Royal Mail £8 Internal Post Handling Fee scam?

Voyager2002

Fosterdog wrote: »

If courier companies were to do it the way you are suggesting by pre calculating the costs they would have to charge every single person for every single package, considering only around 10% of all items/packages imported actually get checked in customs it would mean everyone is over paying 90% of the time. My brother orders more to be imported than I do and out of a couple of thousand pounds worth of goods with packages arriving on a fortnightly basis he gets each year he has only had to pay for tax, duty, and admin once or twice each year only costing him around £20 in admin fees and around the same in duty and tax. Doing it your way would cost him several hundred pounds a year. The courier doesn't know which packages are going to be checked and need clearance and which ones will pass through unnoticed.

In other words, if the courier companies were to collect tax due at the point of despatch then large-scale tax evasion would be eliminated. That sounds like a very intelligent idea.

seatbeltnoob

RM are bad at collecting duties, I've had loads of stuff go under the radar.


DHL, UPS and the like are different though, they always collect. The admin fees can be a PITA. But if you buy from a responsible seller they will collect the duties from you in advance and pay the courier so they won't have to collect duties from you so they dont need to collect the admin fees.


Just bought a watch from jomashop. They collected $13.50 of duty from me which is basically the 20% VAT. Had I not paid it in advance DHL would have wanted $13.50 (£10) + £11 admin = £21 from me.



On top of that they would have charged duty on the full invoice value (including delivery). Jomashop only collected duty on the items themselves so it works out cheaper this way on 2 fronts.



I would take a chance if it's the incompetant royal mail delivering, but since it's DHL I'm not leaving it to chance.

IWantMyMoneyBack

Does anyone know if every single imported parcel over £15 gets checked because I have had a few parcels in the past which didn't incur these fees and in the last 2 days, I've received 3 cards from Royal Mail. Granted, one of them is worth around £40 but the other 2 are a similar cost to the parcels I used to receive. I know they say any parcel over £15 is liable for these fees but like I said, I never used to face this problem EVERY time I got a parcel. I know you'll think me foolish for ordering so much but the company ships items as and when they come in so it's not like I can just get it all sent in one parcel. I'm actually shocked I have to waste £44 on fees for these 3 parcels. The import fees are fair but £24 on Royal Mail handling fees is ridiculous. And it doesn't end there. I tried paying for the parcel I got a card for yesterday but it wasn't at the post office yet. Came back later, still not there. Got 2 more cards today, went to the post office again and 6pm, all 3 STILL aren't there. Whenever I've had these grey cards in the past, I'd go and pay in the afternoon but God knows what they're doing with my parcels because they're nowhere to be found. It's not like the red cards where you come back after a certain time. And the parcels shouldn't be in the driver's van because I have to pay for them. The post office staff were useless and that's not me being mean because there is one girl there who is lovely but she's on holiday at the moment. Even the shop staff had a look and they were lovely. The post office workers just said "it won't be in yet". I said that's weird (because in the past it's always been there) and she said "no it's not". I wasn't aggressive but I felt like she was giving me attitude. The parcel wasn't there and I wasn't having a go at them but I tried 4 times in 2 days and quite frankly, it's getting a bit of a joke.
Back to the fees/handling charge, is it a new thing for them to check EVERY parcel or are they always meant to have done that because I swear to God, it feels like I'm being targetted and every time they see a box with my name, they think "right, we'll charge him £14.38". It might be that every parcel is checked, I don't know, but considering I never used to get this every parcel and now I do, it genuinely feels like they're doing this to me on purpose. Call me a moaner, I don't care but I am not made of money and yes, I know it's my fault for ordering so many things but my God, they're so bloody greedy.

soolin

IwantMyMoneyBack - can you please add some paragraphs to your post it is hard to read on a screen without breaks.

However, for the first bit I can read , no, not every parcel gets stopped, many get through without being stopped. I also buy a lot from outside the EU and sometimes pay fees and sometimes not.

IWantMyMoneyBack

So I'm not totally crazy in thinking I'm being targetted by Customs/Royal Mail? I know it sounds like a stretch but 3 parcels within 2 days. It's honestly like they're actively searching for parcels with my name on.

KatrinaWaves

IWantMyMoneyBack wrote: »

So I'm not totally crazy in thinking I'm being targetted by Customs/Royal Mail? I know it sounds like a stretch but 3 parcels within 2 days. It's honestly like they're actively searching for parcels with my name on.

You truly think youre that special?

No, theyre not targeting you. They are charging you the due fees on the parcels you are receiving.

For what its worth, I used to get things that slipped the net years ago. Nothing has slipped the net for at least the past 5 years for me.

