DHL asking for money

[pitslayer]

i just got a letter today of DHL asking for £16.31, on something i bought worth £25 and was marked as a gift. now i dont mind paying the actual VAT on which i work out to be about £4.30. not 16.31.......is there anything i can do to tell them to get stuffed im only paying the vat of its actual value?
wasnt there a big thing about delivery companys opening up parcels and then paying the vat etc without telling you.

[peter thomson]

They charge a handling fee as well as vat.I got caught out with that as well. When you pay for delivery you don't expect to get a second charge but I don't think there is a lot you can do about it and a lot of delivery companies are clamping down on people marking items as gifts when it is obviously being sent by a company

[pitslayer]

i might send them a letter with a cheque for £16.31 saying that there is a handling fee for all letters and payments processed, this comes to £16.32 and if it is not paid our solicitors will be contacted to recover the debt and interest will be added from that point.

im sure there was a clamp down on the couriers though, for paying this without your consent

[stuey]

I think that when you agree to use a ecrtain courier, usually arranged by the seller, you enter into their terms and conditions which mean you gotta pay their handling fees. £16 still a bit $hit I agree for a £26 item..

[ianturbo]

i work for royal mail and its a handling charge not that there is much handling involved !!!
unless you know some one who works for DHL to see if they can do away with the charge :smoking: ,
ian

[ANTHONY]

i got a galant spoiler from the states no charge, my Son got some trainers and shirts etc from the states and we was charged £30.00 its just pot luck if you get caught and YOU did

[Nutter_John]

i might send them a letter with a cheque for £16.31 saying that there is a handling fee for all letters and payments processed, this comes to £16.32 and if it is not paid our solicitors will be contacted to recover the debt and interest will be added from that point.

im sure there was a clamp down on the couriers though, for paying this without your consent

you ordered the goods , you owe the VAT inport duty and a fee for the company who has already paid these amounts to HMRC , bottom line by ordering the goods you are then liable for the debt , you fecked pay it and live with it .

take it this way , you win some you lose some , this time you lost next you may win

I got 400 quids worth from the states a few years back and got stung , I got 300 quids worth from Japan and did not

[Zaid]

I had to pay as well for the HID kits.

[Brunty]

A bit of a lottery, as has been said. Sometimes they pick up on it, sometimes your parcel will slip through. Either way I'm sure you (or the seller) will have agreed to it as part of the delivery firms T&Cs.

You are able to challenge it - and the delivery firms I've dealt with have been quite happy to explain the complaints procedure (although UPS never responded to my letters) - the complaint is likely to be direct to HMR&C. They can only say "no", but do your homework first.

It's worth speaking to foreign sellers beforehand as you can avoid some of the problems.

[HMG1K]

The squeeze had this exact problem when she bought be a DS Lite from China... Paid the UK government duty, fine, expected - but then has to also pay this additional charge for 'processing' the government payment...

As a barrister, she says she is going to challenge this with the courrier firm.

[pitslayer]

im happy to pay the import vat, which works out at like 4 quid odd. im not paying 12 quid handling fee!.
wonder if i can ring HMRC and ask them if i can pay them instead for the actual items worth, so they can refund DHL.
i dont mind paying hmrc because they can and will shaft you. but 12 quid handling fee, i dont think so,

[HMG1K]

im happy to pay the import vat, which works out at like 4 quid odd. im not paying 12 quid handling fee!.
wonder if i can ring HMRC and ask them if i can pay them instead for the actual items worth, so they can refund DHL.
i dont mind paying hmrc because they can and will shaft you. but 12 quid handling fee, i dont think so,

That's the thing - the courrier firms know that 99% of the time there will be duty to be paid, so they levy their own handling fee as just straight profit for doing what is expected of them... The government doesn't see a penny of this handling fee... It's a charge that courriers make to make a profit over something that they have to do anyway by law...

[stuey]

That's the thing - the courrier firms know that 99% of the time there will be duty to be paid, so they levy their own handling fee as just straight profit for doing what is expected of them... The government doesn't see a penny of this handling fee... It's a charge that courriers make to make a profit over something that they have to do anyway by law...

Do the couriers legally have to pay the fee ? I know that customs won't let the goods go until the import duty is paid, BUT unless customs will hold the goods for you to collect personally, I think the couriers have you by the danglies as they know you want the goods, and probably unknowingly agreed to pay them when.


I bought a load of suspension parts about 18 months ago from the US and had to collect from the shipping firm's secure duty related goods depot about 200 metres outside heathrow, and they still charged me a customs handling fee on top of couriers normal charge.

[HMG1K]

They should be declaring the duty they've identified and paying that duty to Customs & Excise as they'll be paperwork following the trail once it enters the UK...

What they will be doing is pocketing the 'handling fee' as a perk of job!

[philipbennett25]

If the customs declaration says its a gift, I thought it was VAT exempt? The threshold for VAT on international mail order is really harsh, the limits should be raised really.

http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/channelsPortalWebApp.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pageTravel_ShowContent&propertyType=document&resetCT=true&id=HMCE_CL_001454

None of the courier companies really deal with this well. UPS normally asks for money at the door, DHL invoices me after delivery and Parcel Farce normally keep the stuff and send a letter asking for payment before they will release it. A nice online payment system or someone that answered the phone would work for me.