UPS advice

LilDevil

Not sure if this is the right place to put this, but here goes!:

I've received a letter this morning from UPS informing me that I have an unpaid bill, they've included invoice no, dates and amount (33.26):eek: - I have no idea what they're talking about!

I have never had an account with them, in fact I've never used them. Do you think this is a scam where someone has somehow got my details and set up an account under my name/address.:mad: :mad: :mad:

The only thing I can think of that might relate to this is when I bought a Nintendo DS Lite just before Xmas which I think arrived before Xmas - we had awful trouble with the seller and I left negative feedback. I paid postage at the time, so am a bit miffed if they've ticked some box saying that the receiver pays.:mad: :mad: :mad:

Incidently, I've tried calling but it seems the office is closed until Monday (now there's a surprise) and there is nothing on the website that I can see that will allow me to access the account or invoice number.

rog2

Unfortunately, LD - Courier firms, including the likes of DHL, INTERLINK EXPRESS and UPS, will ask the sender if he is paying or the customer is paying. Provided that the sender has an account with them, they will, in my experience, just take the sender's word for it, and don't make any prior agreement with the customer.
Usually, though, they ask for payment on delivery and don't, normally, hand over the parcel until they have received payment.
Perhaps the sender has not been paying his account and they (UPS) are trying to re-coup their money by invoicing you.
In any case, provided you have proof that you paid for transport in advance, and did not sign any agreement with UPS, then you should NOT need to pay this invoice. It could just be a mistake by their accounts department, and, hopefully, it will all be sorted when you speak to them on Monday.

Nilrem

Where did you buy the DS from?
If it was outside of the UK then £33 is probably the VAT/Duty and a handling fee (UPS pay the customs charges then claim it back off you, along with a handling fee).

LilDevil

Just called UPS and it was for a Nintendo DS Lite I bought for a Xmas pressie. Unfortunately the item has been deleted from Ebay but as far as I remember, there was no mention of it coming via Hong Kong (he is based in Spain) and there would be additional charges besides the usual postage costs.

I have emailed him asking for a refund for the amount otherwise I would be reporting him for misrepresentation (I also had problems with the charger and he refused to send another as it was over the 7 day period - bearing in mind there was a weekend and two public holidays for Xmas, I thought this was very unreasonable!) as additional charges were not mentioned in the listing.

rog2

Thanks for the update - hope you get your refund.

LilDevil

Finally had a reply as follows:

Ok, first I would like to know why you are contacting me about this over 2 months of receiving the item. Yes, UPS charged an import tax to various customers, if they were not willing to accept this, they contacted me, the item was return and the customer received 100% money back. According to UPS your Nintendo DS was successfully delivered on the 19/12/2007 at 14:53. If there was a problem why didn't you contact me within the 7 day return policy?

My response:

When UPS delivered, they never informed me of any tax that should be paid or asked for any payment, they just asked for a signature. The first I was aware of it was a letter in the post from UPS informing me that the invoice was overdue - this was received the same day that I wrote to you.

Also, with regards to your 7 day return policy - I contacted you once before about a faulty charger that you would not replace even though part of your return policy covered a weekend and two bank holidays (Xmas & Boxing Day). Had I been aware of the charge, I would have refused the item and contacted you immediately to inform you.

The fact remains, your listing did not mention any additional charges may be applied by the delivery company. Had the listing mentioned this, I would been able to ask about alternative methods of postage, or to even purchase the item from someone else.

Does anyone think I stand chance of getting this back off him or Paypal??

weebit

did the listing say that the item would be shipped from outside the EU? if it did, then you don't have a leg to stand on because it would be up to (as the buyer) to know you may have to pay import charges on an item bought outside the EU.

however, if the listing said the item would be shipped from within the EU then you cna report the seller to eBay and/or PayPal for mis-representing the item's location.

LilDevil

We did a search for buy it nows and as he was in Spain, we thought it would be quicker (and cheaper) to buy it through him - it actually came from Hong Kong.

Am a bit annoyed as I bought something else from Hong Kong and didn't have to pay an import duty or anything like that (although having said that, it was fairly cheap about £30, so that might be why).

LilDevil

Very fed up with this, UPS sent a second reminder threatening solicitors - I've asked them to set it as a disputed item for the time being.

Buyer has not contacted me since 3 March, so I've emailed Ebay to see what they think.

Called PayPal and they basically said as it's outside the 45 day period, I can't claim back through them. They suggested going through the small claims court as it seems this has happened to a few people they have spoken to (no idea if it's with the same seller or not, I'm presuming not though!)

So for the time being, I'm sitting tight for an answer from Ebay.

RoxieW

I've been hit by these customs charges before and tbh it puts me off buying from abroad. As far as I'm aware, the onus is on the buyer to ensure no charges and not up to the buyer to disclose as its not a charge levied by them. I guess it depends, as another posted said, if he's stated that it's being sent from Spain or whether he just hasn't mentioned. If its not mentioned I don;'t think there's much you can do.