Can DHL charge an 'admin fee' on imported goods?

prowla

It is normal practice; if you don't want to pay the courier then you can pay the tax on shipping.

Hintza

Alternatively you could arrange to travel to the point of entry in to the UK fill in all the forms and arrange clearance yourself.

Which do you think will be cheaper?

mcallim7

this is a scam i have encountered several times
including a new one this morning.
At the point of sale DHL agreed to deliver the letter/parcel from one country to another
(lets say USA to UK)
They know in advance that this will need to clear customs so why charge the customer a 2nd time.
There is surely and implied contract when they agree to deliver they will take care of the "administration" side and leave the customer the import duty/vat bill.
The last parcel i received had about $50 of postage stamps on it so there is a reasonable charge to take care of all the "administration".
I have fought this every time and paid about half of them.
If it wasn't a scam they wouldn't write off the costs for the occasions i have been successful.

powerful_Rogue

mcallim7 wrote: »

this is a scam i have encountered several times
including a new one this morning.
At the point of sale DHL agreed to deliver the letter/parcel from one country to another
(lets say USA to UK)
They know in advance that this will need to clear customs so why charge the customer a 2nd time.
There is surely and implied contract when they agree to deliver they will take care of the "administration" side and leave the customer the import duty/vat bill.
The last parcel i received had about $50 of postage stamps on it so there is a reasonable charge to take care of all the "administration".
I have fought this every time and paid about half of them.
If it wasn't a scam they wouldn't write off the costs for the occasions i have been successful.

It's not a scam in the slightest.

You can easily avoid this fee by self clearing the item. This extract from the website below explains all you have to do.

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.


https://www.nibusinessinfo.co.uk/content/how-declare-goods-when-importing-post

DCFC79

mcallim7 wrote: »

this is a scam i have encountered several times
including a new one this morning.
At the point of sale DHL agreed to deliver the letter/parcel from one country to another
(lets say USA to UK)
They know in advance that this will need to clear customs so why charge the customer a 2nd time.
There is surely and implied contract when they agree to deliver they will take care of the "administration" side and leave the customer the import duty/vat bill.
The last parcel i received had about $50 of postage stamps on it so there is a reasonable charge to take care of all the "administration".
I have fought this every time and paid about half of them.
If it wasn't a scam they wouldn't write off the costs for the occasions i have been successful.

Then fight it, complain to the regulator, the government/parliament. Set up a petition on change.org to get rid of the charges.