'Di ma-take na magbabayad ng P19,500… BELA, SINISINGIL NG BOC PARA SA REGALONG SAPATOS

NA GALING SPAIN, TUMALAK SA SOCMED

ni Julie Bonifacio - @Winner | May 27, 2021

Dismayado ang aktres na si Bela Padilla sa Bureau of Customs dahil sa paniningil ng additional charges sa shipment na ipinadala sa kanya mula sa ibang bansa.

Sa kanyang Twitter account ay inilabas ni Bela ang kanyang pagkadismaya sa BOC.

“A few months ago, a Spanish brand reached out to me if they can send me 2 pairs of shoes. I said yes and sent my details. They confirmed shipment in April. Last week, I informed them that I haven’t received the shoes yet. Apparently, our customs was charging them an addtl (additional)...10,500 pesos even if they paid for shipping through @DHLUS already.

"Two days ago I called DHL, and they said I needed to pay 9,000 and the 10,500 to receive the shoes. They also asked me to provide documents and a proof of purchase even if I explained that I didn’t ...buy them. Our customs declared the shoes to be around 500 euros. (They aren’t)

"I offered to provide screenshots of my conversations with the brand and the prices of the shoes. But I was told that the shoes are now considered “abandoned.” So… All the phone calls were useless and the shoes are in some warehouse right now collecting dust. I wanna know where they get these rates that they seem to pull out of thin air. This isn’t the first time. Our customs, always a rip off,” magkakasunod na tweet ni Bela.

May isang netizen ang nagpakilala kay Bela sa reply section ng kanyang tweet na isang licensed Customs broker.

“Hi Ms. Bela I am a licensed Customs broker, they (Customs) usually ask for the proof of payment of the item shipped for the purpose of assessment of the Customs duties and taxes. If no documents is provided they usually search for the price online.”

Ni-reply-an ni Bela ang nagpakilalang broker.

“If that’s the case, then they would’ve known that the shoes doesn’t amount to the 500 euros that they quoted, no proof of purchase can be presented because I don’t pay for these gifts.”

Paliwanag naman ng broker, kahit daw bigay lang ang ipinadalang package ay may babayaran pa rin kapag napag-alaman ng Customs na mahigit sa P10K ang halaga nito.

Pero ang point ni Bela ay bigay lang sa kanya ang package kaya bakit siya hahanapan ng proof of purchase, eh, ‘di nga raw niya ‘yun binili.

In relation to this, sa sumunod na tweet ni Bela ay ikinuwento naman niya ang isang package niya which she bought in UK na ibinalik ng Customs dahil daw 'di nila alam ang halaga ng inorder niya.

“Last year, I ordered Harry Styles merch again (my very shallow but guaranteed source of happiness) I got a notification in March that they returned my merch to the UK because they couldn’t put a value (on 2 t-shirts) and therefore couldn’t tax me excessively.”

Dahil d’yan, nabahala ang mga netizens na may packages din na ipinapadala sa kanila from other countries.

“OMG! May padala pa naman tita ko from U.S., may 2 Taylor Swift albums ako du'n! Sana naman 'di ganyan mangyari!”

“Customs are the worst, the handling charge is totally ridiculous.”

Anyway, nagpatuloy si Bela sa kanyang reklamo sa Customs sa mga sumunod pa niyang post sa Twitter kahapon.

“Imagine telling a brand (that isn’t that big yet) that they need to pay 200 dollars to send somebody a gift because you say that you know the value of their shoes more than them? Hello, BOC, you guys ok?”

Ikinuwento rin ni Bela on her next tweet ang naging tugon ng courier na magde-deliver dapat ng package niya when she asked for a telephone number na puwede niyang tawagan sa Customs.

“Best part is, when I asked DHL for a number to call to resolve this issue and at least try to explain why 19,500 doesn’t make sense, I wasn’t given a number or a contact person, but instead, a 'don’t worry, we’ll call you' response.”

And on her last tweet yesterday, muli siyang nanawagan sa Customs dahil sa nakatengga niyang Spanish-brand shoes.

“Hi @CustomsPH you’ve been holding on to my things for nearly 3 months now with no answer/solution to my questions."

Nagbahagi ng simpatya ang mga netizens sa dilemma ni Bela sa Customs.

“Imagine how good the BOC settled their arguments by simply collecting money from anyone who seemed to have lots of it. Sigh.”

“@CustomsPH explain yourself. Matagal na kayong ganyan.”

May netizen na sinabihan si Bela na kailangan na niyang mag-file ng “informal entry.”