ParcelForce Clearance Fee

arcon5

Surely the onus is on you to familiarise yourself with issues surrounding the importation of goods to your own country rather than everybody else educating you?

System

Its not parcelforces job to tell you how best to process an import. You bought the parcel from America it was your job to tell the seller if you wanted special instructions added to the parcel.

Although as a side I agree with you. I think parcel clearing fees are a massively overpriced. The Royal Mail one annoys me alot.

mazza111

CLEARANCE_FEE wrote: »

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.


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.


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


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?

So at the end of the day. You were willing to take the chance, by not declaring your own customs. If you had done that in the first place, you would have got a customs charge without the courier charge.

You took the chance, customs caught it. PF fee enabled.


https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/592233 Started in 2007 - 2012

Same of the same

CLEARANCE_FEE

So at the end of the day. You were willing to take the chance, by not declaring your own customs. If you had done that in the first place, you would have got a customs charge without the courier charge.

What are you on about? The customs form on the front of the parcel states the value of the item as plain as day, customs then looked at it,figure out the import tax (thats how it's done) and billed someone. Had customs somehow missed it and my parcel had slipped through the net without being billed of course I wouldn’thave phoned them up and told them, but that’s a different matter altogether. At no point in time was I trying to avoid import tax, as far as I’m aware everything was done right on the other end.

Everything was done right, then Parcelforce decided to pay my bill for me and charge me for it.
Personally I don't see the difference between this and the people in Paris that come up to you tie a not very good bracelet to your am then tell you, you have to buy it.

mazza111

But that's the joy of importing goods. You should have looked into it before importing. 99% of courier firms charge for this. The only way around it is to deal with customs BEFORE the event of importing.

CLEARANCE_FEE

mazza111 wrote: »

But that's the joy of importing goods. You should have looked into it before importing. 99% of courier firms charge for this. The only way around it is to deal with customs BEFORE the event of importing.

But there is no way of paying the import tax in advanced with the exception of a few companies that have a special deal with customs. As far as I can tell the only way to avoid this fee is to put “goods to be customs cleared by importer” then deal with customs yourself. Had Parcelforce decided maybeI would like to do this and not pay a clearance fee I would have no objectionsto them charging whatever they want, but I’d have liked the option to not use this “service”.
Which in the age of "consumer choice" i feel like I should have been given.

visidigi

mazza111 wrote: »

But that's the joy of importing goods. You should have looked into it before importing. 99% of courier firms charge for this. The only way around it is to deal with customs BEFORE the event of importing.

Not true. The OP is right, if the sender had put the declaration on the package they could have self cleared - because they haven't it wasn't and they can't retrospectively apply to do so.

The Parcelforce fee covers the process of Customs clearance (Parcelforce pay for Customs people to be at thier hub to clear freight quickly). This costs, as does examinations and repacking.

If you do self clear you are sent the paperwork to complete for delivery, which is then sent back, assessed for charges, you are then mailed back and you can then arrange to pay the fees.

If an item comes in Parcelforce that's due to an express services being used for import (USPS Express mail for example) or a high value good, otherwise it comes in royal mail where the fee is £8ish.

The problem with self clearance is time, it could take weeks/months for the package to clear.

Couriers have these systems setup to be quick, that's why people pay the premium for the convenience. Self clear might look cost effective from the outside, but my time is easily worth the £13.50 to avoid three weeks+ of paperwork and filing.

mazza111

visidigi wrote: »

Not true. The OP is right, if the sender had put the declaration on the package they could have self cleared - because they haven't it wasn't and they can't retrospectively apply to do so.

The Parcelforce fee covers the process of Customs clearance (Parcelforce pay for Customs people to be at thier hub to clear freight quickly). This costs, as does examinations and repacking.

If you do self clear you are sent the paperwork to complete for delivery, which is then sent back, assessed for charges, you are then mailed back and you can then arrange to pay the fees.

If an item comes in Parcelforce that's due to an express services being used for import (USPS Express mail for example) or a high value good, otherwise it comes in royal mail where the fee is £8ish.

The problem with self clearance is time, it could take weeks/months for the package to clear.

Couriers have these systems setup to be quick, that's why people pay the premium for the convenience. Self clear might look cost effective from the outside, but my time is easily worth the £13.50 to avoid three weeks+ of paperwork and filing.

And the buyer has to request that of the seller.....

Sellers won't do that off their own back because as you say it does hold things up.

visidigi

CLEARANCE_FEE wrote: »

But there is no way of paying the import tax in advanced with the exception of a few companies that have a special deal with customs. As far as I can tell the only way to avoid this fee is to put “goods to be customs cleared by importer” then deal with customs yourself. Had Parcelforce decided maybeI would like to do this and not pay a clearance fee I would have no objectionsto them charging whatever they want, but I’d have liked the option to not use this “service”.
Which in the age of "consumer choice" i feel like I should have been given.

The service right is that of the person who contracts the service, that would be the sender.

That sender was given the right to make the consumer choice, they didn't.

As a un-contracted recipient you aren't entitled to the choice.

Hintza

Declaring the goods yourself
As the importer you can carry out your own Customs procedures. If you want to do this, you will need to ensure the sender clearly marks the Customs declaration form (CN22 or CN23) 'goods to be Customs cleared by the importer'. Do not write on the wrapping. If the Customs declaration form (CN22 or CN23) is not marked in this way by the sender, the goods will be cleared by customs in the normal way; once goods have been Customs cleared you cannot then retrospectively apply to self clear them.

For items that have been marked for clearance by the importer, a full declaration will be sent to you to complete and return to the appropriate customs postal office.

They will calculate any import charges and write and advise you of your tax liability.

When you have paid this and the funds have been cleared, your goods will be released for delivery.

However, as a manual procedure there could be a considerable delay in the receipt of your goods.

You can obtain copies of the import declaration form and further information on the HMRC VAT Helpline on Tel 0845 010 9000.