Customs trouble with 2 blackberries?

[canadien]

I flew into Cordoba via Santiago on thursday with two Blackberries.
(one, work phone for use in Canada, the other, an unlocked model for use in Argentina)

Customs had me indicate the two phones on the customs form and then dissapeared with my passport for a few minutes.

If, upon flying back to Canada at the end of the month, I leave one Blackberry behind, does any believe I'll have problems exiting (will they insist that I pay customs on what they think the phone is worth?

Does anyone have experience dealing with this type of issue since they added a cellphone section to the customs form?


Thanks!

 

[AlfajorEfi]

no one looks at it or knows or remembers. if they ever ask you can say it got stolen

 

[Sleuth]

You declared them? Keep the cell phones in your pocket and walk through.

 

[glasgowjohn]

All phones and cameras in the jacket pocket is the best way .....

 

[chris]

How did they know that you had two Blackberries? Did they search your pockets? I've never heard of such a problem, at least not when the person is a citizen of a foreign country. It's ridiculous that anyone should have to worry about this. I know lots of people who have more than one phone. They need them for different purposes - for example, business and personal.

 

[canadien]

I did not declare them until they told me to.
I did keep them in my jacket pocket, but they x-rayed not only everyone's luggagge, but our jackets too.

Unlss I have have very bad memory, this is the first time that i see a section on the customs form specifically asking you to list the cell phones that you are bringing into the country. ( none about laptops or ipads)

Is there a war against foreign cell phones, including those being brought in by individual travellers? Are they afraid i will leave it behind? ( I am, its a present for my boyfriend, after I am done using it for this trip)

Do they actually have a verification system for when I will leave or shall I just breeze through while telllng myself that I really worry too much about these sorts of things?

 

[DontMindMe]

Huh, that's interesting. All sorts of new stuff going on. I came to the U.S. for a visit a few weeks ago and when I was at Ezeiza, the guy at check-in asked me to name every electronics item I was taking with me, and if they were all mine. Then he seemed to write them down on a piece of paper. I thought it was weird, and it had never happened to me before. I didn't understand why they would care considering I was leaving the country, not entering.

 

[tez]

They've asked for you to write the make and model of your cell phone for as long as I've been here (June 2008), sometimes I fill it in sometimes I don't, and I've never had anyone say anything. I've definitely never been questioned on my way out.

I came from Madrid the first week of September and I've never seen the customs agents as hard at work. Granted, my arrival coincided with the arrival of a flight from Miami, so I know they are especially vigilant with those flights, but it took me nearly an hour to get through and they were being really strict with people, to the point of being unfair (poor backpacker ahead of me tried to go in with his guitar and a camera, which he supposedly had taken out with him, and they weren't going to let him pass without paying up).

They let me pass without a second glance (then again, the only thing I was bringing was clothes, teas, and Spanish olives and real turrón--yum!).

 

[TheBlackHand]

I wouldn't worry about it.