gasebah Posted January 16, 2013 Report Share Posted January 16, 2013 Hi, has any of you ever experienced the following: 1. Via UK shipping 2. Package is released from custums 3.ParcelForce Pool depot holds the package and is awaiting payment of customs charges. I suppose the UK operation of PT is paying the charges in that case? Or will they send a new watch and hope that there will be no charges with that one? I have of course no idea how high the charges are. I am just sitting tight since end of December waiting for my watch.... -Alex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
astonjenks Posted January 16, 2013 Report Share Posted January 16, 2013 Hi Alex Interestingly, i recieved a watch today from a TD in HK which arrived in teh UK on teh 7th January, was held in customs and released to Parcelforce several days later. I then recieved a letter yesterday the 15th asking for payment of Import VAT of £6.05 and a Clearance Fee of £13.50, a total of £19.55. With several watches coming from China and the US, i have never been asked for such a payment, indeed, my two watches from BK sent last Friday arrived yesterday which is incredibly impressive to say the least let alone great watches! Regards Astonjenks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gasebah Posted January 17, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2013 I would still like to know if puretime will cover those charges or if my watch will to in the parcelforce warehouse forever now. Of course I got no answer from puretime so far. -Alex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xpletiv Posted January 17, 2013 Report Share Posted January 17, 2013 Does it refer to this subject on their(pt) site? I was just on several different sites and had noticed this mentioned on one. It stated that the buyer was responsible-which would make sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agantz Posted January 17, 2013 Report Share Posted January 17, 2013 Completely normal now. It was illegal before for Parcelforce to claim 'handling fees' when all they've done is pay the custom fees themselves then recover it from the customer. Legislation was brought into effect to allow such charges to be claimed. They're well within their rights to demand the £13 fee to release your package from hostage. Pay up and enjoy your watch is all I can say. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
automatico Posted January 17, 2013 Report Share Posted January 17, 2013 A few years ago a friend and I sold a TAG watch to a fellow in the UK from eBay USA for $1200. The fellow wanted it declared at $100 but we told him it would be declared and insured at $1200. He did not like it but that's the way it was. We were not going to insure a $1200 watch for $100. After a few weeks the UK guy claimed he never received the watch and demanded his $$ back...we already had proof it reached the UK with a note that delivery was refused. Since we had the $$ and proof the watch was refused, we let it ride for a few months because the guy immediately started calling us names and making all kinds of threats. After letting him boil for a few months, we finally went to the US Post Office and showed them all the shipping/insurance info and asked if they could find the watch. A few weeks later the watch arrived back from the UK, unopened and just like it left. The buyer tried getting a 'clawback' from paypal claiming he did not receive the watch but since we emptied the pp account and provided proof of delivery, pp let it ride. This in itself is unusual as pp nearly always sides with the buyer even with solid proof that the buyer is scamming someone. This scam had been tried on us before...claim no delivery, get the $$ back from paypal, then go get the watch = free watch. We informed the guy (who was a genuine 18k pain in the azz by this time) that we now had his $$ and the watch and if he would apologise for the insinuations and threats that we would send it back no charge. He finally relented so we sent it back...valued at $2000. We never heard another word. The watch was at a UK post office for the whole time (over 6 months) so evidently they will sit on a package for a long time. We asked the USPS clerk what would happen if we had not filed a trace on the package and they did not know. Do not know anything about other UK delivery outfits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gasebah Posted January 17, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2013 Completely normal now. It was illegal before for Parcelforce to claim 'handling fees' when all they've done is pay the custom fees themselves then recover it from the customer. Legislation was brought into effect to allow such charges to be claimed. They're well within their rights to demand the £13 fee to release your package from hostage. Pay up and enjoy your watch is all I can say. I would not even mind to pay up. But as this was bought via UK shipping to another country I am not the recipient. Some puretime middle man is the recipient. Of course our "trusted dealer" has gone silent. The overall perception seems to be that the dealer is responsible to get the package to the third country if via UK shipping is chosen. Let's see if they keep their word. -Alex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
panerai153 Posted January 18, 2013 Report Share Posted January 18, 2013 Most watch companies (genuine) will have a prominent disclaimer that they are NOT responsible for customs and Duty fees in the country of delivery. Here in the USA, it's really hit or miss. I have had several genuine watches sent from Switzerland, and I believe that only twice did FedEx charge a customs charge. Both times it was around 50.00USD for watches that were valued at 1200-1800 USD. So all in all the customs duty here in the USA is not nearly as onerous as it is in some other countries. Selling watches, again genuine, is problematic when shipping to the EU countries as well as lots of other countries across the various ponds. I realize that the duty is high, but the USPS UPS and FedEx will not allow you to insure the package for more than the stated value on the customs declaration. So as automatico said,declare and insure for what it's worth. It would be great if you could value the package at 100.00 USD, but then you can only insure for 100 USD. If the package is lost or stolen, or somehow gets run over by a forklift, all you are going to be able to claim is 100 USD. in the meantime the buyer rightfully so, wants his watch, or his money back. Guess what, you have to refund his money, and you get to collect 100 dollars! If it's a 2K watch, you just lost 1900 USD, and you don't have a watch either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeteM Posted January 18, 2013 Report Share Posted January 18, 2013 I would not even mind to pay up. But as this was bought via UK shipping to another country I am not the recipient. Some puretime middle man is the recipient. Of course our "trusted dealer" has gone silent. The overall perception seems to be that the dealer is responsible to get the package to the third country if via UK shipping is chosen. Let's see if they keep their word. -Alex If you have pid for the triangle shipping service then you aint responsible for any surcharges mate.... thats down to the dealer and his drop guy in UK..... however if you were in UK and you got these charges then unless you have specifically discussed customs and declarations etc then its down to you.... For that amount you will find the charge isnt customs but rather VAT...as the VAT threshold is lower than the Customs levy.... the thing to remember is that the shipping charge is considered in any customs charging... so if you state item at $30 but shipping is $50 then you will get a small VAT charge plus the £13.50 Admin charge from PF or RM... they both charge the same fee.... The thresholds are written in stone but PF and FedEx etc do like to interpret the regulations and the thresholds..... I have had stuff delivered to me with value stated well over the thresholds and didnt get charged... I have had stuff thats only 99p over threshold and had about 40p charged plus the £13.50 !! Its hit an miss how these will be viewed by the courier.... as it aint customs that state the charges most of the time.... I recently found out thats its the courier staff who undertake this for all packages wheras only a selected few go to customs officials for scrutiny...and charges.. Its a great way of making money for them because they take responsibility for paying customs along with declaring how much should be paid.... this is done on a schedule rather than individual so payments are made on an interim basis as a bulk payment.... its a nice earner...a friend at FedEx really opened my eyes to the abuse of this part of the shipping process.... although we are usually incorrectly charged most of that variation goes in the couriers pockets not the Governments!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gasebah Posted January 19, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2013 All is well. PT will cover the charges. Only question is how long it will take them to get their act together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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