Planning a trip to Premie...

[JerCraigs]

Congrats!

The Hercules and Racer 5 are both phenomenal. The post road pumpkin i was disappointed with personally, not enough spices for my taste.

I think there is something about crossing the border that makes people nervous (well me anyways) even when they are doing nothing wrong. The more i do it the less wierded out I get.

Example, i went to the maine brewers festival a few weekends ago, we were gone around48 hours, i had less than a case of beer. No real reason to be concerned, i wouldnt have to pay duty unless the guard was a serious pain in the butt. We had not troubles... so nervousnesness was silly.

Mind you, we had that hungover, "yes we did drive 10 hours for a beer festival", oh and we got some cigarettes for our buddy aura about us. lol


I think having stayed overnight probably helps...

[Belgian]

Yes, there's nothing like high of being waved through the border when they've got you for tax and duty items.

I bet they hate calculating tax and duty for a complicated list of mixed items - all at different ABVs, volume and cost.

I dont' recall seeing any Dog Fish Head...

I've got a minivan, seats 7... I think we'd probably increase out likeleyhood of paying duty, but WTF, it'd still be an awesome day!

Well splitting the gasoline cost would offset the taxes.

Re: DFH - I saw WWS there last time.

[JerCraigs]

and i think you are right about the looking for Miller etc. thing... the fact that you aren't there just to get cheap booze i think makes them care less in some instances. as it should in my opinion, there is a distinct difference between bringing back a product we cannot get here, and going to pick up cheap cases of Blue across the border.

[JWalter]

I think there is something about crossing the border that makes people nervous (well me anyways) even when they are doing nothing wrong. The more i do it the less wierded out I get.

I feel exactly the same way, it's funny you mention that as I had the exact same discussion with my wife, even when were crossing to go IN to the US, I still felt nervous, yet, as you say, I'm doing absolutely nothing wrong...

I think I've figured it out though... My first handful of experiences with crossing the border were back in the 80's, during the whole cross-border shopping craze, so I'd be going with my Mom and Sister, and we'd go down, spend probably $500 at the outlet stores, and then come back lying our a$$es off and hope to not get caught... I think because that was such a nerve wracking ordeal, I still get that same feeling now, even though I'm not doing anything wrong, I am telling the truth and I don't really care that much whether I pay duty or not.... Bizarre!

[tupalev]

I enjoy crossing at the Peace bridge when going to/from Buffalo - the more time I spend in Canada the better, as far as being nervous goes (nothing to read into there, that's just me). Oh, and crossing back in at 530am helps to - I stayed in a hotel but the guys I was with, who had a separate car and stayed out until 430am after the Leaf game, snored so loud I just went home. One lane only open, one tired looking young guard (male), told him I had 24 bottles of beer (true! singles...) and he didn't even ask me for id, just waved me through (I barely stopped). It didn't even look like the little place where you go pay duty was open! I'm sure it was but I may have to try that again...

[Belgian]

during the whole cross-border shopping craze, so I'd be going with my Mom and Sister, and we'd go down, spend probably $500 at the outlet stores, and then come back lying our a$$es off and hope to not get caught...

Been there. Well, if you at least dispose of ALL packaging & tags, scuff the shoes, toss the clothes in a tote bag with older stuff... common sense preparations.

All border officials really care about is people don't take them for a dummy, so it's not like like "ohhhh, so all those new shopping bags in your back seat were there when you LEFT Canada?"

We have been car-checked with the above precautions in place, so we just chatted and laughed on the bench nearby while the guy looked through everything. No problem, on our way! Nervousness is a big tip-off for these guys so don't fidget or look like you really care much what they do. The worse they can do is say 'you can't prove it, pay this much' and that's not likely over a few clothing items.

If you can't have fun travelling to the US, what the hey right?!

[HogTownHarry]

Having now paid duty three twice after day trips to Premier I can say that they won't be reluctant to charge you duty on a mixed haul of single bottles - all they do is take your receipt (or your estimate, if you "fogot" it) and apply the percentage - takes one person about 30 seconds to type it in, they print the form, then point you at the cashier (debit or credit or cash, service with an almost smile).

But it's worth it.

