UPDATE - RESOLVED: Possible charges after Brexit

WonkeyDonkey

Morning all
I purchased an item between Christmas and New Year from what appears to be a UK company, but their parent company is based in Finland. My invoice and confirmation of my order clearly states no delivery charges and that it will be shipped by DHL. The item finally shipped on 14th January but to my surprise it came from a warehouse in Finland and instead by UPS. UPS have had my parcel since 14th and despite the tracking information updating everyday I still haven’t received it. 

Now there’s the possibility of charges being added for the goods being sent from the EU, which will make the item a lot less of a good deal. It was less than £135. 

Is it misleading for the order to be handled by a UK company but shipped from outside the UK? 

Do you think proof of free delivery is sufficient for me to be able to make a claim should UPS refuse to deliver without payment of charges?

Thanks

montyrebel

what makes you think it was ordered from a uk company?

Aylesbury_Duck

What would you claim for?  If you owe taxes on the item, that's not the fault of the retailer, it's your responsibility to pay any taxes due.

WonkeyDonkey

montyrebel said:

what makes you think it was ordered from a uk company?

The confirmation of my order and the invoice clearly state “Your order is handled by...” and includes the name of the UK company based in Surrey. 

Sandtree

WonkeyDonkey said:

Is it misleading for the order to be handled by a UK company but shipped from outside the UK? 

Do you think proof of free delivery is sufficient for me to be able to make a claim should UPS refuse to deliver without payment of charges?

If its in the T&Cs that it will ship from the UK or that there are no additional taxes etc to pay then it would be. More likely here we are talking about it being your assumption that it would ship from the UK in which case its not misleading.

There is no such thing as free delivery, DHL and FedEx don't deliver this out the goodness of their hearts. There is delivery with an explicit charge or there is delivery where the cost is baked into the price of the items so no separate charge is made. The fact the merchant has hidden the cost of delivery in the price of the items doesnt mean you get out of paying the courier for clearing customs for you.

WonkeyDonkey

Aylesbury_Duck said:

What would you claim for?  If you owe taxes on the item, that's not the fault of the retailer, it's your responsibility to pay any taxes due.

I’d agree with that if I was made aware of taxes that might be due, but throughout the process I was led to believe that I was purchasing from a UK based company. My invoice states the VAT that I’m paying and is included in the total amount paid. The goods are priced under £135 so there should be no customs duty. 

The delivery line on the invoice is £0, so I don’t believe that I should be charged delivery retrospectively, unless I’m missing the point. 

DCFC79

You can post the name of the website or just PM me the name of the site and Ill have a look.

daveyjp

Unfortunately there have been some quite major changes to imported good charges in the last three weeks.

What you believe should happen may not end up being reality,  You may get your parcel simply handed over to you, but you may get the parcel and an invoice for additional charges.

How you deal with the second scenario is what you need to prepare for.  You have the company details so the obvious way forward is to contact them and ask what they expect to happen and what they will do if there are extra charges imposed.

Sandtree

WonkeyDonkey said:

I’d agree with that if I was made aware of taxes that might be due, but throughout the process I was led to believe that I was purchasing from a UK based company. My invoice states the VAT that I’m paying and is included in the total amount paid. The goods are priced under £135 so there should be no customs duty. 

The delivery line on the invoice is £0, so I don’t believe that I should be charged delivery retrospectively, unless I’m missing the point. 

What is the company in question?

Delivery isnt being charged separately by the merchant so the invoice is correct. The courier may charge you a handling fee for clearing customs for you.

You can always refuse delivery or refuse to pay the taxes (if they ask for pre-payment) in which case the goods will be returned to the merchant and you wont owe anything.

finalfantasist

WonkeyDonkey said:

Aylesbury_Duck said:

What would you claim for?  If you owe taxes on the item, that's not the fault of the retailer, it's your responsibility to pay any taxes due.

I’d agree with that if I was made aware of taxes that might be due, but throughout the process I was led to believe that I was purchasing from a UK based company. My invoice states the VAT that I’m paying and is included in the total amount paid. The goods are priced under £135 so there should be no customs duty. 

The delivery line on the invoice is £0, so I don’t believe that I should be charged delivery retrospectively, unless I’m missing the point. 

I've ordered mobile phones before (on release day) from UK retailers (in this case Apple) and they were sent directly from the factory in China to my door.  Granted, they paid all the customs charges but everything was in pounds and pence on the website, the invoice was all in pounds and pence and from a UK (although I think they are technically based in Ireland) address.  I also ordered a hat from Amazon UK recently (and from Amazon themselves, not a third party seller) and they shipped it from Germany.

It happens, and unless they specifically state goods are being shipped from the UK, you can't assume they are.

JJ_Egan

Handled  suggest a drop  shipping service

(Your order is handled by...” and includes the name of the UK company based in Surrey. )

I bought from the USA last year but shipped from a large drop ship depot in the UK .