More Customs horrors (Canada this time)

[KillerOnion]

Anyone want to hear a good rant from a friend of mine named Sammy that just got his STO butchered crossing into Canada? I think it'd make a good article about what to avoid and dealing with the various dip****s that make international paintballing a pain in the ass at times.

Any thoughts Robbo, Justin, TJ?

 

[Reno]

Butchered?

Sounds juicy...lay it down.

 

[KillerOnion]

Well, he tells it better than I considering that he was there and that it was his gun that was mangled beyond belief, but the skinny of it is this:

Sammy had just gotten his STO, having only shot it for one day and put less than 1000 rounds through it. His family was taking a trip to Canada, and being that there's a lot of paintball action to be had up there, he packed it in his bags to take it up and play some. Naturally the Canadian customs guys search people randomly crossing in, and his whole family got their luggage searched. His paintgun was in the bottom of his suitcase, and so they got to it last, with a little bit of suspicion and way too much time on their hands...

So since a paintgun is hollow and has a gun like grip on it, they decided to "inspect" it by taking it apart down to every last nut and screw. As everyone knows a Cocker has to be put together correctly for it to work--these morons put the thing together with MONKEY WRENCHES, VISE GRIP PLIERS, AND SCREWDRIVERS. All cross threaded. Body bent. Barrel threaded in 1/4 turn past the threads and upward to the point that balls being fed in the chamber were chopping. Altogether destroyed.

No apologies. No chance for insurance because he didn't have any. He didn't get their identities, supervisor, or anything because he didn't know they did it all until he tried to play with it again and the pro shop tried to disassemble it and couldn't. And no way of getting close enough to this blatant governmentally sanctioned and protected act of outright vandalism to know it was going on until it was too late.

$800+ and a year of working for it down the drain. Thank you, Canadian customs *******s. May you rot in hell.

 

[QuikSilver]

Holy ****. I am never going to Canada with my gun... Unless someday when I join a famous pro team and I have to.
That seriously does piss me off. I would **** many bricks.

But on the other hand, I do live in cali, so the chance of me driving to canada is VERY slim.

Sorry to hear that

 

[MarkehB]

That sux!!

Tbh tho if i was moving my gun through customs i would break it into as many pieces as I could anyway. Seems common sense to me

 

[Wookie]

What a bunch of....

****ers!!!!

When I went through Customs with my marker at Stanstead, all I got was a "Oooh! That looks complicated. What is it?" from the guy on the desk. After we had told him and shown him how it works and that it couldn't work without the bits we had in hand luggage (bolt, reg) he let us through with a "Well, good luck in Toulouse".

There is no way in hell I would let anyone take my marker apart without me standing over their shoulder telling them what to do. No, scratch that. There is no way in hell I would let them take my marker apart. Ever. I would take it apart for them, but they are not allowed to touch it with anything.

Take 'em to court. That's what I say.

Wookie

 

[goose]

I find it hard to believe...

... that this is the whole story.

I just find it strange that any customs official would do the following:
1) take anything apart without his/her permission
2) remove an item from anyones view in order to take it apart
3) take anything apart that they didn't know how to reassemble
4) not ask how to put it back together

I also find it a little hard to believe that anyone could crossthread/over thread a cocker barrel.

Don't get wrong - I'm not calling anyone a liar - after all stranger things have happened in the world - it just sounds kinda fishy.

Also why did your friend let his marker out of sight?? and why would he let anyone take it apart but himself (most customs people I have run into would be more than welcome to let an expert break things down)?? and last but not least why did he leave the customs area after they had done this to his marker?? if it where me they would have had to put me jail before I would voluntarily leave withou talking to a superior.

Always looking into conspiracies,
goose

 

[KillerOnion]

I don't make them up, I just tell `em like I hear them

The explaination he was given as to why he couldn't take it apart and put it back together himself was that they didn't want him to sneak in something into it like drugs or something. I guess they figured if they could take it apart they'd put it back together the way they saw it, and since they wouldn't let him near it he had no idea what was going on. That's what he told me they told him. They wanted to lock everything together I guess so it couldn't be used to smuggle anything. That must have been the one thought that has ever crossed through their miniscule minds. Simple egotism kept them from actually asking how to reassemble it correctly, and like many postal people they don't give a crap about whether or not it's intact afterwards. There are plenty of morons that are put in charge of things in this world; Sammy just ran into destructive morons that happened to be working for Customs. You don't have to be a surgeon or expert mechanic to get a job with them.

British customs, although they majorly screwed with me, were at least polite and admitted that they were mistaken and offered me a refund for taxes they imposed. (Though to date it's still in processing.) The atrocities committed by the Canadian customs people in this case are simply inexcusable.

 

[Paco]

I hate stupid. Why is it that the stupid always seem to get away with everything while the rest of us can only stand by and watch.
Tell your friend we all feel for him and if he wants to ever raid Canada to check here first!
(P.S. if you're Canadian, please disreguard that last part)

 

[Reno]

Regardless of whether it went down like this or not, it's a cautionary tale that should make all of us just that much more careful with our own gear.

Count me in on that Canada raid, cheap beer and canadian bacon!