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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.
Dany V.'s review of EzClear earned 23 Very Helpful votes
“Dear Dany! Thank You for your review. This happened to me today and I am very mad. To self clear is only to go in the CBSA office inthe ariport? Thank You Violeta”
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I ordered a Coat from Military1st on 15th Dec 2022 and paid Canada Post expedited shipping (for...
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.