US Customs owes me one! (2 Viewers)

[hotel3alpha]

Gents,

Got a package from England two days ago. I have been searching high and low for it and worked out a deal to have the seller drop it off at a UK Mail Boxes ETC. The shipping cost more than the piece, but that was okay. Paid, had it shipped and waited.

FEDEX dropped off the piece and I signed for it and opened it later that day. I was giddy, then I saw some ominous black tape wrapped on the bottom of the box saying "Opened by the US Customs Dept of Homeland Security". Opened the box and they took a box cutter and cut through one of my K&C boxes and RIPPED open the boxes, leaving the original boxes torn to hell. Thank god the pieces are intact, but now I have MINT pieces and slit boxes thank to US Customs.

Yup, my tax dollars at work. Cutting, ripping, pulling, jacking and looking into the box with ZERO regard as to what is in the box. Hell, I could have had a MONA LISA in there and though I did not my K&C piece is a MONA LISA to me! Could we have been just a little more careful, could we have just taken the time to OPEN the box and not CUT the box open?

Naaaaa, that is too much to ask.

John from Texas.

 

[jazzeum]

John,

I would file a claim with Customs and failing that the U.S. Court of Claims; I was a court reporter there back in the 70s. You may not win but you'll have the satisfaction that you didn't let them get away with it.

Brad

 

[4th Hussar]

Of course you know that when you take on Homeland Security you will get on their "list". Being on the "list" is no big deal unless you want to get on an airplane and have a problem with strip searches.

 

[hotel3alpha]

John,

I would file a claim with Customs and failing that the U.S. Court of Claims; I was a court reporter there back in the 70s. You may not win but you'll have the satisfaction that you didn't let them get away with it.

Brad

Thanks Brad,

But I think I will better luck trying to replace the box. Me take on the Junited States Gobament over a Hitler piece. I may put on the FBI list for being a Nazi fan. Good Lord.

John from Texas

 

[hotel3alpha]

Of course you know that when you take on Homeland Security you will get on their "list". Being on the "list" is no big deal unless you want to get on an airplane and have a problem with strip searches.

Brother, I probably am already on some sort of list, in fact we ALL are on some sort of list. Now-a-days if you just "look" wrong your getting the "glove". Orwellian brother...Orwellian.

However, if I do make the list and get strip searched and they do a full on body search they may see the biggest, longest, hugest, thickest....you get the picture and get your mind out of the gutter.

John from TEXAS

 

[4th Hussar]

Thanks Brad,

But I think I will better luck trying to replace the box. Me take on the Junited States Gobament over a Hitler piece. I may put on the FBI list for being a Nazi fan. Good Lord.

John from Texas

NSA is likely monitoring this forum , they think Toy soldier is a Minnesota Militia{sm2}. Note the large number of foreign members from questionable countries like the UK, Oz and Texas.......................

 

[AIDMAN]

Hey man if you"re from Texas you are probabaly on somebody"s list somewhere anyhow!!!....Don"t you just hate those self inflating customs guys, hitting on us little guy"s for extra taxes and ripping through our private stuff with no respect whatsoever. I would"nt let the leeches get away with it.....Good luck.


God loves the South



Steve

 

[hotel3alpha]

Hey man if you"re from Texas you are probabaly on somebody"s list somewhere anyhow!!!....Don"t you just hate those self inflating customs guys, hitting on us little guy"s for extra taxes and ripping through our private stuff with no respect whatsoever. I would"nt let the leeches get away with it.....Good luck.


God loves the South



Steve

Steve,

I have never actually met a Customs officer before, but I can just imagine some dude in Philly, New Jersey or New York pulling out his blade and cutting away...realized that he tore up my box and said to himself or herself "hhhmmmmph..oh well were US Customs". He put the official customs tape on it and went to the next box.

My point is that they cut my box and RIPPED it open. Thankfully, the pieces were not destroyed buy what else have they destroyed in the name of "security". Now, don't get me wrong I am all about keeping it safe and real, but when I worked customs as a USAF SP in Japan, I can recall one a few instances where I had to open a box or bag and I did it carefully. You see I followed the old golden rule of "do unto others and you would want done unto you". So, I opened, checked, repacked very carefully 'cause that was somebody's stuff man! Put the tape on it and I think I even had to leave my card or sign it or something showing who did what to this package.

