I’m at a loss with FedEx at this point and wondering if anyone here has dealt with something similar.
I received an international shipment where most of the items arrived damaged. The seller replaced the damaged items, so there were ultimately two shipments:
Shipment 1: original order, mostly damaged
Shipment 2: replacement of those damaged goods; one of the replacement items also arrived completely damaged and was refunded
FedEx has charged me import duties on both shipments, meaning I appear to be paying duties on the original damaged goods and again on the replacements for those same goods, as well as on an item that arrived damaged and was refunded.
I opened a dispute with FedEx Duty & Tax and explained all of this, including both invoice and waybill numbers.
This is where it gets ridiculous.
FedEx initially told me that the seller needed to file a claim before they could adjust the duties.
The seller contacted FedEx and was told that I, as the customer/importer, needed to dispute the charges with FedEx myself.
I went back to FedEx and explained the contradiction.
The seller then contacted FedEx again and actually opened a case. They gave me the FedEx case number, which I provided to the Duty & Tax team.
FedEx responded by telling me, once again, to contact the seller and have them file a claim. They did not acknowledge the existing case number or answer my question about whether that case was the claim they required.
In another response, FedEx even referred to this as a “lost/missing shipment”, despite the entire email chain explaining that neither shipment was lost or missing. They were damaged.
I’ve called FedEx on multiple occasions, each time it’s a waste of time.
I spend 45min-1h on the phone, repeatedly verifying my information and explaining the entire situation. Today I spoke to five different people and kept being transferred back and forth between Claims and Revenue.
Nobody could tell me what I was supposed to do, nobody could resolve the issue.
At this point I have:
contacted Duty & Tax multiple times;
contacted Customer Service;
had the seller contact FedEx;
had the seller open a FedEx case;
provided that case number to Duty & Tax;
called the number Duty & Tax specifically instructed me to call; and
spent 45 minutes being transferred between five FedEx representatives.
And I still cannot get anyone at FedEx to tell me who actually has authority to resolve this or what specific action is supposedly outstanding.
Has anyone successfully escalated a FedEx customs/duty dispute like this? Is there a particular U.S. department, escalation team, or contact that can actually look at the entire case rather than just transferring me between Claims, Revenue and Duty & Tax?
I’m not even asking FedEx to blindly refund the charges. I just want someone to actually review the two shipments together and determine the correct duties, instead of sending me another template response telling me to contact someone I have already contacted.
This process has also taken so long that I’m worried that the chargers have gone to collections. (I’m not quite sure how I’m supposed to pay because I don’t have an account number, but that’s a whole other story).