business mail us$8 per pound!! another reliable service?

scsccs34

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Apr 24, 2006
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last parcel I received was an small 2 pounds box= 530 pesos!!!

business mail cost is suposedly us$3.5 per pound, ((3.5x2)x33= 231 pesos!), in the bill apart from the weight cost, you can see things like "fuel surcharge" "DGII" "aduanas" and whatever they want to add, suposedly all things below us$200 are tax free, so I asked them, response: "uhh ahh you know customs, uhhh aahhh", ok I got it. So the real cost was us$8 per pound!!

apart from that the 24 hours service is always 3 o 4 days at least for me.
 

Robert

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Jan 2, 1999
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Didn't the couriers do a deal that anything under US$200 is tax free?

I have never been charged an aduana fee with EPS for any package under US$200. Plus you can login online and see exactly what your going to pay before you pay it, plus you can track your packages with EPS.

By the way, Business Mail sucks when compared to EPS here in Santo Domingo. Very soon you will see a real world comparison between the two written by a regular poster that made the switch. He couldn't believe the difference in level of service etc etc.
 

Robert

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Jan 2, 1999
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Also from a thread last year.

Additional info: I did get confirmation yesterday while at the local EPS office that there will be no duty charged if items being brought in have a valid invoice for $200 US and less. I didn't think to ask if this was applied per item or per shipment.
 

GringoCArlos

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Jan 9, 2002
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I use CPS. They have given me good service, but this morning in mailing two letters, I noticed the cost was RD$149. (= US$4.50 or $2.25 each letter). What motivation for them to campaign for NOT strengthening the government's postal services!

I lost any confidence in Business Mail after Hillbilly and others, said that they had a new address in Miami for all of their clients' mail. Which Atallah in Business Mail made that moronic decision? Who would remain a client if you have to go through the process of notifying every single one of your contacts to change the address they use to send you mail? What about preprinted materials their clients had made to use their service? Did Business Mail pay for those changes too?

I have no experience with EPS, but the process of having to change my address with everyone in the US is the deal killer for me from ever changing. I have a feeling that EPS and CPS probably offer similar services at similar costs, and normal similar hassles.
 

scsccs34

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Apr 24, 2006
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as far I know , the us$200 limit is per item not per shipment,

how much would cost "really" a two pounds parcel with EPS or CPS?
 

scsccs34

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Apr 24, 2006
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anyone has used caribbeanocean.com.do? in the web the rates are us$3.90 per pound but it seems they say "3 pounds minimun"!! this is funny
 

Chris

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Oct 21, 2002
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The Real Story

Last week we had shipments to clear with Business Mail. They've given us personally good service. We've had the under US$200 thing applied successfully over the past few months.

Just lately there has been a problem in Aduana. Aduana is revaluing items at will. Last week we walked through a specific shipment that was assessed at 3 times the value on the commercial invoice. Yes, a US$200 shipment (2 of those) and one other bigger shipment. The duties from aduana doubled and in some cases tripled on these items. We import these items frequently, so we now what they cost and what the rates are.

During the process, we pushed our clearning agent unmercifully .. telling him to go back to aduana at least six times. He kept saying he cannot get anywhere. We all ended up with an attorney in Santo Domingo in aduana. I'm not sure which tax it is that disappeared as preparation for DRCafta, but an ad valorum tax disappeared. Aduana's response was to revalue goods for unbelievable customs values. Our clearing agent showed us a stack of computers that he was trying to clear, valued between US$600 and US$800. Aduana valued each computer at US$1,500. Computers are free of duties Yes? No! not lately.

The outcome of our own protest was that aduana said we could resubmit all the paperwork, it will take 3 weeks, we will be paying demurrage while the paperwork is resubmitted and the customs officer just about made it clear that we will be paying a higher duty rate and not a lower one, should we resubmit.

Aduana rewrote their book, they are not accepting proper and legal commercial invoices, they are revaluing everying to mas o menos double what the commercial invoice states. There reason is, hear this ... people undervalue commercial invoices, they say. I wonder what Dell would say if we told them Dominican Republic Aduana does not accept the values on their commercial invoices?

