Date: Wed, 25 Oct 2006 17:09:42 -0700
Reply-To: Jim Arnott <jr.arnott@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Jim Arnott <jr.arnott@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Canada brokerage fees
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Spotted this in this morning's daily dose of 'news.' Link: <http://
cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/WeirdNews/2006/10/24/2115440-cp.html>
October 24, 2006
B.C. man sets off suit against UPS
By TERRI THEODORE
VANCOUVER (CP) - Hidden fees seem to be an everyday irritant for
consumers, but a B.C. man is so angry about a fee charged by United
Parcel Service he's willing to become the point man for a class-
action lawsuit.
It started after Robert Macfarlane purchased an amplified telephone
device from Arizona over the Internet last year. He knew he would
have to pay shipping and handling fees and government levies, but he
was also ordered to pay a $38.40 brokerage fee charged by UPS.
"It's outrageous," said Macfarlane's lawyer Jim Poyner.
"It's a surcharge that nobody agrees to, nobody knows anything about
it until the delivery person is at the door."
Poyner said Tuesday he expects hundreds of thousands of people have
been in the same situation across the country, and there are plans to
file a similar lawsuit in Ontario.
"It's certainly a problem that affects the entire country."
The lawsuit has been filed under the Class Proceedings Act, but the
B.C. Supreme Court must first determine if the case fits the criteria
for a class-action lawsuit.
The court action claims the UPS brokerage fee is "so harsh and
adverse as to constitute an unconscionable practice."
The same Canada Post service for goods shipped from the United States
to Canada costs $5.00.
A spokesman for UPS was unavailable for an interview.
Poyner said people are usually never told there will be an added fee
until there's a knock on the door.
"(The delivery person) has your goods in one hand and the other hand
is out wanting to be paid more money," he said.
The lawsuit accuses UPS of misleading and deceptive practices by
failing to get the consumer's consent, not telling the consumer about
the fee and not allowing the consumer to arrange their own customs
clearance.
Not only does Macfarlane want his own money back, but the lawsuit
wants everyone who paid the fee reimbursed.
Poyner said the other major goal of such a lawsuit is what the court
calls "behaviour modification."
In one of 10 remedies requested in Macfarlane's statement of claim,
it asks for a permanent injunction stopping UPS from continuing to
charge the fee.
It also asks for punitive, aggravated and exemplary damages.