I've ordered a couple of records from the states. I recieved a letter from Parceforce informing me that I have to pay VAT of £7.84 and ok I understand that I have to pay that. What's annoyed me is that I've been hit with an £8 Parcelforce Clearance Fee. Is this their charge for writing a letter to you, to say that you've got a VAT charge to pay?

I've already paid it, but does anyone know if there's a way of getting round the parcel force charge, which I think is just a p*ss take?

I've ordered a couple of records from the states. I recieved a letter from Parceforce informing me that I have to pay VAT of £7.84 and ok I understand that I have to pay that. What's annoyed me is that I've been hit with an £8 Parcelforce Clearance Fee. Is this their charge for writing a letter to you, to say that you've got a VAT charge to pay?

I've already paid it, but does anyone know if there's a way of getting round the parcel force charge, which I think is just a p*ss take?

dont think you can get around it as it is their handling fee for collecting your money. piss take i know had it happen a few times.

mark

Not a chance, they seem to charge what they like above the standard rate they advertise.

i got stung over £80 on some golf clubs last year and before that around £70 on an Iphone.

the sad thing is that millions of post gets through ok and they only have the manpwer to pull up a small percentage, mate of mine got sent an Ipad from the US, he got a customs letter etc and had £190 to pay on it, ontop of the £750 he paid for it off ebay, when he phoned to pay for it and ask for delivery (extra charge too) the woman came back to the phone and told him the box was empty !! it had been nicked whilst at the main office in Nottingham, the box had been ripped open and resealed with sellotape,

when she looked at the box she said it was no wonder it had gone as the sender had written on the US customs clearance note that the contents was an Apple Ipad

Think it,s just a case of fingers crossed mate

Ian.

The handling charge is what they are allowed to charge for paying your VAT for you to the Customs and then getting it back off you.

It is annoying when more than half of the charge is made up of this 'handling fee', but there's nowt you can do about it.

Bit of a bugger if you get the item and it's damaged / not as described and you send it back as there doesn't appear to be any way to claim it back.

BTW, I think the Customs are having a bit of a purge at the moment (what with the change of Government and their attempts to cut the 'Public Spending Defecit') since I've had more of these in the last month than I've had in the last two years...

BTW, I think the Customs are having a bit of a purge at the moment (what with the change of Government and their attempts to cut the 'Public Spending Defecit') since I've had more of these in the last month than I've had in the last two years...

We use Fedex mostly from the States and west Indies they charge ten quid clearance fee and it does seem of late I'm paying on every delivery .There is suposed to be an international treaty that anything under ( I Think ) a pound in weight is exempt all you need to do is get the other party to do a "light value invoice".This is o.k if you don't need insurance ect, sadly You have to weigh up sometimes whether it's cheaper to buy abroad or in the U.K/Europe .They are all massive international company's and at ten quid a pop must make millions out of what is in effect money loaning with out an agreement .On the other hand We can have stock within day's so We're all inbetween the hammer and the anvil .All the best Simon H.

I've ordered a couple of records from the states. I recieved a letter from Parceforce informing me that I have to pay VAT of £7.84 and ok I understand that I have to pay that. What's annoyed me is that I've been hit with an £8 Parcelforce Clearance Fee. Is this their charge for writing a letter to you, to say that you've got a VAT charge to pay?

I've already paid it, but does anyone know if there's a way of getting round the parcel force charge, which I think is just a p*ss take?

No.

No.

you could pay by cheque, post it to em with a covering letter. charge em £8 for it & call it a customer clearance fee