Yesterday, on 7th September, I spent my entire day at Delhousie (A place where most of the official buildings in Kolkata is housed). Ask why? We were told that our cargo has landed in Kolkata (That was about 2 weeks back, and we were summoned just now by our customs clearing agent - that is how it works here) In my last post here, I have written about how we shipped our stuff.
Few things you need to know when you are trying to ship your items:
1. The shipping cost you pay in US is not all you have to pay eventually. In our case, it was written that the local clearing and handling cost has to be taken care of by the client. That means, there will be about $300 you have to cough of to pay for the transportation of your goods from international water to your destination. It sounds ridiculous and the jobs sound to be overlapping, but that is how it works.
2. We were introduced to a new terminology called as a "clearing agent". I was wondering what is a clearing agent was. Came to know that they are the ones that actually interfaces between you and the customs officials. Here are my ramblings about a clearing agent:
So, what does a clearing agent do? All will convince you that without a clearing agent you could not get your stuff from customs. We were also convinced by this trap. We went to the clearing agents office at 10 AM and he had one 2 page form filled out (of course with our feedback) and there were multiple copies of the declaration of goods paper with the prices (and that document was prepared by me!!) and a paper saying that we authorize the clearing agent to release the items on our behalf from the dock. I was told that there are 2 ways to deal with customs officials.
1. Pay and get it done quick,
2.don't pay and get delayed.
We opted for the later. So, the clearing agents employee first takes us to the PRO(public Relations Officer) in customs office. They were nice and looked into our declarations and had few questions about the pricing. We convinced them and they signed. Then the employee takes us to another place and comes back and whispers into our ears that they are asking money. We straight said NO to that. Then the waiting began. There was a clerk sitting putting up a reluctant face; he pulls out some large tattered registers and looks at our price declaration intently. That is where actually they pull people, negotiate for money. He began circling the items saying that these are customs chargeable. We came prepared with a printout of the rules and regulations and showed it to him saying that what he says are customs chargeable are actually not. He putting up a long face had to oblige. Then the paper went from that person to another person across the hall. He also asked for money, we refused. We failed to understand what they were actually doing with the paper other than pulling a huge note book and scibbling all of those again and agian and wasting our time. Then we were told the papers went to someone else who will check the pricing (note here, the same thing has been done 3 times already). There we were delayed for 1 hour more. Then the employee from clearing agents office took us to another place (in another building). That guy again asked for all passports, present future past addresses and was looking for every avenue to pull us, so that he could make some money. My current passport has US address, because that is where it was issued in 2005. He had problems with that. Then I had to explain the reason behind it. We had to show our present address with proof. Then he said, go and make an affidavit. I was failing to understand why this step is needed. I am the person declaring with proof that, this is my present address, with my proof of identity, how a third party who did not know me or has got anything to do with my address can certify that and how that certificate becomes more authentic then my own declaration!! Well, this is how our system is designed. So, we went downstairs. There were brokers, who took 3 times more money than the actual cost of stamp paper, typing and signing. So, in other words you always end up paying to a middleman because you don't know where to run (Can we please eliminate these useless steps!!). Finally, we took the whole thing up to the person who asked for it. There we found the seat was empty. Our waiting began (Probably here money would have shortened our waiting time). We waited patiently and after 2 hours another guy taking pity on our situation asked for our papers. He was carefully looking at everything, so that he can find flaws and ask for money. We kept no loop holes, carried everything with us. Then he did something (I am not sure what he did - probably wrote something and signed on the paper). Then those papers were carried to another person sitting across the hall. He also asked money, we resisted and he kept the paper on his table for half an hour before releasing them. Honestly, I am not sure what he was doing with them either. Then our agent told us that we have to go to another building. We obliged and followed him. There he made us wait outside for 1 hour. Then the man inside that room called us and started calculating the customs duty payable on those. Then our agent took us back to the office we started from. At this step, we are suppose to pay the customs duty. The man who is supposed to take the money for duty payment asked money. We refused. Angrily, he left and said it is already 4.30 PM and they can't take cash now. We fought saying that there is still time. In any case, he finally took the duty amount and returned us the receipt. It took him one hour for this job. Then finally at 5.30 PM, the first set of clerks were to write down something in their thick book and this took about 30 minutes to complete. It was almost 6 PM and finally we made full circle by returning to the PRO's office (where we started of that day). So, in all I would say that, few signatures, a simple calculation, cash payment which should not have taken more than 30 minutes took us 6 hours!! Hiring a clearing agent actually did not help. Other than guiding us from one place to another, he actually did not do anything. He instead was coaxing us to pay the bribe amount. We had a great sense of achievement that we could get our job done without paying a single penny extra!!
