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Customs/warehouse holds and massive charges - has anyone else experienced this insanity?


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I ordered two separate multi-item orders from Bleep (UK) a while back, around $175/ea order including shipping, and I’ve presumed they were lost after both shipped in early July.

 
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I just received a letter from “Brick Mountain Warehouse” in New York who is claiming I owe them, out of the blue, $450 for holding my package(s?) and I’m being told they may still destroy my items after I pay the mandatory fees. Oh, and they can’t ship them to me, I’d have to pick them up in New York (I live in chicago).

 

Photos of the letters they sent me.

 

I was never contacted by anyone telling me any additional information or any type of duty fees were required to get my packages unstuck.

 

Has anyone experienced anything like this? I’ve been ordering things overseas for over a decade and have never had a single issue before (save for maybe an actually-lost package once or twice).

Edited by lethalenforcer
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Just now, Plarocks said:

Sounds like a scam to me.

 

 

Yeah I don’t know how this random place can, out of nowhere, send all of these random insanely high fees to me. How could anyone protect theirselves against this type of thing if it’s legit?

 

Bleep was cooperative with me when I emailed them in mid-August when I said I thought the packages were lost. They told me the items were with customs and to sit tight... and now this. They didn’t respond when I followed up twice again last week.

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Just now, lethalenforcer said:

Yeah I don’t know how this random place can, out of nowhere, send all of these random insanely high fees to me. How could anyone protect theirselves against this type of thing if it’s legit?

 

Bleep was cooperative with me when I emailed them in mid-August when I said I thought the packages were lost. They told me the items were with customs and to sit tight... and now this. They didn’t respond when I followed up twice again last week.

My experiences with overseas orders have been the same as you, aside from that weird letter you just posted.

 

My packages from Germany DID take forever, but arrived.

 

I would sit tight for a month, and if they don’t show up, call and contest the charge to Bleep, unless they send out replacements to you or something.

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This sounds like one of those shady business that exploits government loopholes. It seems like they agree to take and store undeliverable packages from the government/postal service and are locating the recipients and sending them bogus invoices to see if they’ll pay. It’s probably legal because this is America but I have to believe you are under no obligation to respond or engage.

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23 minutes ago, Oblivions said:

It’s probably legal because this is America but I have to believe you are under no obligation to respond or engage.

Sure hope so. They loaded those letters with scare tactics and threatened going to collections, etc., all for charges that make zero sense. Maddening.

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My wife works in aerospace and she says they do this with airplane parts when a company doesn’t “clear customs” on a package and the company does have to pay expensive warehouse fees in those scenarios. But she seemed confused by the notice that they’ll destroy your merch, even if you pay, and that they won’t ship it back out to you after you pay the fees. In her experience, sometimes a company doesn’t get initially notified of customs issues or they get notified and drop the ball and they end up getting these fees but the package should then be put back on track to getting shipped to them. Might be worth seeing if you have any import/export experts in your family or friend group or find some kind of chill lawyer in that realm who would be willing to help explain what your obligations are. This sucks that they can do this to a random individual over a package of records.

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2 minutes ago, Oblivions said:

My wife works in aerospace and she says they do this with airplane parts when a company doesn’t “clear customs” on a package and the company does have to pay expensive warehouse fees in those scenarios. But she seemed confused by the notice that they’ll destroy your merch, even if you pay, and that they won’t ship it back out to you after you pay the fees. In her experience, sometimes a company doesn’t get initially notified of customs issues or they get notified and drop the ball and they end up getting these fees but the package should then be put back on track to getting shipped to them. Might be worth seeing if you have any import/export experts in your family or friend group or find some kind of chill lawyer in that realm who would be willing to help explain what your obligations are. This sucks that they can do this to a random individual over a package of records.

Good to know. Appreciate you sharing it with your wife. I’m clueless when it comes to all of this stuff and am just hoping I can avoid any insane battles with these scumbags. Will probably wait a bit first to see if Bleep says anything back. I know calling the warehouse itself will just result in intimidation and trying to get me to just pay up, which is pretty sickening. I just don’t understand what grounds they even have to stand on here.

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26 minutes ago, Roandy55 said:

https://www.bbb.org/us/ny/valley-stream/profile/merchandise-warehouse/brick-mountain-warehouse-corp-0121-175028

 

In business for 9 years, and scarcely any reviews anywhere ? Seems perfectly legit.

