Parcelforce 'Clearance fee'

geolabuk

I'm not disputing we should pay VAT but why should I pay Parcelforce for administering my payment on my behalf? I would rather pay HM Government extra than have some fat cat raking in a minimum £8 every time for pressing a couple of keys on a keyboard.

What you are advocating is a private company acting as a tax collector and holding your goods to ransom for the privilege.

Perhaps if you took some time to read sections 104 and 105 of the Postal Services Act 2000, you may also become enlightened :-)

I don't think (and neither do HM Customs and the Police) that the Government would make such a clear law only for it to be stomped on by Parcelforce PLC !!

GadgetsDS

when i order items from usa or china i make them send the item as a gift so i dont get any import tax or fees, but not all companys will do this, but the ones i use do so im lucky

custardy

geolabuk wrote: »

I'm not disputing we should pay VAT but why should I pay Parcelforce for administering my payment on my behalf? I would rather pay HM Government extra than have some fat cat raking in a minimum £8 every time for pressing a couple of keys on a keyboard.

What you are advocating is a private company acting as a tax collector and holding your goods to ransom for the privilege.

Perhaps if you took some time to read sections 104 and 105 of the Postal Services Act 2000, you may also become enlightened :-)

I don't think (and neither do HM Customs and the Police) that the Government would make such a clear law only for it to be stomped on by Parcelforce PLC !!

then tell them to send it back to customs.you can pay HM customs direct and pay a courier of your choice to collect and deliver it

dmg24

GadgetsDS wrote: »

when i order items from usa or china i make them send the item as a gift so i dont get any import tax or fees, but not all companys will do this, but the ones i use do so im lucky

Whilst MSE is about moneysaving, it is not about breaking the law.

geolabuk

Custardy - I have received notification from Customs in writing that as far as they are concerned, the Parcelforce Clearance Fee is not covered by their legislation, therefore, as far as they are concerned, the parcel cannot be held in lien for charges owed to Parcelforce.

I telephoned Sean O'Hara of PostComm who enforce the Postal Services Act 2000, their legal department challenged Royal Mail to prove in law that they can hold parcels in lien for their fees. That was two weeks ago and PostComm still have no answer from them.

The point here is that it looks like Parcelforce (Royal Mail) are breaking the law regarding holding parcels in lien for their charges.

Within two weeks I will know for certain whether there is legislation allowing them to do this, the police at Morriston are awaiting my phone call to proceed with a case against the worker who held back my parcel, even though I had my £10 note out to pay the VAT.

If it is found that Parcelforce have broken the law, I will carry forward the prosecution which will, I hope, send ripples through every depot in the country and allow people to dispute and not pay the clearance fee, if they wish.

custardy

right,im sure the police are standing by on that one.
if that be the case then i have no problems with it but im laughing at your case against an RM/PF worker.
remember PostComm control RM's pricing set up so its hardly the 1st they have heard of this!
so if you get the go ahead and the present system is ended.
your parcel will stop at customs
a customs charge will be issued
you will have to pay for this
now the interesting point for you is the postage ends at customs as they pull it from the mail system.
so you end up paying postage/courier costs again

Brooke_Daver

geolabuk wrote: »

I'm not disputing we should pay VAT but why should I pay Parcelforce for administering my payment on my behalf? I would rather pay HM Government extra than have some fat cat raking in a minimum £8 every time for pressing a couple of keys on a keyboard.

What you are advocating is a private company acting as a tax collector and holding your goods to ransom for the privilege.

Any company which is VAT registered acts as a tax collector.

It's just like when you send your car to the garage, they only give it back to you after you have paid.

I don't understand why you're pursuing this??

RadoJo

But when a company collects VAT from a customer they don't add on aa extra charge for having done so.

custardy

as ive said if it came to setting a presidence(spelling?)then i would assume RM would remove the service.
remember they pay the fee and bring the item to your local office.
if its removed from the mail system then that is the end of its journey,RM would have no obligation to forward it on after any customs charges were paid.
so you would have to pay a courier to forward it on,possibly paying customs directly using the courier they choose ot use at the rate they set

geolabuk

This is the 21st Century, we can pay our own duty on-line at home or from a library. There is no need for Royal Mail to charge £8 - £13.50 for pushing a button.

Thirty years ago, the parcel would be delivered with an invoice from Customs attached, you would then send a cheque to Customs.

As for it being taken out of the system by Customs, that is all priced in the postage. Some items are taken out of the system, opened and no duty applied, Royal Mail doesn't then charge for that, and why should they, you have paid for the parcel to be delivered to your door.

I am pursuing this because if I go a few mph over the limit I am fined and have points put on my licence, fortunately not for 5 years though. Why should a PLC be allowed to fine everyone else and hold your property to ransom (against the law) until they're paid?