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TNT Tax/Admin Fee
Comments
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Who left the blankets in the hotel?
Who paid to have them sent to the UK?
Who packed and processed the items for the courier?
Looks to me that OP made the initial error, hotel helped by sending the items back, not sure at whose expense.
Why not just pay the bill and drop a note to customs and see if they can help. Yes the hotel made a mistake but looks like good customer service to me.0 -
Hi,
Thanks for the replies. Yes, UPS have nothing to do with it - just my own idiocy there, as all these companies have three-letter acronyms!
No worries, just checking
I didn't complete any paperwork whatsoever, the hotel did. On the other hand, the hotel did the returning for free, and just charged me the €65 which were TNT's fees.
So the hotel is responsible for the paperwork, which is a legally binding contract, with the required statements that the declarations made are true and accurate.
Did you at any point advise them what the value of the items were before they were shipped? If you did then you have a case with the hotel direct, if you didn't then you can't blame the hotel fr what they entered.I'm aware that the line that I imported and then exported the goods would be hard to prove. But it is patently obvious that the packaged items were not even worth a penny to anyone apart from me (sentimental value), so I'm really disgusted with the hotel for claiming the item was worth 200 swiss francs. I don't know what they will do about it though... what defense do I have against them saying "We had no idea what value the goods were, so we overestimated to be on the safe side"?
The only two parties this could apply to is the hotel and you, customs don't touch your box (unless they do a physical examination) - they clear electronically, using the documentation to base clearance and duties against.
This is all down to what you told the hotel, if you didn't tell them a value they can't be blamed, this is not unfortunately anything to do with TNT, they collected, cleared and delivered as instructed.Would an alternative be to send back the goods? I was thinking you can't just be liable for anything someone sends you if they fill the details in falsely.
Doesn't work unless you send them via TNT, pay the fees for TNT shipping and then file a returned goods declaration with TNT. You would have to send them back with TNT to avoid an absolute mountain of logistic and paperwork issues.Otherwise what's to stop me going to Switzerland and sending things to people in the UK I didn't particularly like claiming they were worth a fortune. With other companies, e.g. Parcel Force, they hold the item in the depot until you pay the customs charge, and if you don't, the item is returned to the sender.
Nothing stopping you doing that if you so wish, but you would have to pay to ship it in the first place and you'd be invoiced for the return to shipper too.What gives TNT the right to give me the item without breathing a word about customs charges (I never saw any of this documentation, it was probably hidden inside the plastic pouch or something) and then bill me weeks later.
Thanks!
The paperwork wouldn't have been on the package, as above, the package and the clearance occur separately, Parcelforce only do it they way they do to mitigate losses, especially as alot of the stuff they have in is high value postage items from abroad, not just courier freight.
TNT have the right to charge you as they have imported the package, at the point of signing you have accepted that package which means they are entitled to collect the duties paid on your behalf.
As above, refusing delivery is all well and good, but someone has to pay for it in the end.Visi what if the OP had proof of hospital stay, the contents etc etc maybe via email or such like and can prove that this was just a simple mistake?
This doesn't unfortunately make much of a difference, as the process performed is what customs go on - so if the value is declared as X then the value for clearance is X, they don't adjust for circumstance.
The difficulty with all of this is that customs/HMRC is a very big beast with much red tape and regulatory processes getting in the way of providing exceptions to the rule.
If you dispute a clearance then it has to be paid for to be reassessed That fee is usually higher than what you've been invoiced for now.0 -
Ok.
I didn't advise the hotel of a value - to be honest I thought the items were so evidently worthless there was no point in doing so. I think if they were uncertain about the value they should have asked me. That said, even if I had told them the items were worthless, why would they have taken my word for it?
I think customs did actually touch my package - it was held up for about a week in customs and when it arrived there was tape over the sealing bit.
How was I supposed to know the declared value of the items and thus reject them? I didn't actually sign for anything, I went to the depot and someone just handed it to me.
I certainly don't think it's fair that I should have to pay anything to return the items. Again in my fictitious example, I send you some goods declared as being worth £500 just to inconvenience you, addressed to you and you accept them (say because you receive lots of goods or are expecting something else), you wouldn't be happy with having to pay to return them or pay for a reassessment. Indeed, if the goods were sent by ParcelForce, you would simply have to do nothing and no charges would be payable.
The fact Customs/HMRC is a very big beast shouldn't leave me stuck with some rip off charge. The whole thing is really unfair. TNT shouldn't have just paid the charge, leaving me no opportunity to contest or dispute it; the hotel shouldn't have plucked some figure out of their a** for the value; and HMRC should have a simple way of dealing with this kind of rubbish.0 -
Ok.
