That's just Customs flexing their knuckles before your shipment arrives...

Gaah, I hate customs too - you should see the charges they slap on us when we import stuff. Steve's obsession with steel bending stems from the money we've paid to them :)

You think thats bad I bought a suit second hand of ebay that was £66 I got charged import duty of £22 after that VAT and handling fee. In total I had to pay another £61 to recieve it. I send parcels across the world and good to the value of £300. The customs in countries like NZ AUstrailia and USA have no problems with it! Isnt it ironic that the country where everything costs more tahn anywhere else has the lowest exemption values. Thieves. Mind you the people deserve the government they elect! Sobering eh!

I have just had a similar experience. I purchased some goods from the US, totalling $81.50. I had a card put throught the letter box stating that I owed the post office £9.01 when I collect the item. There was a label on the box stating I had to pay £5.01 VAT and £4.00 postal handling charge. I paid the charge because I wanted the contents of the box, would you believe I asked for a receipt for the £9.01 but I was told they could not issue a receipt. I feel the Post office / Customs are a bunch of rip off merchants.

I had the same crap treatment from PARCELFORCE, i had an item sent from canada (granted it was £115 worth) but i was charged £22.33 import duty and PARCELFORCE then threw a charge of £13.50 so i had to pay £35.83, i cant see how Parcelforce can charge me over half the duty as a fee for doing something i had not asked them to do (they say they paid the import duty on my behalf) and therefore can chage me for that. What a bunch of robbing b#####ds both Customs and the delivery services are.

Just send them as gift or get sender to send as gift & you will pay nothing

Not too veer to far off the subject but i have payed for an airbrush kit from the states and paid extra for express mail 3-5 days and nothing has arrived after 7 days, is this due to customs taking there time with my goods ?
thanks

Not too veer to far off the subject but i have payed for an airbrush kit from the states and paid extra for express mail 3-5 days and nothing has arrived after 7 days, is this due to customs taking there time with my goods ?
thanks

Just had to pay £34 for import duty and what ever else for a pair of $90 goggles. Where do they get their figures from!!
Not Happy

Having paid a USA seller for express delivery, I expected to receive item within 3 days of dispatch. 14 days later I receive a letter from Parcelforce kindly informing me they are holding the parcel and charging me £13.50 on top of the customs charge of £20.20 VAT. So they have interfered with the service I paid for, left me without a gift to give to my partner at xmas, AND I'm expected to pay them this extortionate percentage rate for the privilege??? What happened to consumer choice? We just have to cough up or give up the item we've paid for??? Aaaargh!!!! I have written to Consumer Direct but my expectations of a satisfactory response are pretty low.

I have bought so0mething on ebay and need to have it sent over to the UK what should I declare it for so customs won't upen it and charge me more or not charge me at all?

Where is the limit? I'm going to mark it as a gift.
Thanks.

i bought my son a new set of 8 irons for his golf club set from usa. Had a card put through the letter box asking for £66 import duty including handling costs.
not happy

Parcelforce are the biggest robbers . . . .
What a con, I just purchased 2 DVD's from the USA, for essential work I have to do. I paid extra money for fast delivery and expected to pay some VAT as well. Then Thieving Parcelforce poke their greedy noses in and tell me I have to pay them £13.50 or else they will send my goods back to sender.
They could'nt manage a Bubble Gum machine, what a bunch of crooks.

think i can beat all of your woes....just bought 30quids worth of makeup from seller in usa....got a demand for 63.16 in VAT!?!?! how f****d up is that....

Hi everyone.
Have just found this about royal mail charges, yeaterday I went to collect a parcel from my postoffice and pay the charges, there was a sign there informing of new charges as from 2nd April 07 -

AS FROM 2/4/07 THE CHARGE BY ROYAL MAIL WILL INCREASE FROM £4.00 TO £8.00

BEWARE !!!!!!!!

Putting the charge up to £8 looks like its the only way to cover the pension gap the post office has. In a world where the cost of paper transaction goes away only the UK post office can double the costs without prior notification and then fail to deliver the package as contracted. It won't be long before all goods get routed around the bottleneck. This sort of thinking should have been purged from the corporate culture of the PO when they lost their monopoly. Oh well.

