ParcelForce Clearance Fee

CLEARANCE_FEE

Firstly Hi, I’m new to the forum and think this may be inthe wrong place but it was the best I could find.

And now to the point. I recently imported a parcel from theUSA, the import VAT was £17.46 which I’ve got no complaint paying to parcelforce after all they don’t make anything from that however they also want tocharge me the outrageous fee of £13.50 for giving me a service I didn’t even askfor i.e. paying the import tax for me. And it turns out if the seller had writtenon the import form “goods to be custom cleared by importer” I could have dealtwith customs directly, so I’m being charge £13.50 for something I could havedone myself if it had been made clear.
I’ve been on the phone to them and sent email. It turns outin October or 2011 the postal services act (sections 83, 85,104 and 105) wasamended so parcel force can now allegedly withhold MY mail legally!

Does anyone have any ideas how to avoid paying for this service I never wanted? Even if extra administration costs more, £13.50 isgreatly disproportional to the actual cost incurred.

Optimist

Best advice...Pay it and remember the extra costs involved next time you import something.

Hintza

CLEARANCE_FEE wrote: »

Does anyone have any ideas how to avoid paying for this service I never wanted? Even if extra administration costs more, £13.50 isgreatly disproportional to the actual cost incurred.

So when the item lands at Stanstead or Felixstowe (or wherever), you are going to travel down to the port of entry, fill in all the paperwork, wait for them to find the item and then drive home for less than £13.50.

I don't think so.

mazza111

Loads of other threads on this, please see other threads for the same responses. Importing goods it's up to you to either arrange to pay the customs fee yourself before you import. Or leave it to chance and pay either RM or other couriers' fee.

Many people prefer leaving it to chance. Tell me, if it had gone through customs without being stopped. Would you have called customs up and offered to pay the £17.46?

yellowplum

They all charge a handling fee to clear customs, it is the nature of paying it on your behalf.

Unless you want to import the item yourself and deal with HMRC.

You wouldn't have to quite go to the port and deal with it, but you will have to know how to deal with the paperwork and pay HMRC before it can be released by them, so in essence it is bonded until paid for. Which also may incur further fees depending on the carrier.

Arg

Implementing a simple prepayment plan would sort out this nonsense.

Hintza wrote: »

So when the item lands at Stanstead or Felixstowe (or wherever), you are going to travel down to the port of entry, fill in all the paperwork, wait for them to find the item and then drive home for less than £13.50.

I don't think so.

Optimist wrote: »

Best advice...Pay it and remember the extra costs involved next time you import something.

Uh oh more business apologists.

mattyprice4004

A quick google would have given you all the info you'd need.

You won't be able to claim the money back.

Hintza

Arg wrote: »

Uh oh more business apologists.

What is that meant to mean?

arcon5

Had you cleared it yourself how much time would it take and how much would it cost to have it carried from there to you? The fee's looking a little more reasonable now huh?

mattyprice4004

Hintza wrote: »

What is that meant to mean?

It's a side comment from someone that can't understand why holding parcels before payment is a good idea, rather than chasing afterwards. I can't find a proper definition of the term...

It works, yes it's expensive but the paperwork and labour involved isn't either.

Order from within the UK, or accept you could be slapped with a fee, in other words 'deal with it'

CLEARANCE_FEE

Pay it and remember the extra costs involved next time you import something

If the seller had written on the customs form “goods to be customs cleared by importer” customs would have sent me an invoice then the parcel would have been released without a £13.50 fee, however i didn’t know that until a few days ago. And parcel force don’t make that clear, it’s almost like parcel force want to pay the Import VAT so they can charge an extortionate rate.

So when the item lands at Stanstead or Felixstowe (or wherever), you are going to travel down to the port of entry, fill in all the paperwork, wait for them to find the item and then drive home for less than £13.50

As stated above I don’t need to travel to deal with customs, and Parcelforce have already been paid to deliver my item, the clearance fee has nothing to do with delivery.

Loads of other threads on this, please see other threads for the same responses

As the law changed in October 2011 the other threads are out dated hence I made anew one

Tell me, if it had gone through customs without being stopped. Would you have called customs up and offered to pay the £17.46?

Hell no, and im going to add what does that have to do with the clearance fee, it's Parcelforce my gripe is with not customs.

Am I really one of the few people on here that thinks it’s unreasonable to charge me an astronomical greatly disproportional fee for a servicethat I DIDN’T NEED, want or ask for?