UPS VAT & Brokerage charges

Aylesbury_Duck

LittleOyster said:

Thank you for all your comments. I contacted HMRC and they said that the issue lays with me and UPS.  I wrote to UPS on 19 March and heard nothing back and today I wrote to them again. I managed to get hold of a woman in UPS and she said that she has emailed the brokerage and said they would call me back. She states that the invoice is correct and that the item was insured for 18000 not 1800. I have contacted the seller and he laughed and said he wished he had received 18000 for the items (key ring and pen) and said he would send me a copy of the invoice,; all positive but UPS have sent me a statement where they are now charging me a weekly rate for not paying the original bill. I feel upset and a little frightened by all of this. Today I received another envelope from UPS but I darent open it.

It's sensible to open and read it - you need to be working with current information.

Are we any closer to knowing where the error crept in?  Who valued the package at 10x its real value?  HMRC's response suggests it was UPS's error.

Manxman_in_exile

Yes - you need to read the latest letter from UPS.

I would be inclined to contact UPS again and ask to see evidence of their claim that it was "insured" for 18000Kr and suggest to them that that is obviously a typo - and one that is easily done.  (I'm also confused as to why the insured value is relevant?  Isn't it the customs declaration value that is relevant?).

Hopefully, if there was a typo that has affected the duty charge, it wasn't made by the seller.

I don't suppose you were able to get HMRC to confirm how much duty had actually been paid?  Is it the same amount UPS are charging you for?

visidigi

LittleOyster said:

Thank you for all your comments. I contacted HMRC and they said that the issue lays with me and UPS.  I wrote to UPS on 19 March and heard nothing back and today I wrote to them again. I managed to get hold of a woman in UPS and she said that she has emailed the brokerage and said they would call me back. She states that the invoice is correct and that the item was insured for 18000 not 1800. I have contacted the seller and he laughed and said he wished he had received 18000 for the items (key ring and pen) and said he would send me a copy of the invoice,; all positive but UPS have sent me a statement where they are now charging me a weekly rate for not paying the original bill. I feel upset and a little frightened by all of this. Today I received another envelope from UPS but I darent open it.

Okay, so thats not possible.

UPS wont let you insure goods for more than the declared value for customs.And the insured value is not used for clearance, the customs value is.

Given this and the other posts appearing on this forum is very clear UPS have a significant problem going on.

Don't ignore the letters. but I am siding with HMRC on this one, you have to make UPS see sense.

MattMattMattUK

LittleOyster said:

Thank you for all your comments. I contacted HMRC and they said that the issue lays with me and UPS.  I wrote to UPS on 19 March and heard nothing back and today I wrote to them again. I managed to get hold of a woman in UPS and she said that she has emailed the brokerage and said they would call me back. She states that the invoice is correct and that the item was insured for 18000 not 1800. I have contacted the seller and he laughed and said he wished he had received 18000 for the items (key ring and pen) and said he would send me a copy of the invoice,; all positive but UPS have sent me a statement where they are now charging me a weekly rate for not paying the original bill. I feel upset and a little frightened by all of this. Today I received another envelope from UPS but I darent open it.

What does the UPS commercial invoice on the shipment say is the value (the commercial invoice is the paperwork supplied by the supplier/exporter to UPS, UPS will not generate this themselves)? If it is a paper shipment then the invoice the supplier issued will have been attached to the box, if it is a paperless shipment then the invoice will be available via the online tracking.

That documentation is created by the supplier/exporter when booking in the consignment rather than UPS themselves (UPS will only intervene when an item is obviously undervalued for the purposes of evading import duties and taxes). If the value on the commercial invoice was 1,800 Kr then the issue is a UPS error in the brokerage, if the value on the commercial invoice is 18,000 Kr then the issue is with your supplier

LittleOyster

I contacted the supplier yesterday because I had missplaced the original sales invoice and they sent me a copy. I forward it to UPS.  I called UPS yesterday and managed to get hold of someone. She said that she would contact the broker and that they would call me to discuss but no one called. I wrote again and email to customer services, but just got an automated response.  Thats 4 emails in 5 weeks and no response. Today through the post I received yet another invoice from them. Thats one every day, but I darent open them. I am feeling so stressed by the whole affair. Both the invoice and the customs declaration state 1800 kroner. The first invoice from UPS state 18000 kroner. One 0 extra.  I think I will have to try and get some consumer legal advice

visidigi

LittleOyster said:

I contacted the supplier yesterday because I had missplaced the original sales invoice and they sent me a copy. I forward it to UPS.  I called UPS yesterday and managed to get hold of someone. She said that she would contact the broker and that they would call me to discuss but no one called. I wrote again and email to customer services, but just got an automated response.  Thats 4 emails in 5 weeks and no response. Today through the post I received yet another invoice from them. Thats one every day, but I darent open them. I am feeling so stressed by the whole affair. Both the invoice and the customs declaration state 1800 kroner. The first invoice from UPS state 18000 kroner. One 0 extra.  I think I will have to try and get some consumer legal advice

I would DM them on twitter.

They seem to deal with it if you send them the right information.

https://twitter.com/upshelp_uk?lang=en

LittleOyster

I tweeted them