What a terrible experience I have had with this company. I placed an order at store in the UK and they so happened to use CitiLogistics as their shipper which for some really odd reason uses this third party broker, EZclear. I started getting harassed by email every day by this company asking for exorbitant duty fees. Weird thing is that I received a tracking number from Canada Post, where it said that my item was received by them and was on it's way. I even called Canada Post and they said not to pay any other company, that it was a scam, and that any duty fees will be paid upon delivery or at the local post office. So naturally I ignored EZclear's sketchy emails, and eventually asked them to stop bothering me. The "customer service" rep told me that in that case they will be returning my item. It seems like they were actually holding the item hostage and decided to return it to the UK as a means of revenge for not paying their fees. The CitiLogistics tracking showed that I "refused the delivery of the package", which is not true. I would have gladly paid any duties to Canada Post. Now the store (Military1st) will not return the shipping charges. I guess it's a lose-lose for everyone involved except the shipper. Never again will I order from a company using CitiLogistics or EZclear. Seems like they work together to extort their customers.
Literally hold your packages hostage and make you pay... went on the CBSA website and calculated the proper duty fees which would be $22 but EZCLEAR says I owe $36... they sent a breakdown of the fees I owe which included a $14 administration fee. Which adds up. $22 + $14 = $36. They are simply frauds. Heading to the CBSA office tonight to pay the proper fees... I knew something was up when I received the email in my junk mail rather than direct inbox. Thanks to everyone on this site for the reviews which helped me do my research and not pay these SCAMMERS
This is the biggest scam of a company I've ever seen. And to suggest that calling it a scam is "damaging" to your company is not true at all. We are calling it as it is a "scam".
Was contacted by EzClear about a shipment from the UK from a retailer who I have dealt with in the past. $60 CAD worth of product and EzClear wanted to charge me an additional $26 CAD. Nope. Went to Border Services to self clear and the border agent was legitimately confused at the paperwork that had been provided by EzClear... he said it didn't make sense because CBSA had already cleared the shipment for delivery. Walked out with NO DUTY OR TAXES PAYABLE. STEER CLEAR of EzClear. DO NOT PAY THEM. Go self clear... takes a few minutes, but well worth it.
I live in Canada and ordered something from Missguided. A few days later, I get an email from Ezclear asking for a fair amount of money for duties (well, taxes, duties, and their charges which were more than DOUBLE what my other fees were). They gave me two options on how to pay them. I never heard of them and was unaware of their services so I suspected a phishing attack. I emailed them to pay the mailman at the door because I didn't want to deal with potential fraud.
Their response was that this was not possible, the parcel was with them, awaiting my payment.
I didn't like their response and they didn't offer any guarantee that the package would arrive after paying them so I looked them up and found this message. Thank you to the previous person, I asked to self-clear my package in person at the CBSA Office and only then did they offer me the third option of doing this.
They sent over the paperwork, I went to the office in the city, paid EVEN LESS tax than what they said I owed them, and I did not pay their fees... so it ended up being much cheaper. I forwarded the receipt to Ezclear and got my package within 1 business day.
I wouldn't be mad if they they just told me all of my options right from the beginning but they withheld information and wanted to make me pay way too much. In that regards, I really think this business could be more transparent.
THEY DONT TELL YOU ABOUT DUTIES AND ANYTHING ELSE THEY SHOULD OF INCLUDED THE PRICES FOR EVERYTHING when you pay the first time. Got 2 screen protectors they were expensive like 75 bucks worth expensive for 1 screen protector and then they now charge another 30 dollars for duties ARE YOU SERIOUS. Why are you a canadian company website if thats the case
I ordered a Coat from Military1st on 15th Dec 2022 and paid Canada Post expedited shipping (for 5-7 day delivery) as this was a Christmas present. It's a no show and when I instituted an investigation with Canada Post on 3rd Jan 2023 they replied on 10th Jan that it had not been delivered (no kidding). I went back to Military1st to get more info and they said I owed duties to Citilogistics. I have received many emails from EZClear that indicate I owe duty. When looking up this company online, I see all these comments that they are a fraud. The thing with Military 1st is that no-where when I ordered did Citilogistics, MGM Trading (another name) and EZClear get mentioned as a condition of the order; only received an invoice for the amount which was paid. I was able to get a person at Canada Post today, 13th Jan, that said there are no duties owing showed in their system. They suggest I report this to the Canadian Anti Fraud Center, which I will do. They had never heard of EZClear themselves. I'm still waiting on a response from Military 1st and will continue to track. My coat was CAD $228 inclusive of shipping and handling. EZClear is trying to collect CAD $78 - inclusive of all sorts of fees.
