Parcelforce 'Clearance fee'

David00

I have been exchanging letters with Parcelforce’s Head Office on this subject.

Originally I was told by Parcelforce that the authority to charge was based on Section 28 of the Post Office Act 1969, however this Act required the supplier of a service to have a contract with the party it was charging. This would not allow RMG to charge a customs clearance fee without the recipient of a parcel agreeing to it in advance.

Recent guidance from Parcelforce (and notices in depots) now refers to the Postal Services Act 2000, which does not have this dependency, and allows RMG to set charges at the level it deems, which are then covered by this legislation. You are therefore legally required to pay the clearance fee, in the same way that you have to pay for a TV license.

RMG and similar companies refer to the UPU Parcel Post Manual for their authorisation to clear items through customs. Interestingly, the PPM says that any clearance fee charged must be based on actual costs, and moreover that it should not exceed 3.27 SDR (approx £3.19). But it caveats this with “Member countries or their designated operators, depending on national legislation, shall be authorized to exceed any guideline charges appearing in the Acts.”

In the UK most consumer legislation provides for pricing information to be made available to the consumer up-front, with the basic law of contract governing. In this instance, Parcelforce is allowed (by legislation) to charge a customs clearance fee that a consumer has not previously agreed to pay. This is an example of poor legislation. Even in the example above of TV license fees, there is very clear notification through advertising that this fee is payable, and moreover it is fixed and determinable. This is not the case with Parcelforce, where the fee charged varies depending on criteria, and which most consumers are unaware of until they are stung with it.

There are several possible options:

1. You can choose to use a different postal services provider to import goods – not always possible, as the sender often doesn’t know how a parcel will be routed.

2. You can clear the goods through customs yourself. There’s a link provided in a previous post on how to do this.

3. You can refuse to pay the clearance fee. Parcelforce will (should, based on their own instruction to depots) release the goods to you on payment of any duty or taxes, and invoice you separately for the clearance fee. In my experience it can take a while to persuade them of their own policy - talk to the depot's customer services manager rather than front-desk staff. They don't seem to follow-up on the separate invoicing.

4. You can write in to complain to Parcelforce, and make Freedom of Information requests for details of how they calculate the clearance fee, which they are legally required to respond to. At present they are refusing to disclose details and just writing bland replies. At some point, if enough people complain, the burden to process complaints and FOI requests will outweigh the profit from clearance fees, and they may then revise their policies. People can make a difference, as recent world events have shown.

5. You can complain to your MP and consumer rights organisations, and ask them to highlight the issue and change the legislation.

Good luck!

paddyrg

Fedex charge a tenner, you should write to them too.

Rufff

Can anyone tell me, do Parcelforce always send you a customs invoice that needs to be paid before they deliver your item? Or will they sometimes deliver your item and then afterwards they send you an invoice through the post?

Just asking because I ordered some goods from the States, and Parcelforce tracking says that they item has been delivered this morning, but I have had no invoice as of yet.

custardy

Rufff wrote: »

Can anyone tell me, do Parcelforce always send you a customs invoice that needs to be paid before they deliver your item? Or will they sometimes deliver your item and then afterwards they send you an invoice through the post?

Just asking because I ordered some goods from the States, and Parcelforce tracking says that they item has been delivered this morning, but I have had no invoice as of yet.

shows as delivered,or has been delivered?

dzug1

David00 wrote: »

This is not the case with Parcelforce, where the fee charged varies depending on criteria, and which most consumers are unaware of until they are stung with it.


At some point, if enough people complain, the burden to process complaints and FOI requests will outweigh the profit from clearance fees, and they may then revise their policies. People can make a difference, as recent world events have shown.

I thought it was a flat fee??

And revision of policies may be that they decide it is not cost effective to deliver parcels from overseas if they are not going to get paid for them

Yes people can make a difference - but it's not always the difference they want.

custardy

dzug1 wrote: »

I thought it was a flat fee??