I have just had experience of the new charges.
I purchased some plastic spare parts from the states as they are not available over here. Price of the parts was $45.00 (about £22.00) total cost to me from the shipper including shipping £29.00. All I have got so far is a card stating that I owe £14.00 that means that the post office is charging me £8.00 to give £6.00 to the taxman. This has increased the total price of my goods by 50%. Where do they get their figures from, Or a better question would be where has their common sense gone. In future I will be having my goods shipped to a friend in France then re shipped to me. Stuff the taxman!!

UGH! bought a t shirt and a mug from the states for$58 and got charged 12pounds to collect it! why are royal mail charging me anything at all? what a load of rubbish 8 quid for nothing. Got a receipt but no idea how to get any of it back. Can i?

hi,
i've just paid £22.70 to parcelforce worldwide
of which £9.20 was VAT the remaining £13.50 was a parcelforce "handling charge". my bellyache is why wasn't i given the opportunity to pay the VAT charge, which i have no crib with, before parcelforce stepped in and paid on my behalf. If i had been contacted i would have paid immediately for the VAT. From where i'm standing it seems to me like "stitch up" between one goverment organisation,- customs, and another,- royal mail, plus other couriers, in order to fleece the public and boost their profits. Someone should look into these charges. maybe it's another case similar to the "snotty" bank letters you get and the ridiculous charges the levy. which, when challenged, suddenly get dropped.

hi,
i've just paid £22.70 to parcelforce worldwide
of which £9.20 was VAT the remaining £13.50 was a parcelforce "handling charge". my bellyache is why wasn't i given the opportunity to pay the VAT charge, which i have no crib with, before parcelforce stepped in and paid on my behalf. If i had been contacted i would have paid immediately for the VAT. From where i'm standing it seems to me like "stitch up" between one goverment organisation,- customs, and another,- royal mail, plus other couriers, in order to fleece the public and boost their profits. Someone should look into these charges. maybe it's another case similar to the "snotty" bank letters you get and the ridiculous charges the levy. which, when challenged, suddenly get dropped.

I wouldn't normally write on these things but i feel welcomed into the angry, pi**ed off world of parcel forces!!

Ornamental puzzle box = £25

Shipping fee = £12

Realising customs have held your item and won't release it till you pay £23.40,,,,, Priceless!!!!

Absolute pant pulling down, money grabbing, back stabbing, anger inviting WA*KE*S!!!!!!!!

I just got caught by this new charge. VAT: £4.32, Handling fee: £8! Apparently all £8 goes to the Royal Mail and I can't even pay it online / over the phone and have them deliver it, so I have to get to their depot and back. Even the employee who served me said I was being ripped off!

It's not the vat from customs as government vampires tax us all the time (don't like it but....). It's the extra that parcelforce Capitalists sponge for paying the vat on your behalf without being asked and suggesting a round trip for me, at least, 90 miles (non driver) to pay. Going to send parcelforce a bill for the time spent on the phone, written in legalese just to sow a little discord.

I think i've just got away with paying £15.20 for a parcel from the US that cost me $82. The parcel arrived at my home with a sticker on the front saying 'DO NOT DELIVER THIS PARCEL UNTIL DUTY HAS BEEN PAID' - d'oh someone in the sorting office messed up there, sent it out with the postie instead of to the collection depot, their loss. I'm going to ignore the duty for now, if they really want it they'll have to come and get it!

these robbing parasitic capitalist arsewipes have just charged me £25.60 on guitar goods worth £100 and now i have to go though the chew of picking them up only way i can do that is to take time off work so theres more money in lost wages!!!! Its about time somethig was done about this system!!!!!! Bastards!

yep, assholes. On the way back from Spain they confiscated a package from my father containing an item he couldn't get into his luggage. He had to show a receipt to prove he bought it in the UK... and who keeps receipts for everything they buy?

So he had to pay the charge, which was just a few £££ less than the items value!

Will the EU kick the Taxmans ass again I wonder?

