From ✈️ 🍲 with ❤️ to ✈️ with 😡 - Part I

And so the story began with the vacumn cleaner. A month prior to departure I asked che-che if she wanted me to get her a small vacumn cleaner for her room which could be carpeted. “Haiyah! So troublesome. No need lah!” When I asked if she wants me to pack for her the magic clean wiper stick, “haiyah! No need lah. Bring so many things over!” My reasoning was that I wasn’t sure if anything is provided in the apartment, daddy can bring it back if she don’t need. I’m sure we have use for the small lightweight vacumn cleaner. 

When hubby was there I kept stressing on cleaning the room etc… and to them “it’s clean. Nothing to clean.” OMG! I think if I was the one who settled her then, I would be the one putting on thick gloves and clean the room properly. I even asked him to get cleaning supplies while they are there and no - the two of them said there’s no need. 

One might wonder why I’m so hard on cleanliness especially around her. That’s coz she has eczema! And it was proven that during the house renovation, at one point her skin did itch despite having taken all the expensive jabs. It could be worse reaction if she hadn’t taken 💉. Still, she’s alone there now so all the more should be cautious around her right? 

Only a month later when I asked again then che-che said ok. Why did she suddenly change her mind? To shut her mom’s mouth? If only I had done things against their (hubby n che-che’s) will initially, I wouldn’t have to go thru all these hassles now. I know she could have gotten them in Walmart but I did check the price of the smallest size vacumn cleaner (which is still huge!) and one in 淘宝. It’s about 3x cheaper ! Only $20+, not even S$25. If she had gotten one there, was I going to ask her to junk a US$80+ vacumn before coming back? We no print money hor! 

Anyway, she made a list of items she wanted me to send over. I didn’t get all as I had to be cautious to not send over meat products. Some products I bought but after checking thru decided not to send over. 

I got her some sauce which she says it’s either she can’t find it in the Asian mart or it’s too expensive. 

Gathered her birthday present from mei-mei, the stationery that she needed from Muji (wth?!) and made a trip to JS on the 10th. 

Based on their comparison, their (JS) price is cheaper than FedEx, DHL and SingPost. So being the cheapo me, I thought “what can go wrong?” and they advertised as “stress-free shipping. Leave it to us blah blah blah.”

It’s my first time doing such a huge parcel, even the thank you presents to the Japanese guy in Saiki were sent via SingPost. I bought the box there and packed it in the post office in PP 🫢 . 

13th - received an email that parcel is with them. And it’s from FedEx. What?!?! JS won’t work for free right? Meaning I would have paid more in JS than if I had dealt with FedEx directly. But you know it’s really first time I’m using these foreign entities, so I’m not sure what to expect. If I had gone to FedEx direct, do I need to pack into my own box first? Maybe they can advise me better? JS had pick up service but I decided to do a drop-off as I wasn’t sure what will be done or how they’ll pack it. My items were packed in a bubble wrap but wasn’t sure if they’ll open up everything to optimise every small little corner and space as it won’t be easy to optimise every space with 4 bubble wrapped items each bulky in its own way. So they assured me “leave it to us. We will get it done for you hassle-free. Paperwork we will do.” Well, that’s comforting to hear for a person who has to deal with 1001 things daily. 

14th - Parcel is in LA? So fast?! Did they fly over by rocket? I checked on the tracking link and noticed they had the parcel on the 12th. Oh well. 

Then >>>> few hours later I noticed something red. What customs clearance? What did it mean? I didn’t hear from anyone for the next 2 days so decided to drop JS a message on 16th - what’s going on with the delay? They checked and got back the next day (17th) to me that : “Hi XXX, thank you for waiting. Fedex has informed us that they require a prior notice to be filed by the recipient. The details should have been sent to your recipient via email - you may want to check on this with them!” What prior notice? What the heck is a prior notice? I think that was the paperwork that I vaguely guessed that FDA requires. How come che-che never told me anything? She would have checked her email, so was she busy listening to her nani boys and playing games that she totally ignore the email?  

