You know you are a Festool Junkie when.....
You are Canadian, live 45 minutes from the border and are willing to wait in line upwards of an hour to get into the US to pick up your Festools.
On the way back into Canada your carrying a used MFT and a Paypal receipt to show payment. You be a good guy and claim it as a purchase even though the top is chewed up. After you pay your duty the border cops decide to verify the purchase and search your car asking a million questions on how it works, what it does, where you bought it, how much it is new, etc.
As you drive away from the border after getting hammered for 20 minutes you start thinking about a Rotex. So you list a WTB on the FOG and find out a guy has a Rotex and a CT 22 he'll sell you for a great price. So you tell your wife who says "Didn't you just buy something, drive down to the US, get hammered to the cross at the border yesterday?" You smile and say "Yeah but, the price is great!!" and off you go to Paypal the funds.
Soooooo.... the boxes show up with the used CT 22 and Rotex RO-150. You know the crap you went through last time so you asked the guy for an invoice or some paper work this time and it reads "Used tools $xxxx.xx". The tools are all dirty and look well used and you think momentarily about just losing the boxes and not reporting them but you decide to do "the right thing" and claim it. When you approach the officer you have passport in one hand and invoice in the other. You volunteer you made a purchase and the amount paid. She says you will have to pay and tax and duty and you are more then happy to do so.
I park the car and enter the office. Approach the officer when called and show the invoice. I tell them it is a sander and dust extraction unit. We find out it is duty free but I have to pay the taxes (13%). You happily pay them, she asks for your keys and passport and wants me to take a seat over there. For the next 45 minutes they turn your car upside down, searching every nook and cranny. Festool stuff is laying all over the sidewalk, your glove compartment has been emptied out, guards are circling the truck and you start to wonder...... is it worth it? Finally, she calls you outside and asks you to approach a table, demands you empty all of your pockets, pull your shirt up and pants down so she can verify you are not hiding anything. You get the pats to confirm nothing is being hidden. SHe goes through all of your receipts, cards, etc and then calls you to the truck where she asks you to itemize each and everything and how it pertains to the purchase.
After all that she says you forged the bill and have a vacuum cleaner with no sander at all. You ask her if you can bring your hands down so you can show it to her, she gives you her okay and you show how it all works and that the "vacuum" can't actually vac cause it has no attachments just a hose for the tools.
After all that, she threatens to call the seller waiting for you to "crack" and admit to modifying the bill. You say go ahead please call the seller. She says you'll pay twice the taxes if I find out you are lying. You say "I got a great deal, I'll pay twice the taxes if you want right now, heck! I'll pay taxes on the new one listed on the website. Just let me go home with my new tools!!""
She asks me to come inside the office, sits me down, tries to contact the seller and can't so I said how about if you call TimmyC at FestoolJunkie and ask him for prices on a used CT and Rotex. She searches Festool Junkie and calls Timmy at 8PM. Timmy answers, gives her the prices on what the items should cost and how the bill is probably legit.
She smiles hands me back my papers and tells me next time to make sure the seller writes the model numbers down on the invoice to avoid confusion.
As you do you belt back up. Pack everything back up in the car, clean the stuff off the floor from the glove compartment dumping and drive off. As you shift into second gear you wonder if the guy has a Domino he'd like to sell and when you can find the time to drive back across and pick it up.
If I win this contest. I beg TimmyC or Festool to ship the damn thing up to Canada
Dan Clermont