parcel force clearance fee
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I'm actually on your side when you say that you don't have a contract with PF. All couriers levy a charge and in my opinion it shouldn't be. Unfortunately no one is going to go to bat for you (or me) to stop these charges. In any other transaction the charge would be the responsibility of the person with the contract (in this case, the sender) or it should be included in the price initially.
The cost is arbitrary and given how many of these they must do it is likely excessive. It may cost time, effort and expense for a single person to do it but couriers must handle thousands a day and I'd guess they were largely automated.
Having said all that, if you want your item you would have to pay up. If you really wanted to test it then you could take court action to reclaim the fee but you'd need to pay it first. That is a really silly idea as it could end up costing you more money and you may not win. I've dismissed it in the past myself, what's needed is a test class action. I'm by no means a lawyer so I have no idea where that would end up..0 -
£12 seems a reasonable amount to pay to avoid upsetting your kind friend.
Pay it, enjoy the gift, and move on.
It comes to over £23 in total, an amount I don't really have an easy time paying on my current budget. even though it was mostly food and stationery. I honestly think they got the charges wrong as well, but I'm too stressed to challenge that. (diagnosed by doctor kind of stressed)0 -
Kangoora that's not fair for you to make that kind of judgement. I've dealt with a lot of things like that. I've dealt with being attacked in my own home by my landlord and then subsequently arrested because he accused me of attacking him, and sat in a cell injured and frightened and then homeless after that. Thus isn't about how bad a situation people deal with. This is about my own sense of personal agency. How dare you attack me right now?0
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Kangoora could have been more sensitive in their posting.
Please don't take this the wrong way, but you shouldn't be getting this worried or upset over a relatively trivial issue.
Stress, depression, anxiety are very real illnesses. I'm glad you are seeing your GP. I hope you are on medication. It can take up to six weeks before it starts working. Medication really can help you to get yourself back on track, along with old fashioned common sense things like exercise.
Wishing you a speedy recovery, in all sincerety.0 -
Thanks nick. I appreciate your support. It's just sort of getting on top of me. I want to do the best for my friend but I feel like I can't justify paying this charge. It feels very wrong to my core. I think the answer is very simple but I'm really worried about upsetting my friend. I am taking it too hard perhaps. I did not ask customs to put a charge on it and I did not ask parcel force to also put a charge on it. They did that to my friends gift to me. I think, if I sent a gift to my friend and a charge was put in it, I would be angry and I would not want my friend to pay it. I think my mistake was telling my friend it was okay and I would try to handle it. I think if I simply tell him that it's not possible for me to deal with it and that it's their fault, then he should not feel bad. I just don't think any person should be able to interfere with a gift between people. I've tried looking at it from a lot of different perspectives to try and be okay with it but I'm not okay with it. I have to just let it go. also, sorry for lack of paragraphs on this post, for some reason posting from a mobile device ignores all the formatting.0
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It sounds like your friend labelled it incorrectly. See if he'll contact the courier and let them know. I don't know if that will work, someone else may have experience of it.It comes to over £23 in total, an amount I don't really have an easy time paying on my current budget. even though it was mostly food and stationery. I honestly think they got the charges wrong as well, but I'm too stressed to challenge that. (diagnosed by doctor kind of stressed)
My in-laws in the US occasionally send my kids presents and invariably label parcels incorrectly and I end up with a surcharge. So I know where you're coming from..0 -
It sounds like your friend labelled it incorrectly. See if he'll contact the courier and let them know. I don't know if that will work, someone else may have experience of it.
My in-laws in the US occasionally send my kids presents and invariably label parcels incorrectly and I end up with a surcharge. So I know where you're coming from.
What is your basis for saying that?
VAT has to be paid on imported gifts with a value of more than £39.
OP has said the total costs exceed £23, so £12 admin fee plus over £11 VAT suggests the gift had a declared value of £55 or more.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/notice-143-a-guide-for-international-post-users/notice-143-a-guide-for-international-post-users0 -
I was not sure where to post this but this seems most relevant because it's concerning postage, but the item is actually a GIFT from my Japanese friend.
my parcel was intercepted by customs. ok. it incurred vat charges. not happy about that, but it is the law so ok.
