I am not really an avid shopper. I occasionally have a day when I come home from the shops with a garment or two, but for the most part I would prefer to put my energy towards cycling, going for a walk, you get the picture...
There is one shop/concession in a department store I can never walk past however: my weakness, is for Radley handbags.
There is one shop/concession in a department store I can never walk past however: my weakness, is for Radley handbags.
I do not normally get excited by handbags, but I find it hard to resist a Radley bag. Fortunately for our bank balance, I have not seen the make outside of England.
I bought my current handbag (Radley, of course) the week before we got married, over three years ago. It has been used virtually non-stop since then through my change of surname and marital status. Accompanying me on twenty-hour road trips, shoved under the seat infront on flights here, there, and everywhere; squashed into hand baggage suitcases when the occasions arouse (very often when we lived in Spain and budget airlines were the only option). It has been on my arm in a manner of new places; from metropolitan cities to remote countryside, from beaches to lakes. It has been rained on, covered with a layer of snow, been in direct sunlight in thirty-plus degree sunshine. It has been slobbered on by dogs, and sat on by cats. Its limits have been tested to the extreme with how much I can fit in it (T asked why I needed such a big bag, but was then only to keen to keep passing me all his belongings to put in it when we went out…). Water bottles and snacks, fistfuls of pens and various notebooks (you can never have too many writing tools), random cat medication, phones, the satnav, a laptop, passports and plane tickets. Business cards for cafes, restaurants, and hotels we have visited and enjoyed, a key for...I have no idea what...?!!
After all that abuse, my bag is fading, in more than one sense of the word. The zip is starting to go, the lining is torn, the colour is faded. Our partnership must come to an end.
After all that abuse, my bag is fading, in more than one sense of the word. The zip is starting to go, the lining is torn, the colour is faded. Our partnership must come to an end.
I had a fleeting look at the bags in the shops here, but I could not get excited about them (well, there were a few I liked, but they were around $500…). Then I made the ‘mistake’ of paying a visit to Radley website where, lo and behold, they had a sale on…
Before I got my hopes up I checked their delivery policy, and to my excitement they shipped out to Canada, and not for a ridiculous price. They stated USA orders under $200 would incur no import taxes too! Result!
I fell for a brown bag smaller than my current one, with over 50% off the original price, and ordered it. I received an email on the 9th July to say it had been dispatched. On the email was a tracking number, so I gave it a week (the normal time for post to reach here from the UK) and then started checking on my its status…
The status bar said the bag was in Canada, but after that, it then didn’t progress for the next three weeks. Beginning to get a little concerned, I rang the parcel company, who said it should have been with me two days after the email (11th/12th July) - but it was now the 9th August. Looking into it, there was a note in the system to say I had to pay taxes. She promised I would hear from someone in the next couple of days and they would inform me how to pay the duties.
I didn’t hear a word.
So I rang them back and, after the guy accused me of missing the call when I said no one had rung, and him telling me it would have been the private number I ignored; despite the fact I told him the phone had not rung – the screen on the phone shows any numbers, recognised or not - he finally gave me the number for the Canadian delivery firm. I then rang that number and was told by the phone operator I needed a national calling card to enable me to ring it, so I ended up ringing the Canadian number from our English Skype number. After all that phoning, I finally got through...only to be greeted by an answerphone message.
I then looked up the delivery firm on the internet and rang the local office in Montreal, thinking I could go downtown and pay the import tax in person, and get my bag. The guy on the end of that phone call was not at all helpful, and we went around in circles establishing the wrong phone number was on the system hence they had been unable to contact me. He must have dictated the phone number on their system to me four times, after each asking me if I was sure it was the wrong number. To which I replied each time that yes, I was positive it wasn’t the correct number, trying to tell him the right one. He then responded huffily he didn’t have a pen.
“Wait.”
I waited.
Eventually, he found a pen and I was able to give him the correct number. He did manage to tell me my bag was not in Montreal, but in Toronto...
I then looked up the delivery firm on the internet and rang the local office in Montreal, thinking I could go downtown and pay the import tax in person, and get my bag. The guy on the end of that phone call was not at all helpful, and we went around in circles establishing the wrong phone number was on the system hence they had been unable to contact me. He must have dictated the phone number on their system to me four times, after each asking me if I was sure it was the wrong number. To which I replied each time that yes, I was positive it wasn’t the correct number, trying to tell him the right one. He then responded huffily he didn’t have a pen.
“Wait.”
I waited.
Eventually, he found a pen and I was able to give him the correct number. He did manage to tell me my bag was not in Montreal, but in Toronto...
A couple of hours later I finally spoke to the right person. I needed to pay taxes and then they could post it next day delivery.
I got my credit card out, and she told me the amount. I was glad I was sitting down at the time, as the cost was...wait for it... $42!!!
Lucky the bag was on sale – if it was full price that would have been an incredibly expensive mistake! I grudgingly paid, and my handbag was duly delivered the next day.
I got my credit card out, and she told me the amount. I was glad I was sitting down at the time, as the cost was...wait for it... $42!!!
Lucky the bag was on sale – if it was full price that would have been an incredibly expensive mistake! I grudgingly paid, and my handbag was duly delivered the next day.
I re-read the Radley website carefully, and kicked myself: in the USA orders under $200 didn’t have to pay taxes, but it didn't apply to Canada...
In Canada – although there are exceptions to the rule - you generally don’t have to pay taxes on anything under the slightly lower $20.
Looking into the tax writing this blog post, the numbers don’t add up. It would appear I have been a little overcharged: you have to pay 15% of the value of the goods in GST and QST (Goods and Services tax and Quebec Sales Tax), plus a minimum of $10 as a handling fee… but accounting for that I am out of pocket $25 - seems the courier charged me a $35 handling fee!!!
I can safely say I will not be buying handbags from England again, unless I am in the UK!