This must be a collusion scam - I'll post an update if this is ever resolved.
Firstly Id like to direct everyones attentions to the reviews below for detailed instruction on how to clear your own package without paying the absurd brokerage fees. Also, email the international stores customer service representative! Because this EZclear scam/company is fairly new, the companies are not yet aware that their packages are being intercepted and essentially held hostage for exorbitant fees. I reached out to the company that I purchased items for and after showing them these reviews among others they indicated that they will be looking for other couriers. The best way to express your dissatisfaction is not only to write reviews but also to contact the Store directly and warn them what is going on.
Now the review itself: because this company is relatively new, the major clothing/item distributers in the UK are not aware of what is going on. Packages that previously were delivered directly are now being intercepted and held hostages for gross fees. My goods cost roughly 40 dollars and there were $22 worth of brokerage costs associated with getting it released. Because I work regular hours I could not go to the Border Services office myself and had to pay the ransom (luckily the distributer refunded me the cost see instruction above) Once this was paid EZCLEAR messed up again and sent the package over land instead of over air (which was promised) making a simple delivery take over a month in grand total. What a disgusting predatory service which offers zero instruction in the original email as to how to reach out to border services. Borderline incompetent. I will be placing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau of Ontario and I advise you to do the same.
Terrible service. The agents are unhelpful when you call them. They basically pretend to hold your package hostage until you pay their absurd brokerage fee. If you go directly to a CBSA office, you can simply pay the real duties fees, and they will arrange for your package to be delivered for FREE. No extra admin fees. But when you call EZ clear, they make you believe that paying their fees are the only option for you to receive your package. They tried to charge me 25$ of duties and admin fees, on a 30$ purchase... They also calculate the duties wrong. I actually went directly to a CBSA office, and they charged me ZERO duty fees since my package was only 30$. They didn't even understand why I was being charged duties fees on such a small order. Beware and validate their information before falling for their trap and paying them for basically doing nothing. I would give them 0 stars if I could. I do appreciate though, them getting into contact after I left this review. The woman who helped was very understanding of my frustration with their fees and provided me with the proper paperwork to self-clear my package. But, she did say that I was going to be charged for duties when in fact I didn't get charged at all. She also suggested that she could cut the fees in half. I think she was just trying to discourage me from going to CBSA. I'd rather pay no fees, especially since the Canadian border service agency (CBSA) says that I am not obligate to pay any fees to them and themselves did not charge me ANY duty fees. This is why I am updating my review with the full experience that I have had with EZ clear and the CBSA. Please be careful and validate their information before giving any money to them. They can easily miscalculate your duties fees as well as charging you an absurd admin fees.
What a bunch of scammers. This is a courier service that several international companies use to import goods into Canada. I had the misfortune of dealing with them after ordering 4 dresses from UK based company MissGuided. Customs fees are not a new concept for me, I often order internationally and have ALWAYS paid my charges at the time of delivery or the post office. I received an email from EzClear stating they have my package. First of all, their emails are completely misleading you into thinking you HAVE to pay THEM, when really your fees are owed to the CBSA (Canadian Border Services Agency). They were charging me $39.08 for import fees, custom fees and a brokerage fee, plus tax. My order from Missguided was $69.48. Naturally, I thought these fees were outrageous and decided to call EZClear to complain. I spoke to Maricel Mendoza, and said I would not pay them. She informed me that I could "self clear" my package in person at the CBSA Office. Out of principle, I did just that and now am VERY happy I did. The actual fees owed to the CBSA were a measly $8.33. Let that sink in. This company preys on people who are unable to complain, people who desperately want their package or are ignorant to what custom fees should look like. I shutter at the thought of how many have handed their hard earned money to this leech of a company. I extensively complained to MissGuided about them and hope they will stop using EzClear. Why companies choose to use this courier, I don't know. Maybe they are cheaper than other courier services but this comes at a cost to their valuable customers. DO NOT PAY EZ CLEAR, SELF CLEAR YOUR OWN PACKAGE.
