Customs issues with Google Pixel ordered on Amazon

[Fireprufe15]

So long story short, I ordered a phone off Amazon US. It shipped out of the US very quickly and landed in SA late last week. It is shipping with Aramex as Amazon parcels tend to do.

The moment it hit customs, an Aramex agent contacted me asking for a bank statement proving the payment I made on the package. It churned on there for a few days, and today someone from Aramex told me the package has been detained for "value verification". I haven't heard anything further from Aramex, but in their tracking page I see an event "Shipment update: Code 6 | MRN:". I looked up customs codes and it seems like code 6 means that customs has rejected the declaration.

Am I cooked on this purchase? Will Aramex sort it out? Is there something I can do to speed it up outside of just waiting for Aramex? What happens if customs rejects the package, do they send it back to Amazon? I don't understand why customs thinks I'm lying about the price of the phone, Amazon fills in the documents and invoice, I never had any part in submitting any declarations, outside of the bank statement with the highlighted transaction.

I've never had issues with Amazon US shipments before, so this is a new one for me. Has anyone here had this happen before?

 

[SauRoNZA]

More than likely they are just waiting on the invoice to be processed as there was none in the box, hence why Aramex asked you for it.

Then they re-submit it and take it from there.

 

[dontcryforme]

I am pretty sure you can get a refund if it wasnt delivered, unless you used a third party

 

[dillinger]

Once in a blue moon the stop a shipment and asked a million question.

I had to submit bank statement, detailed invoice and I think they even asked some sort of technical info on the product.

It was a western horse riding bridle made out of leather.

I think the whole process took two weeks.

Eventually I got a message to say its out for delivery and then at around 4 I got another message to say that they deliver van had been hijacked and all the stuff was stolen. Welcome to Afrika!

The REF number I had I went and put into the ARAMEX webpage and as true as Bob it said "hijacked"

I phoned Amazon in the USA and told them of the dilemma, gave them the tracking number and they checked and saw the same.

5 days later I received a replacement for free.

 

[airborne]

So long story short, I ordered a phone off Amazon US. It shipped out of the US very quickly and landed in SA late last week. It is shipping with Aramex as Amazon parcels tend to do.

The moment it hit customs, an Aramex agent contacted me asking for a bank statement proving the payment I made on the package. It churned on there for a few days, and today someone from Aramex told me the package has been detained for "value verification". I haven't heard anything further from Aramex, but in their tracking page I see an event "Shipment update: Code 6 | MRN:". I looked up customs codes and it seems like code 6 means that customs has rejected the declaration.

Am I cooked on this purchase? Will Aramex sort it out? Is there something I can do to speed it up outside of just waiting for Aramex? What happens if customs rejects the package, do they send it back to Amazon? I don't understand why customs thinks I'm lying about the price of the phone, Amazon fills in the documents and invoice, I never had any part in submitting any declarations, outside of the bank statement with the highlighted transaction.

I've never had issues with Amazon US shipments before, so this is a new one for me. Has anyone here had this happen before?

@Fireprufe15 What ended up happening with this?

 

[Fireprufe15]

@Fireprufe15 What ended up happening with this?

It eventually came through, but it was at customs for like 3 weeks. In the end they hadn't even opened the box, it was still sealed with the Amazon tape and everything. So I have no actual clue what they did with it for 3 weeks, but yeah it got through eventually. A friend bought the same phone a week later, his cleared customs the day it landed and so he go his 2 weeks before mine even cleared customs, so ymmv.

 

[airborne]

It eventually came through, but it was at customs for like 3 weeks. In the end they hadn't even opened the box, it was still sealed with the Amazon tape and everything. So I have no actual clue what they did with it for 3 weeks, but yeah it got through eventually. A friend bought the same phone a week later, his cleared customs the day it landed and so he go his 2 weeks before mine even cleared customs, so ymmv.

Your shipment probably randomly got flagged for inspection/document verification.