Markgeezer said:
I also receive some courier mail from the UK, by Fedex but it is only papers and it always arrives within 2 days. I have had poor response or slow delivery rates from the other major couriers to and from Argentina, and tend to use Fedex.
. . . . .
If it is that important and doesn't weigh much I suspect, your best and safest bet will be courier. At least it's not gonna disappear that way. Maybe declare the cosmetics as samples or whatever.
I use the US Post Office's cheapest air service that is trackable, and I've never had problems. Sometimes the Correo delivers to the door, no charge. Sometimes they deliver a note telling me to go to the local post office and pay duty, after which they deliver the parcel. Occasionally they tell me to go to Retiro, which is a hell hole where you lose a half day, but you walk out with your parcel, often paying nothing more than the service fee, pre-Customs.
I have also used DHL for urgent documents without problems, both in- and out-bound, but they're VERY expensive.
I have had nothing but problems with Fedex, whose agency here is some local franchise that Fedex Worldwide doesn't control. I once ordered same-day pickup of a Fedex envelope, and they didn't arrive in 4 days, despite my twice-daily calls. I finally took it to their office, where they charged me a rate much higher than I was quoted online when I ordered the pickup.
For an urgent package that Fedex was supposed to deliver from the US in 2 days, I waited a week until my doorbell rang. (Online tracking showed it awaiting Customs approval after the second day.) I had chosen Fedex because the US agent promised that they dealt with Customs clearance and delivered directly to my door.
I went down to find someone not dressed in any uniform who claimed to be from Fedex. Since I was expecting something from Fedex, I opened the door, even though I had my doubts.
The agent told me to sign a form in order to receive my package, which I did. He then handed me an envelope with barely legible xeroxed pages telling me where to go in Ezeiza to deal with Customs. I called Fedex in the US to complain and ask for help, but they told me I had already received the package because I had signed for it. They even sent me my signature by email.
A family emergency struck the next day, and I left the country. When I returned a month later, I asked my favorite remisero to take me to EZE, knowing how useful he can be with bureaucrats.
We arrived and found the site - in the hangar zone of the airport, inaccessible by any public transportation. I asked for the Fedex office and was told there was none there. So I showed them the contents of the Fedex envelope, they looked up the hand-written number, and advised me that I needed to pay U$ 400 in storage fees before they could withdraw the package and present it to Customs.
God bless Carlos the Remisero, who stepped in and argued that I hadn't been in Argentina so I couldn't have withdrawn the package earlier. He kept this up until they bumped us to the encargado of the area, who examined my passport and made a deal for U$ 100. Plus the duty, plus paying Carlos, it was a really expensive shipment. No more Fedex for me.