How about this one - I brought an X-ray transformer from e-bay. The cost of the item itself was £151.09. Add to this £21.66 postage. Add to this £30.52 V.A.T. Add to this £8 Royal Mail handling fee. So for an item of value £151.09 - In order to get it from USA: I have had to pay: £21.66 + £30.52 + £8.00, or £60.18 or 40% of the e-bay price of £151.09. NEVER order anything from e-bay from USA. NEVER even order anything from USA via e-bay even if the value is less than £18. Heads you will lose and get clobbered for postage + customs / VAT + Royal Mail handling fee - tails you lose and will get clobbered for even higher international postage costs in order to break up shipment of goods to avoid being clobbered by customs / VAT + Royal Mail handling charge. Either way you can't win.

How about this one - I brought an X-ray transformer from e-bay. The cost of the item itself was £151.09.

Add to this £21.66 postage. Add to this £30.52 V.A.T. Add to this £8 Royal Mail handling fee.

So for an item of value £151.09 - In order to get it from USA: I have had to pay:

£21.66 + £30.52 + £8.00, or £60.18 or 40% of the e-bay price of £151.09.

NEVER order anything from e-bay from USA.

NEVER even order anything from USA via e-bay even if the value is less than £18.

Heads you will lose and get clobbered for postage + customs / VAT + Royal Mail handling fee - tails you lose and will

get clobbered for even higher international postage costs in order to break up shipment of goods to avoid being

clobbered by customs / VAT + Royal Mail handling charge. Either way you can't win.

my boyfriend in Hong Kong just sent me over a parcel... containing a blender worth £40, 2 transformer toys and a cmall cushion... the contents are worth 1000 HK dollars which is about £62... got a letter rom parcel force today demanding £25 import duty, £99 VAT and £13.50 clearance fee....... WHAT THE?!?!

their customer service it crap.. called the customs team the woman was as moody as ever. If i wanna recall my parcel it will take up to 6 weeks... from milton keynes to coventry>?!?!

unbelievable.

I have encountered this same scam. THEY ARE BREAKING THE LAW.

Section 104 and 105 of the Postal Services Act 2000 clearly state that they cannot hold up the post and it cannot be held to ransom for fees (lien) payable. Section 83 and 84 state the offence carries a penalty of up to six months imprisonment.

I challenged their legal department:

Lynn Gawthorpe (Parcelforce legal at the HQ) 01908687000

and was able to pick up my parcel without paying a penny.

The upshot is that they are legally able to charge a fee for paying your Customs bill, BUT they are not allowed to hold your mail to ransom until you pay it. They can only go through the standard civil procedure to obtain the debt.

I am currently looking into taking criminal action against the directors of Parcelforce for instructing their employees to break the law.

If you wish to join in, please text my mobile on 0790 25526777

I thought I had it bad...those f***ing money grabbing bastards.

Bought £33.75 off ebay from Hong Kong then like other posts, got a card through the mail saying I needed to pay £15.05 + £8 for bullshit. Oh, BTW on the card they've crossed out the original handling charge which was £1.00!!!! Can you believe that??!

I bought a few things from NY and didn't pay anything on them??? Whats going on here? That was two months ago...after the new charge came in.

I've just read on Royal Mails site about charges. I don't remember it applying to gift items. Why the hell should we pay tax on gift items. We didn't pay for them & we're not making money on them!

It's so true, they're losing money from paper post, so they have to make it up somewhere. You can be sure this was schemed up by lawyers. Bastards!

I will be looking into those details, Thanks Mark

REPLY TO: Posted by: MK1987 at August 15, 2007 11:37

..."my boyfriend in Hong Kong just sent me over a parcel... containing a blender worth £40, 2 transformer toys and a small cushion... the contents are worth 1000 HK dollars which is about £62... got a letter from parcel force today demanding £25 import duty, £99 VAT and £13.50 clearance fee....... WHAT THE?!?!"

---
How can you be charged £99 VAT on goods totaling £62??

VAT is 17.5% of the total value - It should be £10.85 - This MUST be a SCAM!!

I've just looked at the HM Customs site...I purchased a garment which according to their Duty VAT Table is liable to 12% Duty of the total. I worked it out and I have been charged 25.96% of the total!! Thats on top of the 17.5% VAT How do they work that out? And why the ridiculous increase on one cheap piece of clothing?

It seems to me almost arbitrary. Why don't they give a printed receipt with a brake down of the charges instead of a card, handwritten by anyone at the post depot. Seems very dodgy to me.

what's the chance of a restrospective refund to all the people that have had their mail held up, until the point of the "unsolicited" service is cleared up?
"unsolicited" in that none of us invited, or required, parcelforce (and their like) to pay on our behalf.

