Well, a while ago I finally got fed up and called the place where we shipped our pallet of rubbermaid boxes.  So the guy tells me that there have been a lot of delays and yada yada yada he’s going to look into the status and find out what’s going on.

Sure.

So three days later I call him back and this time I demand to know what’s going on or I’m going to initiate a chargeback for the fees we paid and file an insurance claim.

30 minutes later he tells me that our stuff has arrived in Marseille.  emoticon Moron.

So I call the shipping company in Marseille and try my best, in French, to ask about our pallet of stuff that supposedly has arrived and is somewhere in Marseille. After a while, the lady I was speaking with gets a little exasperated and hands me over to her ENGLISH-SPEAKING co-worker. (Don’t even ask why she didn’t do that to begin with…) This fellow proceeds to tell me that the ship with our container has arrived and is going to unload sometime during the week and I should call back on Friday. (This happened on Tuesday.) He tells me that the container will be trucked to their warehouse and needs to be unloaded and sorted, and that someone will call me when it is ready to be picked up.

I explain to him that I live in Corsica, and am thinking about how to get our stuff over here and he tells me that he was contacted earlier by the company we asked to look into clearing our stuff through customes and then forwarding to us.

So far so good.  I’ll call on Friday. As instructed.

So on Wednesday, I hear back from the company we contacted to look into clearing customs and forwarding.. and they give me a price quote of 537 EUROS. That’s $643 USD or $757 CAD in case you don’t have your currency exchange calculator handy.

Holy Crap!

Keep in mind that we have already spent just under $800 USD ($941 CAD) to get our stuff up to this point.  Yes, we’ve already spent $800 USD so far on this exercise of futile shipping.

So now we are told (for the first time, I might add) that we have to pay almost the same amount JUST to get our stuff from the shipping company to us in Corsica?  I politely ask why it is so expensive, and am told there are fees being charged by the shipping company, fees being charged by the French Customs people, fees charged by this "forwarding" company for their services, and then of course there is VAT (value added tax) since we’re in Europe… AND.. she explains that this price does not include any extra fees that might be charged IF the Customs People decide to actually open or boxes and inspect things.  It seems this is an extra charge.

OK, I can understand that the company would charge a fee for THEIR services.. but what are all these OTHER charges? Crap.  That’s a lot of money. I’m starting to think shipping wasn’t a good idea and maybe we should have just used Canada Post.

So I’ve got lots of time, right? I was told by the shipping company to call on Friday for status.. but I decide to call them today (Thursday) to ask about this "extra money" issue.  I don’t like surprises and want all the info I can get right now.  So I call the shipping company, but this time I am smart enough to ask if there’s someone who speaks English.  I’m in no mood to dork around in my Franglish with someone who is trying to learn English from their customer who is speaking French. She passes me to someone else….

Oh, by the way, I should mention here that it actually costs MONEY to call anywhere in France. Yes, you have to pay per call. So each time I call these people (or anyone) it is costing me a per minute fee.  So let’s be sure to add this into our total amount we’re spending here… emoticon

So I am now speaking with someone who speaks English, kind of. I try to ask if there are any "other" charges that I might have to pay before I can get my stuff from them.. and she tells me "of course". Like I’m the idiot who should know better then to expect that the amount we paid to the shipping company in Canada would actually cover the WHOLE cost of getting our stuff shipped to the destination where we can pick it up.

Duh.  Right?  Stupid me.  (More sarcasm)

I proceed to ask how much, and am told that there is a 185 EURO ($221 USD or $261 CAD) charge by THEIR SHIPPING COMPANY for the work that is required to unload the container, have it trucked to their warehouse, and then "dispursed" so my stuff is removed from the big container and stored somewhere for me to pick it up.

Oh.. and by the way.. there is a 20 EURO per DAY additional charge for storage if you go over your 6 days of "free" storage at their warehouse.  AND.. she tells me that since my stuff was delivered to the warehouse on Monday our "free days" run out on Sunday.

Don’t get me started to explain why I spoke with someone on Tuesday who said to call back on Friday (at the earliest), and then find out our stuff has been in their warehouse since Monday.

emoticon Morons.

So… then I ask her if she thinks there will be any charges for Customs.  Yes.. there is a 50 EURO (I’m tired of exchange, you get the point) charge just to submit the customs paperwork, and then another 50 EUROs for the Customs People to process it and actually do the paperwork. So we’re looking at EXTRA fees, at a minimum of 285 EURO just to get our stuff out of their warehouse.

Now I still have to figure out how to get our stuff out of their warehouse and to Corsica.  I can continue to bleed money and hire the forwarding company, for a small fortune… or I can maybe go get our stuff myself.

This is where things stand now. I found out my cousin has a van, and I am in the process of trying to track it down so I can measure it’s hight and width, so that I can get accurate pricing from the ferry company to see how much it will cost to bring the van across.  My idea is that it might be cheaper for me to just take the ferry across to France, drive to Marseille, try to figure out Customs, and then bring our stuff back in the van.

Couple of issues:

1) The lady from the shipping company said to plan for at least 2 days of dealing with Customs. That’s not a good sign, and likely means there will be a problem.. and my poor French is not going to be helpful when dealing with it.

It also means I’ll have to spend at least one night in Marseille… and at this point I’m just too cheap to spend money on even a hostel room so I’m thinking that the van and a blanket will suffice. Spending money on ferry tickets, gas, road tolls, and food is enough. I can sleep in the damn van. I’ve got a blanket. A red one. I just washed it yesterday 4 times, so my allergies don’t go crazy.

2) The ferry doesn’t operate every day, at this time of year.  Thus, I don’t know if there will be one when I want to go back. I could be stuck in Marseille an extra day or so waiting for the ferry unless timing works out well. At the moment, the ferries are going every other day.. so at the most I might have to spend two nights in the van.

3) Clearing Customs.  I was told to bring a long list of papers, including proof of my current employer that I was employed by them in Canada for the last 6 months.   Sure, that’s easy to do when you are the OWNER of your company and not an employee…  The problem is that if I declare myself a self-employed, then it will start a paperwork trail that will lead to them asking the next question of how am I supporting myself in France?  Well, I’m self-employed.  Ok, that’s great… except that in France there is a law that you MUST register your business, no matter how large or small, if you are self-employed.  And then I would have to pay registration fees (in the thousands, not hundreds), social taxes, and a host of other "business related" fees and taxes. PLUS, it would be mandatory to register for a VAT number and I’d have to track that, too….

So, I’m going to maybe fib a little and write myself a nice letter that says I’ve been an employee of my company for 6 months, and NOT bother to put that I am the owner… and I’ll "sign" it from a fictional name.  I’m sure God will forgive me eventually.emoticon

So, to recap.. basically, it is going to wind up costing us about $1200 USD to $1500 USD to have our stuff arrive in Corsica.  I’m not happy about that, but I am sooo thankful that several people helped us out by giving us cash before we left.  That cash is now proving very handy, and I really appreciate it!  Thanks!

OK, I’m going back to work now, and I’ll update as soon as I have more news. Hopefully my next update will be from me sitting on the other side of the couch.. thanks to my wireless network that will hopefully be set up once I have my stuffemoticon!