Chile Forum

patagoniax wrote:

zer0nz wrote: $5,000 per volumetric kg

I am sure this has a reasonable explanation, but I am trying to make sense of this expression. Does this mean for any given mass/weight of a product, that there are linear dimension limits and/or volume restrictions? Or something else?

¿Cómo se calcula el peso utilizado para el pago del flete aéreo?

En transporte aéreo, el peso y el volumen son importantes. Por ello las aerolíneas utilizan el peso efectivo (mayor entre el peso real y volumétrico) como base para el cálculo del valor del flete. Se debe considerar las dimensiones del embalaje del producto para determinar el peso volumétrico.
Este último se obtiene de la siguiente fórmula:
Alto (cm) x Ancho (cm) x Largo (cm) / 6000 = Peso Volumétrico (kg)
Alto (in) x Ancho (in) x Largo (in) / 166 = Peso Volumétrico (lb)
Por ejemplo: un notebook de 3,5 kilos y de dimensiones 21cm x 43cm x 34cm. Su peso volumétrico sería de 21x43x34 / 6000 = 5,1 kilos, siendo mayor que el peso real de 3,5 kilo. Por lo tanto, el flete a pagar seria por 5,1 kilos.

I've been in exactly the same boat recently. I had some pine nuts sent from Australia (along with another jar of Vegemite ) and it got caught up with Aduana. DHL kindly offered to sort everything out for me for CHP$37.000. Sadly/foolishly/desperately, I agreed to cough up the money and about a week later, I am the proud owner of some of the worlds most expensive pine nuts. Mind you, they are delicious...

Having now aquired said pine nuts, my subsequent trip to the local Jumbo revealed two small (maybe 10-20g of the nuts) jars of the damn things sitting happily on the shelf. Also ridiculously expensive, but they come in such a nice little container!

So, no useful advice on how to get around this, other than cough up the dough if you really want the contents.

One additional thought - I've had vegemite arrive before without attracting the attention of Aduana - perhaps it doesn't count as food?

Hi,

My son has been back packing through Central America for the past few months and is now in Santiago for the "summer".

At his request we sent a box with some winter clothes, his computer and a tube of anti fungal cream a couple of weeks ago. We sent it FedEx, as we foolishly assumed they knew what they were doing. The agent told us when we sent it that they handle every thing door to door. BIG WRONG!! It has now been in customs limbo, presumably with an agent FedEx had hired,for 10 days and we are losing hope. My son gets told something different every day. One day he went to the airport as instructed to pick it up, was told everything was cleared, only to be told when he got there that they were on "break" and to come back another day. The latest is that they now want a prescription from a Chilean doctor for the tube of anti fungal cream, which is over the counter.

I know now from reading this incredibly helpful forum that we were naive idiots. I appreciate now the advice given to not bother to ship things to Chile that are not irreplaceable, but he has discovered there are no shoes to be found in size 13 in Santiago and clothes for a 6'3" guy are not easy to find, either. The question is what to do now? Should we just have the box sent back to the US? We read somewhere that there is a window after entering the country when you can ship in your stuff without a big customs hassle. Is this a moot point? should we just assume we will never see that stuff again?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

If they are hung up on the cream, then you will need the doctors prescription. One option for him to try is tell them to keep the cream. The computer and the shoes seem to be the priority, and then later he can likely go get the same thing at a pharmacy (likely without a prescription). Arguing with SAG over the cream is silly.

The "window" only applies to people with temporary residency. Not just being in Chile. It is for shipping household goods, and it is not exactly hassle free. Just cheaper.

The cream thing would not be SAG but SEREMI. The way it works IME is that that one item in question holds up the entire package. If not resolved, they are supposed to send the package back, eventually, after 1-3 months or something like that so expect to pay the return postage when it gets sent back. If he can actually get them to send the package back immediately, resend the package without the cream.

If you try the prescription route, then this would normally require a trip to the SEREMI office in Santiago Centro to resolve. There should be some kind of official notice describing what the problem is and what he needs to do to maybe make it right. He would take the official customs notice, the prescription or alternatively perhaps a translated description of the cream (maybe a printout of a Google webpage translation of the product) and hope that SEREMI approves. Only then can he go the airport and get the package.

So where is the FEDEX agent help at this stage of the game? Are they in possession of the customs notice?

Brilliant, many many thanks for your helpful responses.

I think you are right about telling them to keep the cream. We have now tried sending a scanned prescription from here (I'm a doctor) but if that doesn't work it is not worth the hassel for a tube of cream.

As for Fed Ex--I think Chilean FedEx is in touch with the local customs agent. The call my son received about the cream was from a Chilean FedEx employee--he said she was clearly an intermediary (presumably from the customs agent) and her tone was apologectic. I must say US Fed ex has been in touch with us all along (at our urging) and tell us they are trying to intercede but it is clear they don't understand how things work down there and don't have any power over the situation.
(As this forum has warned of time and time again...) Took us a few days to even get them to admit that the counter agent who took our package (and $$$) and gave us a rosy outlook for how quickly our son would have it was misinformed.

Something I didn't mention and hope doesn't become an issue--there are also some antibiotic pills for malaria prophylaxis and some antifungal pills in the package. I don't think my husband declared those (he said there wasn't a category on the form for medication) so customs probably doesn't know about them. If it comes up we will just tell them to keep those as well.

Thanks also for clarification about the "window" for temp residents vs travellers.

What an education this has been!

Again, can't thank you enough for taking the time to respond, and ADMIN, for sponsoring this forum. A godsend!!!!