Customs + Parcelforce.

Raymond Lin said:
Love how you are trying to turn the table around and blame it on everyone else and just because you successfully win an argument with the guy at the "post office", parcel force, City Link, Fed Ex, UPS, whatever. It doesn't mean you have "principles".

I say again, I agree about the inflated handling fee but the way you go about it is dispicable.
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I don't think you understand what despicable means.

Turn the tables around? What are you on about? I have a gripe with something that the company is doing, and I approach the customer services at the depot about it.

Lawd, you're acting as if I've just went to some random person and ranted at them over nothing.

And yes, it does mean I have principles, as I'm saying I wasn't willing to pay the handling fee due to the principle of it being extortionate.
 
gambitt said:
Parcelfraud are a disgrace.

Order items from abroad, total cost is $24. Check the official exchange rate and it's £0.61 to $1. Excellent, total value equals £14.64 which is under the £15 threshold for VAT charges.

A card arrives telling me to pay ~£11 (£3 for VAT and £9 for a Parcelfraud fee). All complaints fall on deaf ears. I print off the exchange rate and take it to the post office proving that the total value is under £15 but they stonewall me.

Apparantly Parcelfraud / HMRC use their "own exhange rate" to calculate import charges which is conveniently higher than the offical one. :mad:
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Which "Official" rate did you use?
I ask as the HMRC use one that is set on (from memory) the last Tuesday of the preceding month, unless the exchange rate has changed more than 5%, and not the one shown on the daily news.

Which means that it's quite possible if you're close to the limit going by current exchange rate, to be over it by the one used by HMRC, as HMRC are using the value set anything up to 4 weeks earlier* (so if the rate has become more favourable since then you may think you're clear, but the rate they're working to says otherwise).
It's not PF that sets the rate, it's HMRC so that all the customs charges regardless of who is bringing the items in has the same rate at the same time, otherwise you could end up with a hundred different rates used in a month for just one currency depending on the exact hour the item was processed.

A quick calculation suggests your package was within about 2-3% of what could have been the official rate on the day in question, which given the Dollar does vary a fair bit at times is quite within the normal range.

The people at the post office/parcel office have no way to adjust the value when you pick it up, you have to submit your evidence to the actual customs centre afterwards and if you're correct you'll get a refund on the charge, and then can get a refund on the handling fee.


*The HMRC site quite handily makes the exchange rates they use readily available, including historical rates for several years.
 
Fragil1ty said:
Hey guys, was wondering if someone who has more knowledge on this subject could help me out.

Basically, what's happened is the following, I've gone ahead and bought a HHKB Pro 2 from a place called Smartimports, they've a very good site and help you when they can and what not. I bought the more expensive shipping (EMS I believe it's called?) and everything seemed to be going well, but then I thought about the customs and how much it's going to cost etc and I started to get slightly concerned.

Now the guys over at smartimports told me that they marked it as a USB keyboard worth 4500Y which equates to around £25.82, so obviously if that managed to get through customs, I'd be paying little to no custom charges and probably just the handling fee.

So everything was going semi-well I suppose until I noticed this in the tracking information:



With doing research, I've found out it could be one of two things;

a.) They've looked inside the package, re-evaluated the package and now I'm going to be charged a lot more than previously anticipated.

or

b.) They've charged me a lot but then before leaving customs, they've realised an error and I'm to be charged less.

I'm just slightly anxious at the moment because I don't want to be paying some huge customs bill when I've already paid so much for the keyboard/shipping etc.

Does anyone have any more knowledge than me on this subject? I'd be extremely grateful.
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Tax fraud is illegal, pay the taxes due!
 
Yes, that doesn't seem overly complicated at all. It's easy when you know exactly what to look for...

How about "we won't effectively double the cost of the item you ordered because computer-sez-no"?
 
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