Sending household items to Costa Rica from USA

We are currently going through the process of receiving a pallet we shipped to Costa Rica. It is becoming so frustrating my wife started crying. Everything was going great and the pallet was shipped from South Carolina with a broker in SC. The company Multimodal said they had it and customs was checking it out. There are two bikes, cd player, radio for my car, tools, a small welder ($100) type, lights, car mats, stand up paddleboard and other small items. It cost $2700 to ship the pallet to Costa Rica. We were then told to pay for taxes, storage, and other little fees in Costa Rica. We went to the bank and transfered the money $1880.00 We were told two days later the customs agent wanted to check the pallet again. We were then told by Multimodal that they were saying this was not all household items and we would have to repay the taxes again. We asked what would happen to the original amount of money  ($1880.00) The Multimodal person said we might get some of the money back. We will have paid over $6000.00 to get a pallet valued at $2500.00 worth of stuff. I so regret doing this that I'm thinking about having the pallet returned to the U.S. and just loosing 5 thousand dollars.

Very sorry to hear what you have gone through.

I have never heard of this company.

ExpatDave wrote:

SanRamon,

I have also used Michael with shippingcr.com. many, times.  We ship almost once a month and have never had any problems at all.  Michael charges $4.50 per pound with a $30 minimum or you can ship via pallet for $650 per pallet.  Pallets can be stacked/packed 7' high.  There are no additional import taxes, no brokers, etc., etc.. (As usual with Edwards comments, he talks quite negative and has no idea what he's talking about.)  It's a flat rate and you will get everything that you ship.  As Terry stated, you simply ship to their Miami address and then pick up your packages, etc. in Escazu.  You can also pay a bit more and have it delivered to your door.  You can ship anything you want with the exception of illegal items of course.

His info.:
Michael Baird
[email protected]
506 7241-8772

So, you're finally making the BIG move?

- Dave

Hey Dave, I am interested in shipping some stuff from the USA and so went to shippingcr com and the site no longer works.
Do you know if this Michael guy is still in business?
I am interested in buying some stuff on Amazon, having it shipped to Michael (or someone like this) and then getting it here without having to go to Aduanis in San Pedro or whatever...
Do you know if this is possible nowadays?

Yeshua39 wrote:

We are currently going through the process of receiving a pallet we shipped to Costa Rica. It is becoming so frustrating my wife started crying. Everything was going great and the pallet was shipped from South Carolina with a broker in SC. The company Multimodal said they had it and customs was checking it out. There are two bikes, cd player, radio for my car, tools, a small welder ($100) type, lights, car mats, stand up paddleboard and other small items. It cost $2700 to ship the pallet to Costa Rica. We were then told to pay for taxes, storage, and other little fees in Costa Rica. We went to the bank and transfered the money $1880.00 We were told two days later the customs agent wanted to check the pallet again. We were then told by Multimodal that they were saying this was not all household items and we would have to repay the taxes again. We asked what would happen to the original amount of money  ($1880.00) The Multimodal person said we might get some of the money back. We will have paid over $6000.00 to get a pallet valued at $2500.00 worth of stuff. I so regret doing this that I'm thinking about having the pallet returned to the U.S. and just loosing 5 thousand dollars.

Sounds like a nightmare!
Sorry for you...  but thanks for posting to let others know what can happen...

That place Expat Dave mentioned that ships from FL  - he said Michael Baird - has anyone used him recently and is it still in business? Price seems a lot more reasonable than AeroCasilla. I assume you used to be able to order stuff from amazon and have it sent to him and then he'd get it to you here without import taxes, right?

Looking for something like that but the phone or web site for him doesn't seem to work.

This is a very important topic post. I am going to subscribe to because I don't want to do the "wait to cross that bridge when I come to it." I'd like to find out all I can right now. My concerns are also similar to some expressed above, such as item damage, theft/loss and unforeseen "extra" fees.