Customs charges from DHL for an item I no longer own

powerful_Rogue

BT_Broederbund said:

powerful_Rogue said:

I reckon it's a hijacked ebay account.

A hijacked eBay account that actually sends the product it's selling?  And a large product at that?  Are you sure?

Indeed I am. Seen many videos on youtube about hijacked accounts and how they operate. Worth having  search if you're interested.

liamw91

So what advice would you all give? Contact HMRC? 

If I don’t pay am I going down a road of debt collection??

user1977

If the courier has paid the correct amount based on whatever the customs declaration said, they've done nothing wrong and they're entitled to recover the money from you. If you're entitled to a refund, it's up to you to contact HMRC for that.

Aylesbury_Duck

liamw91 said:

So what advice would you all give? Contact HMRC? 

If I don’t pay am I going down a road of debt collection??

1. Yes
2. Probably

tightauldgit

tripled said:

I've never understood how the recipient can be liable for customs charges after an item has been delivered. I've had similar before with Fedex (albeit for a much smaller amount) and I wrote to them saying I had no contract with them and wouldn't be paying any fees, that was the last I heard of it.

DHL has a contract with the sender, not the OP.
DHL chose to clear the parcel through customs without agreeing with the OP they would pay any customs tariffs and service charges due.
DHL delivered the parcel to the OP, again without agreeing with them that they would pay any customs tariffs and service charges.
DHL subsequently sent the OP an invoice.

Had DHL notified the OP there were import taxes and service due, the OP could have refused the item, which would then remain DHL's problem to take up with the sender.

Is there any legal precedent where a courier has successfully taken a recipient to court when the recipient has not paid an invoice in this scenario?

The recipient is responsible for any import charges regardless and in this case, although I appreciate that the OP has been misled, the facts are that they imported a high value item from China and that custom charges are due on it. That he had a separate agreement with the vendor for them to pay the fees (or otherwise to avoid them) is not the concern of DHL or HMRC.

I have some sympathy with the view that they should inform you of charges first so you have the option to reject - but the counter argument would be that the importer should know what fees are due on the items they import. And they'd have lost a pretty expensive item and still had to pursue the seller for a refund. 

From the OP's POV I think the main fact here is that they were misled by the Ebay seller so they should pursue this with Ebay, DHL have a responsibility to collect the tax on behalf of HMRC and I don't think HMRC will really listen to requests to waive the taxes (but it's worth a try I suppose!) 

At the end of the day the contract is between buyer and seller so legally I think they would have to pursue the seller for compensation.