Despite Paul registering as a Bolivian importer, the replacement fridge part did not get delivered while we were away from La Paz. The Interparcel tracking page told us it had been delivered but was signed for by 'Retained By Customs'. The very helpful receptionist at our hostel called TNT for us and discovered that we had to take the piece of paper confirming Paul had registered as an importer to their office and pay £20 to get the documents we needed off them in order to claim the package at customs at the airport.
Getting the package released from customs was a challenge in itself. We couldn't go straight to where it was being held; we had to go to an office, where they spent ages working out the tax code for a fridge part.
(One of many offices we had to go to)
(Men flicking through pages trying to find the right tax code)
Then we were sent upstairs where a guy in a suit at a computer asked what the package was, where it had been sent from and where it was made. We had to pay him a tenner for typing stuff into his computer and generating a number.
Then we had to go downstairs to customs to pay the import tax (£16), but by the time we got there the office had closed. So we ended up camping in the airport car park until it opened again at 8.30am the next morning.
Once in the customs office the next morning, we handed in our paperwork at one window so they could generate another number. Then we had to pay the import tax at another window. Then we had to go back upstairs for the man in the suit to print off another form to confirm we'd paid (and we had to pay 50p for that form!) Then we had to get the wadge of papers photocopied twice (another 50p). The customs office kept the originals and sent us to the depot.
The depot kept one set of photocopies and we kept the other. We had to pay them another 35p for storing the package and then after a short wait, we finally had our replacement fridge part!!
It was supposed to take a week to arrive, instead we got it three weeks after it was sent. And we had to pay a total of 512Bs or £46.50 to get it from customs. The bloody thing only cost £48. We did ask the seller to say it was worth a tenner so we wouldn't have this hassle, but he ignored us. Moral of the story: don't break your fridge. And if you do, don't have replacement parts sent to Bolivia!