Being forced to pay Customs charges. Will I get a CCJ?

KeiraW

Hi there, I'm wondering if anybody can help me with some guidance. I have been contacted today via post by a company who are apparently acting as agents for UPS to recover invoice charges.

A long story cut short - in January 2021 I ordered a brand new monitor directly from the BenQ website. A brand of monitors that is widely sold in UK stores. As the one I wanted was sold out in UK stores I went directly to the website and this monitor was going to be delivered to me from the Netherlands.

The company had sent me a faulty monitor and so it was returned after quite a few emails back and forth. I already didn't have a great experience with this company. The issue was resolved and I received a refund April 2021.

Fast forward to today (8th July 2021). I have received a letter from company acting as the agent of the courier stating that I must pay a sum of £112.40 for the shipment of this item from Europe to the UK as the company have a failed to pay the shipment cost so I become legally liable for the funds to be paid. They state that this must be paid within 7 days otherwise further charges will be incurred. 

I have never had any debt at all, I have had good credit for sometime, I have worked really hard to ensure that I am never in any financial trouble and now I am currently trying to buy my first property. This has really stressed me out and worried me as I feel like I am being penalised for something that is not my fault and I am having to pay for the shipment cost of a monitor I no longer have because it was faulty in the first place. I have reached out to the company I purchased the monitor from, but they don't have a phone number so I've had to email them and as they are closed I probably won't get a response anytime soon. I've also reached out to the courier companies that they haven't really given me any real advice or guidance. I'm just told to email another email address to dispute payment. I have searched for the agent on Google and they have some of the worst reviews I've ever read about a company.

I'm so worried that this might affect my credit score or my rating or even haven't CCJ against my record out of no fault of my own and I don't know how companies like this can get away with it.

Does anybody have any advice or guidance on what I can do next and who I can go to in case they take this matter further and try to force me to pay the funds.

I have a full email thread back and forth to the company that I purchased my monitor from which clearly shows that it was returned due to being faulty. I have all of my original tracking numbers and information about the order as well. Can anything be done so that I do not have to pay these charges.

Thanks in advance for any help that anyone can give.

Keira 

KeiraW

Just boosting this post if anyone can help.

Here is an image of the letter I have recieved. 

CKhalvashi

You will need to prove that the item has been returned, however I'm not 100% sure in the case of a personal import whether you will have to pay and claim or whether DHL can apply for the refund directly (any goods sent to me from outside the UK are clearly marked 'receiver to Customs Clear', so using a different process.

Calling DHL directly likely will settle this matter, as it is them who will need to provide the process to you in their own terms and conditions.

KeiraW

CKhalvashi said:

You will need to prove that the item has been returned, however I'm not 100% sure in the case of a personal import whether you will have to pay and claim or whether DHL can apply for the refund directly (any goods sent to me from outside the UK are clearly marked 'receiver to Customs Clear', so using a different process.

Calling DHL directly likely will settle this matter, as it is them who will need to provide the process to you in their own terms and conditions.

 Hi there,

thank you so much for getting back to me about my situation. I believe this letter is in relation to the very first shipment when I ordered the item directly from the BenQ website. Because the letter says that they are chasing a payment for a shipment from the Netherlands to the UK. I did ring UPS and they asked me to provide original tracking details and i have also sent them an email thread I had with BenQ as proof that the item they sent me was faulty and how the issue was resolved. But I don't know whether this information will do anything in terms of this agent chasing me for payment that was not originally made by UPS for the original shipping. 

I'm really worried that something is going to happen and I have a CCJ being issued and I really hope this isn't the case. 

Keira

CKhalvashi

KeiraW said:

CKhalvashi said:

You will need to prove that the item has been returned, however I'm not 100% sure in the case of a personal import whether you will have to pay and claim or whether DHL can apply for the refund directly (any goods sent to me from outside the UK are clearly marked 'receiver to Customs Clear', so using a different process.

Calling DHL directly likely will settle this matter, as it is them who will need to provide the process to you in their own terms and conditions.

 Hi there,

thank you so much for getting back to me about my situation. I believe this letter is in relation to the very first shipment when I ordered the item directly from the BenQ website. Because the letter says that they are chasing a payment for a shipment from the Netherlands to the UK. I did ring UPS and they asked me to provide original tracking details and i have also sent them an email thread I had with BenQ as proof that the item they sent me was faulty and how the issue was resolved. But I don't know whether this information will do anything in terms of this agent chasing me for payment that was not originally made by UPS for the original shipping. 

I'm really worried that something is going to happen and I have a CCJ being issued and I really hope this isn't the case. 

Keira

You're far from that stage at the moment, and no formal paperwork to that effect has been issued, so there's no reason to worry about this.

If I were you, I'd call UPS to lodge a complaint, potentially re-forward the e-mail thread to them referencing the situation and copy the company that sent this letter into this so everyone is on the same page.

Hopefully this matter will be cleared up, but you will either need to pay UPS and claim back from HMRC, or UPS claim back from HMRC and you are not charged (except potentially a handling fee from UPS which should be no more than about £10), I'm not sure which option this will need to be.

KeiraW

CKhalvashi said:

You're far from that stage at the moment, and no formal paperwork to that effect has been issued, so there's no reason to worry about this.