I've also had to pay £8 on top of a £4 VAT charge. I called customer services but as usual didn't get anywhere. The woman I spoke to couldn't tell me much. She did say that some parcels take longer to process than others which means its a bit unfair if your parcel (mine was from amazon) doesn't need to be opened and clearly has the item value on the front which means a lot less work.

I suggest everyone writes to the Royal Mail customer services and asks them to justify this charge. If they charge £8 for handling a parcel think how much handling a complaint letter from a customer will cost them! Their address is:

Royal Mail Customer Services
PO Box 740
Freepost
Plymouth PL9 7YB

You can also lodge a complaint with postcom as well. Apparently they approve the charges set by the Royal Mail!!

Ah so am I right in thinking that what you're saying is that they should deliver the item and then bill you - Rather than putting a card through the door saying to come and collect it, pay up first and then we are going to charge you for the privilege?

Has the proportion of items inspected increased lately because I have had some quite large items sent over from the states and paid no VAT but today I was charged VAT on a $70 item

Given all the extra charges (despite the illegality of the methods used for collection) incurred via Royal Mail/Parcel Force, it may be worth investigating the cost of Fedex or DHL (or another point to point courier with international capability). They handle any excise/duty/VAT liability for you, via an invoice ~14 days after your goods arrive at your door and only levy a £6.80 fee or 2.5% of the cost of goods, whichever is the greater, meaning that you'll only pay an extra £6.80 over and above any excise/Duty/VAT on up to £272 worth of product. Having the supplier use one of them may be more expensive than 'regular' mail, but if the extra cost is less than £15, it is worth it for a no-hassle delivery. Also, much of the product discused above seems light-weight and low-volume, which is advantageous as far as shipping costs are concerned, especially when using couriers. In my experience, if you have ordered stuff from the US and selected one of the US Post Office's express services, you will have paid as much (or more) as you would have going with Fedex, yet been reliant on the good 'ole PO (famed for their larcenous ways and sullen customer service) at this end, rather than a door to door service. Not extolling couriers for any other reason than at least the dosh you pay for excise/duty/VAT is clear and accounted for, payable by all the ususal methods, without having to visit a depot somewhere, AFTER you get your goods.

More info, i paid $159.99 for a baseball bat, after barry bonds hit home run 756, ordered from USA, got a letter thru post saying i owe them money to get the bat relaesed!! feel like paying then going round the offices and beating the holly hell out off adam crozier! how wud he like it if he got slapped with a charge!
make me second think about getting goods from over-seas! next time i do, mark it GIFT!!!!

I have just paid Parcel Force £13.50 for paying £14.17 VAT on a parcel from Australia. I wish I had read the legal challenge to Parcel Force first. I'll now attempt to claim it back!

Amazing, how do we go about defending our rights then? Should we call Lynn or state the law to the person at the depot?

I've spent a month waiting for a $200 book that is one of only about a thousand printed, only to find out that customs LOST IT.

I am glad you posted on here Mark. I have had the same problem before and never challenged them (was asked to pay the parcel via credit card before they would deliver).I was upset and felt it was legalised theft, but like many others, just paid the fees to get the goods i ordered. Your post on her will encourage others to stand up to this unjust system and to know there rights!.

AQUARIUM ORNAMENTS ORDERED FROM U.S.A AT A COST OF $65 APPROX INC: P&P'
A CARD WAS EFT IN MY DOOR SAYING THAT THEY COULD NOT DELIVER MY PARCEL BECAUSE THERE IS A FEE TO PAY AND THE CARD SHOWED HOW TO PAY THIS FEE (£11 66P)BUT NO INDICATION AS TO IF THE PARCEL WOULD BE DELIVERED BEFORE THE MONIES WERE PAID.

I just got done for £8 "royal mail international handling fee", after paying £5 duty/VAT on an order for £33. So a total of £13 with the added bonus of the parcel delivery being delayed and me having to pick it up myself (they do have other ways to pay and have it re-delivered but that would add even longer time to the delivery).