[HogTownHarry]

Well, just back from another Premier run today (with blankboy and my friend Dave B) - we had to pay duty again, heck, they almost stripped the car! Got a bunch of seasonal brews ... but you don't want to know about that

By the way, you MUST go to Coles for lunch if you're in town - terrific place, sorry Pizza Plant, but Coles blows you away - terrific bleu cheese burger and 12-18 taps, almost all great, inclucing:
- Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout
- Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald Porter
- Delirium Noel
- Bear Republic Racer 5
- Bear Republic Hop Rod Rye Ale
- Anchor 31st Annual Christmas Ale
- Skye Pilot Scotch Ale
I forget the rest - I was driving, had to hold myself back, I could have had at least 15 beers there - terrific!

My purpose here is - GMONK!! Hello!! I was looking at my bill and I think I was overcharged on two items - the lady at the cash was late for her lunch and there was an impressive line building behind me. Anyway, as usual, I bought only single bottles today (okay, two Brooklyn Chocolates, but singles of everything else) - I notice I was charged $15.49 for a 4-pack of Kwak and $15.99 for a 4-pack of Tripel Karmeliet --- I definitely only purchased one each of these beers.

I hope we can work out a credit for future visits? I should have paid more attention as it rang in, but we wanted to get packed and out of your hair.

Can you please let me know? My e-mail address is

harry_heatherington@pch.gc.ca

I may be down in mid-December, failing that I will certainly be down again in January some time.

Anyway, thanks again for all your help - Dave enjoyed himself and will definitely be back - in fact 5 of us may head down in December. Just trying to keep the business headed your way.


- Harry

[mds]

Coles blows you away - terrific bleu cheese burger and 12-18 taps, almost all great, inclucing

They even have cheap pitchers of Labatt blue....yum, Canadian beer.

[Belgian]

[quote="HogTownHarry"]GMonk should be able to immediately verify those 6 extra bottles you were charged for (owie!) but never left with still show up as excess inventory in the balance. I would think Premiere is far too premium service-oriented to let a slip like that go by unrectified.

[northyorksammy]

the same has happened to me a couple times at Premier..there's $15 instead of a single..unless I stand there and go through every line, I'm out of cash. The same happens at the supermarket, if you don't watch somehow you are overcharged $5-10 a good percentage of the time. Rarely does it go the otehr way at a Supermarket checkoutm, and I point it out when it does also.

[Belgian]

Grocery store chains sure seem to thrive on overcharging. And why not, they can't even get in trouble if they're caught!

When I shop I mentally note prices, calculate a rough total in my head, and verify what I see on the cashier's display... Loblaws will award you any over-charged item to you for free, so they must make money with sloppy pricing to afford that 'geneous' practice. It smacks of fraud to me, but it could be error - like the cashier who rings in organic produce at conventional cost.

"Cavity Emperor!" as my illiterate friend Ralph likes to say.

[JerCraigs]

Loblaws will award you any over-charged item to you for free, so they must make money with sloppy pricing to afford that 'geneous' practice. It smacks of fraud to me, but it could be error - like the cashier who rings in organic produce at conventional cost.

More likely its a case of its not worth it to them arguing with you and potentially making you angry over a 99 cent can of tuna.

It annoys me that the onus is on the customer though, I am going through a long process to get a $15 charge on my credit card reversed, a bar in Halifax double charged me. Why isn't the onus on the company to prove its legit?

[Belgian]

Agreed, but it seems if they were losing money by under-charging on a billion cans of tuna they would be all over THAT in a heartbeat - ergo, they seem more intentionally sloppy in their interest rather than really conscientious in your interest or mine.

Good luck with your credit card thing, that happens all the time unfortunately. They CAN double-swipe a card accidentally, but if the bar is fighting a duplicate charge that's very odd.

[northyorksammy]

[quote="JerCraigs"][quote="Belgian"]I am going through a long process to get a $15 charge on my credit card reversed, a bar in Halifax double charged me. Why isn't the onus on the company to prove its legit?[/quote]

I had a $3.99 charge rung up 20 years ago as $399-took months to prove. That was in Toronto. In Montreal,one time they added a digit for their tip. watch what you sign-particularly at bars . AMex is better at removing disputed charges, Mastercard is the least best.