On Time in Chile

When we first arrived, a few different people had told me about ways that Chile isn't very efficient yet. People go in person to pay their bills, renew their car tabs, pay taxes, and prefer to pay for gas inside rather than at the pump. Parents purchase smocks for their kids to wear at the preschool, but in order to do so they have to go to one store to get the smock and to another store if they choose to have them embroidered with the kids' names. The owners of the preschool bought an additional house to expand their chain and were told "any day now, any day now" by the bank for about two weeks before they were told about all the steps they actually had to take before taking ownership of the house. Stuff like that.

A few weeks ago, I lost my glasses. I don't wear them all day every day, but given that I had a month left in Chile I asked Dan to send the pair I left at home to me. He dropped them off with DHL on a Tuesday, and they arrived in Santiago by the end of the next day. Yay, right?

No.

Thursday morning they were still in customs, so I stopped by the DHL office in Viña del Mar to ask about it. DHL and/or customs was missing some information from me (my passport number, address, email address, mobile number, etc), so I provided the info, and I left under the impression that all was well. On Friday I called DHL Chile, and the operator told me they were missing some information from me (passport, address, email address, mobile) and I provided that information again, along with the address that I would like to use to receive the package. (There is one option in Viña del Mar, so it made for an amusing question). When she asked me for my sura? suro? -some word I didn't recognize and that wasn't showing up in my dictionary- she transferred me to an English speaking agent who asked me for my passport, address, email address, and mobile and nothing else. He told me it should be ready by Monday. 

There was no movement on Saturday or Sunday.

On Monday Dan called DHL and told him they would get a research specialist on the case right away. I called DHL Chile and they told me I needed a receipt from when I purchased the items. Huh? On Tuesday, the research specialist told Dan that the problem was my glasses were classified as merchandise which is why they needed a receipt. (Ahhhh....Factura! "Sura" meant Factura! Invoice!) He told them they were not merchandise, and asked them to change the status to "personal effects." 

On Wednesday the status was changed, but I was asked to go to the DHL office to present my passport, address, email address and mobile number. This time they took a photocopy of the tourist card and visa as well. On Thursday they were released from customs, and by Friday afternoon they had arrived in Viña del Mar. 

Glad to have glasses again.
Didn´t actually want to see
these until June, though :)

I went to the office, paid the import tax (based on what customs valued the glasses at - ouch), and went on my way with a clear view of the world.

I'm curious about where the disconnect(s) happened that allowed it to take a week for the package to get through customs. If I spoke better Spanish would someone at DHL have been able to explain to me what Customs was asking for? Did DHL not know what customs was asking for and therefore not be able to tell either Dan or I? Does DHL Chile HQ not communicate very well with their branches? Did customs not know what they needed, or did they assume that I knew because obviously anything that is imported is classified as merchandise. Was it always going to take so long? 

Gah.