And revision of policies may be that they decide it is not cost effective to deliver parcels from overseas if they are not going to get paid for them

Yes people can make a difference - but it's not always the difference they want.

there are 2 fees in PF

£8 & £13.50
the higher rate is fro express services

Rufff

custardy wrote: »

shows as delivered,or has been delivered?

Was signed for by a staff member while I was out, but it has been delivered.

David00

dzug1, I am not suggesting that PF should not be paid for administering customs clearance. But perhaps:

1. They should charge at cost (as per the PPM guidelines).
2. They should think about building this charge into their price to inbound shippers, so that the end price paid by the consumer/recipient includes all charges.
3. If they continue to charge recipients separately, they should publicise this charge so that recipients understand up-front what their liability is, and can choose whether to use PF or another carrier.

Or we can individually choose to allow PF to continue charging what they want to, with more consumers being stung with a charge they were not aware of when placing their order for some goods. We all make purchasing decisions based partly on price, and in many instances might choose to buy from elsewhere (UK/EU) if we were aware of this hidden charge. This especially true for for low-price items where the clearance fee can be the same order of magnitude as the price of the goods ordered.

custardy

David00 wrote: »

dzug1, I am not suggesting that PF should not be paid for administering customs clearance. But perhaps:

1. They should charge at cost (as per the PPM guidelines).
2. They should think about building this charge into their price to inbound shippers, so that the end price paid by the consumer/recipient includes all charges. so you pay more even if your item is VAT exempt/below the thresholds?
3. If they continue to charge recipients separately, they should publicise this charge so that recipients understand up-front what their liability is, and can choose whether to use PF or another carrier. how would that work when you are importing?

Or we can individually choose to allow PF to continue charging what they want to, with more consumers being stung with a charge they were not aware of when placing their order for some goods. this would be the same with pretty much every courier?We all make purchasing decisions based partly on price, and in many instances might choose to buy from elsewhere (UK/EU) if we were aware of this hidden charge. are people who buy outside the EU checking their customs liability and how that would be paid before ordering? This especially true for for low-price items where the clearance fee can be the same order of magnitude as the price of the goods ordered.

...........................................................

David00

Hi Custardy, addressing the points in red from your reply:

So you pay more even if your item is VAT exempt/below the thresholds? It could be argued that the small number of people paying the clearance fee are actually paying PF to screen out all those parcels that don’t attract customs charges, and subsidising everyone else. In the same way that you pay a fixed amount in the UK whether a parcel is sent to you from 10 miles or 100 miles away, in my opinion a price that includes all costs for a shipment from outside the EU is fairer, irrespective of whether PF has to administer customs clearance or not.

How would that work when you are importing? With regard to the charge itself, one approach is to raise public awareness, although the cost might outweigh the benefit. Another is to waive the clearance fee the first time, but still require the recipient to be made aware of it - this way consumers who may be thinking of importing a second time are aware of the previously hidden cost of doing so, and then can make an informed decision the next time around.

This would be the same with pretty much every courier? Yes, when a UK shipping company (PF, FedEx, etc) establishes an agreement with an overseas shipper, they should make their charges clearer up-front. For example, when shipping from the US to the UK via USPS, you are warned of import duty and tax, but not of any administrative fees that their UK partner (PF usually) could charge. It is of course not in PF's interest to point out that someone may end up paying an additional £8.00/£13.50...

Are people who buy outside the EU checking their customs liability and how that would be paid before ordering? Most people know that if they buy from outside the EU they will have to pay duty and tax – that is their customs liability. HMRC have a section on their website devoted to Duty and VAT, but it doesn’t mention any third-party clearance fees that PF may charge, so someone who is checking their customs liability via HMRC will not be made aware of this clearance fee charged separately by PF, which of course is not an HMRC mandated charge. Often consumers have no way of knowing how the supplier is going to ship to them, and sometimes the supplier doesn't know either, as shipping may occur through different channels depending on several factors.

My views relate to consumers buying products from outside the EU, especially for the first time when they get stung by a clearance fee that they were unaware of. Consumer law usually requires consumers to have a clear understanding of the total price they should expect to pay in advance of a transaction.