We almost got our parts.
13 October 2014 | Puteri Harbor Marina
raining.
Well, our parts for the Mercury outboard showed up today via Fed Ex. One of the guys that works at the marina came and got me and escorted me to the office(not a good sign). The courier wanted duty on the parts that were in the box he was carrying. The Malaysian Customs Officer that works at Fed Ex had determined that what was in the box was for "Personal Consumption" and not really for a "Yacht in Transit". The folks at St Brendans(our mail forwarding service) had done a great job. Clearly stamped in the box--in big bold print no less--were the words "Yacht in Transit" and Tariff Code 9800 00.700(that's the code that covers Yachts in Transit and make it so that there is no duty to be paid. Unfortunately, the Customs official had either not seen or not cared what was on the box. It was also on the shipping label as well as the invoices attached to the box.
Now they only wanted $70 ringitts(about $21US) but darn it, there shouldn't be any taxes at all!! The courier told me to call Fed Ex and get it straightened out. He'd never had a box come to the marina with duty needing to be paid.
I took the paperwork he gave me along with a printed copy of the "Yacht in Transit" code(in Malay and in English)and Tracy and I hiked over to the Puteri Ferry Terminal to talk to Customs there.
I explained the situation and he took the documents into an office and told us to have a seat. It was going to take some time. About 15 minutes later, he came out and told us that the Customs agent for Fed EX had mis categorized everything in the box and we needed to call them and get it straightened out. There should be no taxes on it.
Here's the way it was taxed:
Our mail came under the category of "Printed matter, like a book--taxable.
Our little tiny fuel pump came under the category of "Fuel Stations"pumps, not for an outboard motor--Taxable.
Our carburetor was under the category of being for a high performance engine, not a little 8hp outboard--Taxable.
The gaskets for the old carburetor were under the category of "Metal Gaskets"--sorry, just little pieces of rubber--Taxable!
Once back at Zephyr, I gave Fed Ex a call and spoke to a nice man that transferred me to another man that transferred me to another man. I explained to each person what the problem was and how the things in the box were all mis categorized. Each seemed to understand and the final man said he would look into it and promised me a call back by 1500 hours. As expected, no call was received at 1500 but by 1510, I was calling them. I spoke to a nice your lady who checked the file and said it had all been straightened out and no duty needed to be paid and they would try and have the box redelivered this afternoon. In the end, it's coming tomorrow so that's just fine. Just as long as it gets here and we can get the outboard fixed, we can finally get out of here.
With luck, we might be out of here by the weekend but I'm not going to hold my breath.
The saga continues.