International Shipping...

[Theophany]

So I've been waiting a while for a package to arrive from the states and on Saturday apparently a delivery attempt was made. I wasn't in at the time, so when I checked the tracking details and found a delivery attempt had been made but no calling card had been left I was somewhat perplexed.

It's my understanding that USPS deliveries are handled by RM/ParcelForce in the UK - the item will have had to have cleared customs and excise, so I'm expecting whoever picked the parcel up has a VAT bill to whack me with. This makes me even more confused - if they have a bill for me to pay, surely they won't deliver the parcel but tell me to come and collect and pay at my local depot?

Tracking info:
Attempted Delivery Abroad, October 16, 2010, 5:27 am, GREAT BRITAIN
At Foreign Delivery Unit, October 16, 2010, 1:21 am, GREAT BRITAIN
Out of Foreign Customs, October 15, 2010, 11:06 am, GREAT BRITAIN
Into Foreign Customs, October 12, 2010, 6:06 pm, GREAT BRITAIN
Into Foreign Customs, October 12, 2010, 6:05 pm, GREAT BRITAIN
Arrived Abroad, October 12, 2010, 5:49 pm, GREAT BRITAIN
International Dispatch, October 09, 2010, 4:29 pm, ISC LOS ANGELES CA (USPS)
Arrival
Electronic Shipping Info Received, October 08, 2010

I'm tempted to just pop out to my local depot first thing tomorrow morning and see, but without a calling card they're not likely to give me the time of day. I tried to organise a redelivery on RM's website without a card number or tracking ID and was told the earliest redelivery date possible was Tuesday, which leads me to think they'll try and redeliver again tomorrow morning.

Any thoughts?

 

[Deleted member 66701]

Attempted Delivery Abroad, October 16, 2010, 5:27 am, GREAT BRITAIN

That just means it's been given to a postie/loaded onto a van for an attempted delivery - not that the item has actually tried to be delivered yet. It can take a couple of days for it to actually arrive at your door.

If you have anything to pay they'll pop a card through the door with the amount on it. You then pay it through the RM website and arrange a re-delivery at the same time.

FYI - out of the last 50 items I've ordered from abroad, only 4 have had a customs charge - the rest have been delivered as normal.

 

[Theophany]

That just means it's been given to a postie/loaded onto a van for an attempted delivery - not that the item has actually tried to be delivered yet. It can take a couple of days for it to actually arrive at your door.

If you have anything to pay they'll pop a card through the door with the amount on it. You then pay it through the RM website and arrange a re-delivery at the same time.

FYI - out of the last 50 items I've ordered from abroad, only 4 have had a customs charge - the rest have been delivered as normal.

Awesome info, thanks a lot!!

The item in question is a brand new Alienware laptop though with a marked package value of £850, so I doubt I'd be so lucky as to get away without a VAT bill. When I phoned HMRC so find out about customs and excise clearance times a few days ago, the operator said I will have to pay 15% VAT on it, which made no sense (VAT is 17.5%)...