Houston Fish and Wildlife Disappointment

[Clark8907]

I am not one to usually rant, but the Fish and Wildlife at Houston is really starting to anger me. Monday my trophies from this year's safari arrived in Houston. Yesterday CBP cleared them very quickly and early that morning. F&W claimed their system was down and couldn't knock their part out. I understand they are a government run organization, I also work for the government, I am just curious why they don't have a secondary means to take care of things? I am not sure why they couldn't knock things out the old way with pen and paper (Hard Copy). Instead, I am stuck with a $200 storage fee, so far, because they are too lazy to do a little work and get things taken care of.

Is there anyway to circumvent the $200 charges, up until this point, that were completely out of my hands and falls directly on them? I don't understand why us hunters should have to be charged extra fees because people are lazy. I understand systems go down, but usually they are back up pretty quickly. Even when they go down, there should be a means to still accomplish your job. It ultimately seems like F&W knows we are at their mercy and will only do the bare minimum and screw us if it costs us more money.

 

[IvW]

If their system is down they shoild not charge you.....

 

[Clark8907]

If their system is down they shoild not charge you.....

Same way I look at it. However, I just spoke to the supervisor there and unfortunately they claim they are not on the hook for the charges regardless of how long they take. Typical lazy bum answer. I then spoke with the terminal in charge of storage and they would not waive the charges. Told me regardless of what the issue was my crate was still stored in their facility.

This is the reason so many people have went to simply taking pictures. Some of us save for a while to be able to afford these hunts. While $200 is mere pennies compared to a $20k safari, the little things begin to add up!

 

[375Fox]

That’s the risk of trying to clear your trophies yourself. If you used a broker with a warehouse they’d be waiting there without storage fees you’d just need to pay the broker their fixed +/- $500 fee. My last shipment was delayed around 2 weeks waiting on fish and wildlife inspection.

 

[375Fox]

If their system is down they shoild not charge you.....

He’s paying an airline storage fee not a US Fish and Wildlife storage fee. The airline doesn’t care the shipment is waiting on a 3rd party and US Fish and Wildlife doesn’t care whether it’s in airline storage or a different bonded warehouse while it waits.

 

[Clark8907]

That’s the risk of trying to clear your trophies yourself. If you used a broker with a warehouse they’d be waiting there without storage fees you’d just need to pay the broker their fixed +/- $500 fee. My last shipment was delayed around 2 weeks waiting on fish and wildlife inspection.

Well you are jumping to conclusions with me clearing the trophies myself. I did pay a broker and they handled everything promptly and without issue. However, they do not have a storage space themselves. CBP was cleared asap and F&W would have been completed the same if they wouldn't have had system issues. Problem is, they are too lazy to get a pen and paper to handle things manually. Appreciate you assuming things though.

 

[375Fox]

Well you are jumping to conclusions with me clearing the trophies myself. I did pay a broker and they handled everything promptly and without issue. However, they do not have a storage space themselves. CBP was cleared asap and F&W would have been completed the same if they wouldn't have had system issues. Problem is, they are too lazy to get a pen and paper to handle things manually. Appreciate you assuming things though.

I may have jumped to conclusions but I’d say you chose the wrong broker if they don’t have a warehouse at that airport. This could become very expensive if you wait on US Fish and Wildlife as long as I recently did.

 

[Wathe208]

My trophies from last summer were held up at San Francisco and I used Coppersmith. This was 5 days and over $1,000 in storage fees when I got the call from Coppersmith while I was in the Northern Cape. I called my attorney, the SCI attorney, and my congressman. Then called Coppersmith and let them know what I had done. He called the USFW and for "some reason" my trophies were immediately released. I assume the holdup was with a warthog (or their excuse).

I suggest you call SCI's legal (they are VERY aware), then contact your US senator to see if someone from their office can call USFW. However, this was just my experience, but I do believe the squeaky wheel gets the grease.

I'll rant as well, but I've wondered if a large group could file a class action lawsuit and sue for damages (maybe even exemplary damages) with SCI's help, against the USFW as hunting trophies regularly are targeted. There are a LOT that this is happening to.....

Good luck!!!

 

[Clark8907]

I may have jumped to conclusions but I’d say you chose the wrong broker if they don’t have a warehouse at that airport. This could become very expensive if you wait on US Fish and Wildlife as long as I recently did.

In the past there has been no problems and the broker ensures things are handled properly. It ultimately boils down to the people at F&W being lazy and the terminal storage not being accommodating because of the Issues F&W were experiencing.

Maybe the broker I have used two times and buddies over 30 times is horrible. This is the first issue I have had and it wasn't the brokers fault at all. Maybe I should use a different broker, but when a single company has been so good to me and many friends its kind of hard to go elsewhere!

 

[Clark8907]

My trophies from last summer were held up at San Francisco and I used Coppersmith. This was 5 days and over $1,000 in storage fees when I got the call from Coppersmith while I was in the Northern Cape. I called my attorney, the SCI attorney, and my congressman. Then called Coppersmith and let them know what I had done. He called the USFW and for "some reason" my trophies were immediately released. I assume the holdup was with a warthog (or their excuse).

I suggest you call SCI's legal (they are VERY aware), then contact your US senator to see if someone from their office can call USFW. However, this was just my experience, but I do believe the squeaky wheel gets the grease.

I'll rant as well, but I've wondered if a large group could file a class action lawsuit and sue for damages (maybe even exemplary damages) with SCI's help, against the USFW as hunting trophies regularly are targeted. There are a LOT that this is happening to.....

