I have ordered several times from Thom and have always received prompt and professional service from him. Had I not, I would have raised the matter with him privately rather than on this message board.
Just to clarify, more than 95% of Canadian-made and US-made goods are now covered under the Canada-US free trade agreement. However, when importing goods into Canada from the US the goods must be US-made to be exempt from duty. Canadians are still required to pay GST + PST on all purchases from the US above about $50 CDN.
I have imported dozens of packages from the US and Great Britain and I have yet to have Canada Customs and Revenue Agency (CCRA) screw up. Strangely enough many of the packages I receive from Britain are cleared by CCRA without requiring payment of duty of taxes.
FWIW, making false customs declarations is dishonest and illegal.
Geesh, I have never heard so many Canadians whining in one place - if you don’t like the way our country works then complain to your MLA or your MP or both, run for office, or do something else that might actually make a difference
My 2 cents re: US to Canada shipping.
Yes, the exchange rate is awful. What costs $200US costs $300+ Canadian (and its getting worse) Our $ is worth about 60cents US!
Yes we have to pay 7% GST tax on everything we purchse either in or out of the country
We have to pay duty (around 14% )on certain things made outside of North/South America - the Free Trade agreement.
BUT the very worse thing is UPS!! On top of all that they charge a huge handling fee of $30 or more above postage costs, duty & taxes before you can pick up your parcel. THis is after the shipper pays at their end!
Moral of the story…stick with regular postal services, insure if possible, or send registered for an extra couple bucks.
Thanks for the chance to let off steam, happy whistling,
Sue
I recently received a whistle that was a replacement under waranty (I had already paid an exhorbitant amount of taxes/shipping etc. on the original) UPS wanted to charge me $87 dollars to pick this parcel up - even though it clearly stated on the outside of the package that it was a waranty replacement. It took weeks to sort it out!
The moral of the story…when ordering from US dealers, ask them not to ship UPS - regular mail is better. (UPS isn’t any faster anyway to Canada!) Thanks for letting me rant.
Sorry to hear about your problem. While I can’t comment on it directly (don’t know enough) I can tell you that what you describe does not sound like the Thom Larson I’ve interacted with as a customer and on this board. It’s hard to believe that Thom would refuse to do whatever was reasonable to satisfy your complaint.
From Thom’s post it sounds like you may have aired this before giving him a reasonable chance to resolve it. (There are times when I’m away from my e-mail for days.) Anyway let me encourage you to not write Thom off so quickly and please post when this is resolved either way.
The bold solution to all these problems is
for Canada to join up with the USA, or,
perhaps better, for the USA to become
a province of Canada. This will facilitate
the commercial flow of whistles, the
chief justification for the
modern nation-state, IMHO.
I’ve ordered a few times from Thom. The service wasn’t really ‘good’. It could only be described as ‘excellent’. In fact, where I used to look at the Lark in the Morning catalog to contemplate my next whistle purchase, I now look at Thom’s site first.
I’ve never had problems with Lark..but Thom has always gone one-step-beyond in terms of customer service (at least in my experience)..and that makes all the difference. Especially since his prices are generally as low as mass-volume music stores as well. I fully intend on spending more $$$ with him as soon as I can teach my little one how to blow a note on the whistle.
Us mouses have to stick together (I prefer that to rodents)
I can only say there must be another Thom Larson somewhere. The one I know, is not only a friend to all, but has given excellent service. I’ll put him up against any other vendor. Seriously, I think this was just a rush to judgment… born out of frustration (I’m afraid I’ve been guilty of that in the past.)
I would hope all is straightened out by now. Gm
I am a 100% satified Canadian customer of the Whistle Shop.
Canadian taxes are bad (whats new eh?) and the customs brokerage fee is highway robbery. That’s the price we pay for having such long roads and few people!
Perhaps The Whistle Shop can set up a Canadian outlet- that’s how Victoria’s Secret avoided the high brokerage fees on packages into Canada. And we need our whistles JUST AS MUCH as our VC long underwear this winter!
What I have learned in the nine years of being involved in Irish music and living here in Canada; is that when ordering instruments from outside of Canada is:
Always have your instrument sent Parcel Post. If you waited any amount of time for an instrument to be made, then the time it takes to ship it doesn’t really matter.
If the instrument maker is in the United States have him/her put on the shipping label: Hand made musical instrument --Made in the United States. I found that Customs in Canada will usually not challenge the item for duty. You still will have to pay PST & GST.
If you and the instrument maker are really savvy — and all your bills are paid, have him/her ship it as a “gift.”
Living right across from Detroit, Michigan and having many friends in Irish Music community there — I can’t tell you the fourth option here, nor will I put it in an e-mail.
And to all the above and to Thom, whom I have never dealt with; but do cruise his website on a regular basis, I work with email reference question everyday at work, and what I and my coworkers have found is that people who email expect an immediate response. I can’t work at light speed, as neither can Thom or others.
Using email is demanding, and tiring in trying to respond in a time frame of our everyday lives. But to run a successful business at the same time, means that not all email requests will be immediately responded to.
Just because you sent an email when you wanted to, doesn’t mean necessarily that the receiver will be awake or even near at computer terminal when it is received. Regardless of where we live in the world, our great planet Earth stll has the regular rhythm of darkness (re: sleep) and daylight (re: wakefulness); which we as cohabitors still live in this primitive sleep/awake cycle.
“Slow down, you move to fast. You got to make the morning last.”
As to Canada joining the United States or vice versa. One of the articles (amendments ?) to the US Constitution, with a 51% majority will let Canada join the US. “Manifest Destiny.” Personaly I’m divided on such a question. A few of us on this board have lived in the shadow of the US all our lives, more so than most Canadians. And we see the pro’s and cons very vividly of living on either side of the border minuetly everyday of our lives.
Here in Windsor, we have businesses named CAMAM or CANUSA, so we have already adjusted to the thinking. But with in the dark light of the recent tragedy, it might be more in saying CANUSAMEX, if we are all going to defend this continent from future terrorism.
