Customs Charges

After waiting ages for some parts from the US (not RRE related), I've finally received a letter from Parcel Farce requesting the duty & VAT prior to delivery.

Although I am aware of the chance this could happen I've never had it before and I suppose I should feel lucky that I haven't. Anyway, my problem is that I spent $70 on parts and $39 on shipping and the customs charges are £147.39

I've spoken to Parcel Farce and looked on the HMRC website. In a nutshell I have to pay the bill to get the item, then fill in a claim and provide proof that the goods are not worth the sums that the charges have been calculated on. However, if the seller has inflated the value on the postage ticket then the charges will stand.

I'm in a corner as I really need the items and don't really have an alternative but what are my options?
Has anyone experienced this before?

(16-10-2012 12:09pm)Big Dave Wrote:  After waiting ages for some parts from the US (not RRE related), I've finally received a letter from Parcel Farce requesting the duty & VAT prior to delivery.

Although I am aware of the chance this could happen I've never had it before and I suppose I should feel lucky that I haven't. Anyway, my problem is that I spent $70 on parts and $39 on shipping and the customs charges are £147.39

I've spoken to Parcel Farce and looked on the HMRC website. In a nutshell I have to pay the bill to get the item, then fill in a claim and provide proof that the goods are not worth the sums that the charges have been calculated on. However, if the seller has inflated the value on the postage ticket then the charges will stand.

I'm in a corner as I really need the items and don't really have an alternative but what are my options?
Has anyone experienced this before?

I'm afraid that in my experience it's pretty much as you've described. Parcel Force are just acting as collection agents for HMRC so they don't have any say in what the custom charges are, they have to work by what HMRC tell them. I think you're going to have to stump up the amount they're charging you and then reclaim, though it's worth checking that Parcel Force aren't misreading the value that the seller has put on the customs sticker - does it look more like $700 than $70? If it's a simple admin error then they should be able to correct it.

IIRC Parcel Force will normally allow you to view the parcel, and then you'll see the value declared by the seller.

I've had this problem too with stuff coming from the USA. Often the products are items that there is a trade dispute over and the EU has imposed a tariff rate for them. Earlier this year I ordered some out door clothing and found that the duty rate on it was 100% as the USA had been imposing restrictions on European produced similar products being imported into the States.