Getting An Iphone From The Us.

[motoyen]

I'm getting an iPhone shipped from the US. Where is the best place to have it unlocked? I know MBK but which store specifically? Will I be charged customs duty?

[absolutelyBangkok]

You got mail motoyen.

[nikster]

You will most likely have to pay customs - I didn't trust Thai customs enough to even attempt this so I don't know how much though. Tea money etc, too much hassle. Even though Thai customs has a web page written in very good english, the result for anything imported into Thailand on this website is always 200% of the estimated value. Which is ridiculous, and obviously computer shops pay hardly any import duties going by the street prices of electronics here.

You can unlock it youself using free software, or have any shop that sells iPhones unlock it for you. You can even buy unlocks on-line, I think they go for about $60. They'll send you some nice software that does it for you.

[DaffyDuck]

Let's see if your experience mirrors mine.

I sent an iPhone to a friend of mine, via Fedex. It got stopped at customs for 'customs clearance', at which point my business office in Bangkok informed me that Fedex called, and informed them that as a 'mobile phone' this shipment needs clearance by the NCT - and that the NCT does not have any prior clearance for 'iPhone' and thus can not allow it into Thailand without 'clearance'.

I acknowledged this, and instructed my office to tell Fedex to ship the iPhone back to me in the states.

At this point, we were told "...but you will need to pay for shipment back...". Of course, I knew that, and approved of it.

A few days pass, and apparently someone from the Fedex office calls, and informs my office that someone at NCT/Customs can clear the shipment for a tea money payment of 8,500 THB - which I found ridiculous, considering the phone was only worth $299 at the time (it was a 4gb model), and I wasn't going to pay $250 in tea money for that.

After I rejected this 'offer', we were then told that return shipment could be 'really expensive', suggesting paying tea money is the better alternative. When I asked how much it would cost to return the shipment, we were quoted 15,000 THB - which, obviously, is ridiculous. At this point I called fedex, and confirmed that the return shipment charges would be, at most, $85. I initiated, via Fedex USA, to request the Thailand Fedex office to return the shipment.

Now, a period of 4 weeks passes, with me and Fedex USA making several requests a week to the Thailand Fedex office to return the shipment. During this time, the Thailand Fedex Office refuses to respond or acknowledge the requests from Thailand USA. I finally had my Thailand office contact the Thailand Fedex office, and have them explain to them that it would be a 'good idea' to start to return the shipment NOW. I received a message back from the office within 24 hours after this, that Fedex Thailand will be returning the package within a week.

7 days later I finally received the package (after another hold-up at US customs, where the customs officer explained to me that 'this mobile phone needs FCC clearance'. I half expected another request for a hand-out, when I realized that this agent had no clue what an iPhone was, or who Apple is... Brilliant, but I guess that's what living in Anchorage gets you. Anyway, I have the iPhone back, and will just be bringing it, and a dozen extras, with me on my next trip.

Maybe this was Fedex, but from what I heard from other sources is that they are actively looking for iPhones at customs. I guess a lot of them are being brought in...

Good luck with your shipment.

[DaffyDuck]

Regarding unlocking it, that's relatively easy these days (at least on a Mac).

I strongly recommend the commercial unlock, iPhoneSimFree (iPhoneSimfree.com) - at $60 it may seem pricey, but considering the iPSF did NOT result in a bricked iPhone, and that the 'free' unlock from the 'iPhone Dev Team' (anySIM, iUnlock, etc...) resulted not only in the bricking of iPhones, but also, the same 'team' pretty much abandoned any efforts to undo and repair their damages - a splinter hack team, the 'iPhone Elite Team', finally provided a 'revirginizing tool', but at the same time, the latest version of iPSF (also released sooner), also resulted in fixing and unbricking iPhones.

From that point of view, the $60 I spent, certainly paid for themselves (iPhoneSIMfree provided free upgrades), and their site provided very detailed instructions on how to jailbreak the phone, and install, and unlock it.

There *IS* a new version of anySIM (the free solution), which you can try (and which most likely is being used by the unlockers at MBK), but you take your chances with that solution, in my opinion.

Drop me a line if you have any additional questions.

[nikster]

....

A few days pass, and apparently someone from the Fedex office calls, and informs my office that someone at NCT/Customs can clear the shipment for a tea money payment of 8,500 THB - which I found ridiculous, considering the phone was only worth $299 at the time (it was a 4gb model), and I wasn't going to pay $250 in tea money for that.

