UK Customs

[steviekill]

Hi Gents,

I hope you guys don't mind if I scratch your brains for some much needed advice

on a situation I am sure some of you out there are more clued up about than me - UK CUSTOMS.

I have recentley had x3 watches sent to me in the UK from Thailand.

x1 Grade AAA Swiss movement Hublot

x1 Grade B Japanese movement Rolex Day Date

x1 repaired Grade B japanese movement Omega Seamaster PO

(please excuse my vague knowledge of the grades above but it should give you a rough idea of what I have ordered)

My girlfriend's Dad who is Thai picked up the watches from a supplier and

sent the parcel via EMS tracking 4-day delivery to UK as he has done before on a few occasions and addressed it to my Thai girlfriend

who I live with. As usual he put watches on the customs decleration form and marked it as gift.

Due to the fact that the watches had still not arrived after a week of waiting it started to raise my suspicion something might be up,

and sure enough I received a letter from HM customs and excise for the Notice of Arrival of Goods By Post.

It stated " the above consignment, addressed to my girlfriend, has arrived in the UK and it cannot be delivered until further information has been provided.

Most goods imported into the UK are liable to Customs duty and or/VAT even if they are Gifts. Parcelforce will collect any charges due, cash on delivery and

DO not send any payment with this form

It the asked me to fill out pages 1 and 2 as follows :

1. Full description of the goods ?

2. Is the importation - Private or a Trade importation ?

3. Quantity of goods ?

4. Commodity code ?

Part 2

1. (a) If the goods were purchased abroad enter the full value of the goods. This is the total amount

of all amounts paid and to be paid including any packaging, postage or insurance charges

( If the goods were sent free of charge enter the value (if known) and state the circumstances e.g free replacement, gift etc ATTACH THE INVOICE??

© If the goods are being returned for alteration or repair abroad and were previously in your possesion in the uk then enter

the cost of alteration or repair and attach the invoice.

2. In the case of importations not covered in part 2 above describe the circumstances here and attached the value of the goods and supporting docs

and then sign etc.

Now guys the reason I have typed it all out is because I want your fountain of knowledge and wisdom you can all provide and hopefully good suggestions on what my best plan of action is or what options are available to me because to be honest I don't want to cause trouble for my girlfriend because the watches are for me after all!

Do I just leave it and hopefully it will get sent back to the sender ?

Do I contact them by phone and email off an invoice (even though the watches were paid for in cach (Thai Baht) ) ?

I am truly really worried and would be ever so grateful for any advice the fine gentleman of RWG can offer

All advice is welome and I look forward to your replies

Thank you in advance

Cheers!

(PS - EXCUSE MY TERRIBLE SPELLING)

[Shundi]

I'd be very interested to see pictures of that "AAA Grade Swiss" HBB

Not sure what you can do other than contacting your dealer and saying the items were seized... you might be able to write up a fake repair slip for repairs and declare the value of the repairs @ 150 or something like that and pay tax but...I'd advise against submitting false invoices and such (unless your dealer in Thailand sends something...idk)

[By-Tor]

Do you have pictures of these so called "Grade AAAAAAA+" watches?

We can determine from the pics if they're even worth any hassle. You might be able to source much better reps through this forum.

And forget the grades, they're all complete bs... fabricated by the scam sites. No "grades" exist.

PS: Welcome to the rep heaven!

[therooster]

You can ignore the letter and let it go. Or let them know you have no idea what it is, refuse to accept the package, and tell them it shoud be sent back to the sender. This way you avoid lying to their faces or getting into trouble. In any case, if you tell them they're fakes they'll get confiscated; if you tell them they're genuine, you'll get hit with a massive bill. Better pretend you know nothing. Doesn't sound like these watches were worth much anyway (any talk of grades is symptomatic of a rip off), so just tell your GF's dad to give it another shot, perhaps only with one watch to start with, and to do a better job with the custom form next time. Good luck!

Edited October 7, 2008 by therooster

[TeeJay]

Okay, my father in law had a similar letter for a digital camera he bought online. He did not get the option to tell customs to shove it, as, the way the 'system' works, (or at least, how it worked in his case) is that Parcel Force pay the release fees to HMC, and then bill you (essentially, holding your goods to ransom) There was an article a while back, about a guy in the US who was charged the import duty on rep watches as if they are gens, so wound up with a huge import tax bills. If you get the option to tell customs to return the goods, do it quickly, or Parcel Force will pay the release and you could find yourself looking at a large bill... Hope it all works out, best of luck

[steviekill]

Thank you guys fo all your advice, it all worked out well in the end as I took the advice to refuse it

and send it back to supplier (taking no chances) arrived back in a week with sender!

Thanks again!

[TeeJay]

I'm glad to hear you had a positive outcome, and didn't get stung by HMC/Parcel Force's little racket Best of luck with your future purchases

[steviekill]

Thank you!