God loves indeed loves the South and God also blesses Texas. Just so I can sleep better at night I just blame it on some mutha from New Jersey...get a rope.

John from Texas.

 

[AIDMAN]

Hey John

Once had a brush with British customs when my wife and i went home to visit my folks. After a really poor baggage check...(they left whole compartments of our cases unchecked) they decided they wanted to give us a strip search. Off we went to our seperate rooms and out went my jacket. I had already decided how far i was gonna let them go and even which of the two guys i was going to take out first.....(i was much younger and burned much hotter in those days!!) i was just about to remove my shirt and another guy walked in and said it"s OK,let them through!!. I grabbed my stuff and was confronted by my tearfull wife who had got down as far as her underwear. Confronted the third guy as to what the hell they thought they were doing, yeah you guessed right no reason given..no disussion..no sorry!!.........Could"nt let it go so i wrote the Department Chief, and to my suprise got a reply...they said that my name matched someone they were looking for that was running drugs Attenborough...???, yeah right!! ........But i did get a written apology and an explanation that one of the 2 guys that marched me off was in training!!. does"nt make things good, and thier actions could easy have triggered off an ugly chain of events which would have been a lose-lose situation for all concerned.
Guess what i want to say is i am all for safety, personal and National, but let"s put the right man on the job who works with care, is intelligent, well informed and has respect for the people he is working with and for thier personal belongings!!!.
Carried that letter around in my passport for years after just in case!!!!....I still say go for it, might just start them thinking about the dubious qualitys of thier
badly trained staff.


Steve

 

[hotel3alpha]

Hey John

Once had a brush with British customs when my wife and i went home to visit my folks. After a really poor baggage check...(they left whole compartments of our cases unchecked) they decided they wanted to give us a strip search. Off we went to our seperate rooms and out went my jacket. I had already decided how far i was gonna let them go and even which of the two guys i was going to take out first.....(i was much younger and burned much hotter in those days!!) i was just about to remove my shirt and another guy walked in and said it"s OK,let them through!!. I grabbed my stuff and was confronted by my tearfull wife who had got down as far as her underwear. Confronted the third guy as to what the hell they thought they were doing, yeah you guessed right no reason given..no disussion..no sorry!!.........Could"nt let it go so i wrote the Department Chief, and to my suprise got a reply...they said that my name matched someone they were looking for that was running drugs Attenborough...???, yeah right!! ........But i did get a written apology and an explanation that one of the 2 guys that marched me off was in training!!. does"nt make things good, and thier actions could easy have triggered off an ugly chain of events which would have been a lose-lose situation for all concerned.
Guess what i want to say is i am all for safety, personal and National, but let"s put the right man on the job who works with care, is intelligent, well informed and has respect for the people he is working with and for thier personal belongings!!!.
Carried that letter around in my passport for years after just in case!!!!....I still say go for it, might just start them thinking about the dubious qualitys of thier
badly trained staff.


Steve

Steve,

My God that sounds like a nightmare! I mean a NIGHTMARE! I would be fu***ing pist if that happen to my wife or daughters. If you want to check me inside and out...go ahead and you might learn something! Hell, you might even change religions. But, the ladies need a little more respect man. Brother, I am sorry to hear that story.

At the end of the day it is me against the US GOBAMENT and they have a lot more power and deeper pockets than me. I'll let this one be.

Thanks for sharing!

John

 

[hsm]

They drilled into a case of chess boards I had shipped to me from a manufacturer. at first I thought it was a bullet had been fired into the box- then I discovered they had drilled in to take a sample of material.............................can you make that up?

 

[hotel3alpha]

They drilled into a case of chess boards I had shipped to me from a manufacturer. at first I thought it was a bullet had been fired into the box- then I discovered they had drilled in to take a sample of material.............................can you make that up?

HSM,

Good lord, that one is for the books. Why would they need a "core" sample? Don't they have x ray machines and what not, I know for a fact they have drug and bomb dogs sniffing around. How did you resolve it?

John