Word of warning about ordering through Disney Store

[Canadian Harmony]

So you all probably know this, but I am a twit and didn't.

I had my Jack Skellington ornament ($21.95USD) safe until tree-putting-up day at which point it broke... twice. Not to mention, my daughter lost her A&E Boutique tiara about 30 hours after getting it (it's probably STILL on IASW), so I thought I'd replace the ornament and the tiara.

I called the Disney Store and though they didn't have my ornament in stock (srsly), I decided to order another one to celebrate our visit and they were kind enough to give me a replacement tiara for free! How sweet, right? Maybe not...

The ornament was again, $21.95USD, shipping was $20USD (because Canada is 'international' apparently). And then the nice UPS guy charged me ANOTHER $21.57 for duty and taxes. So, this has turned out to be one of the MOST expensive presents ever, especially now that our loonie is in free-fall.

I should have just waited until I go back in October for the ornament (and bought two), and bought a different tiara from WalMart.

 

[bcwife76]

Yes Disney Store orders ALWAYS come with duty/taxes/brokerage fees. Sucks. I only order from them when I have a lot to order and can't be bothered to drive down to our mailbox across the border in WA to pick it up lol But yeah, it sucks

 

[starvenger]

And it's not just Disney (I've gotten dinged with duty from Gymboree (US) and Mountain Warehouse (UK)), so you always have to be careful when ordering online. Some places may pay the duty, but I wouldn't count on it.

Luckily for me I have a brother that lives in the US so we just ship stuff to him now.

 

[pigletto]

Ugh. I feel you. I got a package (that I didn't know was coming) from an online friend in Texas and had to pay $27 in duty at my front door. It was homemade jam and a homemade Christmas decoration. How they heck they came up with that assessed value was beyond me.

We used to order from the Disney store and pop over the border to pick it up. Even with duty it turned out pretty good. This would be the first Christmas ever that I didn't buy a single thing from the U.S. and I don't see myself doing any cross border shopping for a very long time.

 

[Canadian Harmony]

I think I'm going to wait a long time before I do that again, or at least find out if duty and taxes are included in the price. Being on the Island, it's really pricey to leave and go to Seattle or Port Angeles for the amount of stuff I'd order through the US.

 

[LemonNeko]

UPS is the worst for duty. I think they have a brokerage charge on top of the duty. I never order anything from the US if it's shipped UPS. If it's shipped US mail it's way cheaper.

 

[mshanson3121]

So you all probably know this, but I am a twit and didn't.

I had my Jack Skellington ornament ($21.95USD) safe until tree-putting-up day at which point it broke... twice. Not to mention, my daughter lost her A&E Boutique tiara about 30 hours after getting it (it's probably STILL on IASW), so I thought I'd replace the ornament and the tiara.

I called the Disney Store and though they didn't have my ornament in stock (srsly), I decided to order another one to celebrate our visit and they were kind enough to give me a replacement tiara for free! How sweet, right? Maybe not...

The ornament was again, $21.95USD, shipping was $20USD (because Canada is 'international' apparently). And then the nice UPS guy charged me ANOTHER $21.57 for duty and taxes. So, this has turned out to be one of the MOST expensive presents ever, especially now that our loonie is in free-fall.

I should have just waited until I go back in October for the ornament (and bought two), and bought a different tiara from WalMart.

I'm sorry, I don't understand the "international apparently" comment. I mean, it's pretty black and white - Canada is a completely, different separate country, therefore, yes it is "international". And therefore, legally subject to any and all import duties and taxes, which would have been there in the fine print when you were checking out. It sucks, but it is what it is.

 

[minnie56]

I order from the Disney store but always ship to Lewiston, NY .. I'll my chances of paying HST but not those duty and shipping fees.

 

[bcwife76]

UPS is the worst for duty. I think they have a brokerage charge on top of the duty. I never order anything from the US if it's shipped UPS. If it's shipped US mail it's way cheaper.

Yes, it's the brokerage fees that UPS has to collect. My poor husband, who is a UPSer, has to constantly put up with people complaining to him about brokerage fees. As if it's his fault.

 

[Tinkershelly]

Disney Movie Club can ship domestic from Canada to me so they have a business model for online shopping in Canada. Also there are enough Disney Stores in Canada that there must be a Canadian warehouse/distribution centre to stock those stores. The only thing I can see that is prohibiting them from setting up a Canadian domestic online shopping system is desire to do so. We may not be a big enough market to bother with. And I am another one who will not order anything which will be delivered by UPS. Once they tried to charge me $60 brokerage fees to deliver a $15 book!

 

[Canadian Harmony]

I'm sorry, I don't understand the "international apparently" comment. I mean, it's pretty black and white - Canada is a completely, different separate country, therefore, yes it is "international". And therefore, legally subject to any and all import duties and taxes, which would have been there in the fine print when you were checking out. It sucks, but it is what it is.

There are A LOT of other US companies that don't charge international shipping rates to Canada, despite us being a seperate country. As Tinkershelly said, the DMC doesn't charge me international shipping rates nor do I get charged import duties and taxes on my movies, so why does the Store? And there are a LOT of items in the Disney Store that don't ship to Canada - I thought Free Trade was supposed to stop that. If I had known that UPS was going to ship, I probably would have said no thanks.

