DHL Charges Forced

ilovepeoplesoverymuch

Hi,

Basically I ordered three packages from overseas and VAT was charged on them. The person hasn't always put the value on their packages, but for some reason they did this time. Anyway, DHL have placed £30 charge on top of the VAT. DHL told me that since they've already paid the VAT, that I have to pay the full amount.

When I have had orders delivered by DHL before, they sent me a letter before they charged me. I can't afford these extra charges, and I didn't ask for it. I thought perhaps VAT would be charged, and I was ready to pay for that, but not these extra charges.

Anyway, my point is they're saying I have to pay up anyway, and I am finding this very unfair as I have been forced into it this time by DHL.

What are my rights? I said I didn't want the parcels and the delivery man said I can contact them to have them delivered another day.

Caz3121

Does the company you ordered the goods from state anything in their T&Cs re duty...some offer to reimburse, many advise you that payments may be due

wealdroam

ilovepeoplesoverymuch wrote: »

Hi,

Basically I ordered three packages from overseas and VAT was charged on them. The person hasn't always put the value on their packages, but for some reason they did this time. Anyway, DHL have placed £30 charge on top of the VAT. DHL told me that since they've already paid the VAT, that I have to pay the full amount.

When I have had orders delivered by DHL before, they sent me a letter before they charged me. I can't afford these extra charges, and I didn't ask for it. I thought perhaps VAT would be charged, and I was ready to pay for that, but not these extra charges.

Anyway, my point is they're saying I have to pay up anyway, and I am finding this very unfair as I have been forced into it this time by DHL.

What are my rights? I said I didn't want the parcels and the delivery man said I can contact them to have them delivered another day.

Get DHL to return the packages to the sender if you don't want them.

tomtontom

What is the £30 for, is it an admin fee or something else? I'm not sure what you mean by "The person hasn't always put the value on their packages, but for some reason they did this time" - have they declared too high an amount?

bod1467

We got caught be this recently too ... package came* by DHL and there's a £23 charge to pay for VAT/duty/admin charge. The issue I have is not with them paying the VAT and duty and adding an admin fee ... it's that they haven't broken this down at all - they've simply advised that there's £23 to pay.

(Total value of goods, including delivery, was about £68).

*Well, DHL have tried twice to deliver but we weren't in. We've scheduled a redelivery so we don't actually have the package yet.

soolin

There is tax and duty to be paid on items purchased from outside the EU plus handling couriers and RM charge a handling fee for dealing with this on behalf of the purchaser.

OP, if there were 3 separate packages then there will be 3 separate charges, one for each of the parcels as they would all have been cleared and taxed separately. If you can't afford the charge then see if sender will reimburse you if you wait for them to be delivered back to them as un delivered.

Keep_pedalling

All charges associated with importing stuff are the responsibility of the importer unless you get the sender to mark the package to the effect that you will do your own clearance then the carrier will do this for you and charge an admin for getting your parcel released quickly. I don't know what DHL charge but Parcel Force charge a flat fee of £18, which is a lot cheaper than you doing your own clearance and collection.

Rights don't really come into this, your responsibilities as an importer are what matters here and the problem is that you did not do your homework before ordering.

soolin

there's lots and lots of threads about these charges as it seems that buyers don't understand the implactions of buying from overseas- try this recent thread about RM charges:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5289368

It is worth noting though that unless you have made prior arrangements to import and clear the goods yourself, and seller has marked packages accordingly, these charges will be payable.

Nilrem

If the charges for DHL's handling are £30, that sounds like £10 a package, it may not be the case now, but they used to charge only £1.25 or 2% of the value of the package (whichever was higher) for packages going to residential (non business) addresses.

It may be worth looking on the DHL site to see if that is still the case.

macman

DHL are not being 'unfair'-the sender declared the value at x and they have no option but to pay duty and VAT calculated on that value, plus a reasonable admin charge.
If you have received previous (similar) deliveries without duty being paid, then that is because the value was under-declared.

soolin

Nilrem wrote: »

If the charges for DHL's handling are £30, that sounds like £10 a package, it may not be the case now, but they used to charge only £1.25 or 2% of the value of the package (whichever was higher) for packages going to residential (non business) addresses.

It may be worth looking on the DHL site to see if that is still the case.

I paid about £11 last time I had a delivery sent via DHL, which is about the same as Royal Mail and UPS.

http://www.dhl.co.uk/content/dam/downloads/uk/Express/PDFs/duty_and_vat_faq_personal_customers.pdf