Canadian bought BCD436 vs repair campaign
Hi,
I don't know how many Canadians have bought (in Canada) either the 436 or the 536, and I don't know how it went for you fellows Canadians to send back your radio to Uniden facilities in Texas for this repair campaign, but for me it had been one heck of a nightmare experience.
First, the instructions on Uniden page are tailored to US owners of these radios; there's no explanations pertaining to the customs and all the paperwork that has to be completed *before* giving the parcel the the sole Uniden-mandated carrier, UPS.
I live in a town where there's no UPS service, the closest one is 300 miles from my hometown. The clerk at Canada Post was kind enough to refuse my parcel and explaining me that UPS has a subcontractor by the name of Putolator and there was no need for me to *pay* Canada Post to ship something prepaid via UPS.
So, I called UPS and sure enough, the Putolator truck was here the day after. I sent my 436 per the Uniden US-owners instructions.
I then tried to track my parcel but to no avail.
I then received a call from the Canadian UPS desk, asking me to fill out a form explaining in details what I was shipping, why, etc. I had to provide Uniden's shipping address, a contact name (hello Paul Opitz) and a phone number (I found one on Internet).
Since I had followed Uniden's instructions and printed out a UPS shipping label but *did not* made a COPY of it, I had no clue which address was the right one, from the ones I found on Internet as I had to put one on the UPS Customs declaration I received form them via email. So I completed the form and emailed it back to UPS Canadian center.
Many days later, I received a call from UPS US sorting facility: they had to have my original purchase invoice.. I searched everywhere but did not found my original invoice. So I phoned my Canadian dealer and they told me to log-in to their web-site with my username and password and that from there I could download a copy of the invoice, which I promptly did.
I let a few days pass, and via the link in the email I originally received when I subscribed To the repair campaign, I clicked the link to see where my parcel was.... But to no avail. I have my Uniden tracking number, I put my postal code (there's no such thing as a "zip code" in Canada) but then again, to no avail, the system doesn't spit back any info on my 650$ CDN radio I sent to Uniden.
I suspect something with the expected format of the "zip code" field that a Canadian postal code doesn't meet and the website simply rejects with absolutely no info.
You can count on me that it's the first and last time I try to send to the US something bought in Canada. And it's for sure my last Uniden purchase.
So, I am going to the church in a few hours, I'll burn some candles and make a prayer for the return of my 436 without problems, as I am really not sure I'll ever see again this radio.
Up man, if you read this and can do something to track where's my radio, I can provide you the necessary specific details privately.
Sylvain, VE2LAM, Rimouski, Qc., Canada
