The problem I have is that,

although I have paid the VAT portion of my bill,

for goods received from outside the UK,

I am refusing, on principle to pay the admin fee

and, as a result DHL are holding my package

, refusing to release it until this is paid.

I sthere anything I can do?

Options : some of which were only options prior to it reaching this stage:

1) Wait it out and see if they "blink before you do"

2) Pay it, stating you are doing so under duress, and then send them a letter before claim / take them to court if they don't return it.

3) Get the sender to pay : if you agreed with them they were liable to prepay any duty, as if it had been prepaid DHL wouldn't have had to do any admin

4) undertake all the import admin yourself so that DHL don't have to,

5) Issue a court claim for DHL to be made to release your property (this is the least likely to succeed!) or

6) Accept (if it is so!) that you didn't take action before to avoid DHL having to deal with HMRC on your behalf, and pay them their fee. Put it down to experience and do things differently next time to pre-pay / get the sender to pay in advance / deal with HMRC yourself ......

I'm afraid that your sense of "principle" is like a flea bite on the back of a very large dinosaur.

What is the value of the fee and what is the value of the item? How much have you already paid for the VAT?

I'm afraid that it is likely that you are going to blink first and also it really won't be worth doing anything about it.

when you buy goods from abraod there is always a cost in doing so. DHL do the import paperwork and pay the VAT and customs on your behalf to speed things through the airport otherwise you wouldnt be able to see Heathrow because of all the parcels stacked up there waiting for someone to pay the VAT man. Now, they dont do this for free and use a flat fee to cover everything from an envelope to a coffin with a dead body in it. Same goes for any other shipper bet it RM or Maersk container lines ( you should see the excessive and inventive paperwork costs involved in importing a container full of stuff)

They may well return your parcel back to whence it came or they may well sell it at auction to recover their fees but what they wont do is release it to you because you are playing silly buggers. Your only legal argument is that the flat fee does not represent the actual cost of doing the paperwork but then you still have the problem of storing your item whilst the tax liability is calculated and you dont own a bonded warehouse so that will be at theirs then.

In short, stop being a knob you should know these things when you buy from abroad and if you didnt then accept your ignorance and pay up.

No need for that closing sentence eric

I am sure Eric is OK, but his brother is an ignoramous with no idea about principals.

I am sure Eric is OK, but his brother is an ignoramous with no idea about principals.

I thought you were talking about not paying on principle, and that does limit your options (sticking to principle can get expensive, and may not actually cause any change at DHL.........).

How do you know what ericsbrother knows about principals, even if you have formed a view on their knowledge of principles?.

Eric currently runs an import business and so did I for about 8 years, shipping goods by sea and air. My suppliers would use most of the well known carriers and would choose whoever offered thew best deal for the bulk of goods shipped. as siad, sometimes this would be by sea and DHL like the UPS do deals that discount theis fees massively if they have a planne to fill and then it becomes economical to send a ton of stuff air freight rather than by ship.

If I thought they got their paperwork wrong I would tell them the correct tariff number and give my VAT number so they could correct the taxes paid. Send stuff by sea and I have to pay people to load it ona ship, unload it, pay for containers, pay for storage in a bonded warehouse, do my own import paperwork that has to be sent to variouslplaces a once etc. only then can I arrange to move the stuff out of some shed ner to Harwich or wherever and then there is a cost of getting it to my destination.

I have managed to get various fees waived and often asked the to do this based on me doing part of the paperwork or collecting from Heathrow myself but if they didnt agree then they could do it all and deliver to me, costing them more than £20 in salaries, fuel etc.

Principals? I have several but one of mine that is applicable is choose your own battleground. In your instance you are fighting a battle on their turf against a much larger force and do not have right on your side. In the past I have suggested to people in your position to try a bit of grovelling to DHL (works better with UPS) and if this is the first time your name has appeared on their system they will often waive their charges as a GOGW. Digging a trench in their garden wont get you anywhere.

You havent explained what this principle is exactly. It cant be about expecting people to work for you for free so please enlighten us precisely why you are witholding the payment.