OMG they got my Venezuelan too! :(( - Update page 6!

[sillymoosey]

   I'm so sorry this happened. Why can't they check without destroying?

[STLGusty]

This is so aggrivating and depressing all at the same time.  I agree with whoever said it before - it's so sad for the pioneers who are paying top dollar for these ponies to have their precious items ripped apart carelessly.  I also agree with the cartels reference - there's probably intelligence out there showing that they are smuggling something in toys...so here we are.  Sigh.    That sucks.

[relcelestia]

They gouged her leg
 

hold up .... they GOUGED her leg?!?!?!?! you mean like stabbed it?? tore the plastic???!!!

[Avea2006]

Thanks everyone for the condolences.

relcelestia - yea they did, it's small though. Probably happened when they were removing her head that was firmly glued on. They were rough.

[hathorcat]

They gouged her leg
 

hold up .... they GOUGED her leg?!?!?!?! you mean like stabbed it?? tore the plastic???!!!

Yeah that worried me too...could be they were testing to see if anything was inside the pony?

This is horrible Avea! So sorry this has happened to you.

Oddly I had been speaking to someone about this a few days ago - he mentioned that apparently in 2009/2010 shipping drugs inside toys was a particular trait of one particular organisation - I assume once the police cottoned on to it they stop and move on to another option but as they have seen it before no doubt its something customs are straight on to....why would your parcel be stopped in the US though shouldnt it have gone straight to Canada?

[relcelestia]

Thanks everyone for the condolences.


relcelestia - yea they did, it's small though. Probably happened when they were removing her head that was firmly glued on. They were rough.

ooh noooo 
thats even worse than sosilver!!! at least he found the head for god sakes!
so so sad for you
just awful!!! any chance of help from the seller??


EDIT: ok i just read sosilvers brag... i didnt know they cut his CJ in the neck?! wtf?!
they cant get away with this!!!! how can they be held responsible?? for destroying property??!!

[magicminty_unicorn]

OMG that's horrible! I'm sorry that happen too

[banditpony]

Did you purchase insurance at all? (With that said , it will be interesting to know if SoSilver had purchased insurance too).

If no insurance--- are you reporting the damage to canada post customer service? The item was opened, altered, damaged AND has missing contents. I think this is terrible, but if you could share any process of trying to recover from the damage, it might help people in the future.

[babystarz]

Oddly I had been speaking to someone about this a few days ago - he mentioned that apparently in 2009/2010 shipping drugs inside toys was a particular trait of one particular organisation - I assume once the police cottoned on to it they stop and move on to another option but as they have seen it before no doubt its something customs are straight on to....why would your parcel be stopped in the US though shouldnt it have gone straight to Canada?

This is what I was afraid the situation was. In this case, it's unlikely that the package destroying will stop soon. The most we can hope for is making a huge collective fuss so the customs people realize how upsetting this is.


Re: being opened in the US - if the package lands on U.S. soil for transit on its way to its eventual destination, the U.S. has jurisdiction over the package during that time and may therefore inspect it. I'm very worried that U.S. officials seem to have joined Venezuelan officials in deciding that destroying property is part of their job and somehow ok. This means that it's not just one country acting as an anomaly; it could be a new collective approach meant to target worldwide contraband distribution. If this is the case, we do need to raise a fuss and start making the customs agencies look bad. The fastest way to get a company or organization to change its behavior these days is to create a PR problem.

[hathorcat]

The "roundabout" way that some parcels get to some countries is very odd!

It is the destruction aspect I dont understand....you want to check it for drugs...fine, scan it, let a dog sniff it but there is no need to completely open it and then stick knives in it! Perhaps because the ponies are hollow and in theory reasonably easy to store something within is adding to the issues but anyway does not justify loss and deliberate damage.... 

[Pythia]

This is absolutely unacceptable. You need to cause a MASSIVE stink about it. I'm sure they have x-ray machines that they can check with without resorting to opening the ponies. And I think the word needs to be spread that this is happening - everyone needs to start getting insurance for anythign vaguely rare, but obviously once the pony is damaged, it's done - and if it's really rare, no amount of money is going to create another one that doesn't exist.

I'm so sorry this happened to you. *hugs*

[Neon Sparkle]

It really is terrible that this is happening and I really feel for both you and SoSilver. It's frustrating enough to have something get damaged in the mail, but when it's an extremely rare and valuable item and you know the damage was deliberately caused, regardless of what the reason may have been it is especially awful and extremely infuriating.

[shelti]

I can't believe US Customs did that.
I have had two Venezuelan Ponies shipped to me.
Tootsie MIB by Fedex
and
My Pink loose Blossom by regular post
neither one was opened or touched in any way.
Was the full value declared on the customs form by the Seller?
In My case both my ponies came with a value under $100.00 on the box perhaps the declared value
has something to do with it?
I was told by the seller of Pink Blossom the Venezuelan customs
had a habit of opening anything shipped by more expensive methods and that was the one to use.
I can understand the Italian Customs, they did that to a Pony I had shipped from there, pulled the head off, but at least it arrived with the head and I would hate to even think what German Customs would do to one.
Hopefully the United Kingdom Customs people don't do this.

[Avea2006]

Unfortunately only $50 was declared on the slip so even if I spent the time and international phone cost to pursue american customs (the tape said Homeland Security?) I would never get back what I spent...

[saply]

Oh no!!! I'm so sorry!!