UPS asking me to pay 3000€ to get my parcel back!

custardy

This seems strange.
For carriers its nothing out the ordinary for an item to be returned and duty reclaimed from the local government they paid.

bee91

Manxman_in_exile said:

Not trying to be funny, but what do you intend to do with a £10,000 medical device which you bought as a gift for someone, but for which the recipient of the gift can't afford the French import duties?

If UPS stick their heels in (and I'm not sure what you can realistically do if they continue to be this intransigent) would it be a viable option for you simply to pay UPS the 3000 and have it re-delivered to your friend in France?  That way your friend gets the gift you always intended them to have - the only diffence being that it cost you £12,900 (or whatever) instead of £10,000?

I can see that may not be entirely satisfactory for you, but it might be the best outcome you can achieve if you can't persuade UPS to reclaim the duty themselves.  Better your friend gets it rather than not at all?

That’s what we’ll have to do if we can’t agree but it’s a lot of extra money to pay 😓

bee91

custardy said:

This seems strange.
For carriers its nothing out the ordinary for an item to be returned and duty reclaimed from the local government they paid.

That’s what I thought too 🤷‍♀️ However the lady from UPS we’ve had on the phone said she’s worked for UPS for 25 years and she’s never heard of that. I’m really confused as when I ring customs they said that’s what happens on a regular basis. It’s so frustrating 

Lomast

Have you tried talking to ups in France? They may know the procedure for dealing with French customs better than UK ups

sheramber

If she has ony dealt with European countries then it will not have arisen before.

Manxman_in_exile

sheramber said:

If she has ony dealt with European countries then it will not have arisen before.

That might be the problem.  OP needs to keep asking UPS until they get somebody who can provide a sensible answer.  (As UPS must have made the original import duty, it is not sensible for the OP to reclaim it rather than UPS)

Manxman_in_exile

sheramber said:

If she has ony dealt with European countries then it will not have arisen before.

That might be the problem.  OP needs to keep asking UPS until they get somebody who can provide a sensible answer.  (As UPS must have paid the original import duty, it is not sensible for the OP to reclaim it rather than UPS)

bee91

Well now UPS said they would get rid of the package likely this week unless we pay the tax so we’ll have to pay it 😣 the tax is less cost than the item. I’m just absolutely gutted to pay 3000€ to have the parcel re delivered to my door 😭 

I will do my best to get my money back with customs but I doubt very much they’ll be able to do anything 

Manxman_in_exile

Are you communicating with UPS in this country, or in France, or in Germany?  And who did you contract with originally to deliver the parcel to France?  Was it UPS in this country?

Irrespective of whomever you've been dealing with up to now, I'd make sure I was dealing with the UPS entity that I actually contracted with.  (Hopefully UPS in UK).  Explain to them what has happened.  Tell them you want your parcel back and that it's UPS in France (or whoever originally paid the 3000) that needs to reclaim the duty from French customs.  Tell them you've already spoken to French customs and they have told you that you cannot reclaim the money - UPS have to.  (Or at least I presume that is what they told you).  Instruct them to tell whichever part of UPS is holding the package to suspend their threatened action until this has been sorted out.  Point out that your contract is with them and that you hold them responsible for safely returning the package to you.  Whether that will work or not I don't know, but worth a try.

(I'm afraid it's a bit difficult to tell who you are dealing with, what questions you are asking and what answers they are giving.  It's confusing because you seem to have started off trying to get answers from UK customs when it's got nothing to do with them - or at least it looks as if it's nothing to do with them...  Start asking questions of everybody.)

I hope you correctly declared the nature of the medical device to UPS and that it's not a banned item?  If I were you and I didn't get it back, I'd sue them for it's value.  Destroying goods that don't belong to them is a civil wrong.  (Or it would be in this country.  It's all very confusing and you need to bottom out exactly what has happened, is happening, and who did what.)

bee91

Manxman_in_exile said:

Are you communicating with UPS in this country, or in France, or in Germany?  And who did you contract with originally to deliver the parcel to France?  Was it UPS in this country?

Irrespective of whomever you've been dealing with up to now, I'd make sure I was dealing with the UPS entity that I actually contracted with.  (Hopefully UPS in UK).  Explain to them what has happened.  Tell them you want your parcel back and that it's UPS in France (or whoever originally paid the 3000) that needs to reclaim the duty from French customs.  Tell them you've already spoken to French customs and they have told you that you cannot reclaim the money - UPS have to.  (Or at least I presume that is what they told you).  Instruct them to tell whichever part of UPS is holding the package to suspend their threatened action until this has been sorted out.  Point out that your contract is with them and that you hold them responsible for safely returning the package to you.  Whether that will work or not I don't know, but worth a try.

(I'm afraid it's a bit difficult to tell who you are dealing with, what questions you are asking and what answers they are giving.  It's confusing because you seem to have started off trying to get answers from UK customs when it's got nothing to do with them - or at least it looks as if it's nothing to do with them...  Start asking questions of everybody.)

I hope you correctly declared the nature of the medical device to UPS and that it's not a banned item?  If I were you and I didn't get it back, I'd sue them for it's value.  Destroying goods that don't belong to them is a civil wrong.  (Or it would be in this country.  It's all very confusing and you need to bottom out exactly what has happened, is happening, and who did what.)

It’s been very difficult to know who is asking this money and who we’re dealing with over the phone. With it being an international company I thought they communicated between themselves but it seems they really struggle with communication. Right now we’re dealing with an English lady who called us following a letter we sent to Brussels (she’s part of the UK customer concerns resolution group). Before that it was some call centres I don’t know where and they didn’t have any idea what was going on. We haven’t been dealing with UPS France as we sent the parcel through UPS UK.

 I have read their terms and conditions and they allow themselves to sell or destroy the package if customs clearance isn’t paid.

I presume it’s the french customs that UPS have paid and UPS is now asking me for that money. But it’s all been very poorly communicated, I haven’t received anything asking me to pay, and if I hadn’t been in touch with them they’d have destroyed my package without telling me. Very poor service, I would strongly recommend to stay away from this company.