Fedex hounding for payment

missunicorn1977

Hi I wondering if anyone can help as my daughter bought some wallpaper for her nursery cost of £175 all in with p&p from Turkey , it arrived and was delivered by Fedex , alls good nursery complete and about a month later a letter and email arrived saying she owes £700 in tax , to cut a long story short after myself getting involved etc , it turns out the seller has stated the sale was 5K!!!! this was not true and the seller has admitted this was a mistake and says will help all he can, my daughter has all information and a receipt and the bank details etc  but Fedex will not take calls or answer emails and not letters saying will goto legal action if not paid straight away , 6 emails and lots of phone calls have been made (when call they just say to email) it is causing a lot of stress to a new mum and I want to try and help all I can , can anyone help please 

Aylesbury_Duck

As I understand it,Fedex have done what your daughter asked them to do - she is the importer and has therefore instructed Fedex to do the customs clearance on her behalf.  Fedex will have paid the tax bill and now require the money (plus an administrative fee for performing that service) from your daughter.

She may have to pay the Fedex bill while the seller sorts things out and then hopefully a refund of the tax is due.

missunicorn1977

Hi thanks so much for your reply but the seller isnt doing anything to be fair he has left it upto my daughter to sort and it was his mistake on the paperwork so I have said not to pay as I dont think she should as not her mistake can you advise any further at all please ? 

Jenni_D

Did the seller actually make a mistake? Or did Fedex misinterpret Turkish Lira as GBP? (The conversion is a little on the low side per today's exchange rate, but it's in the ballpark).

Keep_pedalling

It is likely that your daughter may have to sort this out by getting a refund from HMRC as she is the importer. Had the seller declared the price in lira which had been read as £ at this end. 

missunicorn1977

I think the seller has put more down in case the parcel got lost , he has admitted he did it more and says was a mistake , yes she is the importer but the details are not correct and not her fault just so unsure what to do 

Aylesbury_Duck

missunicorn1977 said:

Hi thanks so much for your reply but the seller isnt doing anything to be fair he has left it upto my daughter to sort and it was his mistake on the paperwork so I have said not to pay as I dont think she should as not her mistake can you advise any further at all please ? 

As someone more knowledgeable than me has pointed out, it's your daughter that needs to sort this out with HMRC.  Meanwhile, she does owe Fedex the money, which is a separate matter.  If she doesn't pay, there's a risk they'll add charges to the amount.

I'm afraid she may have to pay the bill and hope to get most of it back later.

missunicorn1977

Thank you does anyone know where to start with HMRC please 

missunicorn1977

Hi everyone my daugher will be paying this bill and begin the minefield of trying to claim back from HMRC does anyone have any idea of the chances of her getting anything back do you think ? 

Aylesbury_Duck

missunicorn1977 said:

Hi everyone my daugher will be paying this bill and begin the minefield of trying to claim back from HMRC does anyone have any idea of the chances of her getting anything back do you think ? 

No idea of the mathematical probability but if she has proof of what she actually paid, plus correspondence from the vendor that he inflated the value, I'd have thought that would be enough for HMRC.  What has she got to lose by trying?

pinkshoes

5000 Turkish lira is about £120? So sounds like FEDEX has made a mistake. What did the package say? Had the seller written £5000 instead if lira?

Is it possible to pay the tax that would have been due on the correct price she paid? So not paying what they're asking but what is due? 

That way if they take legal action she can show the invoice and show she has paid the correct tax.