....

Thanks for that info - I kinda thought that they'd want tea money so no surprises there. However, I would not have guessed that the Thai FedEx office can not only arrange payment of tea money for you but also gets a cut of it! TIT!! An absolute classic... :D

I had a friend come from Austria so I FedExed my iPhone to Austria - while customs there didn't buy that the phone's value was only $20 as we had claimed, they also didn't want bribes or even penalties - just the normal customs fees. Which happen to be high in Austria, about 7% for import fees and 20% VAT. Not their fault that Austria has such a ridiculously high VAT though. We had to send the original bill to prove it was only $299 (also 4GB version) and then paid close to $100.

I would think that you could complain to FedEx corporate about the Thai side's behavior. I would, in any case.

Edited October 27, 2007 by nikster

[nikster]

From that point of view, the $60 I spent, certainly paid for themselves (iPhoneSIMfree provided free upgrades), and their site provided very detailed instructions on how to jailbreak the phone, and install, and unlock it.

I agree with that. I did the 1.0.2 unlock myself and it was fun enough, but the whole re-virginizing deal does not sound like all that much fun and I'd rather have paid $60. I may still do that. You get what you pay for

[DaffyDuck]

I had a friend come from Austria so I FedExed my iPhone to Austria - while customs there didn't buy that the phone's value was only $20 as we had claimed, they also didn't want bribes or even penalties - just the normal customs fees. Which happen to be high in Austria, about 7% for import fees and 20% VAT. Not their fault that Austria has such a ridiculously high VAT though. We had to send the original bill to prove it was only $299 (also 4GB version) and then paid close to $100.

Funny, as I also sent an iPhone to family in Austria, and had a similar experience -- I listed the iPhone as $199, which I got a call from Austrian customs at 2:00am in the morning, meaning to verify the cost (they aren't the smartest when it comes to calculating time differences), so I pointed out that an invoice was enclosed with the shipment.

They insisted they need to verify the authenticity of the invoice, so I went to my Mac, and FAXed a copy of the same invoice to them while I was on the phone with them... Acknowledgement from the customs guy "Ah, here it is, ja, the same as the one included...", and that was it - no customs due, because of the cost, or something like that. Go figure.

Like I said, they aren't the smartest. Never were.

I would think that you could complain to FedEx corporate about the Thai side's behavior. I would, in any case.

Oh, no worries, this is not the end of that story - I just wanted my phone back in my hands, before I proceed further.

Apparently, Fedex Thailand is (or so Fedex USA claims) an independent contractor, separate from Fedex USA, and that they have no control over them (or so a rather clueless Fedex USA CSR claimed to me) - so I'll be interested to see how that relationship will be affected by seriously escalating this case, and some, shall we say, uncomfortable media exposure (it's amazing how national media just seems to love to jump on iPhone related stories).

[DamianMavis]

Dude do your worst. If you have any kind of power or recourse at all please make them pay. This is just plain evil, they tried to hold your phone hostage for ransom money, fookers! They wanted you to pay double for it. Fedex in Thailand is known for its blatant corruption and it needs to be stopped. Surely Fedex doesnt want to be leasing out their name (or whatever they do) to blatant crooks stealing from customers and giving Fedex a bad name do they? Surely they would want to revoke the lease?

Damian Mavis

[xbusman]

Thats true about fedex. They have to abide by the FBA and the Thai operation is majority owned by Thais. That should explain the trouble there.

[motoyen]

Thanks for the info everyone. I think I'll pass on having it shipped from the US and head to MBK to see what kind of deal I can get.

[mikethevigoman]

....

A few days pass, and apparently someone from the Fedex office calls, and informs my office that someone at NCT/Customs can clear the shipment for a tea money payment of 8,500 THB - which I found ridiculous, considering the phone was only worth $299 at the time (it was a 4gb model), and I wasn't going to pay $250 in tea money for that.

....

Thanks for that info - I kinda thought that they'd want tea money so no surprises there. However, I would not have guessed that the Thai FedEx office can not only arrange payment of tea money for you but also gets a cut of it! TIT!! An absolute classic...

I had a friend come from Austria so I FedExed my iPhone to Austria - while customs there didn't buy that the phone's value was only $20 as we had claimed, they also didn't want bribes or even penalties - just the normal customs fees. Which happen to be high in Austria, about 7% for import fees and 20% VAT. Not their fault that Austria has such a ridiculously high VAT though. We had to send the original bill to prove it was only $299 (also 4GB version) and then paid close to $100.

