FedEx problem, not happy!

bibbage · 27 September 2019 at 5:20PM

I ordered an item from India via EBay which was £39.50 including shipping.
FedEx delivered it very promptly, but 10 days later I get an invoice as follows:-
Vat on item £7.90 which is fair.
Admin fee of £12 which I am disputing.
Vat on the shipping fee which FedEx have inflated to £142 so vat of £28.44. Which I am disputing also.
Their full fee is £48.51.
Please be warned is importing using FedEx as in my opinion they are con artists!

JJ_Egan · 27 September 2019 at 6:43PM

So whats the campaign or should you have posted in the Praise Vent and Warnings Forum ?

There are a number of identical type posts on here re imported goods and charges levied .

pogofish · 29 September 2019 at 10:48AM

As well as the above, why did you not take heed of the numerous threads warning people about this and the clear advice here already on how to do your own import clearance and minimise any sum payable to the actual duty involved?

And last time I looked, FedEx held the contract for removing items from the postal system for processing/clearance, then returning them for delivery. So it’s in their interest to have you hit by this.

MEM62 · 1 October 2019 at 2:32PM

bibbage wrote: »

Please be warned is importing using FedEx as in my opinion they are con artists!

I am not FedEx's biggest fan but it is wrong the accuse a company of being con artists just because you don't understand how something works. You should familiarise yourself with the mechanism for calculating import duties and taxes. The link below will help. These are not FedEx charges, they are HMRC charges. FedEx just collect them on HMRC's behalf and it is not unreasonable that they charge an admin fee of £12 for the additional work involved in doing so.

https://www.gov.uk/goods-sent-from-abroad

EnoughRainbows · 9 January 2020 at 6:04PM

I'm having problems with Fedex too. I bought something from the US and it was sent in two boxes, but I paid the tax for both on the first item. I asked the shipping company to put verbiage on the parcel to explain the situation, which they did. Fedex overpaid the tax and then sent me an invoice which was clearly wrong. I rang them to try and sort it out. They said they'd get back to me. Next thing I know they have sent me a debt collection letter for triple the amount. I'm really stressed about this and I think FedEx have behaved very badly. My husband was also billed £30 that he didn't think he should have been billed. He paid it because he didn't have time to challenge it. I wonder if that is how they manage these things - charge everyone a small amount and most people will pay it?

tripled · 10 January 2020 at 11:33AM

A few months ago I had a clothes shipment that came in from the US by Fedex. They invoiced for VAT and a £12 admin fee.

I paid the VAT by bank transfer and dropped them an email confirming it had been paid, but explained I wouldn't pay the admin fee until they could justify on what basis I was legally obligated to pay this admin fee.

All I got back was a generic response back confirming they had received the payment. Subsequently for a few months I got the occasional threatening letter, first from them and then a debt collector, but nothing in the last couple of months so presumably they have given up, for now at least.

My understanding is they do actually do some work to expedite the shipment through customs, so it can be cleared in hours rather than days. However in my case I was not worried if the parcel had taken a bit longer and never agreed to using such a service.

My advice would be to pay what you do owe (the VAT on the correct shipping cost and value of the goods), notify them you have done this and dispute the remainder of the charge. That advice is based on no legal knowledge whatsoever

but I would expect it would be more difficult for them to take the remaining balance to small claims if you had disputed it and they hadn't provided any justification.

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth · 17 January 2020 at 8:06PM

tripled wrote: »

A few months ago I had a clothes shipment that came in from the US by Fedex. They invoiced for VAT and a £12 admin fee.

I paid the VAT by bank transfer and dropped them an email confirming it had been paid, but explained I wouldn't pay the admin fee until they could justify on what basis I was legally obligated to pay this admin fee.

All I got back was a generic response back confirming they had received the payment. Subsequently for a few months I got the occasional threatening letter, first from them and then a debt collector, but nothing in the last couple of months so presumably they have given up, for now at least.

My understanding is they do actually do some work to expedite the shipment through customs, so it can be cleared in hours rather than days. However in my case I was not worried if the parcel had taken a bit longer and never agreed to using such a service.

My advice would be to pay what you do owe (the VAT on the correct shipping cost and value of the goods), notify them you have done this and dispute the remainder of the charge. That advice is based on no legal knowledge whatsoever but I would expect it would be more difficult for them to take the remaining balance to small claims if you had disputed it and they hadn't provided any justification.

Good on you. If you only want to pay the VAT, you take it through customs!

FedEx problem, not happy!

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