Not sure if this is the correct place for this. But I thought the stress and burnt purchasing power would at least make for an interesting read. long story short, I'm building a beekeeping business (in Japan). I've purchased a few plots of land, and have permission to use others, and I'm in the middle of discussing my production facility/office with an architect & my friend who is a carpenter (we're in the same volunteer firefighter unit). I wanted to use Sankyo Frontier for a variety of reasons but since I have an unusual financial position (aprox. 85% of my purchasing power is in an overseas bank.) I would have to delay building until the 5th month of next year, meaning I'd probably miss an entire year of production. WHILE I'm attempting to organize this, some tools & such I ordered from a Chinese company arrived by boat (1,600USD worth). I've never handled sea-freight before and searched for an agent, but everywhere I called said they only handle company contracts and individuals are required to do the paperwork on their own, (sucks for me since I can't finalize my incorporation until my office is built.) though all provided exceptional information for me to follow through with. I spent a day to drive to the tax office in Yokohama (each trip is about 130USD). Where everyone was again amazingly helpful and friendly, I'll admit I was nervous about making a mistake on the paperwork but none was made and everything went well. Until I was asked about the nature of one of the items. I explained it, and the officer said he wasn't sure if that item would be held under a specific law regarding food production & health. So I called and went to another office in Yokohama, rinse and repeat 3 more times because no one was really quite sure at first. Eventually a decision was made that the item did in fact require an inspection (that the quarantine office told me as the customer it was pointless to apply for, especially since I only ordered 1 of the machine) or proof of inspection. The Chinese company (and the shipping company) played dumb, blamed me, then even said it was my fault that the items were held at customs since I was unwilling to lie to the officers about the nature of the machine. They tried to refuse a refund and make me pay for the return shipping. Which costs more than the entire purchase order suspiciously. However, since there was no legal contract or written agreement signed by me, they had no legal way of enforcing any of that, so after failing to get them to cooperate. (I genuinely just wanted to be refunded and ship them back their products, the machine that didn't have the paperwork is readily available on Amazon even, so it wasn't a big deal.) I simply told them I refuse to spend any more of my own time or money on the issue, eventually the dock where the pallets are collecting fees with, will come knocking on the shipping companies door for payment since they have no legal recourse to come for me. After realizing this, the shipping company said they would handle the issue but needed me to sign some paperwork in order to do so.

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