Laptop fixed under warranty, huge customs fee.

ChuggyMcFluff

Hi All,

I've been looking around for advice, I don't really know where to start so I've decided here! 

I purchased a laptop from a company in Germany as it had the spec/price that I was looking for, It was also getting glowing reviews all over the internet.
I purchased a 2 year platinum warranty for piece of mind as it was an overseas purchase.

At about 8 months old (October just gone), it developed a fault. I created an RMA with the company and my first shock was to find that it was going to cost me £150 to return. When looking at the warranty details, the company state that they only supply paid return shipping labels for Germany and countries in the EU.

I stomached the cost and sent the machine back. After being lost for 3 weeks, it eventually turned up and was repaired. I THEN received an email from UPS stating that I owed £416 fee to receive the laptop back!!! On contacting the company again, they told me not to pay as I shouldn't have to pay for warranty returns. This seems to be backed up by the UK GOV website. It was almost impossible to get anything legible from UPS over their call centre phone lines so I tried their Facebook page. They were adamant that I owed the fee.

I went back to the company who I purchased the laptop from and they told me not to pay and that they would contact UPS and get it sorted. I've started having letters from UPS stating that I owe extra money as I haven't collected the parcel and the company I purchased from have ignored my latest email.

The laptop was on offer and worked out at about £2050 but when sent back, the company put the original cost worth before the offer price on the shipping documentation which was around 2300 euros.

If I have to pay, it's not really going to be economically viable as the risk of it going wrong again is most likely quite high (I've worked in IT for 30 years!), meaning another £550 if I were to pay up this time.

So I'm really looking for advice as to what to do next....

If anyone has any suggestions as to anyone I could contact, it would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

Mark

Lorian

I'm no expert but I expect this is what you need
Report incorrect Customs Duty or VAT on items imported by post (BOR286) - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

sheramber

HM customs levy any custom charges and UPS pay it on your behalf.  UPS have no control over the charges.

It would appear the company did not complete the customs declaration correctly, leading to the charge being made.

DullGreyGuy

Did you pay VAT/Duty when you brought in the first time?

In theory assuming it was a no cost repair with no upgrades then you should be able to get relief however you need to ensure you correctly declared the goods on export and the sender needed to correctly mark them on return. It is possible to retrospectively ask for relief but you'll need to submit your evidence of them having been exported correctly etc. 

WhiskersTheWonderCat

ChuggyMcFluff said:

If I have to pay, it's not really going to be economically viable as the risk of it going wrong again is most likely quite high (I've worked in IT for 30 years!), meaning another £550 if I were to pay up this time.

You say "if you were to pay up", but UPS are going to come for the money irrespective of whether you want the laptop back or not. They have already paid the duty on your behalf, and they aren't just going to let it slide. 

Manxman_in_exile

This question has cropped up before on here but the search function is so poor I've no idea how to find previous answers.

Assuming that you paid all the appropriate VAT and import charges when you imported the laptop originally, you shouldn't have to pay any more* on re-import after it's been fixed.

But that is dependent on you having filled out the correct HMRC forms when you sent it back to Germany, and on the German seller correctly filling out the appropriate declaration forms when they sent it back to you after being fixed.

If I were you I would contact HMRC and ask their advice pronto as to what you should do.  In particular get confirmation that UPS have actually paid the charges they've told you they have.

In the short term, I suspect @WhiskersTheWonderCat might be correct and that you will have to pay UPS and then reclaim the money from HMRC.  I think the point is that if UPS have actually paid these charges in good faith, then it's probably not their fault that they have done so - it's more likely because either you or the repairer filled out the customs forms wrongly.


*If you were being charged for the repair you might have to pay duty on the value of the repair, but I assume this repair is free?