Overview
EzClear has a rating of 1.5 stars from 31 reviews, indicating that most customers are generally dissatisfied with their purchases. Reviewers dissatisfied with EzClear most frequently mention duty fees, cbsa office and border services. EzClear ranks 384th among Ecommerce Tools sites.
Company Representative
- Sitejabber’s sole mission is to increase online transparency for buyers and businesses
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- Sitejabber’s sole mission is to increase online transparency for buyers and businesses
- Sitejabber has helped over 200M buyers make better purchasing decisions online
- Suspicious reviews are flagged by our algorithms, moderators, and community members
Thank you for the opportunity to respond to this review.
Ezclear is a not a courier company, we are a service that prepays duties and taxes on large inbound consolidations of ecommerce product arriving into Canada. This process takes place by way of retailers preparing export manifests containing details such as declared value, country of origin and item numbers for verification. This information is used by the customs broker William L Rutherford to calculate duties and taxes. Those charges are PREPAID by Ezclear to our broker who is responsible for transferring the funds to CBSA/Revenue Canada. Ezclear then collects the individual charges from recipients electronically through our notification system. Once the charges are recouped, the parcel is tendered to a delivery/courier such as Canada Post. We charge a fee for our services as does Canada Post see section 2. 2. 1 https://www.canadapost.ca/tools/pg/manual/PGcustoms-e.asp.
To add perspective to this matter, international ecommerce companies/retailers especially in the UK are often exporting to dozens of countries worldwide. Each country has their own detailed tax and tariff regulations pertaining to imports. Due to the complexity of these regulations by country; retailers turn to companies such as ours to help with the process. Without this process some retailers would just not opt not to sell to some foreign markets.
With regards to paying your charges directly to CBSA, you are correct that you do not have to pay Ezclear. In instances where recipients want to pay directly to their local CBSA office, we provide all of the paperwork required in order to do so, we do this free of charge. By providing you with the necessary paperwork from the broker which includes the customs declaration forms and airline cargo control number you can easily pay duties directly to CBSA. This process eliminates you having to request the appropriate documentation from the retailer and airline carrier in order for you to self-clear. I would like to point out that in order to self-clear a parcel, the parcel must physically be present in the province in which it is going to be cleared and since most ecommerce parcels enter via the Vancouver or Toronto/Hamilton airports people in other provinces do not have the option to self-clear unless they have the item transported in bond and held in bond locally until cleared by CBSA.
Regarding your fees, your order consisted of 4 items two of which were made in China and 2 were made in Great Britain. If you refer to the report provided by our broker William L Rutherford, you will notice that there is a HS code pertaining to the legal classification of each line item. The charges were determined by the broker based on how the retailer listed your items. You should be aware that our broker has been in operation for over 90 years and any CBSA officer will attest to their legal integrity. Now, I see from your CBSA receipt that you paid $8.33 which is taxes only; I also see that you declared your parcel as one item instead of 4. Further, your item is listed as “Cotton” on your receipt and not “Poly” as indicated by the retailer. I cannot comment as to whether the retailer misdeclared the items or if your description to the CBSA officer was misdeclared. I can tell you that Ezclear and our broker follow the customs and tax laws in Canada to the T and we would never risk misstating information regarding import. The fact that you paid $8.33 has nothing whatsoever to do with Ezclear. We function as a payment mechanism, we do not set the tariffs or the tax rates in Canada.
It is also worth noting that although you can self-clear with almost every inbound courier service you cannot self-clear with Canada Post. In addition, Canada Post recently made a change to their COD policy. They no longer collect funds at the door; all COD parcels are redirected to a retail outlet. Here is the link to their policy, see section 7. 1. 6 https://www.canadapost.ca/tools/pg/manual/PGpscanada-e.asp.
Lastly, I would also like to point out that we heard from our retail partner in the UK regarding your other online review and we attempted to contact you several times to discuss the overall process. Often times having a complete understanding of the overall process helps consumers become aware of all the relevant information needed in order to address any concerns. Suggesting our company is a “scam” online without any due diligence can be quite damaging to a company running a legitimate business.
I hope we have addressed the information accordingly, and we are here to answer any further inquiries regarding this issue.