IWantMyMoneyBack

My mom said I was 😳 I just find it strange how I never used to get this on cheaper parcels over £15 and now it seems to be every time. It's funny how they missed so many parcels before...

custardy

IWantMyMoneyBack wrote: »

Does anyone know if every single imported parcel over £15 gets checked Yes,I do. No they don't because I have had a few parcels in the past which didn't incur these fees and in the last 2 days, I've received 3 cards from Royal Mail. Granted, one of them is worth around £40 but the other 2 are a similar cost to the parcels I used to receive. I know they say No the Government decides this is the charging point any parcel over £15 is liable for these fees but like I said, I never used to face this problem EVERY time I got a parcel. I know you'll think me foolish for ordering so much but the company ships items as and when they come in so it's not like I can just get it all sent in one parcel. I'm actually shocked I have to waste £44 on fees for these 3 parcels. Waste? You mean paying whats due?The import fees are fair but £24 on Royal Mail handling fees is ridiculous. And it doesn't end there. I tried paying for the parcel I got a card for yesterday but it wasn't at the post office yet. Came back later, still not there. Got 2 more cards today, went to the post office again and 6pm, all 3 STILL aren't there. Why are you going to a Post Office? Is that what the card states? Whenever I've had these grey cards in the past, I'd go and pay in the afternoon but God knows what they're doing with my parcels because they're nowhere to be found. It's not like the red cards where you come back after a certain time. And the parcels shouldn't be in the driver's van because I have to pay for them. The post office staff were useless and that's not me being mean because there is one girl there who is lovely but she's on holiday at the moment. Even the shop staff had a look and they were lovely. The post office workers just said "it won't be in yet". I said that's weird (because in the past it's always been there) and she said "no it's not". I wasn't aggressive but I felt like she was giving me attitude. The parcel wasn't there and I wasn't having a go at them but I tried 4 times in 2 days and quite frankly, it's getting a bit of a joke.
Back to the fees/handling charge, is it a new thing for them to check EVERY parcel No, lets get it clear. all parcels are not checked or are they always meant to have done that because I swear to God, it feels like I'm being targetted and every time they see a box with my name, they think "right, we'll charge him £14.38". Get a grip of yourself man *gives 1930's style slap to the face* It might be that every parcel is checked, I don't know, but considering I never used to get this every parcel and now I do, it genuinely feels like they're doing this to me on purpose. Call me a moaner, I don't care but I am not made of money and yes, I know it's my fault for ordering so many things but my God, they're so bloody greedy.

So you feel its greedy to be paid for doing things?

Lets look at it this way. An £8 fee is about 40 minutes of work from a postie in RM.
So do you think 40 minutes work (excluding RMs NIC/pension payments) and a profit (you know,what pays the wages/operational costs) is too high?

IWantMyMoneyBack

I don't know why people like you love telling others they should basically get over it. And yes, £44 is a waste of money when I've already paid for the items and postage. I can't do anything about the import fees but if RM don't check every parcel, why bother doing some? Or why do customs bother doing some? Whoever decides it, I don't know. I'm not saying it's RM's fault; like you said, it's the government but if as you say, not EVERY parel is checked, then clearly it's not a coincidence that I've received 3 of these damn cards in the past 2 days. What is the point in checking "random" parcels anyway? Why not charge everyone or noone? And again, I've been lucky not to get these every time in the past but it definitely feels like they're after me specifically now. I know it's not a conspiracy but something's up. And yes, the card says to go to the post office. I know I'm coming off as uneducated but I don't know a lot about these things. All I know is I never had to pay import/RM fees every time I received a parcel that was say £22. If it was £40ish, I would but now, I'm paying fees on anything over £15, which I know can happen but if it isn't every parcel, then why is it all of mine? I expected to pay some fees but not 3 sets. Despite how it looks, I am not made of money and the sooner the government realises that, the better.

custardy

IWantMyMoneyBack wrote: »

I don't know why people like you love telling others they should basically get over it. And yes, £44 is a waste of money when I've already paid for the items and postage. I can't do anything about the import fees but if RM don't check every parcel, why bother doing some? Or why do customs bother doing some? Whoever decides it, I don't know. I'm not saying it's RM's fault; like you said, it's the government but if as you say, not EVERY parel is checked, then clearly it's not a coincidence that I've received 3 of these damn cards in the past 2 days. What is the point in checking "random" parcels anyway? Why not charge everyone or noone? And again, I've been lucky not to get these every time in the past but it definitely feels like they're after me specifically now. I know it's not a conspiracy but something's up. And yes, the card says to go to the post office. I know I'm coming off as uneducated but I don't know a lot about these things. All I know is I never had to pay import/RM fees every time I received a parcel that was say £22. If it was £40ish, I would but now, I'm paying fees on anything over £15, which I know can happen but if it isn't every parcel, then why is it all of mine? I expected to pay some fees but not 3 sets. Despite how it looks, I am not made of money and the sooner the government realises that, the better.

RM don't check ANY packages. They pass them to Border Force who check and decide if duty is payable.
Its not a coincidence because you, like others bought from the same store. The human beings checking get to know the items likely to be due duty and select those amongst others.
Why not charge everyone? Well not everyone is due duty and if you think every international package should be checked then its aint gonna be £8 and you can add weeks to every packet coming in.
If you order something thats due duty then thats part of the price. I suggest you dont order what you cant afford.

You quite simply come accross as its not fair,why am I getting picked on yadayada. Yet you were fine when your items werent being persecuted but others would have been