FedEx Charges?

bagginslover

I have just received a bill from FedEx for VAT on an item I recently bought from Japan.

I don't want to get out of paying the VAT, I was aware of the need to pay that when I purchased the item, but the £10 fee FedEx has added on I do not want to pay.

I understand what the charge is for-paying the customs fees on by behalf, but I did not ask them to do this for me. I wouldn't pay a workman for work that I didn't ask for (nor should I have to) so why should I pay this?

Has anyone else managed to just pay the VAT and not the extra fees? I'd be interested to hear how you went about it.

Nilrem

IIRC you can try arguing it with them, however any company that deals with the import will have to incure the fees for dealing with customs, as would you even if you went down in person to collect the goods from the customs office (Fed-ex etc have to pay the outstanding taxes before the goods are even released to them for delivery to you).
However I'm not sure how successful you would be at the argument, as most retailers who ship internationally have a note that the customer may be charged additional fees including taxes and handling, and thus by using their shipping it can be argued you've agreed to the fees the couriers charges for dealing with customs.

I hate the "handling" fees that the likes of RM and fed-ex charge, especially as much of the time they are out of proportion to the value of the goods (I've had an £8 handling charge on items that were only a couple of pence over the £18 limit with RM in the past), however it is a risk we face when importing, even if it is very annoying (DHL are about the best of the bunch, for home customers they only charge something like £1.25 or 2% whichever is more as a handling fee)

Optimist

I doubt you will get out of it that is their admin fee.

The Post Office charge £8 for the same thing