Dundee gran probed by US customs - over pyjamas

[TrueBlueTerrier]

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US customs have interrogated a Dundee woman — over a pair of pyjamas sent through the post.

Janice Douglas, 66, of Helmsdale Place, had been trying to send a Christmas package to her granddaughter Zoe, which also contained chocolates and a phone — but was told, due to US import laws, it couldn’t be delivered.

She was quizzed over what material the sleepwear was made from, how many stitches they contained and how many individual chocolates had been sent.

The parcel had cost £108 to send express — to ensure it arrived in time for Christmas.

Janice — who has now been issued with a full refund from Parcelforce — told the Tele the family was “deeply upset” the gifts had not made it to the States.

She said: “I wanted to make sure that it made it over to her in time so I paid extra to get it there.

“My granddaugher is currently on an exchange in West Virginia and was going to be away for the Christmas period.

“After sending it, my daughter had been helping me to track it and it seemed to stop once it arrived in America.

“On December 19, I was informed that the present had arrived in the country but, it was stuck at US customs.”

As well as asking how the garment is stitched, American officials also wanted to know where the pyjamas and onesie came from, what materials they are made from and who made the chocolates.

Mrs Douglas said: “Everyone is just so upset by the whole thing.

“My daughter helped me to send the email back to them giving all the information I could.

“A number of emails were sent but some of the questions asked things like how many stitches were in the pyjamas, how long was the stitch and how many individual chocolates did we send.

“When I told ParcelForce that we couldn’t answer some of the questions because I didn’t have the items any more, they said there was nothing more they could do because US customs required answers to the questions in full.

“I was left with no choice. I didn’t want to just leave it there so they said that for £35 I could get it returned.”

Janice has decided to keep hold of the gifts until Zoe comes home.

Ronit Wolfson, Royal Mail Group spokesperson, said: “Our US carrier FedEX, on behalf of US Customs, had asked the customer for very detailed information about the items which she was unable to provide.

“As a result, the items are being returned to the UK.

“We sympathise with the difficulties that the customer has faced in sending this Christmas present overseas and so as a gesture of goodwill, have offered to refund her postage costs.”

US Customs and Border Protection said Janice “may have been provided with the wrong form” when posting the parcel overseas, but at the time of going to press, had not confirmed why the gifts didn’t make it through.

[pinstripe]

I have no idea where the public get the impression that Royal Mail control the Customs Agencies in the UK or the USA.

[eric the viking]

Had she sent parcel by global priority rather than global express it may have taken one or two days extra but would have caused none of these problems. Fedex are the weak link here.