Letter from a debt collection company.

[Rob3rt]

Complete and utter bollocks. Royal Mail do not open anything, HMC do. HMC then release the item to Royal Mail. Royal Mail pay your duty for you before HMC release the item, hence why Royal Mail then go on to charge you an £8 handling fee. If you refuse to pay, you don't receive the item and it gets returned to HMC and Royal Mail get their cash back.

I would be very surprised if any company would deliver an item with a customs charge before receiving payment, you have not agreed to pay for the item so I doubt this letter after the fact would hold up in a court, let alone the fact it is addressed incorrectly, smells decidedly fishy to me.

Fed-Ex do. It is rather odd, but it is legit.

 

[4F]

When what is in the parcel is a direct replacement, from the manufacturer, for a faulty item already bought & paid for in this country. How can there be any duty owed.

Item had already been cleared by HMRC, who said that it was the Royal Mail who were with-holding the item. They'd opened the item, placed a value on the item inside & from there worked out the release fee. Which would have been payable to them.

How are they to know it is a replacement ? You would still pay duty on the item but able to reclaim from the first returned or faulty item. Every item has an hs code which indicates the rate of duty applicable, customs are able to calculate the approx value of the item from past records of that item being imported previously which is how they know whether someone is trying it in with an under declared value.

 

[oldfatfool]

Fed-Ex do. It is rather odd, but it is legit.

Always willing to be corrected, seems like a bad business model though. Do they charge a handling fee?

So you take your parcel without any knowledge of a charge outstanding and then get a demand a few weeks later? Can you then refuse and return the item? Is the handling fee exorbitant?

 

[boybiker]

Speak directly to fed ex and pay the money directly to them with no debt collectors charge. You should be able to do it over the phone with a credit/debit card

 

[Rob3rt]

Always willing to be corrected, seems like a bad business model though. Do they charge a handling fee?

So you take your parcel without any knowledge of a charge outstanding and then get a demand a few weeks later? Can you then refuse and return the item? Is the handling fee exorbitant?

They do charge a fee, I can not remember how much though. Most recent transaction was on a $100 item, I paid £23 pound in fees (total, inc all customs and duty fees + the Fed-Ex handing fee).

Also, yes, you take the package then you get a bill about a week later. No idea about refusing and returning the item.

 

[Sara_H]

So you take your parcel without any knowledge of a charge outstanding and then get a demand a few weeks later? Can you then refuse and return the item? Is the handling fee exorbitant?

This is exactly what happened. Recieved gift, bought very kindly for me by my friend - no mention of any charge when I recieved it.
A few weeks later a recieved an invoice for import duty plus an administration fee.Of course I was oblivious to the fact that any fees would be due!!!!

 

[oldfatfool]

They do charge a fee, I can not remember how much though. Most recent transaction was on a $100 item, I paid £23 pound in fees (total, inc all customs and duty fees + the Fed-Ex handing fee).

Also, yes, you take the package then you get a bill about a week later. No idea about refusing and returning the item.

I would be asking the question with CAB. It sounds like they are effectively bullying tactics to pay their handling fee. At least Royal Mail give you the option.

 

[ufkacbln]

There's no scam involved and it's hit and miss whether or not you get hit for import duty. Some USA companies are wised up and value their merchandise at just under the threashold for import duty to be charged. I recently took delivery of an item with an import duty charge of £1.15 and it was galling to have to pay the £8 collection fee on top.
As for the invoice with the wrong details on it, the unsettled debt can be listed against the address as well as the person identified on the invoice which can lead to a black mark by association.

Last time this happened , I simply played the "Non-Delivevery" game, as I was not paying an extortionate "Handling charge" that was twice the value of the item including the Customs fees.

Their depot is miles away, far too far for me to cycle and my place of work does not accept personal items.

I was not paying a subsidy for a weekend delivery, so as they were unable to deliver..... they had to return it to the US where I got a full refund.

 

[vernon]

Last time this happened , I simply played the "Non-Delivevery" game, as I was not paying an extortionate "Handling charge" that was twice the value of the item including the Customs fees.

Their depot is miles away, far too far for me to cycle and my place of work does not accept personal items.

I was not paying a subsidy for a weekend delivery, so as they were unable to deliver..... they had to return it to the US where I got a full refund.

In my case, even after paying fees, I had a waterproof jacket costing far less than its equivalent in the UK.

 

[ufkacbln]

In my case, even after paying fees, I had a waterproof jacket costing far less than its equivalent in the UK.

In my case it was a piece of jewellery costing about £15.... the "handling charge" was nearly £30 which made it financially unviable.

 

[vernon]

In my case it was a piece of jewellery costing about £15.... the "handling charge" was nearly £30 which made it financially unviable.

 

[Globalti]

Foregt about it; they won't pursue it and even if they did, they'd be laughed out of Court for getting the name wrong. As with parking penalty notices they are just hoping to bully you into paying something.

 

[asterix]

This is a funny one.

On my birthday in January I recieved a present from a friend. Friend had orderd the gift from a US supplier and had it delivered directly to me.

A few weeks later I got a letter from fedex saying I owe them money for import duties which they paid. I confess I'm a bit miffed at having to pay import duties for an unsolicited gift but having looked into it, I'm between a rock and a hard place and it seems I do have to pay.
That said, I completely forgot. A couple of weeks ago I recieved a letter from a reovery agency. Funny thing is, the origional letter from fedex and the letter from the recovery agency were not adressed to me, the name was completely wrong, its adressed to someone who doesn't exist.
Now call me old fashioned, but I want the invoice to have my name on it. Knowing how dodgy some of these collections agencies can be I don't want to pay the bill if its not addressed to me. I've spoken to the collection agency and explained this, and they're saying that they don't think fedex will change the adresseee.
I asked him how they will persue it if their claimee is a person that doesn't exist and he said "hmmmmm".
I agree I accepted the item, but that was adressed to me, the two invoices aren't.

Top tips?

If the original letter from Fedex and the recovery agency letter were addressed not to you but to someone who doesn't exist how do you know that you really do owe any import duties anyway?

 

[RWright]

I ordered a Garmin 800 from the UK early one Monday morning. I got a call several hours later from FedEx asking what it was. I told them a bicycle computer. The guy went hmmm. Apparently US customs does not like the word computer on imports to here. I told the guy it is a bicycle speedometer, a really nice one.
I had the Garmin in my hands Tuesday before noon my time (I was impressed). A week or so later I get a bill from FedEx for around $25.00. I thought it seemed a little shady and just let the bill sit for a few weeks. I finally got another. I was tempted to call and ask them for the address to customs so I could just send the check directly to them but I just went ahead and paid FedEx. I would have felt better about it had the delivery driver just said here is your package, you owe me 25 bucks. I still would have not been happy about it.

 

[Sara_H]

i

If the original letter from Fedex and the recovery agency letter were addressed not to you but to someone who doesn't exist how do you know that you really do owe any import duties anyway?

The origonal letter from FedEx had the details of the parcel I recieved, but was in the wrong name, so I do know that the charges are for my parcel.