So this is just a little interim post. I haven’t even written the ‘hurrah the swaddles are finally in the warehouse’ post as, well, the swaddles still aren’t in the warehouse – and I still don’t know when they will be.
I was being quietly optimistic that today would be the day. Last Friday I got my EORI number and forwarded it straight to UPS. HMRC said it would be activated ‘tomorrow’, which I took to mean Saturday, possibly after midday. I phoned UPS who confirmed that would be the case and the status would update to ‘released’ over the weekend, with delivery taking place today.
This morning came and still no change. I’ve been on the phone to UPS. I got somebody different. She told me the EORI would take 3 days to become active, then (after I argued that I had the email right in front of me that said differently) that it would be the next business day (i.e. today). She then changed her mind to ‘after midday today’. As I write it’s 12.18pm and no news…
Whereas before I was pretty sure that all these customs/import problems were down to me, I am now sure that this latest delay is down to UPS and their customer service / internal procedures. I still haven’t had this storage bill they told me about last week but, if/when I do, I’ll be arguing against it, since they’ve had the information they told me was holding the whole thing up for well over 72 hours now…
Also, while I’m at it, they never even called/emailed me to ask for it – I had to call THEM. So my best advice for anyone shipping this way – keep on top of it and call anytime you see something in the tracking that doesn’t look right. If your goods have been in the same place for more than 24 hours I’d say that was a red flag and it’s time to check on it.
It’s also frustrating as I have a massive to-do list – but can’t do any of it without having stock. So I feel like I’m stuck in some kind of limbo where I actually have some time (both kids are asleep – or quiet at least), but nothing to do with it. Better wrap some Christmas presents I guess.
Happy Monday!