Parcelforce 'Clearance fee'

DaveBalaam

Just had my own run in with Parcel Force's "Clearance Fee" at the North Essex Depot in Chelmsford.

Bought a piece of electronic equipment from Hong Kong for about $70 (US), and this morning got the dreaded letter from PF telling me I had to pay £8.17 in import VAT and the usual £13.50 for Clearance Fee.

I went in armed with both a printout of the invoice from the shop that showed the shipping and handling charge, and with a printout of Section 104 of the Postal Services Act 2000.

Well I do want to say that the chap behind the desk and the manager I subsequently spoke to were both polite, neither of them being the supercilious jobsworths I was expecting, so credit where it's due.

I made it clear that I had no problem paying the VAT but I was not happy with the Clearance Fee as I felt this was something that should have been included with the Shipping and Handling fee charged by the shop.

The manager explained that the Clearance Fee is to cover the additional costs of clearing the item through customs and had to be paid before the parcel could be released. When I quoted the Postal Services Act at him he stated that that had been amended by the PSA 2011 and that they were now allowed to hold the parcel until the charges had been paid.

Now I'm actually a bit rubbish at arguing with people face to face in these sorts of situation, and coupled with the fact that he'd been polite I was caught off-guard enough that I (grudgingly) agreed to pay the fee, but now that I've had a chance to look at the PSA 2011 I cannot see any reference to it anything remotely relating to Sec. 104 PSA 2000.

Has this manager just spun me a load of BS, and if so, can I complain and get my money back?

Dave.

custardy

DaveBalaam wrote: »

Just had my own run in with Parcel Force's "Clearance Fee" at the North Essex Depot in Chelmsford.

Bought a piece of electronic equipment from Hong Kong for about $70 (US), and this morning got the dreaded letter from PF telling me I had to pay £8.17 in import VAT and the usual £13.50 for Clearance Fee.

I went in armed with both a printout of the invoice from the shop that showed the shipping and handling charge, and with a printout of Section 104 of the Postal Services Act 2000.

Well I do want to say that the chap behind the desk and the manager I subsequently spoke to were both polite, neither of them being the supercilious jobsworths I was expecting, so credit where it's due.

I made it clear that I had no problem paying the VAT but I was not happy with the Clearance Fee as I felt this was something that should have been included with the Shipping and Handling fee charged by the shop.

The manager explained that the Clearance Fee is to cover the additional costs of clearing the item through customs and had to be paid before the parcel could be released. When I quoted the Postal Services Act at him he stated that that had been amended by the PSA 2011 and that they were now allowed to hold the parcel until the charges had been paid.

Now I'm actually a bit rubbish at arguing with people face to face in these sorts of situation, and coupled with the fact that he'd been polite I was caught off-guard enough that I (grudgingly) agreed to pay the fee, but now that I've had a chance to look at the PSA 2011 I cannot see any reference to it anything remotely relating to Sec. 104 PSA 2000.

Has this manager just spun me a load of BS, and if so, can I complain and get my money back?

Dave.

so you were well aware beforehand? yet chose not to do your own clearance?

DaveBalaam

custardy wrote: »

so you were well aware beforehand? yet chose not to do your own clearance?

Not sure I follow. This all took place at the depot itself, not over the phone, so PF had already done all the clearance through customs. I didn't have a choice.

Had I been aware that I could contact customs myself (or that I, in fact, needed to) I would have paid it myself and let PF do what they were paid to do in the first place.

custardy

DaveBalaam wrote: »

Not sure I follow. This all took place at the depot itself, not over the phone, so PF had already done all the clearance through customs. I didn't have a choice.

Had I been aware that I could contact customs myself (or that I, in fact, needed to) I would have paid it myself and let PF do what they were paid to do in the first place.

so as long as someone doesnt know about something then they are exempt from paying for it?
what prompted you to print out the postal services act?

DaveBalaam

custardy wrote: »

so as long as someone doesnt know about something then they are exempt from paying for it?
what prompted you to print out the postal services act?

When you put it like that, no.

My concern was that, having already paid postage once, I was being asked to pay it again (and so much too).

What prompted me to print out the act was that, knowing I was going to dispute their charge, and knowing they'd try to claim they couldn't release the parcel until their own charge was paid (contrary to Sec. 104, PSA 2000), I wanted to be ready to point out why they could not do that. Him then citing PSA 2011 caught me so off-guard I caved in, and I'm now left wondering if he didn't just successfully BS me :-/

Were it not for the fact that the depot is an awkward one for me to get to I'd have probably told him that I was going to check and would be back.

shaun_from_Africa

My concern was that, having already paid postage once, I was being asked to pay it again (and so much too).

You weren't being asked to pay more postage.
You were being asked for VAT, import duty and a handling fee for processing the package for HMCE.

custardy

DaveBalaam wrote: »

When you put it like that, no.

My concern was that, having already paid postage once, I was being asked to pay it again (and so much too).

What prompted me to print out the act was that, knowing I was going to dispute their charge, and knowing they'd try to claim they couldn't release the parcel until their own charge was paid (contrary to Sec. 104, PSA 2000), I wanted to be ready to point out why they could not do that. Him then citing PSA 2011 caught me so off-guard I caved in, and I'm now left wondering if he didn't just successfully BS me :-/

Were it not for the fact that the depot is an awkward one for me to get to I'd have probably told him that I was going to check and would be back.

nobody was asking you to pay any postage
what prompted you? you get a bill through the door and immediately start printing out documents?
you were being asked to pay for a companies time to pay your customs duty that HMRC decide is due
something you could have done yourself for free had you put the steps in order before oyu purchased or instructed your supplier to use a courier that charges the fees for customs clearance in advance

m0rse

DaveBalaam wrote: »

When you put it like that, no.

Him then citing PSA 2011 caught me so off-guard I caved in, and I'm now left wondering if he didn't just successfully BS me :-/

Unfortunately, it's true, the PSA 2011 has now enabled Parcelfarce/Royal Fail to hold parcels to ransom until their fee is paid. Obviously, RM have friends in the right places to get this turd slipped into the PSA 2011, which was supposed to be about privatization.

(Unfortunately, because I'm a "new user" the forum software won't let me link to the amendment --- instead, you should Google for the string:

2011/5/schedule/12/paragraph/36/prospective

and click the first link)

custardy

m0rse wrote: »

Unfortunately, it's true, the PSA 2011 has now enabled Parcelfarce/Royal Fail to hold parcels to ransom until their fee is paid. Obviously, RM have friends in the right places to get this turd slipped into the PSA 2011, which was supposed to be about privatization.

(Unfortunately, because I'm a "new user" the forum software won't let me link to the amendment --- instead, you should Google for the string:

2011/5/schedule/12/paragraph/36/prospective

and click the first link)

and still you have the option to do it yourself for free

m0rse

custardy wrote: »

and still you have the option to do it yourself for free

custardy wrote: »

you were being asked to pay for a companies time to pay your customs duty that HMRC decide is due
something you could have done yourself for free had you put the steps in order before oyu purchased or instructed your supplier to use a courier that charges the fees for customs clearance in advance

custardy wrote: »

so you were well aware beforehand? yet chose not to do your own clearance?

custardy wrote: »

do your own clearance
problem solved
histrionics not required

The lady doth protest too much, methinks.