Fedex debt collectors after me after company failed to pay import duties

MalMonroe

thedoberman10 said:

It would be *very* unusual for a retailer to agree to pay the import duties in a country they're delivering too - it would make it very complicated for them to price the items on their website for starters and/or work out what delivery costs will be.

Also, even if they did, they'd only be passing the costs on to you, so those £150 shoes would have cost £200+ instead (or, more likely, the postage would have been £50-60 more)

I regularly buy stuff from Europe and have never faced a problem like this before

But we are not in Kansas Europe any more.Toto.  Brexit has a lot to answer for. To all the countries in Europe the UK is now just another foreign country and not part of their consortium. We have no rights.

If the selling company has told you that they will pay import duties then that's what they must do and you'll have to keep chasing them. 

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

MalMonroe said:

thedoberman10 said:

It would be *very* unusual for a retailer to agree to pay the import duties in a country they're delivering too - it would make it very complicated for them to price the items on their website for starters and/or work out what delivery costs will be.

Also, even if they did, they'd only be passing the costs on to you, so those £150 shoes would have cost £200+ instead (or, more likely, the postage would have been £50-60 more)

I regularly buy stuff from Europe and have never faced a problem like this before

But we are not in Kansas Europe any more.Toto.  Brexit has a lot to answer for. To all the countries in Europe the UK is now just another foreign country and not part of their consortium. We have no rights.

If the selling company has told you that they will pay import duties then that's what they must do and you'll have to keep chasing them. 

Tax at the point of sale applies in the EU just as much as the UK, it changed for both them and us and means the country where the consumer is based benefits from the tax. For under 155 EUR (IIRC)  the company should collect and remit the VAT, for over I think customers in say France buying from Germany can expect customs bills. 

The above relates to VAT, I'm not sure how the EU deals additional duties (if they have any). 

Pedant time but we are still in Europe, we left the EU rather than the continent  

Manxman_in_exile

@thedoberman10 -  slightly off topic and a cheeky question, but do you mind me asking why you use Altra shoes?

I'd never heard of them until a couple of months ago when I was looking at some Youtube videos by Mark Lewis - and he loves them.

I do a lot of running and you and he are the only people I've heard mention them.

thedoberman10

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

Do you have a link to the page where they say they'll pay the customs fees?

They state 'Please note that any import fee or additional shipping cost given by Brexit are taken care by Altra Running. You take care of your feet' when you go through to the shopping cart. 

Off the top of my head they are also saying things along the lines of 'we hope you will decide to accept our apologies'

I have also bought off them twice before and they've covered the import duty both times. Thanks for your message. 

Ergates

thedoberman10 said:

You imported the goods, you owed the tax, now you owe Fed-Ex.   If you believe this should have been covered as part of the purchase then you need to pursue the retailer for that, but that isn't Fed-Ex's responsibility.

Yes, hence the post, which in effect is to how to deal with a retailer who is refusing to foot the bill for a mistake they made. 

OK - but you did also ask about how to deal with Fed-Ex.

In terms of dealing them them - do you have anything permanent from them (including an email) where they say they will pay for the import duties?  If it's just something you remember seeing on their website when you placed your order then you're going to struggle.   Them being outside of the UK will make things slightly harder too - but a lot of our consumer laws are aligned to EU consumer laws (for obvious reasons) so you *probably* have similar rights anyway.

In practical terms - getting them to pay Fed Ex directly is unlikely to happen.  I would suggest *you* pay Fed-Ex and hope that you're able to recover the costs from the retailer.  Even if you're not, this will probably lead to a better outcome for you than ignoring Fed-Ex until they escalate.

thedoberman10

Manxman_in_exile said:

@thedoberman10 -  slightly off topic and a cheeky question, but do you mind me asking why you use Altra shoes?

I'd never heard of them until a couple of months ago when I was looking at some Youtube videos by Mark Lewis - and he loves them.

I do a lot of running and you and he are the only people I've heard mention them.

Hahaha I don't mind at all. For two reasons: 1) I have a wide foot. Altra are known for wide toeboxes. 2) They are zero-drop, which in my case encourages me to run with better biomechanics. I.e. with a midfoot or slightly forefoot strike rather than the heel strike that shoes with big drops force me to do. This means less injury and generally a more natural feeling. Also not heelstriking makes far more use of the elastic potential in your arches/achilles - which means better running economy (in my case). 

The Lone Peaks are my favourite. They are glorious. 

They take some getting used to for most people, particularly if they struggle with calf/achilles issues, but I exclusively trail run so the transition was far easier than on road. 

 (PS, love Mark Lewis. Not seen him talk about them but he's a big guy so I imagine he has wide feet too). 

thedoberman10

Ergates s

In terms of dealing them them - do you have anything permanent from them (including an email) where they say they will pay for the import duties?  If it's just something you remember seeing on their website when you placed your order then you're going to struggle.   Them being outside of the UK will make things slightly harder too - but a lot of our consumer laws are aligned to EU consumer laws (for obvious reasons) so you *probably* have similar rights anyway.

In practical terms - getting them to pay Fed Ex directly is unlikely to happen.  I would suggest *you* pay Fed-Ex and hope that you're able to recover the costs from the retailer.  Even if you're not, this will probably lead to a better outcome for you than ignoring Fed-Ex until they escalate.

In the post above yours I wrote what it reads in the 'shopping cart' option on their site. It said that at the time of purchase and still does now. 

You are right, I'm probably going to have to pay FedEx first. 

But what can I do in terms of escalating things with Altra if they continue to ignore me?

sheramber

https://www.altrarunning.eu/eu/faq/shipping-info

WHAT IF I ORDER FROM OUTSIDE THE EUROPEAN UNION?

If you order from a country outside the European Union, any customs duty for import shall be payable by the consignee. The client is advised to contact with customs authorities to verity duties and any restrictions on import.

thedoberman10

sheramber said

WHAT IF I ORDER FROM OUTSIDE THE EUROPEAN UNION?

If you order from a country outside the European Union, any customs duty for import shall be payable by the consignee. The client is advised to contact with customs authorities to verity duties and any restrictions on import.

' 'Please note that any import fee or additional shipping cost given by Brexit are taken care by Altra Running. You take care of your feet'

thedoberman10

It appears they make an exception for the UK