Parcelfarce….

[John A]

Waiting with baited breath for my first parcel from China......delivery due yesterday.....
On the doormat this morning, a nice letter from Parcelforce......HM revenue and customs.....
£25.92 owed 

Paid extra for express delivery 

Will be delivered on Tuesday 

....Oh well, all part of life';s rich tapestry I suppose. I have the airframe ready for the motors and ESCs and was hoping to be flying tomorrow....

[fruitsalad]

prob 10.00 import charge and look how much parcelforce put for the handling fee..
what a ripoff...

[nub]

aye a rip off, i was charged £15 i think or something like that to collect £6 tax by the bams, money for nothing.

[John A]

By the accuracy of your figures I guess you have experienced this often?

Come Ladies and Gentlemen, let us commiserate together....

[Biffa]

I personally have no issue with the fees. Chances are anything shipped ';express'; will usually get charged so whenever possible just go for normal registered mail.

You can always avoid paying Parcelforce (or any other courier) the handling fee by declaring the goods yourself and asking for the package to be marked "Goods to be Customs cleared by the importer".

[nub]

what happens then if its marked "Goods to be Customs cleared by the importer" and your due import fee';s, hows that dealt with?

[Biffa]

HMRC contact you directly to fully declare the goods. You get sent a form, fill it in and send it back. Once received they then work out what you owe and bill you.

Once paid your package is cleared for delivery and Parcelforce do their thing but without being paid £8 or £13.

[xxpitt]

Oh crap I just ordered from hk and went for express. Paid an extra $12 for it too. Would of just went registered air mail if I eould have known

[doofer]

They once tried to hit me for £492 (+Some other Fees I can';t remember, probably VAT lol!) on $67 worth of Cigars from Ecuador. 

Not had anything from China bothered with so far (Touch wood) a lot from China now seem to drop at Sweden/Norway and then on to the UK from there.

IANAL But! I remember reading on the Internet that charges other than from Royal Mail are unlawful, only Royal Mail can add charges for ';Administration'; all other couriers are not lawfully allowed to by International Law although they do still apparently ';try it on'; and get away with it, it';s to do with some International Mail Treaty the UK is signed into, so if Fedex/UPS try and charge you for ';Admin charges'; tell them to whistle*. Obviously research this information yourselves before you act upon it. 

Edited for some clarification

* You need to ask them to provide proof of their ';Contract'; with you before you can release the ';Fee';. They cannot do this as their Contract is with the Sender and this is what is protected by the International Treaty, it stops other Countries Couriers charging each other fees. I believe Royal Mail is immune to this by virtue of being the de facto Courier for the UK and can therefore lawfully request the fee, all other Couriers are only ';Contractors';.

Again, do your own research. Hopefully this information might save people a few quid! :)

[flybywire]

HMRC contact you directly to fully declare the goods. You get sent a form, fill it in and send it back. Once received they then work out what you owe and bill you.

Once paid your package is cleared for delivery and Parcelforce do their thing but without being paid £8 or £13.

Oh S*** more forms, more delays.  Don';t worry guys, ';Dangerous Dave'; is coming to the rescue, we';ll soon have a ';Green channel'; all the way from Beijing as soon as China join the EU, although if he gets his way, we won';t be in it ourselves by then, nice one Dave, always got our best interests at heart eh? 

Ooh, don';t get me started...!!!

Matron!  I';m ready for my Baileys now!

[Biffa]

Oh S*** more forms, more delays.

Much easier to just let PF do it all for you on the odd occasion you get caught.