"I'LL just courier it off to you, that's easiest."

These words still ring in my head. But I should have known that it wouldn't be that easy at all. My dear friend in London was kind in enough to give me his super hip laptop. At least he attempted, because honestly it was made impossible from all sides. Murphy's Law, and so it seems, because the laptop that was supposed to arrive within two working days, and did, was however stuck in customs for weeks. I received a phone call and two SMSes from the courier company that I shall not name (He, who must not be named, the classic phrase from J.K. Rowlings Harry Potter, became a running joke in this matter). I thought it was rather high tech and extremely proper for them to contact me in this manner.

"Yes, the package has arrived, please come to our office to take the documents and in order to clear it from customs," a kind, English-speaking lady on the other end of the phone line told me. And so I went off to the middle of nowhere to find the alleged headquarters of this branch. It took us - I took my uncle along for convenience - more than an hour and several phone calls to finally arrive at our destination. And he has lived in Sofia all his life. In any case, we made it and with a big smile I handed over my passport. But when I was given the customs forms I suffered a light stroke. The so-called gift had an estimated value of 1000 British pounds, which meant that I had to pay a rough 600 leva in taxes at customs. Rather shocked, I immediately phoned my friend in London and asked him what the story was. Apparently there had been a mistake. After several minutes he phoned me back to tell me that his post department at his office had assumed the computer was brand new and therefore indicated this price to the courier company. This, of course, is in no way their fault. However, changing the value wasn't easy at all. I explained the story to the man behind the counter. At first he tried to wiggle his way out of doing anything out of the ordinary, but in the end he promised to contact the London office to settle the matter. He would call me back within two working days. But I didn't hear anything, not from him, nor from any colleague of his. After a week I decided to check the status of the matter. It was explained to me that the sender had to prepare new documents and an explanation about the mistake in value. I informed my friend. He, however, told me that his secretary was in touch with the courier company, the London office that is, and they had told her that they would fix this error and they needn't worry. The situation was becoming confusing, after several phone calls I found out that this wasn't the case and that the documents needed to be replaced with the new appropriate amounts. I was cc-ed an email from my friend in which the London office accused me of being unreachable, apparently that's what the Sofia office had told them. Very strange indeed, since previous contact proved that they had both my mobile and my home phone, plus my address. I tried not to get upset by someone's attempted laziness and made calls on both ends and received copies of the new document. After another phone conversation with the Sofia office, they assured me everything would be ok. Two days later, I called them once again.

"Yes the documents have arrived, there are just some standard procedures and after the weekend you can come and pick up the new documents." Not! Again, days later I received a phone call that the paper weren't accepted. They needed a document stating the year in which the computer was made together with a list of all its contents in order to determine whether the new amount was justified, said the woman from the courier company. Or, there will have to be a special declaration from a technical inspector, which will be issued after investigation by the customs office and an official request from me to release the goods from customs.

"But I wouldn't recommend this, since it might take weeks before this gets done," said the woman from they who shall not be named. Meanwhile, I had put off buying a new computer because I was waiting for my long desired new laptop, but my old laptop kept crashing and making my life impossible. Yet again I went back to my friend and gave him an update. "Maybe it's better to have it shipped of to London again and to send it all over again," he suggested. He was tired, I was tired. This whole thing had already taken up too much of our time and energy. Three weeks had passed, and still no computer. I protested in all tone ranges to my friends, just to let off some steam.

Then one uttered the magic words: "I have a friend in customs, maybe he can help". And this is how this story ends. The friend pulled some strings and within three hours I was holding my brand new computer. This saga is proof that is all up and running and I am very happy. On the couriering-things-to-Bulgaria-part I am still flabbergasted. I think normal mail will be quicker and will give me less headaches.



- Marlene Smits