I didn't advise the hotel of a value - to be honest I thought the items were so evidently worthless there was no point in doing so. I think if they were uncertain about the value they should have asked me. That said, even if I had told them the items were worthless, why would they have taken my word for it?
I think customs did actually touch my package - it was held up for about a week in customs and when it arrived there was tape over the sealing bit.
How was I supposed to know the declared value of the items and thus reject them? I didn't actually sign for anything, I went to the depot and someone just handed it to me.
I certainly don't think it's fair that I should have to pay anything to return the items. Again in my fictitious example, I send you some goods declared as being worth £500 just to inconvenience you, addressed to you and you accept them (say because you receive lots of goods or are expecting something else), you wouldn't be happy with having to pay to return them or pay for a reassessment. Indeed, if the goods were sent by ParcelForce, you would simply have to do nothing and no charges would be payable.
The fact Customs/HMRC is a very big beast shouldn't leave me stuck with some rip off charge. The whole thing is really unfair. TNT shouldn't have just paid the charge, leaving me no opportunity to contest or dispute it; the hotel shouldn't have plucked some figure out of their a** for the value; and HMRC should have a simple way of dealing with this kind of rubbish.
why would nothing be payable with Parcelforce?0 -
Ok.
I didn't advise the hotel of a value - to be honest I thought the items were so evidently worthless there was no point in doing so. I think if they were uncertain about the value they should have asked me. That said, even if I had told them the items were worthless, why would they have taken my word for it.
They would have taken your word for it because they are your goods.
Leaving the hotel to define the value was the first mistake and the biggest consequential mistake of this process.I think customs did actually touch my package - it was held up for about a week in customs and when it arrived there was tape over the sealing bit.
That means it was inspected, probably to check the commodity was accurately described, its a bit like when you go through passport control at the ferry/tunnel - they pick you out on random or failing that if there are certain things that require further investigation. It doesn't change your outcome unfortunately.How was I supposed to know the declared value of the items and thus reject them? I didn't actually sign for anything, I went to the depot and someone just handed it to me.
It should have had a signature on it when it was handed over. You can inspect the outside of the package before accepting it. At this point you could have refused.I certainly don't think it's fair that I should have to pay anything to return the items.
Then who should? The company transporting it could rightly dispose of it if the return is refused. They do this to avoid excessive charges.Again in my fictitious example, I send you some goods declared as being worth £500 just to inconvenience you, addressed to you and you accept them (say because you receive lots of goods or are expecting something else), you wouldn't be happy with having to pay to return them or pay for a reassessment. Indeed, if the goods were sent by ParcelForce, you would simply have to do nothing and no charges would be payable.
You may think this, but the shipper is entitled to bill you for the return charges. So if you refused a parcelforce shipment, parcelforce would bill the shipper, the shipper would bill you for wasting their time. They are entitled to do this if the terms and conditions state so.The fact Customs/HMRC is a very big beast shouldn't leave me stuck with some rip off charge.
Its not a rip off, its a standard charge based on the declared value of the goods.If the legitimate value was what was entered you wouldn't be here, the only reason you are is because you didn't tell the hotel how much they were worth and they guessed.The whole thing is really unfair. TNT shouldn't have just paid the charge, leaving me no opportunity to contest or dispute it; the hotel shouldn't have plucked some figure out of their a** for the value; and HMRC should have a simple way of dealing with this kind of rubbish.
Sorry, but stop blaming everyone else. You've been given the legitimate and valid reasons for what has happened, but in your view its not your fault.
You left the item in the hotel. You asked them to ship it to you without confirming the specifics of the items. You think the system is flawed because you didn't get them tax free.
Sorry, but this one you have to accept responsibility for and take on the chin.0 -
The hotel would have taken my word for it because they're my goods?
So if I left thousands of pounds of computer equipment in my room (purchased in Switzerland), told them "it's worth a couple of quid", they would have written that on the declaration form?
I don't think so. The sender surely has to exercise some judgment as to the value of the goods.
I may have to take a picture of the items in question just so you can see how completely off the wall the hotel's claim as to the value of the items is. You make it sound like £150 was a reasonable guess as to the value in the absence of anything else. If that's the case why not £500? Why not £5000? See where I'm coming from? Anyone with one iota of common sense would have seen those items as worthless. It's too bad I had a moron for a shipper.0 -
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Maybe not... If the blankets in question looked anything like those in the picture there!
In fact, they were about an eighth of the size (about 30x60cm), thin/worn, basic/unpatterned and with holes in them.
I think you could put them on a busy market stall all day and have trouble shifting them at £5 for the pair, let alone £150.
I wanted them back purely for sentimental reasons.
I will have to put a photo on tomorrow to get some of you onside on this one
- trust me - this is not a borderline thing, the person who wrote "200 CHF" had some sort of screw loose, wrote one zero too many, etc. 0
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