So, if you are shipping your things be aware that, you could actually do everything yourself, just ask the PRO how to proceed and your job may be done faster than going through a clearing agent.
Few things you need to know when you are trying to ship your items:
1. The shipping cost you pay in US is not all you have to pay eventually. In our case, it was written that the local clearing and handling cost has to be taken care of by the client. That means, there will be about $300 you have to cough of to pay for the transportation of your goods from international water to your destination. It sounds ridiculous and the jobs sound to be overlapping, but that is how it works.
2. We were introduced to a new terminology called as a "clearing agent". I was wondering what is a clearing agent was. Came to know that they are the ones that actually interfaces between you and the customs officials. Here are my ramblings about a clearing agent:
So, what does a clearing agent do? All will convince you that without a clearing agent you could not get your stuff from customs. We were also convinced by this trap. We went to the clearing agents office at 10 AM and he had one 2 page form filled out (of course with our feedback) and there were multiple copies of the declaration of goods paper with the prices (and that document was prepared by me!!) and a paper saying that we authorize the clearing agent to release the items on our behalf from the dock. I was told that there are 2 ways to deal with customs officials.
1. Pay and get it done quick,
2.don't pay and get delayed.
We opted for the later. So, the clearing agents employee first takes us to the PRO(public Relations Officer) in customs office. They were nice and looked into our declarations and had few questions about the pricing. We convinced them and they signed. Then the employee takes us to another place and comes back and whispers into our ears that they are asking money. We straight said NO to that. Then the waiting began. There was a clerk sitting putting up a reluctant face; he pulls out some large tattered registers and looks at our price declaration intently. That is where actually they pull people, negotiate for money. He began circling the items saying that these are customs chargeable. We came prepared with a printout of the rules and regulations and showed it to him saying that what he says are customs chargeable are actually not. He putting up a long face had to oblige. Then the paper went from that person to another person across the hall. He also asked for money, we refused. We failed to understand what they were actually doing with the paper other than pulling a huge note book and scibbling all of those again and agian and wasting our time. Then we were told the papers went to someone else who will check the pricing (note here, the same thing has been done 3 times already). There we were delayed for 1 hour more. Then the employee from clearing agents office took us to another place (in another building). That guy again asked for all passports, present future past addresses and was looking for every avenue to pull us, so that he could make some money. My current passport has US address, because that is where it was issued in 2005. He had problems with that. Then I had to explain the reason behind it. We had to show our present address with proof. Then he said, go and make an affidavit. I was failing to understand why this step is needed. I am the person declaring with proof that, this is my present address, with my proof of identity, how a third party who did not know me or has got anything to do with my address can certify that and how that certificate becomes more authentic then my own declaration!! Well, this is how our system is designed. So, we went downstairs. There were brokers, who took 3 times more money than the actual cost of stamp paper, typing and signing. So, in other words you always end up paying to a middleman because you don't know where to run (Can we please eliminate these useless steps!!). Finally, we took the whole thing up to the person who asked for it. There we found the seat was empty. Our waiting began (Probably here money would have shortened our waiting time). We waited patiently and after 2 hours another guy taking pity on our situation asked for our papers. He was carefully looking at everything, so that he can find flaws and ask for money. We kept no loop holes, carried everything with us. Then he did something (I am not sure what he did - probably wrote something and signed on the paper). Then those papers were carried to another person sitting across the hall. He also asked money, we resisted and he kept the paper on his table for half an hour before releasing them. Honestly, I am not sure what he was doing with them either. Then our agent told us that we have to go to another building. We obliged and followed him. There he made us wait outside for 1 hour. Then the man inside that room called us and started calculating the customs duty payable on those. Then our agent took us back to the office we started from. At this step, we are suppose to pay the customs duty. The man who is supposed to take the money for duty payment asked money. We refused. Angrily, he left and said it is already 4.30 PM and they can't take cash now. We fought saying that there is still time. In any case, he finally took the duty amount and returned us the receipt. It took him one hour for this job. Then finally at 5.30 PM, the first set of clerks were to write down something in their thick book and this took about 30 minutes to complete. It was almost 6 PM and finally we made full circle by returning to the PRO's office (where we started of that day). So, in all I would say that, few signatures, a simple calculation, cash payment which should not have taken more than 30 minutes took us 6 hours!! Hiring a clearing agent actually did not help. Other than guiding us from one place to another, he actually did not do anything. He instead was coaxing us to pay the bribe amount. We had a great sense of achievement that we could get our job done without paying a single penny extra!!
So, if you are shipping your things be aware that, you could actually do everything yourself, just ask the PRO how to proceed and your job may be done faster than going through a clearing agent.
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