Club Obi Wan

I have to admit I splurged on a TN jacket and was all excited about getting it. I like just north of the US and have an address in the US to have things shipped to to avoid heavy brokerage fees from Fedex and UPS....

Anyway, it arrived yesterday. Tony was excited for me to get it, I was excited to see it so I went down today. I was a little nervous that there was no receipt in the box, but I thought I have all his contact info, so, no problem.

The guard at the checkpoint thought it was cool, and I told him how much it was, he said I would have to pay gst and pst (which I knew I would). I go inside to pay...

Mr. Action/adventure guard behind the counter gives me the third degree. He asks me to surrender my keys to him. He tells me to stay put and that I should always be able to produce a receipt. He gets pretty angry with me, telling me he can detain me indefinately and keep my vehicle....I say calm, but am getting nervous.... He takes a junior guard with him to the vehicle but asks me if they are going to find anything else. I tell him no. he then asks me if I have any NEEDLES in the jeep. I say no. He asks if I ma sure...I say no. He directs me where to sit down while they go to my vehicle.

After about 15 minutes he comes in and gets right up to me and says in a very powerful voice...."Where is your shotgun?".. I didn't know what he was talking about. He had found a fake shotgun round (empty) in my glovebox that I had forgotten about. It was a dummy one, I told him it was fake but he continued on asking me if I had anything else in the vehicle and that he can detain me (he was sounding like a broken record).

Here is the kicker. Since i had no "proof" of payment - he confiscated the jacket until I can return with a bill of sale. I have already paid the duty that would be owing - but now he wants proof. I have never had this experience before at the border. Tony has emailed me the receipt and I will hopefully get it tomorrow.

:evil:

wow, that is pretty messed up...

I feel bad for you, man. That is absurd.

You Canadians are very dangerous people though.
http://www.visionofhumanity.org/gpi/res ... ings/2008/

Wait a second, they can stop you at the border for not having proof of how much the jacket you're wearing costs?

...and the rest of your 'adventure' will be the prequel to the opening scene of Goldeneye.

dude....mr. nowak could of just sent it to you as a 'gift' with a declared value of $50.....therefore no brokerage/customs/duties/taxes whatsoever....and especially no barney fyfe giving you the third degree.

i'm glad to see my tax dollars are paying incompetent people to protect me from foreign jackets.....what a joke.....just as bad as customs officers that confiscate shipments so that they can finish their christmas shopping early. these people truly make me sick.

What's really upsetting is that I had no problem wanting to pay the taxes. I had the full intention of paying and gave them an oral declaration of the value - openly and honestly, and was made to feel like a criminal for doing so. I even paid the tax and they still are "holding" the jacket until I can provide proof of the amount. I will head back to the border and present them with the receipt and hopefully I can get it back.....part of me wishes I just wore it back across. This is what you get for being honest.

Indiana G
no barney fyfe giving you the third degree.

Now that tells it like it is...
I really wanted to say something after he asked where my shotgun was...but would probably be in some cel right now if I did....Ahhh Canada Customs...Our version of Homeland security.

nicktheguy wrote: After about 15 minutes he comes in and gets right up to me and says in a very powerful voice...."Where is your shotgun?".. I didn't know what he was talking about. He had found a fake shotgun round (empty) in my glovebox that I had forgotten about.

Wait a minute. He searched your car for 15 minutes, found an empty shotgun round, then came to ask you where the shotgun was? What, did he think it was hidden in your shoe?

Weston

The ironic thing is, with all that distressing, he probably would have got away with wearing it.

Sorry to hear about your trouble getting through customs, I've been with relatives going across the border coming down from Vancouver and also from Toronto and back, I ended up being their pack mule being a foreign national!

djeez, what a story was that? That guy must have been a big pain the arse! I hope you get your jacket ASAP.

This is intolerable!!!

That is really crazy. Sorry to hear about that. Might be a good idea for all you Canucks that order a TN, to aks him to claim it is a gift worth $50, just to avoid the possible hassle. Keep us posted on the rest of the story.
'Blues

Wow, really? This was the Canadian border?

