My worst nightmare.

[buddyboymama]

I am so sorry that this has happened to you. This is horrible! Why did they have to destroy the contents of your packages? And they lost Cotton Candy's head?! It is sickening. I hope you can find some kind of resolution. 

[Figurasdeaccion]

Hi everybody,

I never thought I would have to write these lines, but unfortunately, as I am a responsible and honest seller and collector, I'm doing it.

Sadly, I am the seller of the Sosilver destroyed ponies. I have ten years collecting, buying and selling toys, and this is the first time something like that happened to me.

But you know that this is not my fault, you know that no seller is responsible for the damage done by customs. Do you think that having placed a full description or  declared them by a lower price would have prevented the destruction?

I have sent a lot of  ponies to several forum members and all arrived safely, but I don't know what's going on right now. I even took several pictures from the shipping progress on the Fedex office. Maybe the customs heard about a drug-filled pony?

Even so, I'm offering to him all the help I can bring. I'm even offering to replace one of the ponies for free. If that's not enough help and support, I don't know what it is.

I've heard horror stories about the Italian customs. I even have some fellow collectors that simply don't send stuff there because of the way they treat the packages.

I feel very bad about this whole situation.

Thanks,
Juan Carlos

[tootie_tails]

Thanks for letting us know.
It's not your fault though. Like you said, the italian customs are notorious for problems like this.
I hope the buyer can work things out with the customs, they are the ones responsible.
But it's very nice of you to offer.

[Ember1]

That is soooo nice of you to offer to replace one of the ponies. I think that sosilver will greatly appreciate that.
As a fellow collector I am sure you can understand the grief that we can all feel by seeing a MIB pony destroyed.

I think the only safe way is to have the items insured for damages in shipping.
It looks like anything out of the south american countries is now being suspected for drugs.
Terrible thing for both the buyer and seller to experience for sure.

[cloud_weaver]

Figurasdeaccion - I don't think there would have honestly been anything you could have done.  It wasn't your fault that customs tore open the boxes and took apart the ponies, losing the head.  *shudder*  That treatment has nothing to do with the seller, and honestly I don't know if it's even preventable sadly.

Was the package insured?  I don't know how it works to insure a package internationally, but I've learned the hard way that if the package has a value of at least $50, insure it.  Even then, it's a pain to get the postal services to cover the expenses lost.

I'm so sorry for both of you in this situation.  I hope that there is something that customs is willing to do to cover the damages, but sadly I fear that Cotton Candy's head is lost for good. 

[Saoirse]

Oh my gosh that is horrible SS!

I just wanna cry looking at her because I can only imagine how you feel...

[RandomPony]

OMG! poor little pony! 

[Icecrystalline]

So Silver, I am so truly sorry for you. Hugs xxx

[SoSilver]

Still here to figure out something but it's a mess of a situation...

Figurasdeaccion, i've never thought it was your fault.
Thank you.

[sweetstuff]

I'm so sorry. I really hope you can get some sort of compensation . Poor ponies

[Brightglowpony]

I am late to read this, but SoSilver I am sorry beyond words to hear about what happened.  To both you and figurasdeaccion, it is truly sad that people who are innocently sending a toy collectible are penalized due to drug smugglers out there.  I hope you get some kind of response from customs.  BIG HUGS.

[PonyMonsters]

Still here to figure out something but it's a mess of a situation...

Figurasdeaccion, i've never thought it was your fault.
Thank you.

Are you feeling any better SoSilver?

[hodgemo2]

Hi everybody,

I never thought I would have to write these lines, but unfortunately, as I am a responsible and honest seller and collector, I'm doing it.

Sadly, I am the seller of the Sosilver destroyed ponies. I have ten years collecting, buying and selling toys, and this is the first time something like that happened to me.

But you know that this is not my fault, you know that no seller is responsible for the damage done by customs. Do you think that having placed a full description or  declared them by a lower price would have prevented the destruction?

I have sent a lot of  ponies to several forum members and all arrived safely, but I don't know what's going on right now. I even took several pictures from the shipping progress on the Fedex office. Maybe the customs heard about a drug-filled pony?

Even so, I'm offering to him all the help I can bring. I'm even offering to replace one of the ponies for free. If that's not enough help and support, I don't know what it is.

I've heard horror stories about the Italian customs. I even have some fellow collectors that simply don't send stuff there because of the way they treat the packages.

I feel very bad about this whole situation.

Thanks,
Juan Carlos

First of all, I cannot BELIEVE that customs treated the ponies so horribly!  I'm assuming that the customs slip had at least some approximation of the value...so why would these people be so horribly careless and destructive? 

Secondly, Figurasdeaccion, it's great that you came on to the board to comment on this thread.  I agree with you that regardless of what you wrote on the customs slip (unless it was 'drug filled pony', LOL), the customs agents would still treat the ponies with the same amount of disrespect.  It's very nice of you to offer to help fix the problem, though!

Figurasdeaccion and SoSilver 

It would be great if you could find a way to make customs pay for damages!

[babystarz]

Can someone clarify - is this something the venezuela customs did, or the italian customs?
Did the seller do anything wrong?
Or don't we know any this yet?

Italian customs did this, as the item arrived into their custody. Customs agents don't really check up much on outgoing packages from their countries.
The seller did not label the pony on the customs form, but even if he had, this still could have happened. Labels don't mean anything to customs agents.

And no matter what, if you're receiving a pony from another country, you must be prepared for customs agents to open boxes. But taking the ponies' heads off and then losing one of them and not putting them back on is just unacceptable destruction of property.

[pinkkittywinks]

Hi everybody,

I never thought I would have to write these lines, but unfortunately, as I am a responsible and honest seller and collector, I'm doing it.

Sadly, I am the seller of the Sosilver destroyed ponies. I have ten years collecting, buying and selling toys, and this is the first time something like that happened to me.

But you know that this is not my fault, you know that no seller is responsible for the damage done by customs. Do you think that having placed a full description or  declared them by a lower price would have prevented the destruction?

I have sent a lot of  ponies to several forum members and all arrived safely, but I don't know what's going on right now. I even took several pictures from the shipping progress on the Fedex office. Maybe the customs heard about a drug-filled pony?

Even so, I'm offering to him all the help I can bring. I'm even offering to replace one of the ponies for free. If that's not enough help and support, I don't know what it is.

I've heard horror stories about the Italian customs. I even have some fellow collectors that simply don't send stuff there because of the way they treat the packages.

I feel very bad about this whole situation.

Thanks,
Juan Carlos

juan,


thank you so much for posting   we all know that this is in no way your fault and we are all very sad to see what has happened to sosilver ponies and we are sad for you too. it is very hard for both you and sosilver as you will both be dissapointed and upset
 
in our time as collectors we have all had to face customs fee's, packets being held and customs opening boxes from time to time. i know i have had to pay customs fees and had packets held in the past myself, but i have never had a box opened. as reguards opening boxes, i think they either pick one at random or open one in however many. i don't think whatever you had put on the customs form would have made any difference, on say that i strongly urge you all to lable your customs forms correctly with the correct value!
 
the only upset here is with what customs have done they have been -very- careless in the treatment of the ponies and to loose a ponies head is very bad on their part! as i said before i don't think things like this happen very often but when they do it is very upsetting for all parties involved.
 
your offer to replace the ponies is a -very- kind gesture on your part juan
 
love pkw xxxx