Fedex customs 'Clearance Admin Charge' **RESOLVED**

[MaxxPower]

Hi all!

 

Looking for a bit of advice.

 

 

I recently imported a computer game from a company in Hong Kong which was delivered to me via FedEx last week.

 

 

Just today I've received a letter from them, a "Duty & Tax Invoice".

 

The value of the item I imported was £23.89, so it seems there's £5.64 of tax owing.

 

 

A bit annoying, but fair enough I suppose.

 

 

However, FedEx are also charging a £12 "Clearance Administration Charge", bringing the total they want me to pay them to £17.64.

 

Now, the £5.64 of tax I don't mind paying, that's owed and that's fair enough.

But a £12 'Admin' charge seems ridiculously excessive to me.

I never agreed to paying that at all. Am

 

 

I within my rights to write to FedEx saying that I'll pay the tax owed

but I do not feel I should be paying their excessive admin charges?

 

 

With that charge they almost want me to pay for my entire order all over again.

[SabreSheep]

I would of thought any admin charge would be between them and their client which is the party that contracted them to send it.

Im not experienced in this area however so it is just a thought

[JoeyJoeC]

Personally I would reject the item and tell them to return to sender. But that's just me.

[MaxxPower]

Well I received the game last week, so it's already been opened and I've started playing. Plus I'd just have to try and get it from somewhere else as it's a version of a game not available in the UK

[JoeyJoeC]

Did they release it before you paid the admin charges? (If you've paid it at all).

 

I thought they would hold it back until you paid.

[Mr.P]

Generally, when you purchase an item from outside the UK, terms & conditions of sale usually state something along the lines of: The purchaser is responsible for all customs and import fees.

 

The £12 "admin fee" that FedEx is charging is in line with most of the other carriers and you would have to pay the £5.64 anyway.

[MaxxPower]

Did they release ite before you paid the admin charges? (If you've paid it at all).

 

I thought they would hold it back until you paid.

They delivered the item immediately with no mention of any charges. The invoice for the charge just came through today, a week later.

[ericsbrother]

It is the same with all carriers, even RM.

However, you do have an advantage here inasmuch as the tax and VAT bill is negligible compared to their charges so I would be phoning their customwer services people and complaining about the releasing of the goods without informing you that you are expected to pay them for doing the job they have been paid for already and offer to pay just the VAT bill.

 

You could say that you were prepared to do the necessary paperwork and provide the tariff codes to HMRC yourself but werent given the opportunity ( well, they cant really let you wander around their customs shed looking for your parcel so it would never happen this way).

 

I know that they will cancel their admin charge if you havent had any previous history with them in this respect but it is not a right.

 

Good luck and bear in mind that you do have extra costs to pay when you buy a cheap item online. Also bear in mind that when you buy in the UK all this has been done for you

[BazzaS]

"Also bear in mind that when you buy in the UK all this has been done for you" : UK or EU (duty paid)

[MaxxPower]

Success.

 

Sent the below e-mail to Fedex,

 

On the 10th July 2015 I received a parcel which had been shipped from Hong Kong. Prior to delivery there was no notification of any outstanding taxes/duties/charges owing, the parcel was only delivered and signed for. Approximately a week and a half later I have received a sudden Duty & Tax Invoice relating to this delivery.

 

Whilst I acknowledge that VAT of £5.64 is due as the origin of the shipment is outside of the EU, I was not notified of an administration charge of £12 prior to accepting delivery. As I was not notified of this, I was not given any option to decline delivery and exercise my right for the parcel to be returned to sender, giving me the opportunity to seek a refund and source the item elsewhere without this charge being due. I did not enter into any contract with Fedex to accept this charge, my contract was between myself and the shipper of the item. Any contract with Fedex is between themselves and the shipper of the item.

 

I hereby request that a new invoice is issued for only the outstanding VAT of £5.64. Please advise once this has been done and I can then pay the outstanding VAT.

 

And got this reply,

Thank you for your query regarding invoice .

 

Having reviewed the above mentioned invoice, we can now confirm that a partial credit of 12.00GBP has been raised, leaving an amount still due on the invoice of 5.64GBP.

FedEx will not issue a revised invoice and therefore we look forward to receiving payment for the remaining balance on this invoice

 

 

Though I'm going to assume that the unwritten part of this is that this'll be a one off occurrence and next time the charge will stand.

[ericsbrother]

I think that you have a fair result and you should now bear in mind that there are costs to be added when buying abroad and take then into consideration. If items cost less than £18 (inc post) then there is nothing to pay.

[MaxxPower]

My main issue was the admin charge, £12 just seemed excessive, especially considering Fedex had been paid to ship the item from its origin point by the company I ordered from anyway, so it felt like they were asking to be paid twice.

[BigAllyMac]

£12 is not an excessive charge for customs brokerage, or "admin" as they term it. It's actually very reasonable by industry standards. Who should pay it is determined by the terms of sale under which you purchased the goods but as you were required to pay duty and tax then it is almost certain that these were either C&F or CIF (Google INCOTERMS for details) and therefore you are also responsible for the clearing charge.

[ericsbrother]

Try importing a container full of stuff and then you will see how charges stack up. Everyone and his dog apparently have a role in clearing it, even when you do your own paperwork for the goods. I used to use UPS for all of my air freight as they were the easiest to get a straight answer out of and you pay the charges on the doorstep when they deliver. They also made pretty good time with their planes compared to some and they dont throw your goods away like Parcelforce does if they cant be bothered to get them out of the customs warehouse in a reasonable state.