Royal Mail £8 Internal Post Handling Fee scam?

Money-Saving-King

Xad wrote: »

Stop being silly, it was a fleeting comment in a post detailing much more, especially the fact that they decided it was literally 1 pence over, not 20p nor 21p, hence i was charged £11.01. I'm not expecting to change anything simply by venting about the ridiculousness of it all, especially because if the item was declared properly by the sender, it would be under the £15 threshold. It was hardly the central point of the post .

On top of that if the item arrived 2 days later, it would have been dealt with in March, and with March's currency conversion, it's under the £15 threshold even with the incorrectly inflated declaration.

So surely your issue is with the sender. So why have you posted in a thread moaning about the fair Royal Mail fee?

marliepanda

I was simply making the point that over is over. Doesnt matter if it's 1p or £100. There has to be a cut off and you were over it.

bradavon

Like most it's the high "handling fee" of £8 I find a rip off. Like the original member of this thread my item cost £22, incurred a £4 customs charge and a whopping £8 handling fee.

Has it ever been answered (and proven) what this handling fee breaks down as?

I read earlier on in the thread it's to send the parcel to Customs and back again. I doubt very much this happens, it'll be sitting at a Royal Mail sorting office.

In fact it definitely won't be that, I can go tonight to the delivery office, pay the fee and pick up the item.

Royal Mail will have a contract with Customs to administer fees and pass them on to Customs, if the item is delivered using their service.

The fees I can work out are:

* Postal fee to fill in the "charge to pay" card.
* Postal fee to deliver the "charge to pay" card
* Admin fee to store the parcel until it's paid for

AFAIK there is no fee to have it re-delivered, for starters you can collect it for free yourself.

So the £8 in reality is just for someone to fill in the card and deliver it, as well as an admin fee for holding the parcel for you, no?

Bearing in mind often these cards are delivered with other post, the postal worker isn't going out of their way. Not the point I suppose though.

Have I missed something?

CiderImbiber wrote: »

The important thing to remember is: is the item being imported worth £15 or more? If it is then it's liable for tax, so expect to pay it.

It's the handling fee, not tax most people have a grievance with.

Charge me missing tax fine, charge me a nominal admin charge "if you must" but I find it hard to believe no profit is being made on an £8 charge.

bradavon

I find the following dubious, in my case there is no postage. It was free postage (technically not true obviously but that's what I officially agreed to):

Why do you have to pay an extra administration fee?

Royal Mail says that the handling charge is needed to cover the cost of working out how much the correct postage should be for the item. Royal Mail also charges for the costs of taking the item out of the normal stream of mail, and writing to the addressee to ask for the extra postage. They don't make a profit out of the handling charge.

Source: http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/nireland/consumer_ni/consumer_post_e/consumer_problems_with_post_e/consumer_problems_with_post_delivery_e/youve_received_a_fee_to_pay_card_from_royal_mail.htm

custardy

bradavon wrote: »

I find the following dubious, in my case there is no postage. It was free postage (technically not true obviously but that's what I officially agreed to):

Why do you have to pay an extra administration fee?

Royal Mail says that the handling charge is needed to cover the cost of working out how much the correct postage should be for the item. Royal Mail also charges for the costs of taking the item out of the normal stream of mail, and writing to the addressee to ask for the extra postage. They don't make a profit out of the handling charge.

Source: http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/nireland/consumer_ni/consumer_post_e/consumer_problems_with_post_e/consumer_problems_with_post_delivery_e/youve_received_a_fee_to_pay_card_from_royal_mail.htm

Great quote.
Now try looking at one that apples to customs clearance,not underpaid postage.
The postage in reference to customs clearance is on the outside of the item.
What you paid is moot. The declaration or what customs deem the value to be is the driving factor.

custardy

bradavon wrote: »

Like most it's the high "handling fee" of £8 I find a rip off. Like the original member of this thread my item cost £22, incurred a £4 customs charge and a whopping £8 handling fee.

Has it ever been answered (and proven) what this handling fee breaks down as?

I read earlier on in the thread it's to send the parcel to Customs and back again. I doubt very much this happens, it'll be sitting at a Royal Mail sorting office.

