Stuck in customs

RFW

Mr_Singleton wrote: »

Yes, sort of.... it’s Parcelforce. What do you mean by ‘serious hold ups’?

Also, was talking to a colleague on Friday and he was saying that every single item he gets from the USA gets slapped with some sort of customs charge whereas he’s never ever had a single charge on anything from China irrespective of actual value. The Chinese declared value has never been more than $10usd even on items worth in the £100’s. Am wondering if something dodgy is going on

I only know what I've been told which was actually from a Chinese company. They send thousands of parcels per week to the UK and they've gone from having just the odd one stopped to having all of them. No idea if it's specific to this company (as far as China goes they're relatively honest!) or if it's more a wholesale crackdown.

RFW

Mr_Singleton wrote: »

Wonder if there are any other branchs of govt. that are outsourcing Tax collection to a private company which charges a mandatory and what appears to be completely arbitrary fee.

I agree. The problem is no one is that bothered. The people that get the charges only get the odd charge here and there and those that have regular charges use different methods for importing.


I've said on here before that I wonder if the charges are legal. If you get a fee then the courier should be going after the sender who has the initial contract. As receiver of the goods I haven't ever signed up to pay a courier fee, I am, of course, legally obliged to pay any taxes.

martindow

RFW wrote: »

I only know what I've been told which was actually from a Chinese company. They send thousands of parcels per week to the UK and they've gone from having just the odd one stopped to having all of them. No idea if it's specific to this company (as far as China goes they're relatively honest!) or if it's more a wholesale crackdown.

It's about time there was a crackdown on under-declared and mis-declared shipments and if that is happening it can only be a good thing. There seem to be massive operations defrauding the country of billions in VAT payments.


https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/mar/08/uk-faces-2bn-fine-over-chinese-imports-scam-say-eu-anti-fraud-investigators

Mr_Singleton

Yes, read that at the time..... it adds more fuel to the fire of what’s going on re. Chinese small scale imports via the postal system. Seems to be an open secret that Chinese companies are deliberately mis-declaring items to avoid custom/duty payments. Over the years I’m certain that this is and has been going on on an industrial scale. Why aren’t the authorities clamping down? Why do they appear to be turning a blind eye to Chinese imports but go after ANYTHING from the USA. Collusion???