Hi, I've got a problem with the delivery for an eBay item I purchased from Japan, and hope someone can provide some helpful advice. I received a letter from Parcelforce saying the package was subject to Import VAT of £14.08 plus a Clearance Fee of £13.50. My problem is that these charges are wrong, not incorrect, but wrong. The sender uses a tracked mailing service, and the address label on their packages ( I have bought similar items from them before) shows the value of the contents. My guess is that someone has misread the value, which is typed not handwritten, hence the request for import fees. I went to the Parcelforce depot with copies of the payment receipts, Paypal etc but they wouldn't even let me look at the package unless I paid the money. The value of the item is $10.00 including postage, so well under the limit allowed. I suggested they open the package to see the receipt to prove my point, but they refused and said if I didn't pay the item would be returned to sender. Provided the sender pays to have it returned, otherwise the item will be 'disposed of'. Yes, I am aware that I can pay the fees and then try and reclaim them from HMRC or whoever, but surely this is unfair, and assumes I've got £27.58 spare to pay out. Things would be a lot easier if I didn't care about receiving my purchase, but I'd like to have what I paid for as its unique. I've contacted the sender, on the off chance the package does go back to Japan, but I got the strong impression the item will just be dumped by Parcelforce. The sender is willing to re-ship, but that'll be another story. I can't be the only one this has happened to - has anybody got around this problem please?

Hi sorry if this is the wrong forum, I couldn't really find a match-fit I imported some goods from the US a while back and they were delivered straight away by DHL International. Some time after this, I received mails saying that I owed them for Import Duties & VAT. I rang them and the person I spoke to said that DHL would never under any circumstances release any shipment that required payment(s) without that payment first being made in full. He advised me to ignore any future mails. Mails kept coming but I ignored them. I have now had two correspondences from an outfit called controlaccount plc who are claiming to be acting on behalf of DHL International for the recovery of monies owed. Here is the first letter: IMPORTANT NOTICE DHL International (UK) Limited have recently written to you in relation to an outstanding invoice for Import Duties & VAT. According to their records this invoice still shows as unpaid therefore this matter has now been passed to us for collection. An administration charge of 7.5 has now been levied in addition to the original invoice sum. The sum was incurred and levied by HM Customs & Excise upon your shipment arriving in the UK. As the recipient of these goods and with the sender not having nominated to pay the required duty, you legally became liable for these charges. We confirm that under current regulations the cost of delivery was added to the declared value of the product to make the shipment 'value for customs'. In addition a VAT value adjustment may also have been calculated which represents the cost of the transport with the EU borders. Further information with regard to Import Duty & VAT invoices can also be found within the 'Information tab' on our client's website at (link removed). We must now insist that payment of this invoice is made immediately to us. Payment can be made online via credit/debit card, Paypal or one of our payment methods detailed overleaf. DO NOT CONTACT DHL DIRECT - we are their appointed agents. We can deal with any queries that you may have. In the even that no response or payment is received within the next seven (7) days, this matter will be passed for further action Yours sincerely Controlacount plc There is a second correspondence which I can type in if you wish to see it but what do you think so far? The whole thing reads vaguely and I get the impression that they know they don't have anything and are trying the 'vaguely legal-looking' approach in an attempt to intimidate

Hi, I received an item from Canada on the 28th of April 2015, via FedEx ..I was pleased at the time as it had arrived quickly and I assumed they hadn't charged me import and taxes, but today (the 13th of may) i received a request to pay £75. needless to say i felt deflated and very anxious. I had a similar situation with DHL a few years back, although that was a lesser amount and I won that.. I just can't afford this and the reason is that the money I had set aside for import charges, I thought I didn't need as I received the parcel with no mention of charges. ..surely they would hold the item back until I paid the customs charges ordinarily. Because I wasn't given the opportunity to refuse or appeal, not knowing it had attracted customs charges, surely I have no contract with them? where would I stand please? (I'd appreciate info that could help me contest the charges or any lawful impediment to my progressing it, I have a letter to send based on one drafted by CAG'ger legalpickle the last time) here are photos of the relevant docs I received in pdf format (open link to save and view). The parcel (received on the 28th of April):- clear pocket on front of package docs in clear pocket on front of package and the follow-up sheets received today (13th May 2015) followup request for payment SDAA (supplementary declaration acceptance advice) here's a link to the DHL case i won in 2008, slightly different but the principle was the same.. http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?169817-DHL-Express-import-charge-**WON** thanks for any help you can offer. PG

just filled out a V55 to import a used car back into uk from Germany. Having checked everything thrice due to knowing how incompetent DVLA are at the simple things in life i have managed to find another way in which Joe public is left frustrated by yet more shortfalls in the vast management down there in swansea who pretend that they providing a service to us all. i have found that in their leaflets that explain how to apply to import a vehicle they have neglected to imform us of HOW to pay for the privilege !!!!! plenty of info on how much to pay but nothing on HOW to submit your payment !!!! i know, i bet you are thinking to yourself"what a bunch of sub humans", i certainly was. how can such info be left out of a leaflet that is designed to "ASSIST" someone in completing their mundane and over completed forms. This just upholds the reputation they have earned since their inception. total waste of taxpayers money, i have yet to come across any ammendment to their services that claim to make dealing with them easier, a far simpler service was to walk into a building and actually adress a human being that would converse in a language that required no guess work. now we are stuck with an online service that must recieve a million questions a day on simple services that dont work. Sick to f*****g death of dealing with these idiots, can anything be done ?????????

Hi everyone, New here, so apologies in advance if this has been asked before. I have recently received a letter in the post from Control Account PLC about my owing them £29.49 for money outstanding to DHL International in relation to charges incurred by HM Customs & Excise. Today I received a 2nd letter stating I have 14 days to make the payment. The rest of the letter is pretty much the same. I proceeded to look into my Amazon and Ebay history for the past year, as I am unable to record when I may have purchased something from outside the EU that could incur a levy of £30. I failed to find anything for the last 14 months, so I can only think that it may be something I may have bought longer ago, or that it's fake. Either way, I was advised to register on here and NOT phone Control Account PLC, and get some good advice from you good folk here, so my question now is, how do I find out what exactly I owe money for and should I write to them and/or pay them? I don't mind paying if it's legit, but frankly, their website looks well dodgy (for one, they don't even have an SSL certificate for their "payment" gateway!!), so I am very uncomfortable with this entire situation. Thanks in advance! Jaco

How do they calculate how much tax you pay for things bought outside the EEC? And are there any things that dont generate tax? Just querying because I bought some medical appliance covers for my ostomy from America(they are nicer than those available here) and they have charged me £5 for something I only paid $15 for then the post office added £8 handling fee as well so almost doubling what I have had to pay

When ordering goods (for example on the Internet) from outside the EU, import VAT is not due if value of goods is less than £15: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/customs/post/buying.htm#3 What if one makes multiple orders from the same retailer, each of them of less than £15 of value? Would the HMRC count these as a single order and impose VAT or treat them as individual items? Thank you