Wow, that a heavy hit, especially after the fact. And what's with the courier's 'handling charge'? Was this in addition to other shipping charges?
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Introducing Kalani Luana| Author | Post |
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| zorro Member 45 Posts 10/00 |  Posted - Feb 18 2001 : 1:23PMOrdered 3 lots of DVD's from dvdempire - all turned up within about 4 days of ordering - that's the good news! On the outside of the box it states the contents as DVD's or DVD software and quotes the cost of the goods! There were no stickers on the boxes to suggest that customs had opened them, so I thought I would be okay - do not count your chickens............. About 1 week after each parcel arrived I received a bill from the courier, which represented import duty, VAT and a hadling charge - for each parcel this amounted to; £18, £19 and £21 - so I pai an additional £58!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I contacted the courier direct who confirmed that they AUTOMATICALLY declare all goods from the US, to customs in case they want to charge any VAT/duty!!! Here is the exact words of Carrie from dvdempire regarding my VAT/DUTY concerns, BEFORE I ordered; "Customs should only charge duty on the value of the goods. This is also not always the case though they sometimes do not charged any duty on the package." She should have said that this was if it was under the £18 limit - according to the courier, "WE WILL ALWAYS NOTIFY CUSTOMS OF THE VALUE OF THE GOODS"
This is one company that I will not be using again for orders to the UK - almost guaranteed to be hit! [Link] |
| dumblonde Senior Member 2352 Posts 7/00 | Posted - Feb 18 2001 : 4:40PM Wow, that a heavy hit, especially after the fact. And what's with the courier's 'handling charge'? Was this in addition to other shipping charges? [Link] |
| ookz Member 251 Posts 1/01 | Posted - Feb 18 2001 : 4:42PM Sorry to hear your story, My suggestion is find the store which could make discrete packaging : As far I know the stores who could make those discrete packaging are : [Link] |
| charlie Member uk 450 Posts 4/00 | Posted - Feb 18 2001 : 5:11PM I have had similar experiences to yours in my early shopping days and have learnt an expensive lesson not to use couriers like Fedex, UPS etc. Especially when the sender declares the full value of the contents. The couriers will pay the Duty & VAT on the total value of goods including postal charges on arrival and then slap on an additional handling charge for themselves. These as you have noticed are quite considerable. Since then I have opted for USPS given the choice. I have recently used AdultDVDEmpire but have made sure it was sent USPS and the order was under £18. I was aware of them specifying the exact value of goods on packages from their mainstream DVD operation. [Link] |
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