I have NEVER had a problem with the Canadian border. Usually they just chat up a storm (like I'm the first person they've seen in weeks), and then wish me on my way.

Usually it's the other way round. Whenever I go to the U.S. I get the third degree.

You mentioned PST, so I assume this was the U.S. / BC border. It has probably been getting worse in recent years due to the...well, BC's main export.

Sounds like the guy was being a total jerk though for no reason. One thing I don't understand is...if you had the jacket delivered to a U.S. address, why didn't you just open it, and wear it back across the border and not claim it? I suppose even if you did, you have a pretty high limit of stuff you can claim before you have to pay on it.

Either way, this is the reason I clean my car out before I cross the border. When it comes to power hungry border guards, the last thing you want is to not be sure what's in your car... especially...needles..?

LOL! Same thing happened to me with Chicago police and a shotgun shell in my car. I had a live shell in there for months when I forgot to take it out after going hunting. The cops searched the car, found it, told me I was the one robbing stores in the area and eventually hauled my friends and I off to jail...for possession of munitions, which isn't even a crime.

I feel for you man!.....One time years ago, I had my camcorder confiscated by customs in Mexico and never got it back. I wonder why the Canadian official asked how much the jacket was?.....what was the point of that?....I hope you get it back but something tells me that a jacket as rare and expensive as a TN may have been too good of an opportunity for these guys to pass up.

Frankly I am a little worried about the guards in the building with my jacket. These are the same bunch that had a youtube video posted of them a few months ago at a christmas party --funded entirely by confiscated alcohol.

As soon as I get Tony's email stating price I will go back and get my jacket.
The reason I claimed it was I wanted to be completely above board with them---but that doesn't seem to pay.

nicktheguy wrote:Frankly I am a little worried about the guards in the building with my jacket. These are the same bunch that had a youtube video posted of them a few months ago at a christmas party --funded entirely by confiscated alcohol.

Do you have any legal recourse against these yokels? From what you stated you were going about your business, openly disclosing and agreeing to pay. Yet the yahoo decides to escalate with allegations of needles?
I know we see the situation as wrong, but would the Canadian government see that as wrong if you brought it forward?

This is what I was thinking as well... these guys need to be reported. You should go back and get there name and numbers and threaten them with legal action. Bullies normally back down when you stand up to them.

AFTER he gets his jacket back!

That's horrible. Some people really get off on power kicks it seems.

What a horrible story. Not sure why they would question you declaring a $700 jacket. I guess they could not get a hold of Tony? Too bad his website did not have the jacket on there - you could show them that. I mean if you told them it was worth $50 I bet they would question that but $700 is an expensive jacket and does not sound like you are trying to rip them off. My biggest complaint about the customs stuff is the brokerage fee you have to pay if someone couriers you something. also, the fact they charge you $5 for them to stop it is also a slap in the face. I would assume the taxes they are charging me for the item should cover their salary. Ridiculous.
Just remember - taxes were originally just a temporary measure....
best
Canada
PS. Look forward to a happy ending to this story.

I still don't understand this. If you had it mailed to a friend in America and picked it up down there, why is there any reason for you to declare it? It wasn't shipped to OR from Canada, so how is it their business?

I don't think it is about the shiping. it is about bringing something from another country into canada.

Here in germany it is the same. If I use the weak dollar to run amok with my credit card in the USA and bring the stuff back with me it is not shiped either. But if they find out the I-Pod and the 5 pair of jeans where bought in the US after I told them otherwhise all #### will break loose and you got a tax trial on your longer end of the back.

Well, this has sealed the deal, I'm staying far away from Canada.

I'd say next time ship it to your house. That's insane!

Risu wrote:Well, this has sealed the deal, I'm staying far away from Canada.

Good idea, we have nothing here but snow and igloos!

Weston wrote:

nicktheguy wrote: After about 15 minutes he comes in and gets right up to me and says in a very powerful voice...."Where is your shotgun?".. I didn't know what he was talking about. He had found a fake shotgun round (empty) in my glovebox that I had forgotten about.

Wait a minute. He searched your car for 15 minutes, found an empty shotgun round, then came to ask you where the shotgun was? What, did he think it was hidden in your shoe?