I would think that you could complain to FedEx corporate about the Thai side's behavior. I would, in any case.

Never use DHL or FEDEX for imports, use EMS declare it as a phone with a $40 value ,gift,. i have never had a problem, not the same can be said of the other 2 which im sure is run by customs,.

[mikethevigoman]

Dude do your worst. If you have any kind of power or recourse at all please make them pay. This is just plain evil, they tried to hold your phone hostage for ransom money, fookers! They wanted you to pay double for it. Fedex in Thailand is known for its blatant corruption and it needs to be stopped. Surely Fedex doesnt want to be leasing out their name (or whatever they do) to blatant crooks stealing from customers and giving Fedex a bad name do they? Surely they would want to revoke the lease?

Damian Mavis

I brought in a set of wheels with an honest declaration of $400 us, tax charges ? 14000baht, FEDEX,and in negotiations you might as well bang your head against a wall,. remember, this is thailand,. you have no rights ! Edited October 28, 2007 by mikethevigoman

[dekka007]

use EMS declare it as a phone with a $40 value ,gift

Great until your $400 phone goes missing on that odd occassion..claim your $40 :s

Edited October 28, 2007 by dekka007

[Dakhar]

Dude do your worst. If you have any kind of power or recourse at all please make them pay. This is just plain evil, they tried to hold your phone hostage for ransom money, fookers! They wanted you to pay double for it. Fedex in Thailand is known for its blatant corruption and it needs to be stopped. Surely Fedex doesnt want to be leasing out their name (or whatever they do) to blatant crooks stealing from customers and giving Fedex a bad name do they? Surely they would want to revoke the lease?

Damian Mavis

While I agree with you, companies are culturally aware that.... well that is the way things are... So they allow for such activities in order to have a global market share. If they strip their current licensee, they will have the same problem with whom ever they give their license to in the future. Such is the fate of thailand.- (spelled without a capital for a reason)

DHL has their onw in house corruption and that is even done in America. The deal with them is, they have an "exporter/importer dept" and if you pay them money for the services that stream line things for customs, then your products come to you without hassle. If you don't pay them, and even if all the paper work is 100% legal, letigimate etc your goods are pretty much gaurunteed to be held up by customs.

I refused to pay DHL blood suckers.

[Doudou]

Little problem shipping iPhone from Switzerland with DHL.

The declared item was MP3 player (which it is too).  before custom, DHL calls me to ask details, is it an iPhone they ask? (I wonder how they could know at this point unless they x-ray stuff)  no it is an iPod Touch (looks the same) I say.  I email the page from Apple with picture of the iPod Touch at their request.  A few days of delay, more phone calls, then they tell me that we need an import declaration.  I told them that the iPod Touch is now for sell in Thailand, and since this is a approved product in Thailand I should not need the declaration.  The lady says in that case ok, it will be out of custom today.  It was out the same day, and delivered the next morning.  All well???  not quite.  The package was empty! The original packaging was replaced with a different one (still with DHL logo but different kind) and in the package was all the forms, including the email I sent them with the picture of the iPod Touch, and some cotton... cotton?  yes for padding to make someone believe that there was something inside.  The original item was put in a special envelope with plastic air bubles and more rigid support on the side, and was missing.  Oh! I almost forgot.  I also have the custom bill.  Nice touch no?

Beside the lack of the object of desire, everyone I spoke to at DHL was very nice (before and after the event).  I am in touch with a supervisor, and they will come home tomorrow to take pictures of the received envelope.  Not much hope though.

[MrSquigle]

All you cheap charlies trying to do illegal shit just to save a few baht for your next holiday to thailand...just to waste again on several one night stands.

I heard of a guy, thought he was smarter than everyone else, brought in several from the US and they all got confiscated.....good deal I say.

[Doudou]

All you cheap charlies trying to do illegal shit just to save a few baht for your next holiday to thailand...just to waste again on several one night stands.

I heard of a guy, thought he was smarter than everyone else, brought in several from the US and they all got confiscated.....good deal I say.

I take it that paying 100% surcharge on items makes you smart?  And I didn't think that wanting an iPhone at official price makes you cheap.  So either you have money to burn or being smart just have different meaning for you.