TNT Tax/Admin Fee

visidigi

mpeel68 wrote: »

The hotel would have taken my word for it because they're my goods?

Why wouldn't they, what interest have they got in the goods? The answer is none...so yes, if you tell them there's no reason why they should write anything different.

mpeel68 wrote: »

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.

If you tell them, they should,m if you tell them and they don't do it, then you have a dispute with the hotel, as it stands. You say the sender should exercise some judgement, they did, it went against what you didn't ask for and now your are complaining.

mpeel68 wrote: »

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.

Don't bother, it doesn't change the amount put on the paperwork, signed for and submitted to customs. The fact remains you didn't advise the hotel of the value.

mpeel68 wrote: »

. 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?

As Hintza has shown, £150 isn't a bad guess - especially if it was a 5 star hotel, they may have applied the value they buy their blankets for that are in the hotel..

mpeel68 wrote: »

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.

You know what, its attitude like yours which is why alot of hotels refuse to send items back when left. Quite often hotels now leave returns entirely to the person who wants it back.

I actually think you are being a bit of a 'moron' now - you didn't tell the hotel, the hotel shipped accordingly, you complain, you get told its your fault and all you can do is call the hotel staff stupid and moronic.

It's your fault, you need to accept that.

edit...just notice the La Poste document in your scanned images, this means your complaint is NOT with TNT, they are the contracted delivery partner of the Swiss Postal Service, therefore your dispute is with the Swiss postal service, NOT with TNT.

visidigi

mpeel68 wrote: »

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.

It doesn't make any difference, you didn't tell them what it was worth. This problem is of your causing.

They might struggle to go for a fiver, but clearly your sentimental reasons far outweigh the physical value of the goods.

Hence why the value can be higher than initial impressions show - this is why you needed to advise them what to pay.

Also you cannot prove the person who did the label was the same person who packed the blankets, e.g. housekeeping could have packed it, but the concierge did the label, who didn't see the blankets at all, he just got told 'its two blankets'.

They could, if you had advised them properly said 'its two blankets, worth 10CHF.

You didn't, they didn't. Unfortunately that mistake has cost you. If you want to dispute it you would need to with Swiss Post.

nikki1520

Read this - especially section 8:
http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/channelsPortalWebApp.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pageLibrary_PublicNoticesAndInfoSheets&propertyType=document&columns=1&id=HMCE_CL_000282#P262_30022

Then either A) obtain a copy of the C88 from TNT (this is the document they use to clear your goods through Customs), fill out a C285, available at www.hmrc.gov.uk, get all your money back except TNT's fees

or Instruct TNT that they need to make an amended entry to a Customs Procedure Code that covers personal effects - these are not goods to be imported to the EU for home use under 4000000 - pay TNT another fee - get most of the rest of your money back.

Responsibility for the accuracy of the declaration rests with the importer - ie you. Not TNT, not the hotel in Switzerland.

Goods luck

paddyrg

The valuation problem probably works both ways - they placed a high valuation because that was what the goods were insured for in case they were lost in transit. The person on reception at the end of a long shift who then had to pack and arrange for repatriation of your goods may never have bought a blanket before, or may not know their material value. Or maybe that's just what they cost in Switzerland?!

Either way, they sent them via an insured, tracked service and so had to assume an insurance value, and probably used that same value for the customs declaration, to save arguments if they were lost, and needed to rely on that insurance money to get new fine linen bedding?

mpeel68

Quite frankly given the price of the hotel, sending my items back is the very least I expect.

I would also expect it to be done competently, which involves them coming up with a reasonable value without me having to spell that out for them. It didn't occur to me that I'd need to say "oh, those worn-out old blankets that you probably wouldn't even give your dog? They're worth £10, tops".

I've sent them an email asking what exactly was passing through their mind when they declared the value to be what it was. Apparently if TNT can't get the fees out of me (which they won't), they'll try and get it out of the shipper (i.e. the hotel). That would be rather convenient if true. We'll see.

Hintza

With the attitude you are showing towards the hotel I suspect they might point you in the direction of Arkell v Pressdram (1971).

wealdroam

mpeel68 wrote: »

Apparently if TNT can't get the fees out of me (which they won't), they'll try and get it out of the shipper (i.e. the hotel). That would be rather convenient if true.

And would the hotel then charge that to your credit card that they just happen to still have the number of?

paddyrg

mpeel68 wrote: »

Quite frankly given the price of the hotel, sending my items back is the very least I expect.

I would also expect it to be done competently, which involves them coming up with a reasonable value without me having to spell that out for them. It didn't occur to me that I'd need to say "oh, those worn-out old blankets that you probably wouldn't even give your dog? They're worth £10, tops".

They are probably VERY competent hoteliers if they successfully billed a huge amount of money, and generous if they returned your goods internationally at their own cost. Their competence at appraising the insurance value of guests sentimentally important items (important enough to be posted back internationally) is not reasonable to expect to be their core business. If they had decided the items were worth a few quid, not worth posting, and binned them, I suspect we'd be having a different outraged post here, so they're damned wither way.

mpeel68

Good news! I have heard back from the hotel who have apologised for overvaluing the items and issued me with a card refund of the value of the customs/admin fee. So it has all worked out very well and I will pay the money to TNT. Everybody's happy :j