Customs

Collette_2024

Hi my hi my grandson was on holiday to Germany from Scotland for the Euros games. He was at a nightclub with his friends. When he went back to the hotel he noticed he had left his phone in the club as he tracked it and came up as in the club m, he tried several times going to the club but it was closed as it didn’t reopen until a Friday but he had to fly home on the Thursday. We sent numerous emails, messages to the club, few days after he came home the club sent his mum an email saying they found his phone and we arranged to pay for it to be shipped to aberdeen scotland uk which was £75 but was told that customs most likel charge as well. We were contacted by customs saying they had the phone but would have to pay £215.00 for them to send it to us. Which my daughter also paid the £215.00 to customs and £75 for shipping. My daughter either phoned customs to ask when it be posted to them or they sent email saying that they sent the phone back to Germany saying problem with shipping label. To get the phone returned we will have to pay another £75 shipping fee and  another £215 to customs which woukd make total payment would be £610. If customs knew a problem with shipping label or whatever other issue why would they ask  for the  £215 before they posted it to my grandson, knowing that it couldn’t be delivered. Can anyone help me please. (Removed by Forum Team) 

p00hsticks

Sorry, can't help with your query, but I'd suggest amending your username to make you less identifiable, especially as your issue could leave you vulnerable to scammers. You can get in touch with the forum team to change it via e-mail at forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com or you can click on the red flag at the bottom of your post and report it. 

sheramber

It is normally the courier clearing the customs who contact you . 

How did ‘customs’  contact her?

Phone,email?

Is she sure she was dealing with HM Customs?

soolin

sheramber said:

It is normally the courier clearing the customs who contact you . 

How did ‘customs’  contact her?

Phone,email?

Is she sure she was dealing with HM Customs?

The moment I started reading I was thinking it sounded scammy. Who are 'customs' , can you post up a carefully redacted note of how you were contacted and by whom and where payment was sent?

Hoenir

From your post what stands out is that "Customs don't post items".  What official correspondence has you Grandson received. 

DE_612183

I'm not sure what customs duty you'd have to pay on an item sent from Germany to the UK?

Voyager2002

I think you have been scammed.

Were you given any tracking methods? See if you can establish what happened.

soolin

DE_612183 said:

I'm not sure what customs duty you'd have to pay on an item sent from Germany to the UK?

There will be some import costs but unlikely to be £215 unless this was a very very expensive phone and declaration was made on a high value.

Voyager2002

soolin said:

DE_612183 said:

I'm not sure what customs duty you'd have to pay on an item sent from Germany to the UK?

There will be some import costs but unlikely to be £215 unless this was a very very expensive phone and declaration was made on a high value.

And of course there would be a considerable difference between the duty on a new and on a second-hand item.

DullGreyGuy

DE_612183 said:

I'm not sure what customs duty you'd have to pay on an item sent from Germany to the UK?

VAT for one but it all depends on how the customs form was completed

Voyager2002 said:

soolin said:

DE_612183 said:

I'm not sure what customs duty you'd have to pay on an item sent from Germany to the UK?

There will be some import costs but unlikely to be £215 unless this was a very very expensive phone and declaration was made on a high value.

And of course there would be a considerable difference between the duty on a new and on a second-hand item.

If something is new or secondhand isn't formally part of the standard customs form, you declare what the goods are, what class it is (sales, gift, returned goods etc) and the value. This gets entered into the system and it calculates the values. 

There is inevitably the challenge between declaring the value of a new one such that a replacement can be bought if tis lost or declaring the lowest value possible for tax mitigation but also caps what you'll receive in compensation if it goes AWOL.

Collette_2024 said:

We were contacted by customs saying they had the phone but would have to pay £215.00 for them to send it to us. 

Custom's dont phone people... however the Custom's Team of DHL/FedEx or whichever courier was being used may phone. In my experience they tend to text or email first and then chase by phone but it depends on what communication methods were given to them. When I bought an item from Japan the courier's customs team were in contact before the item even left Japan and in principle it could be they did their bit on that side and when it hit the UK a problem was found with the label 

You really need to find out who they spoke to. Also check with the venue which courier they used and how what they put on the customs declarations forms. 

soolin

I'm rather hoping the OP does come back and update- as I think there is a real potential for issues here .