Tripped at the last hurdle.

I’m in awe of the logistics involved in moving a parcel around the world. My replacement gearbox and motor went from Tasmania to Melbourne to China to Turkey and then to Paris in 4 days. It cleared French customs and arrived 10k away from her inside 2 days and then …. It got stuck for as long as it took to fly around the world. For the second time I got screwed by FedEx. I remember siting in Key West watching my repaired (haha - Italian repair) water maker go from Italy to Germany to Switzerland back to Italy to France to London where they lost for a week, then back to Italy (I kid you not) then back to London and eventually arrived battered and bruised 10 days late still not working. It resulted in the worse Christmas wind passage we have ever had.

This time I was amazed to see it clear customs in Paris with no bill for tax. It was a free warranty replacement but I’ve never known the EU miss a tax opportunity. But, it got to Brest and the next thing I got was an update saying recipient refused delivery. The marina, not surprisingly had not agreed to pay the tax- what tax? About an hour later a message popped up for the first time saying tax owing with a payment portal - paid immediately and the app said delivery tomorrow. I tried “manage my delivery” 6 times - not available, eventually found the cunningly concealed live chat rather than the dead bot and was assured - tomorrow before 1.00 pm. Tomorrow came, parcel didn’t another bout of chat - they need a phone number - they have my phone number - they need a French phone number - I don’t have a French phone number - I can give them the marina phone number - ok. Then I get an email, the marina doesn’t accept deliveries. YES THEY DO I’M STANDING IN THE OFFICE WITH THE DOCKMASTERS AND THEY SAY BRING IT ON. They just don’t pay my tax

Eventually after 4 hours on chat, no time on the telephone because FedEx France doesn’t have any it seems (you can call 1-800..) 23 emails and several threats it arrives.

It took as long to get 10 km from the Brest Fedex facility to here as it did to get the 17,000 km from Tasmania to Paris.