brownedout
Well-Known Member
I don't believe this has ever been covered before. I did a search which turned up nothing. If it has, I do apoligize. This new, about 2 to 3 years now, system of collecting brokerage fees is the absolute pits. I have had numerous problems with these before, but nothing like tonights. If you have never had one, consider yourself lucky. Stop shows in edd as a COD ($). You pull the package and it's an international. After scanning the COD,, screen pops up with the amount due after the letters BF (Brokerage Fee). This amount does not have to be entered by service provider like regular c.o.d.'s it is already displayed for us. Big arrow down from there (I believe) brings another screen which explains to consignee that a brokerage fee is applied to the shipment for the amount specified with a brokerage accounting phone number. Now this is the only place that the consignee can view that there is a fee, amount due. Unlike the old "paper system" which had the white tags with green print. These old tags also explained that the fee was for tax, value added tax, duty, custom charges, amongst others. And most important the customer had a receipt. This paperless system with no receipt, no remnant of an amount due on the package, no clear explanation for said amount due is just the worst. It is expected that the cosignee just wants their shipment and will pay, this is usually not the case. Add to the fact that there is a very often a language barrier, and the matter gets even more complicated. That's logistics!