In fact it definitely won't be that, I can go tonight to the delivery office, pay the fee and pick up the item.

Royal Mail will have a contract with Customs to administer fees and pass them on to Customs, if the item is delivered using their service.

The fees I can work out are:

* Postal fee to fill in the "charge to pay" card.
* Postal fee to deliver the "charge to pay" card
* Admin fee to store the parcel until it's paid for

AFAIK there is no fee to have it re-delivered, for starters you can collect it for free yourself.

So the £8 in reality is just for someone to fill in the card and deliver it, as well as an admin fee for holding the parcel for you, no?

Bearing in mind often these cards are delivered with other post, the postal worker isn't going out of their way. Not the point I suppose though.

Have I missed something?


It's the handling fee, not tax most people have a grievance with.

Charge me missing tax fine, charge me a nominal admin charge "if you must" but I find it hard to believe no profit is being made on an £8 charge.

The fees I can work out are:

* Postal fee to fill in the "charge to pay" card.
* Postal fee to deliver the "charge to pay" card
* Admin fee to store the parcel until it's paid for

So the item comes into the UK mail system.
Then what?

visidigi

bradavon wrote: »

I read earlier on in the thread it's to send the parcel to Customs and back again. I doubt very much this happens, it'll be sitting at a Royal Mail sorting office.

They do send the parcel to Customs, to the shed at the airport for review.

It is not at this point sitting at the postal office.

bradavon wrote: »

In fact it definitely won't be that, I can go tonight to the delivery office, pay the fee and pick up the item.

That's because you got the notification after the fee was paid on your behalf by Royal mail which allowed release from HMRC and allowed it to be moved to the local office for you to collect.

bradavon wrote: »

Royal Mail will have a contract with Customs to administer fees and pass them on to Customs, if the item is delivered using their service.

The fees I can work out are:

* Postal fee to fill in the "charge to pay" card.
* Postal fee to deliver the "charge to pay" card
* Admin fee to store the parcel until it's paid for

RM don't have a 'contract' with HMRC. RM present the package to HMRC to allow for clearance into the country. Without clearance RM are not allowed to deliver the item.

The fee is made up of the advancement of duties and taxes owed at the port of clearance on your behalf, the cost of the RM staff to be at the customs location and/or the HMRC staff to be present at RM locations to allow speedy clearance of the goods.

The postal fee is not part of the £8 as this is a given obligatory service agreed with the origin postal service which sent the item to the UK service.

bradavon wrote: »

So the £8 in reality is just for someone to fill in the card and deliver it, as well as an admin fee for holding the parcel for you, no?

Bearing in mind often these cards are delivered with other post, the postal worker isn't going out of their way. Not the point I suppose though.

Have I missed something?


It's the handling fee, not tax most people have a grievance with.

Charge me missing tax fine, charge me a nominal admin charge "if you must" but I find it hard to believe no profit is being made on an £8 charge.

Can't say if they make profit or not, I expect they do, but why shouldn't they? Should they do everything for cost? This is a privatised company now so expect the £8 to rise too...

bradavon

custardy wrote: »

Great quote.
Now try looking at one that apples to customs clearance,not underpaid postage.

or customs charges if coming from abroad

bananas

visidigi wrote: »

That's because you got the notification after the fee was paid on your behalf by Royal mail which allowed release from HMRC and allowed it to be moved to the local office for you to collect.

Interesting. What if I refuse to pay? Royal Mail will be out of pocket. I guess they'll claim it back.

custardy

bradavon wrote: »

or customs charges if coming from abroad

bananas


Interesting. What if I refuse to pay? Royal Mail will be out of pocket. I guess they'll claim it back.

Refuse to pay,dont pick it up,moon walk up the high street. choice is yours.

bradavon wrote: »

or customs charges if coming from abroad

bananas

Sorry,are you quoting facts or what is written on a 3rd party website?
If its from that site,then I can tell you its a very poorly written page if its intended to give information on custom fee's.
Even on UK postage its at least 2 years out of date

If it was a recorded signed for item, it will be returned after seven days.

However dont let me tie you up with facts.

skitler

custardy wrote: »

So the item comes into the UK mail system.
Then what?

probably...........get lost..;)