Weston

Good one, Weston!

Nick...that bites the big one. I wish you the best in returning with your jacket. And...been waiting to do this, so I'll throw it in now...

;0

I would have said it's in my back pocket.

Tony emailed me the details of payment so I am off to the border this morning to liberate my jacket.....stay tuned for pics and opinion (as well as opinion of the jacket )

I gotta wonder why you just didn't wear the thing across in the first place?? I mean, a jacket just sitting on the passenger seat isn't exactly something to wonder about.

Next weekend I'll be crossing the border (twice) to go to Finger Lakes and have my Artsee1 revolver with me in my luggage. (along with a case or 2 of Canuck beer!)

I should hope that I don't meet up with any border services like that!

Dang, I guess I am lucky that GraveRobberGreg and I made it to Canada and back. We were going up to see Gater when he had a Canada Summit a few years ago.

We pull up and this female guard starts talking to us. We just want to get across the border and get to the IndyGear summit. We had all of our IndyGear, luggage and at least six or seven hat boxes stacked up in the back of the car. I have met Gater several times since, but this was going to be the first time we met in person.

Guard: Do you need to go to the Duty Free shop?

Me: I don't know. Do they give you free stuff when you come to Canada?

Guard: What are you going to Canada for?

Me: To see some friends.

Guard: What are your friends names?

Me: Gater.

Guard: Gater what?

Me: Just Gater.

GraveRobberGreg: Dude, she is HOT!

Me: Greg, shhhh. We are trying to get into a foreign country.

Guard: Where did you met this friend, Gater?

Me: On the internet.

Guard: You met someone named Gater on the internet, and you are coming to Canada to meet him, and you have never met him in person before?

Me: Basicly, yes.

GraveRobberGreg: They don't carry guns. At least we carry guns.

Me: Greg, shhhh!

Guard: What is in all the boxes on the back seat?

Me: Hats.

Guard: What kind of hats?

Me: Felt ones.

Guard: Are you going to sell those hats in Canada?

Me: Heck no. I paid too much for them to turn around and sell them.

Guard: What are you going to do with all those hats then?

Me: I wear them.

Guard: Okay. Park your car and go into door number 1, right there.

We parked our car, and when we went inside door number 1, we realized that all the people that were sent to door number 1, were the ones that looked like drug dealers, international terrorists, or two COW members. All the normal looking people went to a different door. We noticed that they all got to enter Canada a lot faster than we did.

Eventually, another guard started to interveiw us. It was obvious by now, that we were suspected international terrorists or something. They asked both of us to name all the states that we had lived in. Greg just said, "Maryland". I listed all the different states where I had lived.

The guard went back and we watched as he checked our records through the FBI, Interpol, and unfortunately, every state where we had listed that we had lived. Greg was still checking out the hot, female guard and I was getting irritated that it was taking so long for us to get into Canada and that we were having to sit here with all the undesirables. They made us jump through a few more hoops, but eventually, we were allowed entry into Canada. We left door number 1, feeling that some guys had been assigned to follow us.

Bufflehead Jones wrote:Greg was still checking out the hot, female guard and

;0

I'm still amazed that you didn't just "badge" them!

heck, I throw my PI license around like it's a Get Out of Jail Free card (and it sometimes is!)

last time I crossed over to the US for FL '07

Guard "where are you going"

Me - Hammondsport, new york

Guard - where do you live?

Me - Ottawa, Ontario

Guard - do you have any i.d.?

Me - yes. here's my birth certificate, driver's license and private investigator's license

Guard - you're a private eye? cool! Do you work for a company?

Me - no, I have my own agency

Guard - goes off on a tangent about how cool it must be, about all the movies he's seen that don't depict real-life pi's at all etc...hands back i.d. - "have a great trip, sir"

me - with real-looking resin Smith and Wesson in my luggage tears off

After Greg's comment about us having guns, I thought they were going to start searching us and my car. They never seemed too concerned about the guns, it was all those hats that we had that seemed suspicious.

I guess I could have explained to them that each box had one fedora in it. I imagine they thought each one of those boxes had about 250 baseball caps stacked in it or something.

