UPS import duties agreed to be paid by sender & being chased by ControlAccount

evansguy123

I ordered (and paid) for some running trainers in December 2020 direct from the manufacturer.   Delivery was attempted by UPS in January.  When delivering, UPS requested payment for import duties so I refused delivery.  After contacting the sender by Email, they agreed to handle any fees due.  UPS then re-delivered the parcel and neither demanded any payment nor made any mention of any outstanding fees (which was in line with my expectations as the sender said they would deal with any fees due).

Wind forward about 6 months and I then get a demand from "ControlAccount" for an unpaid invoice to UPS.  ControlAccount have been very difficult to deal with (e.g. not including any information about the unpaid invoice apart that it was UPS, quietly adding collection fees to it and taking weeks to respond to queries).  I've explained the situation to them and provided the proof of the sender agreeing to pay any fees due (a copy of the Email they sent me).

However, they are now saying I need the sender to fill out some form.  Quite frankly I don't see that I am liable for the fees and it is up to ControlAccount/UPS to chase the sender for payment and not my responsibility.  Am I correct or am I somehow liable and need to chase the sender?

user1977

The sender might have agreed with you that they'd meet the costs, but had they agreed that with UPS? I don't see why you wouldn't be liable as far as UPS are concerned  - whether you can get the sender to reimburse you is your problem.

evansguy123

user1977 said:

The sender might have agreed with you that they'd meet the costs, but had they agreed that with UPS? I don't see why you wouldn't be liable as far as UPS are concerned  - whether you can get the sender to reimburse you is your problem.

Clearly, I am not privy to the correspondence between UPS and the sender.  However, if I was still liable why didn't UPS inform me on the re-delivery that there were will still outstanding fees due and demand payment (like they did on the initial delivery attempt)?   How could I reasonably know that I was liable for the import duties at this point - if I had I would have refused delivery again.

y3sitsm3

evansguy123 said:

user1977 said:

The sender might have agreed with you that they'd meet the costs, but had they agreed that with UPS? I don't see why you wouldn't be liable as far as UPS are concerned  - whether you can get the sender to reimburse you is your problem.

Clearly, I am not privy to the correspondence between UPS and the sender.  However, if I was still liable why didn't UPS inform me on the re-delivery that there were will still outstanding fees due and demand payment (like they did on the initial delivery attempt)?   How could I reasonably know that I was liable for the import duties at this point - if I had I would have refused delivery again.

As the importer you're always legally going to be liable for the duty/VAT.  It's not uncommon for couriers to deliver and bill later, and that is not a reason to refuse to pay.  If the seller has agreed to pay the duty/VAT then you need to pay off Control Account and chase the seller.

evansguy123

But how do I know (and become liable) for any import costs if I am not informed of them by the courier at delivery time?  What is stopping me from shipping parcels from the US to the UK, the courier delivering them and subsequently invoicing the poor recipients?!

y3sitsm3

evansguy123 said:

But how do I know (and become liable) for any import costs if I am not informed of them by the courier at delivery time?  What is stopping me from shipping parcels from the US to the UK, the courier delivering them and subsequently invoicing the poor recipients?!

Because the law says you are.

user1977

evansguy123 said:

user1977 said:

The sender might have agreed with you that they'd meet the costs, but had they agreed that with UPS? I don't see why you wouldn't be liable as far as UPS are concerned  - whether you can get the sender to reimburse you is your problem.

Clearly, I am not privy to the correspondence between UPS and the sender.  However, if I was still liable why didn't UPS inform me on the re-delivery that there were will still outstanding fees due and demand payment (like they did on the initial delivery attempt)?   How could I reasonably know that I was liable for the import duties at this point - if I had I would have refused delivery again.

Because you're the importer, and the default is that you pay the duties. It's commonplace for the demand to come separately from the delivery.

If you expected something else to happen, you should have arranged this at the outset. It sounds odd for the manufacturer to have agreed to pick up your costs after delivery had been attempted - if they were willing to do that at all I'd expect they'd want to reflect it in the price.

evansguy123

Hmm ok.  Can you point me at the relevant legislation because this seems crazy!

evansguy123

Because you're the importer, and the default is that you pay the duties. It's commonplace for the demand to come separately from the delivery.

If you expected something else to happen, you should have arranged this at the outset. It sounds odd for the manufacturer to have agreed to pick up your costs after delivery had been attempted - if they were willing to do that at all I'd expect they'd want to reflect it in the price.

I suspect this is because I ordered prior to Brexit happening (ordered and paid for in December 2020) from a site where it wasn't clear they were being shipped from Italy and not the UK (e.g. paid for in £, VAT at 20% charged etc).  Along with lots of other companies, I don't think they were setup for Brexit.  (The cost of the trainers was good, but not majorily cheaper than I could have potentially bought elsewhere. )

Thrugelmir

UPS acts an unpaid tax collector for the UK Treasury. Not the resources to handle disputes. Nor will they pay the debt out of their own funds. They progressively escalate the matter you until the debt is paid. All costs incurred by them will be at your expense. 

UPS most likely made a decision to clear their depots of goods rather than return them. Which they'll do now. 

Aylesbury_Duck

evansguy123 said:

But how do I know (and become liable) for any import costs if I am not informed of them by the courier at delivery time?  What is stopping me from shipping parcels from the US to the UK, the courier delivering them and subsequently invoicing the poor recipients?!

Because you are liable by law.  It's a responsibility you agree to assume when you import goods.

Nothing's stopping you from shipping parcels from the US to the UK, but why on earth would you do that unless someone was buying from you as a US supplier?