JS followed up with another link on “obstacle if shipping food to US”. After reading it, it’s COMPULSORY to fill it up and not do it when we face a problem!! So why did they not inform me to fill up the form? And why do they have to check with FedEx if they had sent countless parcels over internationally, US included? 

They should have told me beforehand that recipient (I thought it was them) is suppose to fill up the documents and what are the information required etc.. Are the ppl in JS equally blur? 

Recipient's job not sender's job

It was suppose to be recipient filling up the form as the password and login details were sent to recipients but how would recipients know what is being sent over? I got the login details from che-che and filled it up on her behalf which proved to be quite a task too coz I have to make sure I don't log-off once I log-in. The FDA Interface page requires verification that is sent to the recipient's email. So I have to make sure I log in when she's awake to get the verification code from her. I did ask her if she can provide me her email password so I can log in and check, she can change her password after that. If I had access to her email I  can submit in the afternoon and not waiting for her to be awake and then I can only do it at wee hours. But my dear girl didn't reply me on that, maybe she has secretive love emails from her admirer? heehee!     

I had to try to search information online on the manufacturers address and what code?! For items that I can’t find online, I had to go to the supermarkets to find out. Some items were also purchased from MeidiYa and Donki. BLOODY HELL! I’m not sure if I had categorised them correctly or not also, it might cause further delay. And I THOUGHT THEY SAID HASSLE-FREE AND PAPERWORK DONE?! So I would have thought that whatever shit forms that needs to be filled up for FDA is done by them. I wouldn’t even know the shipping stuffs what?! They should have dealt with every customers as a first timer and informed us properly just like they did remind me on prohibited meat products (which I knew). 

It’s a good thing I took photos of what I sent over so I could trace back the quantity and the actual name of the products. But only if they had informed that there’s a need to fill up a PN for USA bound imported food, I would have taken photos of all the manufacturers information at the back of the packaging. 

When I checked the requirement from FedEx on PN submission “No more than 5 days in advance and no less than 4 hours before the arrival of the shipment. document.”

Can you say that JS was really fucked up? Needless to say I told them off that I wasn’t informed about this at all. Guess what? No bloody apologies from JS for their negligence. No way I’d give them any positive reviews after this. 

18th 0019hrs

Dealing with this online form and I'm not really tech savvy so struggling it all alone. Seem to have problem submitting it so messaged whatsapp if I can drop by the office for help in the afternoon. 

They only replied me at 1522hrs, office closes at 6pm. Ehh.... was it replied late deliberately?

Anyway, decided to take the time to quickly go down to NTUC and Donki (while waiting for their reply) to take pictures. I hope I don't get hauled into the Security Command Room trying to convince the ah-peks I'm no threat. Brought along my laptop, my ipad and laptop charger just incase they don't allow me to use their computer.  

18th / 19th (Wed / Thu) 

19th - it’s 1.37am now and I need to sleep. I’m so tired and really not feeling myself. Been having some tummy problems this week.

No easy task

It took me a long time to complete one PN, the instructions given by JS is not clear. There's something about keying in manufacturer registration code and something else - FDA registration code? Siao lah! How this Ah-soh know? I'm ah-soh no detective k? JS is missing this information, the way they gave instructions was like so easy but they missed out this two important parts that is required. Thank goodness for Mr Google who works 24/7 tirelessly, I found the information and instructions from FedEx's website. When one item submission went thru - hallelujah! Okay another 21 more items to fill up. 

By the time I finished all 22 PNs it was already past past midnight. Then emailed a copy over to che-che. And then must pray hard nothing gets confiscated. 

Justship - maybe not a good idea afterall. It’s not hassle free and stress free. It gave me more hassle and stress instead! If I had dealt with FedEx, means it would be cheaper and not expensive as what JS stated. Didn’t get much assistance from JS, anyway they are just people who opened up the business. 

Lesson learnt!