I called their complaints department and was met by a very unsympathetic representative. He denied that holding the parcel was against any laws, and gave me a rubbish story about how they cannot trust in the goodness of people to pay if they deliver the parcel. I told him something to the effect that this was not a good reason to hold the parcel and both legaly and morally questionable as most companies do deliver goods and then charge the customer, and there are plenty of legal options to deal with non-paying "customers". He didn't really care and said royal mail was well within their rights to withold the parcel.

I also argued that £8 was too much and mentioned that only recently it had been £4. He responded by saying that the £8 gave them zero profit and was purely to cover the cost of collecting the duty. He claimed royal mail was losing money when they were charging £4. I stated that this was hard to believe and if true then there is something very wrong with the procedure used to collect the duty as it must be possible to do it cheaper. Keep in mind I've already paid for the shipping when I made the order so the £8 does not include shipping.

He also said that revenue and customs had agreed this duty collection service from royal mail and I should complain to them if I don't like it. I then asked if this means that there are other ways to pay the duty fee without using royal mail and he confirmed no, there is not. When I then stated that this is a monopoly forcing me to pay the £8 handling fee on any international order, he retorted by saying that it was not a monopoly as customs had decided to use this service.

Well since I have no choice in paying customs and I have no choice to not use royal mail to do so, it IS a monopoly. When I told him so his response was to complain to the government.

Just done the same to me.Wont be dealing with Parcelforce again-!!!!!!!!

I recently ordered a couple of bottles of a hair shampoo/conditioner as a present for my daughter.
The company was in the USA. It arrived 3 weeks later and I received the proverbial note through the door asking for £4.50 VAT and £8 handling fee.
The original cost of the item was £24 ( 2 bottles) Pretty expensive shampoo eh especially as with these charges it works out at £36 £18 per bottle.
Incidentaly the item was shipped from Singapore and not the USA. I won,t be buying anything else from the Continent as this is daylight robbery.

Buy stuff from the EU or insist that whoever sells you something from outside the EU despatches the goods on delivery term DDP (delivery duty paid) rather than DDU (delivery duty unpaid). The shipping costs might be slightly more expensive but usually less than PO and is less likely to be held up at the post office. The alternative would be to manage the import yourself - fill out the appropriate forms and make payment to HMRC.

also stung by royal mail £8 handling fee, having purchased a £22 part for my guitar. Over the years I have continually redistributed local mail wrongly posted through my letterbox by the incompetent postie. Well,n I have just spat my dummy out, and will now be requesting a £8 handling fee from Royal mail for my services.
They way I see it they have to either pay the £8 or pursue me through the courts to establish whether my fee is reasonable, at which time I can produce evidence of Royal mail charging me the same fee for a similar service.

just received a gift from relative 312 cusotoms charge, IS THIS CORRECT???

Just paid £3.26 VAT and £8 handling charge for some Cafe Press greetings cards valued at $38.38c which is just 70p over the magic £18.
Its a rip-off, but if VAT has been applied legally it appears to be legal - which is not to say that its right. If the parcel arrives by Post Office (as opposed to parcel force) then number to ring is 08457740740 - they will put you on to Inland Revenue 0845 0109000, who will put you on to the local sorting office, who will agree that its a rip off but say they cant do anything about it. Only way around it is to get the item described as a gift, get it forwarded through a relative in the States, or break up your order into smaller amounts and be very careful to check todays exchange rates....

The royal mail is a bunch of crooks..... Having to pay £8 for a parcel and the vat as well... I dont mind the VAT charge, but the £8 charge slapped on for International handling.... AND when I payed for shipped at the other end... B@$t@rds....

I ordered a hoody from america and paid the usual postage. the hoody still had not arrived 3 weeks later, then i get a slip from the post office saying there will be a customs charge of £11.40, WHAT when i had payed the postage already, what is this customs charge and why do i have to pay it!!!!

I've just been stung ordering some perfume from Hong Kong. £5.50 import VAT & duty and Royal Mail's scandalous £8 charge means I'm paying another 50% on the value of the item!

Just happened to me, also.. ordered two self designed calenders that I made as a gift through an American company.

