Parcelforce

[tbone]

7 weeks ago i bought a fuel tank from America, today i recieve a letter saying that it is being held at my local Parcelforce depot and that if i pay a total of £18.97, they will deliver it to me.
The £18.97 in question is made up of 2 seperate charges, firstly V.A.T, £10.97 payable to HM Revenue & Customs, and then an £8.00  Parcelforce Clearance Fee.
Because i made a purchase of luxury goods outside the EEC, my purchase is subject to VAT, ok fine i can live with that. The VAT payment was due when the item arrived into the UK and needed to be paid in order for the parcel to clear customs.
The parcel is addressed to me at my home address, did i recieve an invoice from HM Customs?     No i didn`t
It appears that Parcelforce take it upon themselves to pay the VAT charge and then reclaim it back from the customer, me, and for doing that they charge £8. Is that fair? I think not.
I have no contractual agreement with Parcelforce to pay this fee on my behalf, or any other agreement in fact, the contract would be between the sender and the courier.
I paid a total of £44.65 postage charges to the retailer, who in turn would have paid the USPS, who must have a contract with Parcelforce to deliver the parcel once it reaches the uk.
My first plan of action will be to attend the local Parcelforce depot, slap £10.97 on the counter and demand they hand over MY parcel.
I have no intention of paying the £8.00 for an unsolicited service.
When they refuse to hand it over, i will ring the local Police and lodge a formal allegation of theft, in that Parcelforce have goods belonging to me that they intend to permenantly deprive me of. I will insist the Depot manager and his duty managers are arrested and charged with the offence pending further investigation.
I will get MY goods, i will NOT pay for a service i have not requested.

[Hagar]

I had a pair of carb floats from the states cost me $44 ( £28 )  ...  fedex sent a bill through for £15  ... £10 of which was their charge the other £5 was the vat  .....    piss takin buggers  ....

  ..  Hagar  ..   

[Cabman77]

I ordered two main jets from the states. total was £23 something. Two weeks later they send an e-mail demanding another £22 for shipping charges. FOR TWO LITTLE BITS OF BRASS??
Told em to shove it and refund my money. Since then I`ve had two more e-mails demanding the extra money and no reply to the three e-mails demanding my money back. Bastards!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ByzMax]

It's a pain innit!

[terry t]

Hi tbone it hapens al the time mate i dont think you will have a leg to stand on as the contract was with the guy you brought it from good luck any way i found this on parcelforce webb site

8.1 Charges are set out in the Retail Guide.
8.2 The Customer shall pay to Parcelforce Worldwide the Consignment Charges and any other charges relating to the Services selected at the time of Despatch by the method specified by Parcelforce Worldwide. Other charges incurred or levied after Despatch will be payable in the manner and timescale specified by Parcelforce Worldwide from time to time, which are currently on demand.  Such other charges may include but are not limited to handling charges, charges for enhanced compensation, returning/disposing of Undeliverable items, providing hardcopy proof of delivery and re-packaging and as otherwise specified in these Conditions.
8.3 Parcelforce Worldwide reserves the right to assess and impose surcharges on globalexpress Consignments without notice. The duration and amount will be determined at Parcelforce Worldwide’s sole discretion. The Customer, by tendering a Consignment to Parcelforce Worldwide, agrees to pay the surcharges in force at the time of order, such charges to be determined by Parcelforce Worldwide at its entire discretion. Details of current surcharges are available upon request.
8.4 All charges are expressed exclusive of VAT and if VAT is payable, it will be charged for at the appropriate rate, and paid by the Customer.

[Manky Monkey]

Try buying an entire car's worth of body panels from New Jersey.
We had half a dozen shipments of very large boxes from the States for Taz's Dodge Charger restoration. She paid the shipping fees up front, with the same company, "Schenker", collecting from the supplier in America & delivering to our door. The only extra charge was the customs fee.

[twistgrip]

Having for years bought many model Rairoading items from the states, one gets used to the taxman and Post office taking their share - some of the firms I deal with realise the problems and downsize the value of the item to get round the HMRC take.
Sometimes an item will come through without attracting HMRC, depending on where it arrives in the UK. It's all the luck of the Draw.
It was hoped that the current limit of £18.00 duty free would be raised when some changes were made to Import duties - alas the Labour government didn't see fit to apply it to items delivered by post and only raised the limit to those items you brought into the country yourself, i.e. returning from trips abroad.
As for postal charges in the U.S. Those went up  a couple of years back and even the average Amirican whinges at the exhorbitant charges being levied.
These postal charges are now making anybody modelling the American railroad scene in the UK think twice about purchasing from the States - I bought a badly needed item from a dealer over there that cost me $7.00 - it cost the dealer $24.36 to send it.
His apologies were most profusive!
For small items from the States, try asking the seller to describe them as Arts and Handicrafts supplies - these don't attract any duties
Cheers
David

[voodoo]

I buy a lot of items from the states and far east and most of the time,the seller will either mark the value of the item down or send the item marked as a gift to get around these charges...I got a computer game from the states a couple of years ago and the Duty on it was double the cost of the game....Voodoo....

[BikerGran]

It's always worth checking with a business that regularly imports stuff to see if they will get it for you (I'm thinking of Dracken1, aka JW Motorcycles) - of course they will take a profit as that's what they exist for - but it can sometimes end up cheaper than doing it yourself!