It all started on the 18th of July, 2014, I was home playing Call of Duty: Black OPS II on my PlayStation 3 console (FYI, I’m a heavy gamer) and I kept getting owned. I quickly realized the problem was my poor connection to the host. I use MTN Hynet for online gaming in Nigeria which isn’t exactly great, but manageable. A few months ago, you would sign on to the Call of Duty: Black Ops II servers and they would be over 500,000 players battling it out. Over the last few months these numbers had declined significantly, and gradually it got harder to get into lobbies or enjoy a match.

I was also falling behind as a lot of my friends had upgraded to the next generation consoles. I decided it was time for an upgrade and I spent the better part of the night researching and comparing Sony’s PlayStation 4 to Microsoft’s Xbox One.

On the 21st of July, I got someone to buy my PlayStation 3 and on the 22nd I placed an order for the PlayStation 4 on Amazon.com – Although local retailers had the consoles in stock, I was preparing to purchase a high-end laptop on Amazon and wanted to experience buying from them and shipping to Nigeria using a third party courier service. My friend who hadn’t used MyUS recommended them.
MyUS is an International Package consolidation service that sets you up with a suite at a US address. You can provide your MyUS address to US based merchants and have your items shipped there. Upon receipt of your parcel and based on your account preferences, MyUS will ship your item to a supplied address for a fee. They charge based on distance, weight, and dimensional size.

I used the ‘free shipping’ option on Amazon and my PS4 was delivered to MyUS on the 25th of July. On the 27th, I created a ship request and the following day my item was dispatched to Nigeria using FedEx economy amid an e-mail from MyUS citing problems charging my credit card. I had also received a failed transaction notice from my bank referencing ‘insufficient funds’. Whew! Hell, I’m a student and I had just spent $430 on the PS4 including taxes. Not to mention car problems I was facing at the time. I replied MyUS stating that I was aware of the problem and my account didn’t have enough funds to cover the charges. My bill at MyUS was $167.27 less %25 ($38.82) which they had generously given me off my first shipment.

MyUS replied saying they had already shipped my parcel, and thanked me for letting them know my credit card wasn’t ready to be charged. I was shocked, and confused! – This was their reply:

“Hello,

We bill you after we ship a package. Your package has already shipped.
Thank you for letting us know that your credit card is not yet ready to be charged. You can set your account to delay notification of the failed transaction until you are able to make a payment by following these steps:

1. click on Account Settings
2. click on My Billing Information
3. click on the link below “Tell us when we should start sending you notifications”
4. Select your date for processing

When the funds are available, please select Pay Your Balance from your account to process the transaction. If you need to enter a new credit card, you can do so under Account Settings and My Billing Information.

Please let me know if there is anything else I can assist with at this time.

Best regards,
Carl”

In that moment, I was filled with joy and appreciation. I wasn’t ready to pay and since I had chosen the cheapest option (Fedex Economy), it was going to take anywhere between 5 to 10 days to get my console. I was supposed to start counting/tracking after payment. Thankfully, MyUS shipped out despite the unpaid balances. I was certain even if I had to buy toothpicks from the USA, I’d have MyUS ship them to me, LOL! Seriously though, without doubt, it’s the best customer service I have experienced.

Days went by, and I was eager to get the shiny new console hooked up to my Ultra High Definition (UHD) Smart TV to begin all that 1080p gaming goodness (Meh, it’s an ordinary 32” LED TV 🙁 ). I observed as the package changed states within the U.S, then Great Britain and eventually Lagos, NG. Shortly after it arrived Nigeria, I tracked it and there was a red exclamation mark on my screen. “Oh!” I knew this wasn’t good. Could it be Customs? My Friend, Ngutor had only recently ordered the PS4 along with some clothes and his parcel sailed through Customs and to his house without an issue.

Parcel stuck at Customs

About an hour later, I received a call from Fedex, Lagos. A lady with an amazing voice said they had a shipment for me from the U.S, but it had been considered dutiable by the Nigerian Customs Service and would be released for delivery subject to payment of taxes/duties which would be ready on Tuesday. *Sigh* The only good thing about that call was her voice.

To recap to this point, I owed MyUS $128.45, I owed the Nigerian Customs an unknown amount and my parcel was still in Lagos (I’m in Benue), worse I didn’t know how I was going to settle these bills.

Amazon (assuming I was a US resident, and seeing as the status of my parcel on Amazon was delivered) sent me an e-mail with a link to setup Amazon Instant Video on my PlayStation 4. I said to myself, if only these people knew that I was on a very long thing at the time. My only consolation was that I was going to get it that week, no?

To my surprise and disappointment, I waited an additional week during which I called FedEx at least every two days to find out the status of my parcel. The customer care representatives kept saying the same thing, customs were yet to get back to them with the amount payable. On the 11th of August, I called and the customer care representative said my duty was only made available to them on the 8th of August. The amount payable was N23,802.34 (about $120) and they asked for my e-mail address to send me details along with bank accounts to pay into, no idea why it was that high but I paid on the 13th and picked up my parcel from the local FedEx facility on the 15th.

So . . . My Verdict:

MyUS: The guys there are amazing and I couldn’t be happier with the customer service. As at the time of this post, I’m still yet to pay MyUS and I’m currently downloading some games from the PlayStation store. Total cost of shipping was $167.27 less 25%, so $128.45 – I should note that I chose to have photos taken, opted for insurance and also chose to have fragile stickers placed on my parcel. If you’re in need of a reliable international package forwarding service, these are the guys to go with, no doubt.

FedEx: I was not impressed with their service. It was a pain to get through to the customer service and the representatives were anything but polite. I’m not sure who was responsible for the delay in getting the customs duty ready. As at the time of this post, my parcel is still undelivered according to their tracking service. I will be trying out DHL when I order a laptop next month. I’ll share my experience here.

Amazon: Couldn’t be happier. Free shipping was quick. (2 – 3 days) and I was provided a tracking number. My parcel was properly packaged and had padding to protect it in case it fell.

NCS: My experience with the Nigerian Customs Service was depressing. Besides the delay in getting the customs duty ready, I paid N24,000.00 which is slightly over 33% of the cost of the item I imported.

tl:dr – If you’re looking to buy the PS4, Xbox One or any other electronics, do some research as you might be saving by purchasing your gadgets locally. If you really have to import them, be prepared.

You can also read about my friend’s experience here.

I’m including some photos here:

Amazon Packaging

PS4 Unboxing

Content of PS4

FedEx tracking.

IGN Application

XMB v2 ?

BBC iPlayer

PSN Friends List

N3RVE’s Blog