The total of the Christmas gifts and their P+P came to just over £20. Got a letter through my door on Christmas Eve saying I had a charge of £11.66 on top of that ONLY because my GIFT was over £18. £3 VAT (fair enough) and £8 "International Handling Fee"... what a load of crap. They charged me £8 for slapping a sticker on my parcel that I didn't even ask for, thanks. Not only that, but I had to rush into town on Christmas Eve to retreive my gifts (BLOODY GIIIIFTS NOT MERCHANDISE) before the post office closed! Awful awful service. Didn't even take credit cards :p

So I can't order something over £18 without getting a huge charge at this end? That's shite, I can't even order a bloody CD!

The Royal Mail said they were losing money at £4 INT. Handling Fee?... weeeell then they'll be losing a load more when I steal it from them. Bring back Postman Pat.

What a rip off!!

My items came to $95, The thieving idiots at Parcelforce charged me £10.60 import duty, VAT at £17.31 (how the work that one out I have no idea!) and then have the cheek to further charge me £8 for "clearance"

Never EVER will I be ordering from the US direct to UK. Next time, I'll post it to my friend in the US and she can send it as a gift.

Why do we put up with this rubbish???

I'm thinking of placing a large book order from Japan.
Can anyone advise whether customs/duty/VAT charges are ALWAYS applied or only a selected few that are delivered?
Does anyone know whether the CONTENTS of the parcels make any difference?

Got stung for £20 in fees on a Nintendo DS I bought off Ebay - £12 Customs charges I can accept but £8 to the Royal Mail for doing what exactly?? I could have paid the customs fees on a Credit Card and collected the parcel myself - total extra work for the Royal Mail = NOTHING. But instead I have no choice but to pay Royal Mail or have them hold my delivery. Nothing less than legalised extortion and needs a challange in the courts similar to that which the banks are going through on their excessive charges.

I've been stung twice by the criminally high Parcelforce handling fee, but only when getting things delivered by one or other kind of priority delivery.
With one company, my first order ($200) was sent priority and got hit for VAT (which I don't mind) and the handling fee (which I do mind).
All subsequent orders came regular airmail, with legit customs declarations of $100-$200 per package, and they arrived with no VAT bill. Also without the Parcelforce payment delay, they didn't take any longer either than by priority shipping.

I particularly dislike the blatant lie Parcelforce tell when you call up to pay by phone, such as "We have paid customs £24 on your behalf" when in fact over half that figure is the £13-50 Parcelforce handling fee which they're pocketing in return for doing next to nothing.

Basically, all the Parcelforce fee does is make me determined to buy things in a way that doesn't involve paying it, if I have any choice, which also seems to end up with no VAT bill.

JUST TO MAKE ALL AWARE, THERE ARE EVEN BIGGER ROBBERS OUT THEIR. UPS VERY KINDLY PAID £12.71 DUTY AND TAX ON AN ITEM I BOUGHT FOR USD64.99.
THE VAT IS CHARGED ON THE POSTAGE FROM THE USA !!!IN ADDITION TO THE COST OF THE ITEM.(I WONDER HOW THE PRESIDENT FEELS ABOUT THE UK DUTY ON US SERVICES)
FOR DOING ME THE FAVOUR OF PAYING THE DUTY ON MY BEHALF THEY CHARGED ME £11.
MY ITEM COST £32.50. THE POSTAGE WAS £25 FROM THE USA. ONCE IT LANDED HERE, IT COST ME £23.71, TO MOVE IT 22 MILES FROM MANCHESTER, EVEN THOUGH I HAD PAID FOR ITS JOURNEY. BUY UPS UK SHARES NOW!!! DON'T DELAY!!!

My daughter ordered a CD from USA,it was her favourite Idina,this CD only release in USA at the moment. She' been waiting for months for it to arrive. Today, not the CD arrived, but the Charge Demand Note from Royal Mail arrived. Asked for £11.40 before I can get the package! Confused, as I only paid about US$37.94(Approx £18) for it and how come it turned up to charge for £11.40?? Went down to the Royal Mail to find out, even they charged you,but they will not deliver to you, they want you to go to their sorting centre and get it!! The sticker on the top of this small packet said the VAT is £3.40,(I was told the value is just gone over the £18 limited with the 36p more for the VAT to be charged!!) but the HANDLING CHARGE from Royal Mail is £8 !!!! I only paid £18.36 for this CD, but have to be charged for £11.40 to get it, but not to be delivered, with petrol and time to the Post Office to get it!! Very Very Angry!! Being Ripped Off by Royal Mail. I want to reject receiving it, ask them to return to the sender, but thinking of it would make my daughter very upset and disappointing, so I have no choice but to swallow the feeling of being robbed, really really furious!! I would never purchase anything from USA. Not anymore for Royal Mail to get the chance to rob from me again !!

