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GrantX

Sun Dec 02 2012, 07:30AM

Registered Member #4074 Joined: Mon Aug 29 2011, 06:58AM
Location: Australia
Posts: 335

So a while ago I dropped $300 on a very large Cooper capacitor: 20kVAC, 200kVAR, and more recently I purchased a small Helium laser.

Both of which never arrived, and seemed to have completely disappeared. Both packages were tracked until they entered Australia.

I'm guessing Customs confiscated them. I saw a pathetic news story tonight about the "shocking amount of knives and laser pointers confiscated," and have now entered a fuming rage.

So what do I need to do, and will I ever get my items or money back??

...

Sun Dec 02 2012, 03:33PM

Registered Member #56 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 05:02AM
Location: Southern Califorina, USA
Posts: 2445

Assuming you bought them on ebay, you can file an 'item not recieved' claim, and it will be on the seller to figure out where they are.

Patrick

Sun Dec 02 2012, 10:05PM

Registered Member #2431 Joined: Tue Oct 13 2009, 09:47PM
Location: Chico, CA. USA
Posts: 5639

these customs pansies and cowards will continue to have this problem for the fore seeable future, as they have no idea what a capacitor, magnetron or a nuclear weapon trigger looks like. And as industries and individuals depend more and more on JIT shipping across national boarders the problem will worsen.

In American colleges and federal buildings ive seen the private papers posted to the building operations staff, a picture of a "pipe-like bomb", and or a simple line art cardboard box with cut wires coming out the end, and a liquid-like stain on the side, and the smell of diesel or kerosene from the package... as an example of what to watch out for, absurd really.

GrantX

Mon Dec 03 2012, 02:51AM

Registered Member #4074 Joined: Mon Aug 29 2011, 06:58AM
Location: Australia
Posts: 335

Yeah, I find it funny that they don't give a s**t about a 3.5kW transmitting triode (GU-5A), which was opened and inspected, then they decided it was fine. They also didn't care about a 70kVp Xray transformer, all soaked in mysterious oil. Yet a plain white capacitor (which has a nameplate stating exactly what it is) raises alarm bells? It doesn't help that the capacitor is the single most expensive thing I've bought from Ebay all year. GRRR.

Tetris

Mon Dec 03 2012, 11:25PM

Registered Member #4016 Joined: Thu Jul 21 2011, 01:52AM
Location: Gainesville, FL
Posts: 660

Hell, customs once freaked out about a breadboard I took on board a plane. It didn't even have anything wired on it!

GrantX

Tue Dec 04 2012, 03:24AM

Registered Member #4074 Joined: Mon Aug 29 2011, 06:58AM
Location: Australia
Posts: 335

Some fantastic news: the helium neon laser arrived safe and sound, just very late. The seller had sneakily written "printer parts" on the description and it was never even inspected. So once I build a nice enclosure for it I might post it up on the forum somewhere. In the same delivery I also got a huge 900mm long 200W low pressure sodium tube, which I'm going to make a cool gas discharge display out of.

Still haven't heard any news about the capacitor. It's been more than 60 days, so I can't do anything from ebay, and neither Australia Post or the local freight company have had anything come through that matches the description. I suppose there's not much else I can do except forget about it.

2Spoons

Tue Dec 04 2012, 03:26AM

Registered Member #2939 Joined: Fri Jun 25 2010, 04:25AM
Location:
Posts: 615

XravenorX wrote ...

I'm guessing Customs confiscated them.

So have you actually phoned them to see if they have your items? Once you go down there and explain what the things are you may find them quite reasonable.

Steve Conner

Tue Dec 04 2012, 09:08AM

Registered Member #30 Joined: Fri Feb 03 2006, 10:52AM
Location: Glasgow, Scotland
Posts: 6706

+1. I'd expect customs to write and tell you if they confiscate your stuff.

I have had UK customs keep packages because they decided that I should pay import duty on them, and the letter informing me of this got lost. But when I called the parcel company, they knew about it.

GrantX

Tue Dec 04 2012, 01:45PM

Registered Member #4074 Joined: Mon Aug 29 2011, 06:58AM
Location: Australia
Posts: 335

Hmmm, I called them this afternoon and they were quite reasonable. I have the order details and USPS tracking number, and they haven't seen anything that fits. I also reaffirmed with Australia Post that they never handled it. So, seems I did jump to conclusions, and it makes sense that they'd send a letter.

So it seems it made it onto the ship, but never made into the country's postal system. Perhaps its just misplaced in a warehouse somewhere and will eventually find its way here. I've had some lengthy delays before even when buying things from domestic websites, so I'll remain optimistic. I think I just freaked out because of how much I'd spent on shipping to make sure it arrived.

Ash Small

Tue Dec 04 2012, 04:16PM

Registered Member #3414 Joined: Sun Nov 14 2010, 05:05PM
Location: UK
Posts: 4245

Sounds to me like it was never unloaded from the ship.

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