Royal Mail £8 Internal Post Handling Fee scam?

thriftymanc

I'm going in to work late on Monday so should be able to sort it then... I hope!

I thought about putting June 1st as the date, but knowing my luck I'd be paying for nothing as it may have already been returned to the sender. Would I have got a refund if I'd paid and they didn't have my parcel any more, I wonder?

The letter is just hard to read - all in capitals, no full stops or commas, mistakes likes "acustoms" (perhaps they mean it's not a customs charge afterall?!), "mailto", "the'll" and so on. I had a headache by the time I'd finished reading it and I'm not sure I understand parts of it properly!

mazza111

That actually does sound like the kind of spelling mistakes they make tbh. However still doesn't sound like it's been written on a charges card.

thriftymanc

It definitely wasn't a charges card, just a photocopy of a form filled in with biro. I've had one before so maybe it's something my sorting office does instead of doing it the proper way?!

Anyway, I turned up to the sorting office bright and early only to be told I was too late and it had been sent back. I was absolutely fuming and took an address to send a complaint letter to (they kept trying to blame customs, I said it wasn't customs' fault the sorting office had kept my parcel for three weeks before telling me about it). Went off to work, came home - the sodding parcel was in my mailbox! I hadn't even paid for it! !!!!!!? After all that stress... I don't know whether to be happy, angry, confused or all three. I'm just glad I got my parcel when I needed it I suppose!

custardy

thriftymanc wrote: »

It definitely wasn't a charges card, just a photocopy of a form filled in with biro. I've had one before so maybe it's something my sorting office does instead of doing it the proper way?!

Anyway, I turned up to the sorting office bright and early only to be told I was too late and it had been sent back. I was absolutely fuming and took an address to send a complaint letter to (they kept trying to blame customs, I said it wasn't customs' fault the sorting office had kept my parcel for three weeks before telling me about it). Went off to work, came home - the sodding parcel was in my mailbox! I hadn't even paid for it! !!!!!!? After all that stress... I don't know whether to be happy, angry, confused or all three. I'm just glad I got my parcel when I needed it I suppose!

sounds like an office in turmoil
its the futire of RM
dealing iwth these sort of things requires trraining and staff to keep it running smoothly

my guesses on what happened
no staff in the locker(who deal with this stuff)
so nobody put a print order in for more cards
they are probably behind with charges as they have no staff
hence the delay
whomever pulled out the out of date charges didnt do it correctly
these should be bagged and 'direct labelled' back to mount pleasant along with scanning them out
they probably put them out and they ended up back with the packets for delivery(or redelivery)
when it comes to the audit then they will get roasted as the hole in the accounts (no packet and no payment) is treated as stolen money!
believe me ive seen it happen and its a case of who they can put the blame on

mazza111

Oh dear, what a palaver. Makes me kinda grateful that my own office runs a wee bit smoother than that :rotfl:

superscaper

Just got stung recently. $29 set of software DVDs in a jiffy bag and a £11.52 "customs charge". Ouch. It's the "handling charge" that's the significant % for cheaper items/postage like this and can annoy. I know it's a flat fee and you have to expect it but still pretty hard to swallow a 60% of value total customs charge.

Meeahmo

I can really relate to being stung like you superscraper, as today it happend to me to by fffflippin Royal Mail! A card saying go and pick your item up and pay us £11.28... customs fee and handling... yes, I was surely annoyed (understatement). I phoned HM Customs and they said it's £8 for RM handling charge, which they stated has nothing at all to do with them, that they have no control what RM charge... but ok, well, ok, yes it is a rip off I think - but IF their website said IN ADVANCE that this is what you pay then fine, but my search of their website and it states £1., yes, £1, the same as the card they left, states £1. It was not left by Parcelforce, but my postie.
I found with HM Customs, that because the item I bought (from the US) was just over £18, then I have VAT to pay, ok, fine, the law is the law, but where's the £8 handling come from! what a rip off. Anyway I did my calculations and current exchange rate in US dollars for the item purchase cost and because it was just over the £18 (grrrrr) , together me and the HM customs person reckons the VAT to pay is £4.38, in which case Royal Mail have chucked on top £6.90 (?!), where does that come from... better keep quiet or they'll make it up to the £8.

custardy

Meeahmo wrote: »

I can really relate to being stung like you superscraper, as today it happend to me to by fffflippin Royal Mail! A card saying go and pick your item up and pay us £11.28... customs fee and handling... yes, I was surely annoyed (understatement). I phoned HM Customs and they said it's £8 for RM handling charge, which they stated has nothing at all to do with them, that they have no control what RM charge... but ok, well, ok, yes it is a rip off I think - but IF their website said IN ADVANCE that this is what you pay then fine, but my search of their website and it states £1., yes, £1, the same as the card they left, states £1. It was not left by Parcelforce, but my postie.
I found with HM Customs, that because the item I bought (from the US) was just over £18, then I have VAT to pay, ok, fine, the law is the law, but where's the £8 handling come from! what a rip off. Anyway I did my calculations and current exchange rate in US dollars for the item purchase cost and because it was just over the £18 (grrrrr) , together me and the HM customs person reckons the VAT to pay is £4.38, in which case Royal Mail have chucked on top £6.90 (?!), where does that come from... better keep quiet or they'll make it up to the £8.

http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/content1?catId=400044&mediaId=400362

its states £1 for underpaid items
a custom fee is not an underpaid item
why would parcelforce leave a card for an item delivered and handled by RM?

interesting you and HMRC have 'worked it out'
you realise its HMRC that decide and levy any duties due?
and whilst HMRC were saying they had no control over what RM charged.did you ask them why trhey didnt bill you direct?

however given the website does state "in advance" what the fee would be then i guess this is moot

mazza111

Already gave a breakdown of charges, which kinda explains it....

Meeahmo

Ok. Calmer, but it appears I was not clear with my explanation the first time, so here goes.
As stated in my original message, the card left by my post person, not parcelforce, had two boxes on it for the post person to tick. They ticked the box that stated 'The Item cannot be delivered because it has a Customs fee to pay'. That was actually printed on the form.
Under that it was printed, yes, printed, fees for handling/administration is £1. (yes, that's ONE pound).
The printed card said,You can collect you item upon paying this fee. The fee is.. and then it was a box filled in, in biro, £11.28.
I then phoned HM Customs. They said that ANY item that you purchase outside the EU that costs over £18 (and up to £120) is subject to VAT on import. (Any item OVER £120 is subject to Customs Duty also, but I'm not going there as not relevant to my case). OK then, my item was just over £18, so VAT to pay.
The customs person made it very clear that the charge on top for 'handling' was Royal Mail's fee and this is currently £8. This £8 charge has NOTHING to do with HM Customs, it is the fee that RM choose to charge.
The customs person has said that the VAT on my item was calculated at the prevailing exchange rate at the time the package passed through, so it would appear the VAT was correct, and therefore the RM charge was indeed £8. The £8 is charged regardless of the items value, it could be a flat screen TV or a CD.
When I collected my item from RM sorting office, the very nice postie guy there said, yes, the card is wrong, the £1 printed charge showing is for UK mail, but for handling an International Item, it's £8, unfortunately the cards they leave are NOT printed to show the International handling fee is £8.
Amusingly he said, 'It used to be £4, but it wasn't long ago they increased it to £8! that's double y'know! If you ask me it's a rip off!' Hmmm...I can't argue with that when the handling fee came to almost half the value of the goods I bought and no warning whatsoever that this was going to be the case.