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Since January 2003, after three drawback offices were closed, we've been curious to see how the drawback community has handled the closures. After speaking with a couple of the affected clients, we found no consensus.
Recently a client who had been filing drawback claims with the Boston office was asked how they were affected by the move to the Newark, New Jersey drawback office. Believe it or not, they are quite pleased. They stated, "Since moving our accounts from the Boston Drawback Center to Newark, New Jersey's center we have been extremely pleased with the high level of service. Our questions are answered promptly and the staff is very knowledgeable. Also, if the person assigned to you is not available, the staff has a specialist who is designated "Drawback Specialist of the Month". This enables us to receive prompt answers on general questions without delay. Lastly, the processing of refunds is prompt and our customers have commented positively about the receipt of their drawback refunds in a more expeditious manner." This is great news! A relatively painless transfer from Boston to Newark, great service, it's almost too good to believe, but this filer swears they are getting treated like royalty.
We spoke to another filer who had been filing drawback through the New Orleans office prior to that offices closing hasn't has such luck. They were a licensed broker filing drawback claims via diskette, prior to February 2003, on a district permit with the New Orleans office. The problems started with the complete shut down of their office because they did not have a district permit for another drawback office and ABI drawback privileges. The drawback chief in NOLA (New Orleans, Louisiana) spoke to headquarters requesting an exception to file with their current New Orleans district permit with the Houston office. In a nutshell, the answer was NO!! It took the client about three months to get back up and running via a national permit and ABI. They eventually chose the San Francisco office after much discussion with their peers and various Customs personnel. Here is what they have to say.
"The first shock was the additional paperwork required. I thought electronic filing was supposed to make it easier for the trade as well as Customs. Previously, all I had to do was staple together the 7551, coding sheet, import summary by entry and chronological summary by part and send in a diskette. Now I must additionally submit an import summary by item number and chronological summary by date. And, I must staple the coding sheet to the front of a straight cut manila folder and write the claimant, claim number and type claim on the tab. And here I thought electronic filing would reduce paperwork".
"Immediately after filing claims in S.F. I received my first "desk review." Here I've been filing claims in NOLA for the past 8 years and knew what they want. Now I find that the S.F. office has different requirements. I now find that secondary evidence of exportation is a big issue. It's like the only proof of export acceptable is the bill of lading for regular exports. And for shipments to Canada, a B-3 is no longer sufficient. I'm now told that additional paperwork is required also. Where does the paperwork stop?? These additional requirements don't hurt the large corporations and the cheaters. It does however hurt the smaller companies that export their goods in smaller shipments via many different avenues".
"After 9 months of filing claims in S.F. I'm receiving no desk reviews. Mind you, I like not getting desk reviews but I believe the case to be that the drawback specialists are so overburdened with work; they are no longer being pro-active by letting claims marked for desk review wait until liquidation. This is aggravating to me because it is much more convenient to pull documents 3 months old than those that are 2 years old".
"I find that these office closures were poorly planned and have been unproductive for both the trade and the drawback specialists at Customs. I believe that the delays are going to worsen. Customs has lost (I estimate) 40% of their knowledgeable drawback specialists from the closures and I haven't heard anything about new hires".
"I continue to file claims in S.F. and despite the problems mentioned am relieved to know that I can, in fact, pick up the phone and speak to a specialist. However, I am concerned about whether I will be able to continue making a living?"
As you can see these are two drastically different scenarios but for the most part those that have moved their drawback to San Francisco and New York have had good experiences so far.
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