Anybody know about the costs of customs officials on overtime

Pippie


Joined: 02/12/2009
Posts: 1288

Message Posted:
12/03/2010 18:23

Sorry if this sounds like a useless question cos I know I'm going to have to pay whatever they decide to charge me but .. it's nice to have an idea how much I'm going to be ripped off!



While I'm sitting here, bored out of my skull waiting for the truck to meander it's way around the village streets to deliver my furniture, which it's been doing for the past hour, I'm wondering just how much more I'm going to have to fork out now. I'd heard from people on the forum previously that customs officials have a habit of scheduling you in for a delivery as late as possible in the afternoon so that they can get paid overtime. They said they'd be here at 5pm! Now it's nearly 6.30, pitch black outside, only the Lord knows when they'll arrive, let alone get finished unloading. Sorry to be sounding so p***** off!



Are the customs officials likely to want to open every box - it'll take a month of Sundays!

And, what's the overtime costs, does anyone know?



Thanks.

japeal



Joined: 12/09/2008
Posts: 1052

Message Posted:
12/03/2010 18:26

Arrived around 8pm to do ours, only had to open 1 box, only got charged £8 for TV. Customs guys were fine, be polite offer them water to drink, if you have biscuits them also. You do not pay for their overtime

gallowgate


Joined: 08/06/2009
Posts: 164

Message Posted:
12/03/2010 18:28

Arrived 7:00pm on ours. Opened aroung 20 boxes. Had to pay for TV and RAdio licence. They like you to have food for them if possible. They were very polite.

Pippie


Joined: 02/12/2009
Posts: 1288

Message Posted:
12/03/2010 18:31

Thanks to you both. So, what was the rumour all about that we needed to pay overtime. I'm sure the guy from Olaytrans who met us at the customs office to finish off all the paperwork said that would happen.



Thanks for the tip about food and drink, I've got the Turkish coffee, Nescafe, Çay and cordial all at the ready. Biscuits too. I just hope I've got enough glasses and cups to go around, I've bought the bare essentials while I've been waiting for everything to arrive!



oh, think they've just arrived. Speak to you all again later.

Pippie


Joined: 02/12/2009
Posts: 1288

Message Posted:
12/03/2010 18:34

Did I say they were here? I lied. The guys waiting to unload are here, the driver is still stuck on a bend somewhere!!

Ah well, it's gonna be a long night.

kaiserphil


Joined: 14/12/2008
Posts: 1096

Message Posted:
12/03/2010 18:40

"Had to pay for TV and RAdio licence". What? Should I have had one of those?

Pippie


Joined: 02/12/2009
Posts: 1288

Message Posted:
12/03/2010 18:47

So definitely no cost for the customs?

Half of the crew have now arrived, apparently they can't get the container up the hill so they've brought a 3 ton van and are going to unload from the container a bit at a time and transfer to the van, bringing that back and forth to the house. The guy from Olaytrans has just explained to me we've got 2 customs guys here now, one to watch the unloading at the bottom of the road and the other to watch it coming in to the house. I'm just seeing pound signs at the moment!

mrsgee


Joined: 23/06/2009
Posts: 396

Message Posted:
12/03/2010 19:05

We used Dolphin. They were very good. But, yes, they do arrive late and we were told that's because they claim overtime, but you don't pay for that. They stood and watched all boxes and Items (I think there were 66) unloaded. They were not too interested until they saw a boxed up marble table with chairs, which were brand new from UK. They asked how much we paid, we told them far less than the true cost...they then calculated the cost....which I think was around £160 pounds, but not too sure cos it was a year ago. We had already 'bunged' the customs guys £40 each on the advice of Dolphin, so that they would not open all the boxes. Once it had all been unloaded, our man from Dolphin told us he had 'negotiated' a lower price for the tax on the table and chairs, I think about half....but £40 to grease his palm. There was also a small charge for Tv which I think is almost like a licence fee. Anyway, overall, not bad and not toooo painful. Good luck.

