Royal Mail messed up

Daiiisy

Hi. So, recently I bought an item from Korea, and I got custom fee along with it, totalling about 12 pounds. With the fee, the item is no longer something I'd keep, since it turned out way too pricy, but oh well.
I got the gray card today with the last saturday date. I went on the site to pay for the fee online, but there was an error telling me that "The customs charge is not yet available for payment as the item has not passed through customs. Please wait to receive an email or text message to pay for your parcel online."
I Dmd Royal mail help on twitter and they said, it was probably scanned wrongly. They then asked me to trying paying with unpaid postage option, which is weird for me, since it's a fee for customs? But I tried anyway, and after entering my ref number, it told me that "The reference number you've entered is for an international item with a customs charge. To pay the customs charge online click here."
Obviously I'm not going to pay for that, without entering reference number, because I don't really know what I'm paying for and if they're not gonna mess up again. I can't go to the delivery office, because it's far away and I don't drive. Even if I did, would RM pay me for petrol because of their mistake? Obviously not.
What should I do in this situation? I was thinking about not paying it and letting them send it back to the original seller, but then I'm losing 25 pounds and I'm afraid I'll get some more fees to pay for not paying for that?
But I also would like my item back and just sell it to my friend.
Sorry for my english, I'm not native. I hope you understand.

societys_child

But I also would like my item back and just sell it to my friend.

You won't get it until you pay the import tax, which consists of the customs charge, plus the Royal Mail customs-charge-collection-fee . .

Daiiisy

But I can't pay it because they messed up?

societys_child

I know . . but I don't have a solution for that.


You'll have to contact them again.

Paul_DNAP

Daiiisy wrote: »

But I can't pay it because they messed up?

Contact them again to reverse the mess, and then pay.

Aylesbury_Duck

Daiiisy wrote: »

But I can't pay it because they messed up?

Leave it then.

If you want the item, you'll have to find a way to sort it out, which means contacting RM.

Fosterdog

Just pay online without the reference number, I get customs fees a few times a year and I never enter the reference and I always get my parcel without all the added drama you are creating for yourself. I don't get what you mean when you say you don't know what you are paying for, you know exactly what you are paying for, the parcel from Korea that you were expecting.

Alternatively take the grey card to your local post office and pay for it with stamps. The card then gets posted back to the delivery office and the parcel delivered in a few days.

divadee

Can you not go in and pay for it at the sorting office? That's what our local office does.

davidmcn

divadee wrote: »

Can you not go in and pay for it at the sorting office?

From the OP:

Daiiisy wrote: »

I can't go to the delivery office, because it's far away and I don't drive.

Daiiisy

They won't know, that I'm paying for that specific package, if I pay for postage, as they suggested. I'm not trying to put myself in a worse situation, so I'm definitely not paying for anything without putting the reference number.

Will I have to pay for anything if they return the package to the seller?

Fosterdog

Daiiisy wrote: »

They won't know, that I'm paying for that specific package, if I pay for postage, as they suggested. I'm not trying to put myself in a worse situation, so I'm definitely not paying for anything without putting the reference number.

Will I have to pay for anything if they return the package to the seller?

They will know because if you do it with stamps you send the card back to them that has your details and if you pay online they also have your details because you have to put your name and address in. You really are making this ridiculously difficult for yourself for no reason. Like I said I do this a few times a year personally and in work we deal with a lot of imports so we get a few customs charges each month and I have never needed to put the reference in when paying online with RM (some other couriers you do need the reference and some you don't) and the correct parcel has always been delivered on the day of my choosing.