Royal Mail £8 Internal Post Handling Fee scam?

uguay

Hi,

Sorry, haven't read the whole thread but have a related query someone might be able to help me with.

I've been stung with this duty situation and the £8 RM processing fee before, and so am naturally feeling cautious.

Basically, I wish to order some trainers via amazon which would be coming from the US. Amazon says they want to apply a 'Import Fees Deposit' which is an estimate of the likely fees applicable, which the carrier will use to pay fees on my behalf, and if the fees are actually less - they will refund the difference in due course, but I will not be charged anything higher than the estimated deposit to be deducted. The amount they want to apply is £6.74, and as this is less than RM's exorbitant £8 handling fee alone, I'm concerned I still might get the card through the door from RM demanding more money prior to delivery on top.

Does anyone have any experience of this particular situation?

Nilrem

IIRC the Amazon "import fees deposit" is a way they arrange for the fees to be paid out of a holding account and thus it should avoid the handling fee.
Basically they've worked out the likely tax and if you agree to use their service you shouldn't (in theory) get the handling fee, just probably pay the tax out of the extra money you've paid them (any left over gets refunded to you).

I'm guessing you're looking at using their expedited shipping or similar, which from memory often uses DHL to get to the UK.

uguay

Ok, that's very good to know, having read around it wasn't clear whether the handling fee would still be applicable, it seems some folks have subsequently still had the dreaded card through the letterbox, and then had varying degrees of success claiming that amount back from amazon, who often seem to reply with a standard (fairly non-sequitur) email. I think I'll just take a chance.

The item comes with an £8.15 delivery charge, which isn't the most express option, but I wasn't thinking of upgrading as I'm not in a rush. I assume that wouldn't make any difference as to the applicability of the handling fee, or are you saying that may it vary from carrier to carrier?

consumerwarrior_2

I managed to get a refund following a guide on AsHappyAs. I can't share the link on here but you can Google "Why Parcelforce and Royal Mail charge a clearance/admin fee and how you can avoid paying it" and you'll see it. Worked a treat for me!

custardy

consumerwarrior wrote: »

I managed to get a refund following a guide on AsHappyAs. I can't share the link on here but you can Google "Why Parcelforce and Royal Mail charge a clearance/admin fee and how you can avoid paying it" and you'll see it. Worked a treat for me!

Heres the link

https://www.ashappyas.com/stories/2195-why-parcelforce-charge-a-clearance-admin-fee-and-how-you-can-avoid-paying-it

Now heres the good bit

Parcelforce and Royal Mail have taken it upon themselves to earn extra cash by paying the customs and VAT on your behalf and then charging you for that service. A service which you never asked for.

So,when you ordered your widget. You agreed to T&Cs rendering you liable for any import taxes.
so what was the plan?
I couldnt care either way but people ultimately seem to want everyone to pay for clearance of items with VAT/duty to pay.
The carriers arent gonig to take the hit,so it will be paid one way or another.
Even better with brexit on the horizon. What if the carriers just start leaving parcels with HMRC?

consumerwarrior_2

custardy wrote: »

So,when you ordered your widget. You agreed to T&Cs rendering you liable for any import taxes.
so what was the plan?
I couldnt care either way but people ultimately seem to want everyone to pay for clearance of items with VAT/duty to pay.
The carriers arent gonig to take the hit,so it will be paid one way or another.
Even better with brexit on the horizon. What if the carriers just start leaving parcels with HMRC?

I agreed to pay the VAT and other import duties but I already paid the seller for shipping so I don't see why I owe parcelforce or royal mail extra money for them paying the duties on my behalf. I should only owe them what they paid to HMRC. The way I see it is that royal mail are just a continuation of the shipping service that originated in the sender's country.

Imagine booking a flight from say London to China with British Airways. You have to connect onto a different flight in Hong Kong for the final leg of the journey and this is sometimes done by a partner airline - lets say Cathay Pacific. You wouldn't expect the partner airline (Cathay) to suddenly impose an extra tax charge on you. It was all paid for as part of the one flight booking with the original airline.

Royal Mail are playing the part of Cathay and trying to sneak in extra cash in a very dubious way i think. If the card company agrees then there must be something up with this practice.

custardy

consumerwarrior wrote: »

I agreed to pay the VAT and other import duties but I already paid the seller for shipping so I don't see why I owe parcelforce or royal mail extra money for them paying the duties on my behalf. I should only owe them what they paid to HMRC. The way I see it is that royal mail are just a continuation of the shipping service that originated in the sender's country.

Imagine booking a flight from say London to China with British Airways. You have to connect onto a different flight in Hong Kong for the final leg of the journey and this is sometimes done by a partner airline - lets say Cathay Pacific. You wouldn't expect the partner airline (Cathay) to suddenly impose an extra tax charge on you. It was all paid for as part of the one flight booking with the original airline.

Royal Mail are playing the part of Cathay and trying to sneak in extra cash in a very dubious way i think. If the card company agrees then there must be something up with this practice.

So once again. What was the plan?

pmduk

Surely if people buy goods from overseas without making arrangements to pay for any customs, duties and/or taxes involved it's a bit rich of them to accuse other people of scamming. One can only assume they were hoping not to pay these charges.

[Deleted User]

pmduk wrote: »

One can only assume they were hoping not to pay these charges.

That would indeed seem to be a valid assumption, but an unwise allegation..

sheramber

consumerwarrior wrote: »

I agreed to pay the VAT and other import duties but I already paid the seller for shipping so I don't see why I owe parcelforce or royal mail extra money for them paying the duties on my behalf. I should only owe them what they paid to HMRC. The way I see it is that royal mail are just a continuation of the shipping service that originated in the sender's country.

Imagine booking a flight from say London to China with British Airways. You have to connect onto a different flight in Hong Kong for the final leg of the journey and this is sometimes done by a partner airline - lets say Cathay Pacific. You wouldn't expect the partner airline (Cathay) to suddenly impose an extra tax charge on you. It was all paid for as part of the one flight booking with the original airline.

Royal Mail are playing the part of Cathay and trying to sneak in extra cash in a very dubious way i think. If the card company agrees then there must be something up with this practice.

You are paying an administration charge to RM for them doing the work on your behalf.

You could have gone to the customs depot yourself to pay these amounts and collect your parcel but that would no doubt have cost you more than the handling charge.