 

according to the owner listed on BBB site, he is dead as of april because of covid 19

 

https://www.newsday.com/news/health/coronavirus/christopher-madden-obituary-coronavirus-1.43784545

 

Quote

Madden owned Brick Mountain Warehouse Corp., a U.S. Customs authorized warehouse in Valley Stream. In addition to his wife, he is survived by their children, Brady, 20, Kayla, 18, and Logan, 14. 

 

 

Quote

We are a General Order Warehouse operating at JFK Airport. Importers bringing merchandise into the United States for consumption must place their goods in a bonded facility while entry is filed with Customs. Goods remaining in a bonded facility for fifteen calendar days without an entry filed will be moved to a Customs approved, GO (General Order) bonded warehouse. There the goods will remain for six months from the date of import. If after six months, the goods have not been documented and duties/fees paid, they will be sold at auction, donated to charity or retained by the Government. Bonded warehouses must notify Customs of un-entered goods not later than 20 calendar days from the date of arrival in the port of import. Warehouse/vessel operators failing to report un-entered merchandise are subject to a penalty of up to one thousand dollars per bill of lading.

https://www.apollo.io/people/Chris/Madden/57e1896ca6da987de59d3e38

Edited by tokimedo
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Brick Mountain Warehouse 145 Hook Creek Boulevard, Building B6D Valley Stream, NY 11581 POC: Chris Madden or Carmen Morales 516-612-0425

from this US customs auctions site - 

http://cwsamsinc.com/go/preview050318.pdf

 

looks like a real business that does what it says it does. from the looks of it, this is the fault of bleep. they did not provide the proper paperwork to have this clear US customs, so it gets sent to this warehouse in a hold until the proper paperwork is provided by sender. 

Edited by tokimedo
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I had an order from essential purification that hadn't shown up and just contacted them. A big shipment to their US operations went missing around July with no notifications. One of the records was gone so I got a voucher, the replacement for the other is on its way. I wonder if something similar happened to them.

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1 hour ago, tokimedo said:

from this US customs auctions site - 

http://cwsamsinc.com/go/preview050318.pdf

 

looks like a real business that does what it says it does. from the looks of it, this is the fault of bleep. they did not provide the proper paperwork to have this clear US customs, so it gets sent to this warehouse in a hold until the proper paperwork is provided by sender. 

Oh shit. This sounds plausible. When I have sent to the US, I have to carefully fill out the forms with exactly what's in the packages. 

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5 hours ago, lethalenforcer said:

Yeah I don’t know how this random place can, out of nowhere, send all of these random insanely high fees to me. How could anyone protect theirselves against this type of thing if it’s legit?

 

Bleep was cooperative with me when I emailed them in mid-August when I said I thought the packages were lost. They told me the items were with customs and to sit tight... and now this. They didn’t respond when I followed up twice again last week.

Did you email the warehouse and ask what specific reason it was it sent to them? Or why it was taking a long time to clear?

Edited by Lugubrious
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7 hours ago, tokimedo said:

 

7 hours ago, tokimedo said:

looks like a real business that does what it says it does. from the looks of it, this is the fault of bleep. they did not provide the proper paperwork to have this clear US customs, so it gets sent to this warehouse in a hold until the proper paperwork is provided by sender. 

Verrry interesting. So, it makes sense that unclaimed things may wind up somewhere and eventually get auctioned or burned (I guess)... but I have zero clue how this place has any right to charge me anything for holding the package. I wonder if it's just a scare tactic. I'd simply let it lapse and wait for my PayPal refund via Bleep, but the monthly charge this place is seeming to apply to my "invoice" along with threatening going to collections has me a bit anxious about taking that approach.

 

 

3 hours ago, Shitty Rambo said:

Anyway to contest or dispute the initial order (PayPal, done via credit card, etc)? See if there is anyway you can report it as fraud, it essentially is. 

I submitted a PayPal claim. I hope I won't have any problem getting my original ~$300 back, but it's these new "fees" that are troublesome.

 

 

28 minutes ago, mitchard said:

The website looks like it was made in 2002 with a DIY website generator, and is even flagged as being "not secure". Plus the invoice date is "9/10/22020". 😂

The invoice and website are littered with typos, it's comical. And the gov't URL they reference in the second letter they sent doesn't even work.

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1 hour ago, lethalenforcer said:

but I have zero clue how this place has any right to charge me anything for holding the package.

I'm sure you didn't agree to anything in terms and conditions when purchasing the items that would tie you into owing them money. You're absolutely right about that part.

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