Royal Mail £8 Internal Post Handling Fee scam?
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2nd time when i get this ridiculous ransom request from Royal Fail (I've got a card which demands £11.01, from those £8 solely for RM benefit).
And this will be the last one.
After previous time I decided to avoid anything with RM as a carrier and was diligently following this rule. Because more decent carriers (e.g. DHL) don't require that much and don't need this process of printing the cards and bringing them personally. You just get a link via email and pay online. Either RM has severely outdated&expensive processes (not my problem) or RM make money that way (not to be supported).
Good luck with that
This time, unfortunately, another vendor used Royal Fail as a local vendor.
You mean all those companies queuing up to take on the UK mail system?
I mean TNT saw it as such a great opportunity they dropped out after trying just a few cities.
So since that moment I won't buy ANYTHING abroad which won't be delivered by a more decent carrier from one point to another. Yes DHL is more expensive, but they ship fast, they insure your package, you have a decent tracking. At least with the decent carrier you pay for the service and not for i-don't-know-what!
So you are comparing a courier with a network where they know whats coming in vs RM with no control over what comes into its network?
And "if you are so greedy, go to the Customs yourself" is NOT a justification. Carrier gets money for delivering stuff door to door.
Yup, except paying customs isnt part of the delivery process. Is it?So it's carrier duty to have decent processes, not to make the customer face the dilemma of "maybe this stuff should be just shipped back because the whole idea of paying that much for HANDLING is ridiculous"
So,what did RM charge you in postage when you ordered from abroad?0 -
2nd time when i get this ridiculous ransom request from Royal Fail (I've got a card which demands £11.01, from those £8 solely for RM benefit).
And this will be the last one.
After previous time I decided to avoid anything with RM as a carrier and was diligently following this rule. Because more decent carriers (e.g. DHL) don't require that much and don't need this process of printing the cards and bringing them personally. You just get a link via email and pay online. Either RM has severely outdated&expensive processes (not my problem) or RM make money that way (not to be supported).
This time, unfortunately, another vendor used Royal Fail as a local vendor.
So since that moment I won't buy ANYTHING abroad which won't be delivered by a more decent carrier from one point to another. Yes DHL is more expensive, but they ship fast, they insure your package, you have a decent tracking. At least with the decent carrier you pay for the service and not for i-don't-know-what!
And "if you are so greedy, go to the Customs yourself" is NOT a justification. Carrier gets money for delivering stuff door to door. So it's carrier duty to have decent processes, not to make the customer face the dilemma of "maybe this stuff should be just shipped back because the whole idea of paying that much for HANDLING is ridiculous"
I can't entirely follow this post as it's a bit confusing, however good luck with DHL and other couriers, they have always charged me more than RM for sorting import out for me. My last DHL charge, on top of the HMRC costs was £12, compared to the £8 RM charge. It also took me a while to actually get my item as I had to phone DHL, on a payable line, wait for someone to be able to help- which I was surprised was not immediate, then wait a few days for delivery. With RM, I get a card, take it to my local RM depo, pay and get my package- much simpler.I’m a Forum Ambassador and I support the Forum Team on the eBay, Auctions, Car Boot & Jumble Sales, Boost Your Income, Praise, Vents & Warnings, Overseas Holidays & Travel Planning , UK Holidays, Days Out & Entertainments boards. If you need any help on these boards, do let me know.. Please note that Ambassadors are not moderators. Any posts you spot in breach of the Forum Rules should be reported via the report button, or by emailing forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com.All views are my own and not the official line of MoneySavingExpert.0 -
I can't entirely follow this post as it's a bit confusing, however good luck with DHL and other couriers, they have always charged me more than RM for sorting import out for me. My last DHL charge, on top of the HMRC costs was £12, compared to the £8 RM charge. It also took me a while to actually get my item as I had to phone DHL, on a payable line, wait for someone to be able to help- which I was surprised was not immediate, then wait a few days for delivery. With RM, I get a card, take it to my local RM depo, pay and get my package- much simpler.
To add to that with RM if I don't have time to go to the depot I pay online (it is one of their options) and then choose the most suitable date to have it delivered to my home, or I can choose an alternative address and have it delivered to work or my parents, basically whatever is most convenient for me. With other couriers, after paying you have no control over what day it will be delivered and cannot choose an alternative address. So unless you are someone who doesn't work and sits at home all day every day just hoping your delivery will arrive the RM service is actually far more convienient as well as being several pounds cheaper for the service.0 -
For me DHL is way more convenient.
Though in general the idea of paying this handling fee is ridiculous.
When the package arrives, it has all required information enclosed. When courier is demanding this handling fee, courier doesn't ask for an extra information. Only money.
If all information is already in courier system, this means that all required forms may be produced automatically. And submitted to the customs automatically if customs system allows that. Where's the place for manual labor/efforts?
And if customs system doesn't allow that, I don't understand how my taxes are being spent.0 -
Paying customs is 100% part of the delivery process.
Courier company takes obligation to deliver door to door (or have you seen on any website "and we'll deliver your stuff to the customs at the airport"?).