If I were you, I'd call UPS to lodge a complaint, potentially re-forward the e-mail thread to them referencing the situation and copy the company that sent this letter into this so everyone is on the same page.

Hopefully this matter will be cleared up, but you will either need to pay UPS and claim back from HMRC, or UPS claim back from HMRC and you are not charged (except potentially a handling fee from UPS which should be no more than about £10), I'm not sure which option this will need to be.

Hey, 

Thanks for reaching out to me and explaining this to me. UPS haven't been very helpful, all they said they could do is to open a case and try to revert the invoice back to BenQ the company I bought the product from, but should they refuse, I will have to pay the outstanding invoice as its the receiver's duty to pay the customs charges. 

I've got a migraine with all this hassle. I don't even have the item anymore because it was faulty. 

sourcrates

This is quite a common problem, happens a lot with eBay stuff bought from abroad, where a small amount of import duty is payable.

The thing is, import duty should be paid on goods before delivery takes place, not after the fact.

Although the letter is worded quite aggressively, you will find that after maybe one or two letters, it will all go quiet, and will be forgotten about, this is because as the goods have already been delivered, UPS don`t have a leg to stand on legally.

There will be no CCJ, and it will not affect your credit file as its not a credit related debt.

Of course should your conscience not allow you to sleep over this matter, you are perfectly free to pay them what they are asking, but be aware also there a quite a number of scams doing the rounds.

Batesy1976

sourcrates said:

This is quite a common problem, happens a lot with eBay stuff bought from abroad, where a small amount of import duty is payable.

The thing is, import duty should be paid on goods before delivery takes place, not after the fact.

Although the letter is worded quite aggressively, you will find that after maybe one or two letters, it will all go quiet, and will be forgotten about, this is because as the goods have already been delivered, UPS don`t have a leg to stand on legally.

There will be no CCJ, and it will not affect your credit file as its not a credit related debt.

Of course should your conscience not allow you to sleep over this matter, you are perfectly free to pay them what they are asking, but be aware also there a quite a number of scams doing the rounds.

You're completely wrong, and it wouldn't be the first time.

Import duty/VAT should be paid at source, but often isn't.  That doesn't absolve the recipient of their obligation to pay it.

It also doesn't need to be paid before delivery, although it would be prudent for any courier to insist on payment before delivery to avoid people refusing to pay like the OP.

The OP is legally obliged to pay the UPS bill.  The law specifically states this.  They might not take it to court, but the OP will lose if it gets that far.

[Deleted User]

sourcrates said:

This is quite a common problem, happens a lot with eBay stuff bought from abroad, where a small amount of import duty is payable.

The thing is, import duty should be paid on goods before delivery takes place, not after the fact.

Although the letter is worded quite aggressively, you will find that after maybe one or two letters, it will all go quiet, and will be forgotten about, this is because as the goods have already been delivered, UPS don`t have a leg to stand on legally.

There will be no CCJ, and it will not affect your credit file as its not a credit related debt.

Of course should your conscience not allow you to sleep over this matter, you are perfectly free to pay them what they are asking, but be aware also there a quite a number of scams doing the rounds.

It's quite normal for firms like UPS to pay the VAT via their own deferment account and then bill customers or indeed, deliver and then start chasing the VAT ec. We get this fairly often with Fedex at work on a corporate account

Thrugelmir

What correspondence from UPS have you previously ignored?  

The charges levied should have been paid previously and claim made for reimbursement from the HMRC. 

Link below

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-repayment-or-remission-of-charges-on-rejected-imports-ce1179 

sourcrates

Batesy1976 said:

sourcrates said:

This is quite a common problem, happens a lot with eBay stuff bought from abroad, where a small amount of import duty is payable.

The thing is, import duty should be paid on goods before delivery takes place, not after the fact.

Although the letter is worded quite aggressively, you will find that after maybe one or two letters, it will all go quiet, and will be forgotten about, this is because as the goods have already been delivered, UPS don`t have a leg to stand on legally.

There will be no CCJ, and it will not affect your credit file as its not a credit related debt.

Of course should your conscience not allow you to sleep over this matter, you are perfectly free to pay them what they are asking, but be aware also there a quite a number of scams doing the rounds.

You're completely wrong, and it wouldn't be the first time.

Import duty/VAT should be paid at source, but often isn't.  That doesn't absolve the recipient of their obligation to pay it.

It also doesn't need to be paid before delivery, although it would be prudent for any courier to insist on payment before delivery to avoid people refusing to pay like the OP.

The OP is legally obliged to pay the UPS bill.  The law specifically states this.  They might not take it to court, but the OP will lose if it gets that far.

Well that may well be, but on reading the initial post again, the OP is talking about payment for shipment, they didn`t mention import duty or VAT.


"Fast forward to today (8th July 2021). I have received a letter from company acting as the agent of the courier stating that I must pay a sum of £112.40 for the shipment of this item from Europe to the UK as the company have a failed to pay the shipment cost so I become legally liable for the funds to be paid. They state that this must be paid within 7 days otherwise further charges will be incurred". 


I would expect the OP paid for shipping when the item was ordered, so asking them to pay twice is a tad unfair in my eyes.

I would write a letter of complaint disputing any liability for this, telling them you have paid once, and you don`t intend paying twice.

Is this company based in the UK, if its not there just trying there luck.