Anyone that is an investigative journalist? This will make a story. All of us dependent on imported goods, we have a problem. The DR is rewriting the values of the good and proper commercial invoices, and revaluing at will, breaking the DRCafta regulations and probably breaking some international treaties as well.
 

macocael

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Aug 3, 2004
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This is disturbing news indeed Chris. When will the govt learn here that to stimulate trade they have to curb the wolves at Customs? Their ineptitude is beyond belief -- I know of several NGOs who have had terrible problems getting needed supplies cleared through customs on time. But their avarice is even more incredible. I ran into this personally once when I had an antique chinese bureau delivered here. What a pain! We convinced the shysters at the port in Haina that the Elm wood was really just cheap pine and succeeded in getting the thing out fo there for a few hundred pesos, but it took all day. The furniture shipper told me he has never seen such an arcane and needlessly complicated system for importing items into a country.

But I think that EPS somehow has Customs sewn up -- some kind of arrangement has been made, because they always get all my packages, regardless of the contents, to me on time and without extra charges.
 

Chris

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Oct 21, 2002
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You'll find that all the mail services are beginning to struggle. What I'm reporting here is not confined to Business Mail, but it is creeping through to everyone dealing with imports. There is one Dominican company from New York to Puerto Plata that we use sometimes, that is still getting bigger stuff through without problems but even they say it is only a matter of time. We saw this before the end of the previous administration where we paid sky high rates to get anything through customs. I think customs must be the DR's golden goose, or now with the last period of Leonel's term and all the power concentrated in one party, things are going haywire - and everyone is saying that now is the time to enrich themselves. We also find that a little 'greasing of the wheels' here and there does not really do anything any longer. We're supposedly trying to become less corrupt! This may work on an individual basis, but as far as I am concerned, it is simply large scale corruption on a bigger scale.
 

cork

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Aug 23, 2003
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EPS Sosua

2.38 lbs. RD$600

Very fast and in good shape. No invoice as to what the $600 covered
 

Chris

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Oct 21, 2002
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Thanks MrMike .. you had the words that I was looking for when writing this mail.

Cork, if you have to do your business accounting and taxes and so on, you darn sure want an invoice as well as exactly what it covered. Otherwise they get you coming and going.

I don't know if this is happening for the small shipments, letters, magazines, books, etc., but certainly for business shipments it is getting quite crazy.
 

gringosabroso

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Oct 16, 2004
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Regular Mail? Not packages??

This is a good thread! My curiosity is piqued.

* My situation? I live in POP. I get a lot of 'regular mail'. What is regular mail? Letters, advertising, magazines, newspapers, propaganda - most all unsolicited; & very, very few packages. Anyone in a similar situation?
* I've been using BusMail - POP for 2 -3 years; I've been generally satisfied; not perfection, . . but near perfection by DR standards.
* Now? In May 2006 BusMail raised my monthly flat rate fee, excluding any & all freight to US $50 / monrh; from $25. / month; I have & am paying every 6 months.
* I consider US $600 / year, i.e. $50 month, immorally expensive. I sent 2 - 3 polite emails to BusMail; I was completely ignored. Some things in the DR never change.
* Comments? Suggestions? Similar complaints. Does any other, competing mail service offer a flat rate monthly fee, i.e. not payment by the piece? Prices? Experiences? What alternatives do I have in POP? Thank you.
 

Chris

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Oct 21, 2002
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So many times on this board advice is given to create relationships for your dealings. Businesses do not yet respond quickly to email. For that matter, telephone calls as well. Go into the office, speak with the people there, find out what the problem is, get to know them. This is the way to get service in the DR. Email and telephone calls will just frustrate you.
 

macocael

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Aug 3, 2004
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Chris is right, always try to cultivate personal relationships here and you will find that things go much more smoothly. I make it a point to get to know the people at all the companies I deal with, even if it be the cashier at the lights company or CAASD -- and if I must deal with them by phone, as in the case of customer service people, I also make sure to be very nice, engage them in conversation, joke with them, in general just be Dominican. It works like a charm. I had a problem with a credit card here just recently and the guy on the phone was unhelpful, so I just went to the local branch, met the woman in charge personally, and bingo all was set straight.