Just been done myself by the same scam.

I bought some software on Ebay in the US for the equivalent of £75. I often work away from home, so I am accustomed to going and collecting the parcels at the depot. Instead of the usual red card, I got a grey one which demanded £21.45.

When I went to pick it up, I got the parcel, on which they had stuck a sticker indicating that £13.45 was VAT and £8 was this 'international handling fee'. All they did for this fee, as far as I can see, is print off a sticker and put it on the side of the box. All the rest they would do for any parcel that can't be delivered.

The postal cost for this parcel from the US was $19, or around £10. So the 'fee' is actually almost as much as that. Does anyone believe that it actually costs them as much to put a sticker on as it does to carry a parcel a thousand miles? No?

So this is a straight rip-off. How can this be legal? Is is legal for Royal Mail to demand an arbitary-size ransom to release our mail?

I see from this link that they brought it in during 2007.

http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/content1?catId=400033&mediaId=400362

I gather Adam Crozier, the CEO who thought this one up, is paid £1.03m a year. So that's alright then.

I don't know where he lives, but I hope his neighbours teach this greedy bastard a lesson.

Same problem here. Sent for an Australian Bush hat from Hatworld.com (Australia) and incurred a customs charge of £15.70 which had to be paid. The hat itself was only £12.00 and overall cost 50 Australian dollars which included shipping. God knows what the Royal Mail is coming to, probably they think if you can buy cheaper from abroad inc of shipping then they are entitled to a large bonus for us having the privelage of obtaining goods at a cheaper rate.
I am very pissed off about this as many items purchased from abroad are not available in this Country.
Many thanks for reading ......Joe

thieving government thieving p.o. parcelforce, "you cant have the goods you purchased untill you pay up" blackmail, stinking rip off britain,they screwed me outa 8 quid handling charge plus the government screwed me out off a mingy 11 quid, assholes, I wont buy nothing in this country, to expensive,like I said rip off britain

I told them to send the goods back as undelivered. That way it cost them to handle the kit all the way back to The States.

The goods I ordered were to the value of £8 and they wanted duty, VAT and handling......erm...aye.....do they think I was born yesterday?

i hate customs, my friends import items worth hundreds and even car parts which cost a fortune. i occasionally buy items like an ipod which cost about £120 and customs go straight in and pick it up, no reason for it and they don't even bother to contact me about the delay.

they even sent my item to me damaged and they would not even pay for the damages, they still asked for my money so i told them to stuff it.

currently i am waiting for an item in customs which cost overall about £85 so the customs charge should be lower than last time. within 2 hours it arrived in the country and was processed in customs, how can something be done that fast.

and another thing, isn't customs there to prevent harmful items coming into the country, why do they pick out items up even when it has been scanned many times and proven harmless and let packets and letters through which could contain anthrax for instance, shouldn't they be focusing on crime prevention than stealing tax payers money.

they already tax us too much and then they want more.

and yes to all those who have mentioned, it is theft, and you could say terrorism. you see terrorists keeping hostages and wanting money in return, how are customs any different. the only difference is that the government has allowed then to do it as they get a share of the profits.

you could even say it is a form of kidnapping as ht parcel was paid and directed to go straight to your residence and instead they have taken it against your will and will not let you see it until you pay, and some times they don't even have your item and it is somewhere else

I ordered a memory card from usa £19 I was charged £3.43 V.A.T. No problem with that.Handling charge £8 from Royal Mail .Fuming I complained. Royal Mail tried to pretend they had to pay customs £8 to release the letter .I rang the chairmans office and they admited there that this was untrue and was their justified fee for collecting the charges.It seems to me that this is a legal scam and must be reaping huge sums of money from unsuspecting people.I spoke to customs twice and there is no other way to pay the duty other than royal mail collecting it.Meaning that we the customer have to go in our time to collect and then be ripped off.This isnt right any ideas?