It wasn't intercepted as such. It was declared to Customs by Parcelforce as they have a legal obligation to do so.
I never got contacted by anybody about this and parcel force decided on their own to pay these customs charges and then charge me a clearance fee of £12 on top of that. I never got the opportunity to pay my VAT myself, and I certainly never requested parcel force to perform this service on my behalf.
This is not a process you can do yourself as you are not a Customs Broker and have no facilities to do so.
I have no contract with parcel force. as far as I'm aware it is illegal to interfere with the delivery of an item except in cases where a customs charge is payable. if I send them a cheque for the VAT charge, but not for their clearance fee, I believe they legally have to deliver my parcel as normal.
Incorrect. As the value of the parcel exceeded the duty free limit for gifts the VAT becomes payable. The charge that Parcelforce have added for making the declaration on your behalf is quite reasonable. (Do you expect them to do this for free?) To give you some perspective a freight forwarder would charge you somewhere in the region of £50 - £60 for making an import entry. Either way, as it was sent through the parcels system Parcelforce are the only ones who can process this for you.
Does anyone have experience of this?
Yes, 40 years as a freight forwarder and Customs broker.
I want to be clear, this isn't about whether or not their service is worthwhile, it is about the fact I did not ask them for it.
By default your friend did when he sent the parcel.
I would have been perfectly happy for my friends gift to me, to wait in customs a little bit while i sorted it out with them.
The service is what the service is and your friend committed to the process at the point he decided to send the good this way. Any alternative, including the commercial operators like DHL & FedEx etc would have been much more expensive.
edit:
To be completely honest, I am just really upset and I'm trying to figure out a way out of this situation.
There are two options open to you. Pay the charges and take delivery of your gift or don't. There isn't a third option.
I've read a lot about this and I realise what the law is and I realise what my options are. I can either pay this charge, or I can just leave it and let it get sent back to my friend. This puts me in massive conflict and I am completely distraught at my limited options.
It's not worth all the emotional stress you are giving yourself over this.
A) I pay this and destroy my own sense of justice. I feel this situation, regardless of whether it is legal or not, is unfair. I shouldn't be getting charged for my friend sending me a gift. I'm not buying a product. it's a present. it feels completely wrong on a fundamental level and I would feel like I had no self respect at all if I paid it.
You can argue that all taxes are unjust bit that debate would go on forever. The fact that it was a gift does not exempt it from import charges. The fact that you are not buying it is not relevant to the assessment of import duties and taxes. Paying it or not does not destroy your self respect. Such things are dictated by far more important matters.
I leave it alone, and let it get sent back to my friend. my friend gets upset at the situation and loses the amount of money he paid for the postage.
That's your call of you want to refuse the package.
I don't particularly want the items he sent me, it was just a really nice gesture he did. He wants to see it arrive and wants to see me happy. if it gets returned he will be very disappointed.
This is stressing me out so much and to say i'm upset is not even coming close to the anguish I feel.
I accept that the charge is unexpected and that both you and you friend we not aware that this would be the case but the level of personal offence you appear to be taking over this is out of proportion to the situation.0 -
Looking back you may be correct. I had inferred (although possibly thought I'd read it) that the gift was not a new product (in which case probably no VAT) and also that it wasn't valued at £55. It may be helpful to know what the item is to help further rather than speculate.What is your basis for saying that?
VAT has to be paid on imported gifts with a value of more than £39.
OP has said the total costs exceed £23, so £12 admin fee plus over £11 VAT suggests the gift had a declared value of £55 or more.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/notice-143-a-guide-for-international-post-users/notice-143-a-guide-for-international-post-users.0 -
Looking back you may be correct. I had inferred (although possibly thought I'd read it) that the gift was not a new product (in which case probably no VAT) and also that it wasn't valued at £55. It may be helpful to know what the item is to help further rather than speculate.
Used goods are still liable to the same duty and VAT charges as if they were new. However, this may vary depending on their age and condition.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/notice-143-a-guide-for-international-post-users/notice-143-a-guide-for-international-post-users#postal-packages-imported-arriving-from-countries-outside-the-eu0
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