DHL - resolving customs fee issue

pmcgurk

Need help getting DHL to update customs/fees status (UK)

Short version:

- my daughter forgot her phone in Tampa airport
- we flew home to the UK
- phone was found and they kindly agreed to pack it for shipping
- shipment was collected and sent.
- it’s in my local delivery depot
- DHL have decided import tax is due

It’s the last point that I’ve spent 3 days trying to resolve.

I have:

- called both DHL customer support and the dedicated tax/duty line (03442090102) multiple times

- I have provided a detailed declaration of why this is tax exempt (link at bottom of this post)

- I have emailed said document to multiple email addresses advised by DHL:

gbtcdesk
ukinvoicequeries
picollections

- The delivery was due today but cancelled because of the unpaid customs charges.

- I called customer support on 0344 248 0012 and got someone who understood. He put me on hold and spoke to the PI collections team who confirmed they were working on getting the charges removed.

- nothing has changed in the status yet and I’m getting increasingly hysterical emails and WhatsApps from DHL telling me to pay up.

It’s getting comical now.

Someone, somewhere in the DHL UK machine has the knowledge and ability to resolve this.

My daughter just wants her phone.

Any pointers about who to contact/what to do are most welcome.

If the status hasn’t changed in the morning I’m considering driving down to the depot with all the documents and sitting there until this is resolved.

Declaration

GavCB

why not pay the custom charges just to get it back?

MyRealNameToo

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6681238/dhl-resolving-customs-fee-issue

DHL act as your agents, they put the details from the customs declaration forms as filled in by the sender into the governments CDS system which tells them what taxes are due, they pay them, they then send you a bill for those taxes plus their handling charge. Presumably the parcel tracking shows its left the airport already if they are talking of delivery date in which case customs has been cleared and DHL already been build for the monies.

You should ask a copy of the declaration, this will be what they actually put into the CDS. I dont know who created the linked image but that is vastly too verbose and the agent who has to type everything into CDS has very limited time to rekey everything and won't have minutes to read through 8 paragraphs of text to try and find which code they should be entering.

There are various reasons why things may have failed, ideally you would be able to convince DHL to amend the import declaration to claim returned goods relief using additional procedure code F05 and procedure code 6123 and given there is no export declaration to declare it against code ZZZ in DE2/1.

It could be they read and entered it but it was rejected, potentially as the sender wasnt you again hampered by the vast amount of text.

The quickest way to get the phone will be to pay it and then attempt to reclaim it via C285 where you can include your evidence of the export in absence of the MRM

MattMattMattUK

DHL will not refund you or "amend", the invoice as it is factually correct for the goods as declared. What you need to do is pay DHL, who will have already paid HMRC, you then need to claim the overpayment from HMRC. If you do not pay DHL they will add more charges and take legal action, driving to the depot, complaining, sending emails or letters will get you nowhere. If you wan the phone you need to pay, note that after a period of time (I think 28 days), they will dispose of the phone, but you will still be legally liable for the VAT and duty.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/how-to-claim-a-repayment-of-import-duty-and-vat-if-youve-overpaid

sheramber

DHL didn’t decide to charge import duty.

His Majesty Customs decided to charge duty based on the customs declaration that accompanied the phone.

DHL merely paid what HM Customs charged to allow the parcel to clear customs.

The only people who can review the charge are HM Customs.