As to the fine print - I was talking on the phone, not looking online. Not once did the CM mention UPS would deliver, or that there'd be import duties and taxes, so there was no 'fine print' for me to look at as I put the order over the phone directly.

To add insult to injury - my ornament is broken upon arrival. Just awesome.

 

[mshanson3121]

There are A LOT of other US companies that don't charge international shipping rates to Canada, despite us being a seperate country. As Tinkershelly said, the DMC doesn't charge me international shipping rates nor do I get charged import duties and taxes on my movies, so why does the Store? And there are a LOT of items in the Disney Store that don't ship to Canada - I thought Free Trade was supposed to stop that. If I had known that UPS was going to ship, I probably would have said no thanks.

As to the fine print - I was talking on the phone, not looking online. Not once did the CM mention UPS would deliver, or that there'd be import duties and taxes, so there was no 'fine print' for me to look at as I put the order over the phone directly.

To add insult to injury - my ornament is broken upon arrival. Just awesome.

There are very few companies that do not charge higher shipping rates to Canada. But yes, some do have separate "Canada" rates and then "International", which is misleading, since we are indeed international. Free Trade had nothing to do with you and I going to store (or website, lol) and purchasing, that strictly applies to manufacturing exports etc... only. There has always been, and will always be, duties on importing purchased goods in a store, sometimes they are factored into the "shipping" costs, and sometimes they aren't, it's always best to ask or read the fine print. The DMC doesn't charge international shipping rates because there is a DMC for the US and one for Canada. You would be through the one in Canada.

So, unfortunately, it was an expensive lesson to learn, but at least now you know for next time. I really hope that they'll replace the ornament for you, that's really crummy.

 

[alc571]

There are A LOT of other US companies that don't charge international shipping rates to Canada, despite us being a seperate country. As Tinkershelly said, the DMC doesn't charge me international shipping rates nor do I get charged import duties and taxes on my movies, so why does the Store? And there are a LOT of items in the Disney Store that don't ship to Canada - I thought Free Trade was supposed to stop that. If I had known that UPS was going to ship, I probably would have said no thanks.

As to the fine print - I was talking on the phone, not looking online. Not once did the CM mention UPS would deliver, or that there'd be import duties and taxes, so there was no 'fine print' for me to look at as I put the order over the phone directly.

To add insult to injury - my ornament is broken upon arrival. Just awesome.

There are a lot of items that can't ship to Canada because they don't meet our safety regulations. For example, you can't ship pajamas (at least kids, for sure) to Canada because they're required to be made of a flame-retardant material and they're not in the US. There can also be agreements between suppliers that they won't ship items to Canada. That's why Target had such a hard time coming to Canada - a lot of their suppliers weren't allowed to sell here.

 

[bcwife76]

Oh crud, after all this and the ornament arrived broken?? Well I hope they replace it for you and if you complain hard enough, hopefully you'll get some shipping refunded too!!

 

[Canadian Harmony]

There are very few companies that do not charge higher shipping rates to Canada. But yes, some do have separate "Canada" rates and then "International", which is misleading, since we are indeed international. Free Trade had nothing to do with you and I going to store (or website, lol) and purchasing, that strictly applies to manufacturing exports etc... only. There has always been, and will always be, duties on importing purchased goods in a store, sometimes they are factored into the "shipping" costs, and sometimes they aren't, it's always best to ask or read the fine print. The DMC doesn't charge international shipping rates because there is a DMC for the US and one for Canada. You would be through the one in Canada.

So, unfortunately, it was an expensive lesson to learn, but at least now you know for next time. I really hope that they'll replace the ornament for you, that's really crummy.

Oh crud, after all this and the ornament arrived broken?? Well I hope they replace it for you and if you complain hard enough, hopefully you'll get some shipping refunded too!!

I"m too scared to tell them - because with my luck, they'd replace it and UPS would charge me ANOTHER $21.57!! I think I'll just crazy-glue it and buy two or three of the same type in October when I go back. Cheaper that way, even with the flight

 

[mshanson3121]

I"m too scared to tell them - because with my luck, they'd replace it and UPS would charge me ANOTHER $21.57!! I think I'll just crazy-glue it and buy two or three of the same type in October when I go back. Cheaper that way, even with the flight

lol. Yes, you're probably right, because technically, even if something is free, you still have to declare the value of it at the border. *grumble*

 

[kiford]

UPS is the worst for duty. I think they have a brokerage charge on top of the duty. I never order anything from the US if it's shipped UPS. If it's shipped US mail it's way cheaper.

There's a few places I used to order from that ship only to Canada using UPS and I would get hammered with the brokerage fees every time as well as duty to almost the same amount as whatever I purchased. One place finally stopped using UPS because they had so many complaints. Now I only purchase from places that don't use UPS or have alternatives. Most of the time, especially when shipped by US Postal Service, I only get hit with customs and duty about 10% of the time and never any brokerage fees. Good to know about the Disney Store using UPS - I wasn't aware of that and just recently almost purchased something from them.

As an aside, the other reason I don't like UPS is that I'm not home during the day to receive packages and the only UPS depot in my area is open only from 7-9 am and 4:30-6:30 pm M-F. And most of the time they won't redirect the package.