Here's the update on my border crisis --
I went down there today and spent the better part of the day waiting for them to "find" my jacket. After 3 1/2 hours of waiting for them, I was informed I had to come back during the week when the investigating officer was back on duty to resolve this "issue".....all I want is my JACKET!!!!!

So I will return tomorrow to get it now.

That is insane! All this for a jacket? I know it's not just any jacket, but they sure put you through #### just to get a box containing a jacket.

This is really the first time I have had this kind of trouble bringing anything across the border. Canada customs has full power to take anything or detain anyone for whatever reason. I was trying to be completely honest with them and now it seems I am being punished for it. They have no idea how long a gearhead is prepared to wait for gear though...

nicktheguy wrote:...I went down there today and spent the better part of the day waiting for them to "find" my jacket. After 3 1/2 hours of waiting for them, I was informed I had to come back during the week when the investigating officer was back on duty to resolve this "issue"...

:evil: After 3 1/2 hours?! I'm usually a patient guy, but that kind of behavior infuriates me to no end. I'm steaming, just while I'm reading what happened.

I am back from the border --- I HAVE the jacket ---- all in all it is very nice. I understand what some people have said about the seeming "cartoony" distressing, but it really does look nice. It is definitely more like an 80's fit in the body - I am glad I ordered a size up on this one. I am not overly fond of the strap adjusters (d-rings) though. I am sure I will get used to them. I love the jacket --- even though it already had it's own adventure without me.

Here is the kicker. The guard who "took it" from me, returned it to me....WITHOUT the bag it came in. He said it didn't come in a bag, that he only took the jacket....he is LYING about that. Either he, or someone else there, decided to help themselves to the canvas bag.....

At least my jacket is intact.
I will post pics asap

glad to hear you got it back!!! now you AND it need to go on an adventure!

Congrats on getting your jacket back. I was beginning to wonder if there was going to be a border patrol officer sporting a very cool custom made jacket in his off-duty time.

About the bag, I would call Tony, tell him what happened. He may send you a replacement. It's worth a try.
Mike

IndyBlues wrote:About the bag, I would call Tony, tell him what happened. He may send you a replacement. It's worth a try.

...and risk going through that whole process again? heh heh heh

1. Tony may indeed send you a replacement bag.

2. Surely, you must have some recourse to file a complaint against the guards and that particular station. For future reference, you should always demand a receipt detailing any items that are going to be temporarily confiscated. You have that right. You are lucky to get the jacket back.

I would file a official complain against the idiot on duty and a criminal one for theft. I know it will most likely lead to nothing, but it will end up in his personal file and do some damage there once the next promotion is incoming (or not).

But I admit I'm the kind of guy who gets enormously annoyed by idiots in uniform with a god complex who think they get away with everything. :evil:

NEVER EVER DECLARE ANYTHING unless you have the receipt for it.

You will learn this after you have crossed borders enough times.

Nicktheguy,

I feel a bit nervous about revealing this, but I work in Law Enforcement and there is one thing that all Officers should remember:

The Officers duty is to serve the community and NOT: The Community serve the Police.

The Guard should have been working to deliver and serve your needs, and not his own ego. Officers only get a bit iritated (If he is a good Officer) is when people lie to the Officer. What I do is deal with the offence and not the subject personally.

Nicktheguy: You have done nothing wrong and have been a model citizen in my eyes. I hope you do not think I am judging you without meeting you; but that Guard is a discrace to the Law Enforcent Profession.

My opinion; I am happy that you have the jacket back; I would avoid that Guard if I was you as he could bring you more trouble.

Take care,

Paul.

This whole story makes me want to hurt someone and I'm not a violent guy.

What a bunch of TOTAL B.S.!!! Making you come back??? What are these guys smoking?

Nick, I forwarded a link to this thread to Tony Nowak. Since this is in the public area, he will be able to read it without being a COW member.

I don't know if he can or will do anything about your missing bag, but at least he's been made aware of this situation, as well as the problems regarding getting a jacket into Canada.

Regards! Michaelson

Michaelson.

Your a top bloke; Nick will be well pleased.