After blogging on the Royal Mail scam, whereby they charge you an £8'international handling charge' to receive your parcel if customs decide to levy VAT on it, I thought that I would try complaining. The industry is regulated by PostComm, so I went to their web site. This said:
- Contact Royal Mail
- If you get no joy, try Postwatch
- Otherwise you can sue (ha ha)
So you cannot, in fact, complain to Postcomm. It looks as if it is just a quango.
Anyhow I complained to Royal Mail who sent me a long canned email suggesting that I complain to HM Revenue and Customs. This, of course, was disingenuous -- it is Royal Mail who impose this charge -- indicating that Royal Mail know full well that they're engaged in a scam.
I then complained to Postwatch. I got back a long canned email from them, which was interesting in that it retailed the Royal Mail line and then added:
"Issues relating to customs and excise is outside Postwatch's remit therefore we cannot become involved in disputes regarding this matter."
In other words, because Royal Mail claim that this is to do with customs, they can charge us what they like?!
Clearly this is a loophole in the law, which Royal Mail have discovered and are abusing for profit. Nasty, nasty stuff.
One other interesting snippet:
"Customers can refuse to pay these duties and charges, in which case the goods will be returned to sender at Royal Mail's expense."
If only we could all do that, and specify that another operator be used.
12 comments:
I just discovered this point in the HMRC FAQs on Internet Shopping.
It says that you can avoid the Royal Mail fee if you declare the goods yourself. Unfortunately it doesn't give a clear set of instructions, but I think that I'll call the advice line and see what the process is.
Could you please post here if you give it a go too.
It looks like it's not that difficult to declare the goods yourself. HMRC have even produced a document Notice 144 to explain the process. Given that all you have to do is fill out a one page form, it is difficult to see how Royal Mail can charge £8 for doing it.
Here's what I've worked out so far.
When the package arrives Royal Mail will send you form C87 to tell you that it has arrived and form C88A (PDF) to fill out and return with the tax payable.
Notice 144 has step by step instructions for filling out form C88A. The most tricky bit will be Commodity Code. If you're lucky it will be in the Classification of Popular Products, otherwise there is a full listing on the Business Link web site. This site also has a guide to filling out the C88A that may also be useful.
You'll also need the exchange rates which can be found here.
The only thing that I haven't found yet is the Customs Procedure Codes. You should be able to get them from the Business Link web site, but the link there isn't working at the moment.
The other thing that might be useful is the HMRC Guide to Importing and Exporting which includes an example of the C88A form.
I probably won't be buying anything for a few months so it will be a while before I get to test this out but I'll let you know how I go.
No, if you get the grey card, Royal Mail have already declared the stuff for you and you'll have to pay the handling fee.
To stop them doing that you need to get the sender to mark the package "goods to be customs cleared by importer" as set out in the HMRC FAQ.
Royal Mail should see this when the package arrives in the UK and, as a result, rather than declaring it, send you the C87 and the C88A. You can't use a downloaded copy of the C88A.
You return the C88A to Customs with the money, they check that the paperwork and the customs charges are all correct, and then tell Royal Mail that the package can be released.
Royal Mail should then deliver it.
HMRC told me that they normally process the paperwork the same day as they receive it, so as long as you've filled it out correctly, it shouldn't take too long.
Has anyone successfully done this and avoided the £8 charge?
The bit that worrys me in the HMRC FAQ is this:
"Do not send a remittance with your entry unless asked to do so. Royal Mail Group will collect any charges from you when the package is delivered."
Will they only be collecting the customs charge and not adding any fees?
I think that we might have a bit of an opportunity to lobby on this issue.
There was a debate in the House of Commons on 27 January 2009 between Mrs Janet Dean and Mr Stephen Timms regarding the VAT exemption that applies to imports valued at less than £18. Mrs Dean wanted a reduction in the £18 limit (mostly for stuff from the Channel Islands but ...) and neither she nor Mr Timms seemed to be aware of Royal Mail's £8 fee.
I have just emailed my MP, with a copy to Mrs Dean (deanj@parliament.uk) and Mr Timms (stephen@stephentimms.org.uk), alerting him to Royal Mail's fee and asking that it be taken into account in any review of the £18 limit. I also suggested that the fee itself need review.
Any chance that you could do the same? Just in case you need it, you can find your MP here.
Just had a letter from my MP saying that I had raised some interesting points and that he has written to Alistair Darling about this.
That reply doesn't seem to address any of the issues at all. When Tesco will select as much shopping as I want and deliver it within a 2 hour window for around £4, it's hard to see how it can cost Royal Mail £8 to fill out a form.
I haven't had a reply. Alistair Darling must be busier than Lord Mandelson.
I finally got a letter from my MP last week enclosing a response from Stephen Timms on behalf of Alistair Darling.
Like yours, it totally avoided the issue that if they removed the LVCR the £8 Royal Mail fee would apply to all imports. I wrote to my MP on another issue and the reply there was the same - it totally ignored the main concern that I raised, so that just seems to be par for the course.
Anyhow, I'm just about to place an order and see if I can clear the goods through Customs myself.
I'll let you know how I go.
The first round in my attempt to avoid the £8 fee goes to Royal Mail unfortunately. I've done everything correctly (I checked with the sender and the package was marked with the "Goods to be Customs cleared by importer" message), but Royal Mail just ignored that and cleared the package themselves.
I've tried to sort it out with Royal Mail customer services, but they've just sent me their form letter response to handling fee enquiries, and after 5 working days, haven't replied to my follow-up email. I now need the goods urgently so I've paid the fee.
As Royal Mail don't seem to be willing to sort this out I've complained to the Postal Review Panel. Their email address is postalreview@royalmail.com.
I think that I've got a good case so I've asked that Royal Mail correct this by doing the following:
1. Guarantee that all future packages that I receive are processed correctly.
2. Update the Fee to Pay page on their web site to advise customers that it is possible to avoid the Royal Mail handling fee by importing their goods themselves.
3. Update the form letter/email that they send to people who enquire about the Royal Mail handling fee to advise them that it is possible to avoid the Royal Mail handling fee by importing their goods themselves.
4. Update the sticker that they apply to packages on which customs charges are due and the "Fee to Pay" card to include advice that it is possible for customers to avoid the Royal Mail handling fee by importing their goods themselves.
5. Train their customer service staff to advise people who enquire about the Royal Mail handling fee to advise them that it is possible to avoid the Royal Mail handling fee by importing their goods themselves.
6. Update their web site with clear and comprehensive instructions on how their customers can import their goods themselves. This information should be easy to find, e.g through a link on the Fee to Pay page, not hidden away.
7. Pay me £108 in compensation, £8 for the fee that I have been charged in error and £100 for the poor customer service that I received when Royal Mail failed to appropriately answer the emails that I sent them.
I'll let you know what happens.
Well, it's taken some doing (I won't bore you with all the details), but I've just had an email from Royal Mail saying that they've sent me a cheque for £8. I think that that is about as much success as I can expect.
The package was addressed as follows:
Paul X
Goods to be Customs
Cleared by Importer
Rest of street address ...
I obviously haven't had any experience with filling out the forms, but at least we have an example of how to make the first part of the process work.
Cheque arrived today. £8.08 for some reason.
I agree that they should pay compensation for all the hassle but it would be so much trouble to fight for it I doubt that it's worth it.
In the letter that came with the cheque they said to get in touch if I had any further concerns so I will send them an email asking them to improve their web site and let people know that they can avoid the £8 charge by clearing the package themselves.
Just a warning, HMRC have removed the page about declaring the goods yourself and replaced it with this one which gives no way of avoiding Royal Mail's fee.
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