Good luck!!!

I have read a lot of horror stories and my situation could have been a lot worse. All my stuff is now cleared, but they could have continued to say their systems were down and the fees continue to rack up. I can't stand people that are lazy and it seems a lot of the issues reported could have simply been solved with a little work ethic. However, when the same things continue to happen again and again, one may start to question, like you eluded to....is it intentional?

Also a big shout out to DT Gruelle, my broker without a storage facility, on listening to my complaints even though it was not in their wheelhouse and covering half the storage fees. They may not have a storage warehouse but bent over backwards trying to help me.

 

[375Fox]

In the past there has been no problems and the broker ensures things are handled properly. It ultimately boils down to the people at F&W being lazy and the terminal storage not being accommodating because of the Issues F&W were experiencing.

Maybe the broker I have used two times and buddies over 30 times is horrible. This is the first issue I have had and it wasn't the brokers fault at all. Maybe I should use a different broker, but when a single company has been so good to me and many friends it’s kind of hard to go elsewhere!

I did not say your broker is horrible, but not having a warehouse can turn out very expensive for you. The final bill may make you look for a different broker next time. I don’t expect a government agency to work on a favorable timeline for me.

 

[Clark8907]

I did not say your broker is horrible, but not having a warehouse can turn out very expensive for you. The final bill may make you look for a different broker next time. I don’t expect a government agency to work on a favorable timeline for me.

Like mentioned before....this is the first time there has been any issues. It could prove to be very expensive, but they have always stayed on top of things to ensure thing were promptly taken care of. This time F&W simply got the best of me and it wasn't nearly as costly as it could have been. It just pisses me off when people are too lazy to do the job they signed up to do.

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

@Clark8907 so I am curious about your problem. Trophies were airship? From?

I have air freighted stuff where the final destination is Houston, but it cleared in Atlanta. I did have one shipment from New Zealand come into Houston and was cleared there with no problem or delays. I think a lot of times it is a roll of the dice.

 

[USN]

Glad the stuff finally cleared.

 

[JimP]

Yep, you can either pay the broker who has a warehouse at the location or you can pay the airlines storage fees. You have to just roll the dice.

I prefer to pay the broker, those airline storage fees can add up real quick.

 

[Hogpatrol]

I have seven self imports I did for myself and two friends and have run in to two issues with F&W clearance, both Atlanta. One, they were short staffed and another was a four day holiday weekend. As posted, even with a broker, it's a crap shoot the process will run smooth. For any newbies reading this thread, be prepared for costly glitches.

 

[CoElkHunter]

I've only had my one and only shipment of finished PG trophies sent to DFW on Delta from the RSA (PE) exporter last July. The exporter stated they will wait and try to use Delta as they don't charge excessive storage fees compared with other airlines. I ended up paying one day of Delta's storage fees ($95) and then Coppersmith took them to their warehouse near the airport awaiting CBP and USFWS inspections. Coppersmith doesn't charge for their storage up to ten days and they did all of the paperwork. Then it's only $10/day. They then shipped the crate to my home via truck within a couple of days. I don't plan on bringing back trophies should I hunt Africa again, but I'll ONLY use Coppersmith as the importer if I do.

 

[Clark8907]

@Clark8907 so I am curious about your problem. Trophies were airship? From?

I have air freighted stuff where the final destination is Houston, but it cleared in Atlanta. I did have one shipment from New Zealand come into Houston and was cleared there with no problem or delays. I think a lot of times it is a roll of the dice.

They were airshipped from JNB. No issues at all with the shipment. Went from JNB to some other place then straight to Houston. Problem was with the F&W at Houston.

 

[Clark8907]

I've only had my one and only shipment of finished PG trophies sent to DFW on Delta from the RSA (PE) exporter last July. The exporter stated they will wait and try to use Delta as they don't charge excessive storage fees compared with other airlines. I ended up paying one day of Delta's storage fees ($95) and then Coppersmith took them to their warehouse near the airport awaiting CBP and USFWS inspections. Coppersmith doesn't charge for their storage up to ten days and they did all of the paperwork. Then it's only $10/day. They then shipped the crate to my home via truck within a couple of days. I don't plan on bringing back trophies should I hunt Africa again, but I'll ONLY use Coppersmith as the importer if I do.

Glad you had a great handling experience with coppersmith. Once again...the problem wasn't with the broker. Broker went above and beyond to try and fix the problem. I'm not changing from a broker that has been tried and true multiple multiple times. Simply wanted to let others know about potential issues with shipments coming into Houston if F&W don't want to work. Like previously stated, I'm US military and our systems do go down, but they aren't down from 0900-1900 like F&W claimed. Yeah I could have used a different broker that has storage, but once again DT Gruelle did everything they could to help even calling after I did to try to get fees waived due to a problem out of our control. Then because of the issue paid half the storage fee. Like said before, I've used them multiple times now and have a buddy that has used them a ton of times with zero issues on their end. If anything ever happens it's due to F&W not doing their part. I understand what yall are saying about using a different broker with storage, but as good as DT has been to me and friends I don't really want to change. Not to mention my taxidermist and where my capes are tanned are right down the road. Plus DT is cheaper than a lot of prices I see posted her for others!

 

[Trophyhunter01]

Can’t fight the man. Be glad you got your stuff and don’t let a couple hundred stain your memory of a great trip.