I don't want to hear the b-s that "it's not clear how much you'll have to pay when the package arrives so it's OK not to include this into delivery costs and then demand it" - that amount of money it's crystal clear, in accordance with the info on gov.uk; if you're a courier company, you ARE able to make a simple delivery costs calculator depending on costs of goods/delivery and country of export/import.
About the rest, esp. "So you are comparing a courier with a network where they know whats coming in vs RM with no control over what comes into its network?", what do you mean by "no control", something falls from the sky? Very easy to make a system with checkpoints. If it hasn't been done, then it's courier system fail.0 -
Paying customs is 100% part of the delivery process.
Courier company takes obligation to deliver door to door (or have you seen on any website "and we'll deliver your stuff to the customs at the airport"?).
I don't want to hear the b-s that "it's not clear how much you'll have to pay when the package arrives so it's OK not to include this into delivery costs and then demand it" - that amount of money it's crystal clear, in accordance with the info on gov.uk; if you're a courier company, you ARE able to make a simple delivery costs calculator depending on costs of goods/delivery and country of export/import.
About the rest, esp. "So you are comparing a courier with a network where they know whats coming in vs RM with no control over what comes into its network?", what do you mean by "no control", something falls from the sky? Very easy to make a system with checkpoints. If it hasn't been done, then it's courier system fail.
No, import duties and taxes are 100% the resopnsability of the importer, i.e you! Your fail not RM.
RM are rarely the people the exporter has contracted with, they are just acting as agents once the items reach the U.k, so yes they have no clue what is coming in or it’s value or the taxes to be paid.0 -
Paying customs is 100% part of the delivery process.
Courier company takes obligation to deliver door to door (or have you seen on any website "and we'll deliver your stuff to the customs at the airport"?).
I don't want to hear the b-s that "it's not clear how much you'll have to pay when the package arrives so it's OK not to include this into delivery costs and then demand it" - that amount of money it's crystal clear, in accordance with the info on gov.uk; if you're a courier company, you ARE able to make a simple delivery costs calculator depending on costs of goods/delivery and country of export/import.
About the rest, esp. "So you are comparing a courier with a network where they know whats coming in vs RM with no control over what comes into its network?", what do you mean by "no control", something falls from the sky? Very easy to make a system with checkpoints. If it hasn't been done, then it's courier system fail.
Checkpoints? In what country?0 -
Paying customs is 100% part of the delivery process.
Courier company takes obligation to deliver door to door (or have you seen on any website "and we'll deliver your stuff to the customs at the airport"?).
I don't want to hear the b-s that "it's not clear how much you'll have to pay when the package arrives so it's OK not to include this into delivery costs and then demand it" - that amount of money it's crystal clear, in accordance with the info on gov.uk; if you're a courier company, you ARE able to make a simple delivery costs calculator depending on costs of goods/delivery and country of export/import.
About the rest, esp. "So you are comparing a courier with a network where they know whats coming in vs RM with no control over what comes into its network?", what do you mean by "no control", something falls from the sky? Very easy to make a system with checkpoints. If it hasn't been done, then it's courier system fail.
If courier companies were to do it the way you are suggesting by pre calculating the costs they would have to charge every single person for every single package, considering only around 10% of all items/packages imported actually get checked in customs it would mean everyone is over paying 90% of the time. My brother orders more to be imported than I do and out of a couple of thousand pounds worth of goods with packages arriving on a fortnightly basis he gets each year he has only had to pay for tax, duty, and admin once or twice each year only costing him around £20 in admin fees and around the same in duty and tax. Doing it your way would cost him several hundred pounds a year. The courier doesn't know which packages are going to be checked and need clearance and which ones will pass through unnoticed.0 -
Thanks for adding this info. I can remember a while back seeing something if the seller writes on the postage you can avoid the handling fee. I'm going to start doing this as I'm sick of the handling fee. It's bad enough we get taxed on stuff coming in but the handling fees are outrageous and it just makes anything you buy way to expensive and better not to have been bought. I bought some basically glass pebbles just lately and got hit by customs to pay a few pound in fees which is a grin and bare situation but wants the handling fees been added it means I'm paying Just under 20 in stones. I mainly buy from America too if outside UK. I never buy from EU. I would rather spend a little extra time filling out a form and waiting a little bit longer for parcel than pay the handling fee.. TBH I have a feeling it will be dealt with quicker it's that handling fee and keeping hold of your parcel slows it all down in the first place. And then you have to go collect your parcel unless you want to wait even longer. Can't wait to try this and avoid the extortionate fees0
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shaun_from_Africa wrote: »If it's automated, I think it's time for a new machine.
In the past 3 years I've imported approx 25 to 30 packages from the USA (all fairly small so came via RM), and to date, I've only ever been charged duty once.
The goods varied in value from about £20 to £150, with an average of round about £40.
Even an exceptionally good optical reader can difficulties with many peoples writing, so imagine the trouble trying to get one to understand and interpret writing in thousands of different styles.
It may one day be possible to automate it slightly (but even then, this can only happen if every country in the world had a standardised customs declaration form which was computer generated), but due to smuggling problems, there will always be humans involved in a lot of the importing procedure.
How you have only beenhit once is amazing I get hit every single flipping time!!! Which is why I'm to scared to buy abroad now0
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