PinePhone Mobian CE shipping update thread

[theD0ctor]

So it looks like I got swindled.    I got an email this week from DHL that was charging me $55.43CAD and I paid it. About $38 were for GST and another tax, the rest were fees. I'm in Quebec (no mention of PST). KDE Plasma Mobile convergence package purchased during CNY.

I wasn't even aware you could self clear a package. I don't remember seeing any link about this in the DHL page.

Ah well. Back in July for my UBports CE Pinephone, I got gouged even worse. I made the mistake of having my package shipped to my employer (a mfg. company). My employer's customs broker intercepted it and charged my employer $80 for it!!! Which I reimbursed my employer of course. That was extremely steep for a $150USD phone. 

Man, Anything but Canada post and you're going to get charged fees. For this reason alone I wish that Pine64 would just use China post, if I'm paying for it why not let me choose?! I don't mind waiting the extra month it'll take. I'm sure its like 2% of us that want this so I get why they stick with DHL. Ah well.

My Guess is theD0ctor is in AB, They Don't have Provincial sales tax and so it'd be much cheaper. That or they didn't get the Convergence Package.

DHL doesn't tell you its an option because they don't make more money when you self clear it. If you're in a bigger city in Québec you should have a CBSA/ASFC office near you. https://cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/do-rb/provinces/qc-fra.html . It sounds like you'd have saved ~$18 CAD if you self cleared. Depending on your location and how much extra work it is, it might not be worth it. On top of that, Most of the DHL agents I talked to had no idea what I was talking about when I said I wanted to self clear. I don't know if they actually don't know or if they're told to do that. Even the CBSA officer said "DHL is harder to deal with then FedEX and UPS"


Personally, I had to drive all over Ottawa to self clear and pick mine up... I'm not sure its worth the $26 I saved.

it would make sense if I was from AB haha, but I had this shipped to BC (pst + gst). Maybe I just got lucky?