A bit of a rant here:

I ordered a Bosco Sorrento directly from Bosco on October 12th. I was told at that time that it would be eight to ten weeks before I could expect delivery, so the wait began. After only six weeks, I received an e-mail from Roberta Bosco informing me that my machine had been completed and was ready to ship. I paid the balance and the machine shipped the next day.

DHL had the machine in their possession on Wednesday November 25th, with an estimated delivery date of Tuesday December 1st. Okay, fine.

All was well until the machine departed the facility in Leipzig, Germany - at that point DHL and US Customs required information. After some back and forth, and finally sending them a W-2 to prove that I actually exist, I thought everything was going to be fine. It sat all day Monday under review, then at 415p Monday it cleared customs. Great! Around 0900 Tuesday I was finally able to pay the duties. Great! Finally we're moving.. Then the tracking updated to: "Due to the nature of the goods, specific authorization is required from a regulatory authority other than Customs for further clearance," which, according to DHL's customs representatives, in English means "The FDA has your machine."

After a couple of phone calls (still showing estimated delivery is today) I find out that it could be seven to ten days before the FDA releases the machine.

I do not see why the FDA would need to clear an espresso machine that will be used wholly for private use in a private residence. I'm feeling pretty deflated now, and I have no way of doing anything other than to wait... and hope that they don't open it and muck about with it.

Wish me luck...

First time I've heard of that. I wonder if someone at Bosco screwed up the paperwork. Typically it keeps moving until DHL asks for the Customs fee/duties. Is Roberta aware of the issues?

I didn't think to contact her. I figured it was out of her hands once it was picked up. My understanding was that all things customs were the importer's responsibility. I'll send her an email, but I suspect the mistake is at DHL.

EDIT: Email sent to Bosco.

I sent an email to Roberta Bosco at 1323 local (1923 Italy) and received a reply almost immediately.

She stated that she has never heard of this before.

Maybe the folks at the FDA wanted do some bench testing on your machine on some new beans.

Is it possible for one to "Go Postal" on a different government agency..?

This is actually very common as the machine handles food and beverage in a commercial setting and thus classified that way and not as a home coffee appliance which sometimes have fda clearance but get cleared usually by the manufacturer and importer (your buying direct). Same thing happened with my Izzo Alex Leva but via Fedex they quickly processed it, pre-covid.

Now that Covid is involved fda clearance is probably slowed down and could take a few weeks is my guess if not more.

This is not Boscos fault or your fault or for that matter DHL but the nature of the FDA right now.

Sorry I don't have better news for you.

It's unfortunate this happened to you. I officially imported my Faema Mercurio without too much hassle, and was in customs for about a day before being cleared. Out of curiosity, do you know the Harmonized Tariff Schedule that was used for the Bosco machine?

IamOiman wrote:...do you know the Harmonized Tariff Schedule...

Do I know it?! Jesus, Man! I don't even know what it means!

I just spent a couple of hours pecking my way through phone call after phone call and climbing the ladder though DHL, then FDA (and chatting with some very helpful and cool people) to finally be given the number of the FDA agent handling my import, only to find that the number was "..no longer in service. Please check the number and..."

After all that I re-checked the tracking, and in the meantime it looks like the shipment has cleared and will proceed.
"Shipment has been given a release by Customs." & "Unless there is an adhoc exam or a stop by another regulatory authority the shipment will proceed to delivery." Hopefully that'll be it then, and I'll move on.

Today had been the estimated delivery day since the first scan. While I'm not optimistic about tomorrow or Thursday I'm hoping for Friday.

In talking to the international shipping expert at DHL, and a couple of people at the FDA, it sounds like this is fairly random. They all seemed of the mindset that it happens, but not often. One of them even mentioned someone being after "a score and a promotion."

Pre-delivery images..