NofarS Send Message

I’m ill again (blame it on the open-space that I work in), and I needed something to brighten up my mood, the room, and ease my sore throat – hence this tea. It’s one of F&M’s better blends, and I’m still puzzled as to why it doesn’t appear on their site. A secret tea blend? It is beautiful enough to evoke The Secret Garden. Now I want to go reread The Secret Garden :)
I just got an email from Teabox, telling me that they apologize for the way FedEx treated me and my package, and saying that they will resend it via regular airmail, and refund me on more than half the purchase price for my troubles. Best customer service in the world, and I’m most certainly going to pay them a return visit! They have a lot of teas on sale, including a mind boggingly good deal on their Darjeeling samples.
Teabox.com is where they are at, and I am shamelessly plugging them because they have dealt with a problem that they hadn’t created, with grace and kindness and generosity, and so they deserve to be plugged.
If you are interested in my “tale of woe”:
Teabox sent my package with free express delivery via FedEx. I got a call from FedEx Israel while at work from a very snarky service representative that told me that I had received “a package from India”, and that the Health Department required an import permit for the tea that it contained. I was shocked. I’ve been receiving tea from abroad for over three years, and this is the first time that I’ve been told that I need a permit from the Health Department. I asked the lady if she was joking, as the tea in the package was all 10g samples (hardly import quantity), and this has never happened to me. She paused and unpleasantly replied that she is not joking, but they are more than willing to take care of the paperwork for me. At a cost. Out of curiosity, I asked how much, and was given the outrageous sum of “at least $60”. Around $20 for the paperwork, and another $40 for handling fees, plus they wanted around $2 for every day that the package was in storage while they “took care of the paperwork”.
Now the package cost me $56 total, so it was customs free, and “the paperwork” included filling in a few forms, and not paying a tax or anything on the goods. The lady made a great point of letting me know how difficult and time consuming it would be if I were to do the process myself, plus, I would still have to keep the package in their office until the process was complete. Now, here is where I got angry, and told her that she can return the package, or burn it for all I care, since I’m not going to pay them a dime.
1. They are the only party that stands to profit from this ridiculous “Health Department” process, and I’m sure that the Health Department doesn’t give a fig about my tea – otherwise they would have required a special form to be filled in advance.
2. Out of the hundreds of thousands of packages that arrive into Israel daily, customs just happened to zoom in on my package, which is below customs value, and contains tea samples?
3. If shipping and handling was prepaid, why do I have to pay $40 “handling fees”, and if the fees are required, why was the FedEx representative so eager to let me know that I can haggle over them?
4. I don’t enjoy being intimidated, and I don’t enjoy being talked down to, and I most certainly don’t enjoy being ripped off. Having all three happen at the same time – infuriating!

I plan on never using FedEx again if I can help it in any way possible. I plan on purchasing again from TeaBox and spreading the word about their customer services, and hopefully soon also about their tea, which I understand is very good.
End of rant :)