, sign some papers-one was an inspection authorization-and then with their agent to Caucedo for the inspection.
We got to Caucedo and checked in, then walked to the inspection area. This area was highly organized with tight security. The container was about 400 yards away, and when we got the container was open and guys were bringing all the boxes and furniture out, while some humorous Customs sourpuss walked around with a clipboard. It was HOT and sunny-and we had no sunscreen. I walked around in somewhat of a daze, because in 5 years I'd forgotten how much stuff I had, for better or worse. At some point Don Sourpuss left...and we chased the shade for him to return. An hour later he came back, everything was put back into the container, and Don Sourpuss made a big deal about closing and the sealing to the container. He didn't understand I didn't want to write the number down. I took a picture of it instead.
I did notice the Latino agent greasing the palm of El Jefe, and El Jefe spread some love around.
We got a call from Latino that I had an "interview" with Adaunas for the exemption. This made me nervous knowning what a disaster could happen if there was a problem. We met the Latino rep at Adaunas and he nervously told me to only speak what was necessary in the interview-and his advice made me more nervous. So my name got called, Alida and I went in, she as interpreter if necessary, and we met with a nice, pudgy old guy who did nothing hut ask my name, thumb through some papers, had me sign something and told us to wait. WTF? Did I pass? Fail? Back to the waiting area.
Name was called again, and we went to another office and sat at a hipster's desk. Yes, a Dominican hipster. He took my freshly minted cedula, stamped it and sent us on our way. The whole thing was a non-event. Mr. Nervous Latino Express seems genuinely relieved. Back to Jarabacoa we went.
I got a call later that afternoon saying that Adaunas has disapproved three items for the exemption. Get this:
- A ladder.
- A chest of drawers.
- A printer.
- A CD player.
The next day we got a call from Latino saying their crew would be headed to Jarabacoa the next day with all my household goods. Yea!!! So my worker came over with a friend and we cleaned the garage out, putting the bikes outside, so there would be a staging area for boxes.
Next day, on time Latino and crew came with the container truck and a shuttle truck, since the container couldn't get to the house. It took maybe 3 hours, but finally everything was in Camp Moto, many pieces for furniture sent to various rooms (including upstairs, yea!) and the movers left.
The total additional charges, including all port fees, additional manpower, and the shuttle truck: US$1200.
But something wasn't right. It dawned on me: two large sofa's, one a queen leather sleeper, and a cushion for the leather chair that matches the sleeper weren't there!
I made calls to Latino, and the next day to Suddath. They said they'd research. Well, the research lasted over a month and emails and calls (to Suddath, since the sofa's were not on the manifest therefore Latino had no culpability) went unanswered.
I finally got to a supervisor and registered a complaint. The next day I got a phone call from Suddath that they had found the sofas and would be shipping them down.
In the meantime I discovered just a few missing items...three boxes were missing, one with seat cushions for the dining room table, one with some kitchen items (dehydrator, bread maker, a toaster oven) and one with all my aviation gear: logbook, approach plates, calculator, headsets, and a handheld GPS. I called Suddath and they emailed me a claim form I've yet to fill out. I wanted to wait until the sofa's came.
And three days ago on the 26th, Lo and Behold, a truck and two guys arrived and moved the sofas...and missing cushion...into the house.
I'm almost whole.
I will fill out the claim form. I was told that if receipts weren't available, that insurance was "replacement cost" so find the item at a retailer-online is fine-and they would pay for them...without shipping. She also said that a price on the items HERE would qualify...so I guess THAT would include shipping.
Almost at the finish line.
I will say that it's nice to have many items back, tech/audio/video equipment that is pretty good (even 5 years older), MY BED!, table & chairs, decent sofas & chairs, many excellent kitchen items, pots/pans/knives/stainless/dishes, some rugs, bicycle, TOOLS!, lawn equipment, WEBER GAS GRILL!, etc. It's kinda like being whole again. Some things I don't want or need, all nice and good quality, and may be placing an ad on DR1.
What I have learned, the "Take Away":
- I should have gotten my residency much earlier.
- I should have shipped my household goods much earlier..
- The "One Time Exemption" is not a daunting task if you have a good Custom's Agent.
- Suddath was the correct decision, did a fine job (except for missing the sofa's), and stood behind their service with shipping the sofa's at no cost to me. I expect they will handle the claim for the missing boxes as well, and I wouldn't be surprised if the boxes show up.
- Latino Express did a fine job as a Custom's broker.
- Do NOT pack irreplaceable personal items with your household goods. I lost my pilot's Log Book and am not sure if or how to get the hours back.
- Be patient at the port.
I'm not the first to go through this, but if I can be of assistance, drop me a PM and I'll be happy to offer what advice I can.
I'm just glad it's almost over...:cheeky: