A word of warning for ViaSafe and loads coming into the US:
If you renew your plate registration and are issued a new license plate, make absolutely 100% stone cold sure that ViaSafe has your new plate in their system before you even accept a load out of Canada.
Putting your new plate on the ViaSafe cover sheet won't cut it. It'll be ignored. ViaSafe keys in your truck number into their system, and everything else about you comes from what they already have in their database, including CDL number, plate number, cell phone number, your name, everything. Their database is updated by your carrier, not by you, and no amount of whining by you over the phone to ViaSafe will get anything changed in the database.
US Customs has everything about the cleared load keyed to your license plate. They enter your plate into their system and up pops everything about you and the load you are hauling. If you have a different plate on your vehicle than the one used by ViaSafe to clear the load, Customs won't find you in the system.
Third week in March I renewed my registration and received a new plate for the van which was a different plate number. That very day I e-mailed a copy of the registration to my carrier (Meow) and called to confirm it being received. A week later I got a load out of Canada crossing at Port Huron. The Customs booth guy can't find me in the system, so I got send to Secondary. They can't find me, either, sent me to broker. Broker says it's cleared and in the system, Customs says otherwise. Back and forth, on phone, back and forth, on phone, you know the drill. Customs even went as far as rebooting the entire computer system trying to find me in it. They were looking it up by name, SS#, VIN, CDL#, shoe size, you name it, nada.
Finally, after hearing the guard mention that everything is tied to the license plate, I took a shot and gave him my old plate number. Magic! "Bingo! There it is! It's under a different plate!", he exclaimed loud enough for everyone to hear. And.... every well-armed Rambo in the building suddenly took a keen interested in me.
After the van received a full-body cavity search and being told never to let this happen again, I was sent on my way, after a NINE HOUR delay. Nine hours.
A few hours later, at 9AM, I called in to my feline friends and expressed my, uhm, displeasure. After a time, I was assured that the new plate was updated in the system, and was repeatedly assured that it would not happen again.
Three weeks later it happened again.
At least this time I was more aware of the problem when I got to the booth, and told the guard to search under my old plate, as I handed her my ViaSafe cover sheet, and my old and new vehicle registration. She reiterated just how important it was not to let this happen a third time, telling me that I could very well be put in a situation where I'd be denied entry into the US in any manner other than on foot, but not to worry, that they'd keep a real close eye on my van until, and if, they decided to give it back to me. Nice.
I made another call to the noir leopard to inquire how such a thing could have happened, and to express my shock and dismay. Well, it seems that it's quite complicated to change a single field in a database. And it apparently requires much research to figure out how to do it. Sooo, until they can manage to conquer this monumental task, in order to be absolutely sure that it won't happen again until they can be absolutely sure that my plate number is updated in the system, they flagged me for No-Canada.
Oh, the irony, in that in order to flag me for No-Canada, they had to change a database field to do it. <giggle>
Finally, on Incompetence Watch: Day 32, (I kept them updated on the daily count, lest it slip their mind), I explained that the biggest problem was that I knew a thing or two about computers and that I knew just... how... easy... of a fix it was, and that I was flabbergasted that it wasn't fixed within 5 minutes of getting the e-mail, and utterly dumbfounded that it still wasn't fixed after 32 days and two border delays.
In short order, whether it was in the wake of Virginia Tech or they were able to grasp my frustration, displeasure and total awe of the situation, they managed to update that single database field in about 2 minutes, and that included putting me on hold twice to check with other people, and logging on to the carrier page at ViaSafe and updating it there, as well. Amazing!
Bottom line, if you get a new plate, make them confirm to you that it has, in fact, been updated at ViaSafe, and then call ViaSafe and confirm it yourself.