lulubell


Joined: 18/11/2008
Posts: 595

Message Posted:
12/03/2010 19:44

hi pippie,it might be a good idea if perhaps one person went to where your container was actually being unloaded onto the van and another stayed at the home as a similar thing happened with our container,not everything was coming into the house some items were loaded from the container onto another van by the removal company and taken into storage just 50 metres further along the road.only later when we had opened all boxes from storage did we realise how much stuff was missing,it had definately gone onto container in uk so had definately come off this end.good luck with everything and i hope all goes smoothly for you.

decanddyl


Joined: 17/01/2009
Posts: 792

Message Posted:
12/03/2010 22:18

msg 8

I really think you were conned we had well over 100 boxes about ten were opened they had a look at our sofas (which were new) and the only charge was for our three televisions.

The customs and delivery men were all very polite and friendly, biscuits and drinks were declined by the customs men and accepted by the delivery men.

rigsby


Joined: 21/09/2007
Posts: 912

Message Posted:
13/03/2010 00:17

Reminds me when we went through this.One customs chap insisted that i had a motorcycle in one of our boxes.We found the box,opened it and showed him two motorcycle helmets !Box ticked.Eight men turned up for unloading and i paid £80 plus beers for the customs men.They would not let me lift anything.this was 2002

mrsgee


Joined: 23/06/2009
Posts: 396

Message Posted:
13/03/2010 17:22

msg 10



Maybe we were conned - maybe not. We had a lot of brand new items which we would have been charged for had they opened all the boxes. As it was, I think we got off light. We were happy enough with backhander, and with the duty that they charged on the garden set, which we actually paid £1500 for but told them £600. Also, they had turned up when it was raining and dark and the last thing that we wanted was for them to start opening boxes - they could have opened them all if they wanted.



Yes they were very polite, and also declined biscuits, tea, coffee, whiskey. I mistyped, there were actually 166 packages, a full container.

fallenangel


Joined: 16/05/2009
Posts: 125

Message Posted:
13/03/2010 18:32

Container & customs officials are always scheduled for after 5.30 but you do not pay their overtime earned. Our friends advised us to get in cigarettes and whisky for them , but as they did not smoke or drink they had to manage with a flask of coffee same as us , our electric not yet being connected.



When you pack your goods in the Uk it is a good idea to use old boxes or turn boxes inside out for new articles. Each box needs to be numbered and have a rough description of contents ie. kitchen items, then make 3 copies of your list of boxes and contents - a copy for the shippers, one for customs and one for you to check off.



The container should arrive at your door with the seal intact, so make sure you check it. You will pay a licience fee of 20tl for each tv you bring, our total was 65tl duty on our container. You are allowed one container per household duty free. There is no necessity to grease palms beforehand, anyway how do you know which men are coming?

co

fallenangel


Joined: 16/05/2009
Posts: 125

Message Posted:
13/03/2010 18:39

If you intend to bring a generator or a fax /copier machine you are supposed to get a licience here first or it will be confiscated at the docks on arrival, I think you get liciences from the post office . Our customs men were fine, we had a full container stuffed to the gunnels and it took hours to unload in the dark, the shipping agents Euromed were great , big strong fellas, and in the end even the customs men helped unload as it was getting late. They did ask for one or two boxes to be opened to check against the list, so the list is very important. Can recommend Excel

shipping for the uk end and Euromed are the agents this end, who take you to customs a few days before your container arrives to do the paperwork for you and again their help speeds up the process .

scruff


Joined: 15/07/2008
Posts: 1070

Message Posted:
13/03/2010 19:14

They are very specific about which items they charge duty on & I have never heard of anyone paying duty on furniture. New Gennys yes. We had loads of boxes (maybe 200). They were only interested in the 2 TVs. Total cost for the once off licences 60 TL. No bribes whatsoever paid to anyone or tips. We'd paid for all this in the UK. & our UK removers & TC agents were great.

We had no problems at all with customs men who couldn't have been more helpful. They had the inventory & were directing the unloaders to which room everything was for by asking us in English & telling the unloaders in Turkish. One of my best evenings in Cyprus & totally painless.

I didn't use Dolphin or Olaytans either btw. Dolphin (& under their former name, now forgotten) have always had a bad name & still do. I'm surprised they are still in business.