Royal Mail £8 Internal Post Handling Fee scam?

custardy

superscaper wrote: »

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

I presume you've sent a gracious confirmation letter to them, along with the invoice for the redirecting service.

At least it's better than a complaint letter asking why you didn't already know they'd moved address, since YOU'RE the Royal Mail so you should know if anyone.

get those all the time
same as whenever someone picks up a package with an incomplete address
i point it out to them and advise them to make sure its corrected
never happens
however when their regular postie is off and a packet is delivered as addressed or returned to sender they soon come down to the office

mrposhman

Not to mention cards sent to "Uncle Steve" at Christmas.

Funny how they didn't get to Uncle Steve but you know its all Royal Mail's fault!!

What I don't understand about the redirection service is that its a VERY CHEAP service yet theres so many people that are too tight to pay for it.

buzzablinio

I'm going to add to the whinging - just got a 'leatherman multitool' from the US and had the usual bill from Royal Mail. The £8 is purely a handling fee as they kindly itemised the charges on my parcel - so, yep £8 to the post office for me to go down to them and collect my own parcel - thanks a bunch - worth every penny of the £8. Incidentally, despite paying postage from the US, VAT here and the Royal Mail handling fee of £8, the goods were still £10 cheaper than the cheapest UK retailer - and that is before adding postage ... no wonder manufacturers refer to us as 'treasure island'. The retailers milk us, and when we try and buy elsewhere, Royal Mail milks us.

custardy

buzzablinio wrote: »

I'm going to add to the whinging - just got a 'leatherman multitool' from the US and had the usual bill from Royal Mail. The £8 is purely a handling fee as they kindly itemised the charges on my parcel - so, yep £8 to the post office for me to go down to them and collect my own parcel - thanks a bunch - worth every penny of the £8. Incidentally, despite paying postage from the US, VAT here and the Royal Mail handling fee of £8, the goods were still £10 cheaper than the cheapest UK retailer - and that is before adding postage ... no wonder manufacturers refer to us as 'treasure island'. The retailers milk us, and when we try and buy elsewhere, Royal Mail milks us.

as has been covered in this thread
postage is seperate from the customs fee(remember postage was paid in the USA) so customs decide whats charged
you could have easily got the item delivered to you using fee2pay
i spent 1 hour receiving,scaning,printing cards and filing customs fee's just for today so dont think its a clear profit.customs charges create a fair bit of admin along the way
if its an issue then ensure your seller uses a courier instead of USPS

[Deleted User]

I always make a mental allowance for duties plus handling fee if I buy something from the states. If my estimate is still cheaper than buying the same item here then I go ahead and get it and if no duty is charged then it is a big bonus. Tbh everything I have bought over $36 has attracted duty for me for the last 6 months or so and it is a risk I take

paultoon

My problem with this situation is that Royal Mail is collecting import duty on behalf of HMRC, not on my behalf.

In my opinion, it's a business expense for HMRC, and so HMRC should pay RM's handling fee.

If I brought the same goods into the country personally through an airport I would pay the duty but wouldn't expect to pay HMRC's expenses for employing a customs officer. (I already contribute to that by funding HMRC through my taxes.)

So it's unfair to blame RM.

...having said that, the card that was pushed through my door informing me of the charge to pay did state "includes a £1.00 Royal Mail handling fee", which, considering the actual handling fee is £8.00, is a bit misleading.

custardy

£1.00 handling fee? thats for an underpaid mail item,not a customs charge

Rich_Johnston

Interesting twist

A few months ago, I ordered some children's t-shirts from the states, threadless.com in fact.

Customs charged me VAT of £3.91 and Royal Mail added on £8.

I complained and sent letters.

Yesterday I got a letter from Customs saying a refund was on the way. I phoned up Royal Mail (thank you saynoto0870). The woman there was astonished, in ten years, she'd never heard of Customs refunding such a charge. She had to talk to her line manager but, yes, if I send a copy of the letter, I'll get my £8 back.

Took a long time, but there you go. Always order VATable items under £18, watch the exchange rate, and if they make a mistake, send the letters.

Just expect them to be astonished.

custardy

dont see why not,ive advised customers before that they should query customs if i feel the charge is perhaps an error
however i cannot waive a charge as i need to keep my accounts up to date
just two days ago we were audited on customs charges tracking/monies

threadless seems one of the companys customs look out for

grondletwerd

We too got caught by this one today, an order for goods from a US based charitable organisation (www.thehungersite.com) for $65 dollars (£32 approx)cost us an additional 42% in VAT and the infamous £8 handling charge.

I can't argue against the VAT (much as I may like to) but the Royal Mail charge now means I have had to tell this excellent charitable organisation we will no longer be able to support them.