It sucks being ripped off despite having a conscience. Doesn’t it? It pinches. Hard. And I’ve been burned several times.
This doesn’t mean I’m “holier than thou.” Far from it.
I just feel that hurting someone doesn’t have to be physical or emotional. A stupid decision is all it takes to inflict pain and hurt.
Last evening, I went to the local post office to pick up my shipment from bodybuilding.com (you can guess what it could be). The package has been delayed by over two months! And it’s been with the Indian Customs since the first of January this year.
I received a call the evening before asking me to pick up the boxes from the post office. They won’t deliver it to my place. No reasons given.
So I drove over to this dingy and dark government office. Walked in to see two middle-aged men gossipping. With a glasses of piping hot tea in their hands.
I inquired about the package in reference to the call I received the evening before. Paid customs dusty on them. A steep $350! (I don’t understand what made me think that I would actually be saving $400 on sale!)
To my surprise. They didn’t have a receipt. When I asked them the reason, the attendant asked me to either take it or leave it! Seriously wanted to punch him in the face but kept my cool.
I opened one of the boxes and noticed that a jar is missing. I asked them about the missing article and they simply shrugged their shoulders. They obviously wouldn’t know where it went! I asked them about the next steps. What should I do? Something is missing from my package. They suggested that I leave with my stuff immediately.
And that was the end of it.
I snapped a couple of photographs. Created a short 10-second video. Attached receipts and sent everything to the consumer grievance team of the Indian Customs right away.
And I drove back home. My job has been done.
I am cocksure no solution is forthcoming. The customs will simply delete my email. Who’s checking? If someone was, my package would have been intact.
But what happened to me isn’t the point. The concern is the stupid and lousy system that is run by the government. What gives them the right to rip off a customer and then ask for customs duty?
I know there’s no point in complaining right now. What’s done is done. And no matter how hard I try I can’t change anything.
But here’s something I can do. Figure out a better way to getting my packages shipped without losing anything. It won’t be foolproof. At least at the beginning. But I sure won’t have to go through all that pain and inconvenience.
Perhaps there’s already something like this out there. I’m motivated to find it and use it in future. If not, that’s an opportunity worth exploring. Why hasn’t anyone thought about it?
Have you?