Fed-Ex admin charge, pay up or do one

[Jordie Barretts sock]

visitinglondon said:

Jordie Barretts sock said:

I'm not anything. I'm calling you out on refusing to pay £12.50 for a reasonable service.

In answer to your question about whether you were given the option to refuse, if you had, you wouldn't have receive your parcel. Which would prefer?

If you want to wreck your credit rating over £12.50, crack on. I've no dog in the fight.

You don’t have the option to refuse as the other invoice is sent after delivery but don’t let facts get in the way of your bizarre ranting

Ranting? I'm not bothered one way or another.

Perhaps you should read my post again. I said "in answer to your question about whether you were given the option..." Not that he was given the option. I was answering his question.

But don't let your moral outrage get in the way of facts.

Edited by Jordie Barretts sock on Sunday 28th April 14:35

[BertBert]

ShredderXLE said:

I used Buyee as the proxy bidder, there terms and conditions seem say to contact your local customs office directly.

https://buyee.jp/help/yahoo/guide/caution

When you say "agreement", i set up the account with proxy, set a bid amount (which won) paid the auction amount and the proxy fees + postage costs to them.

I didnt deal directly with the seller other than them send me the email to say the item had been posted as I sourced the item through buyee.

It will no doubt be in the smallest of the small print somewhere.

On a quick look, it is silent on the matter of fees from the courier to get customs clearance. So it doesn't look like you agreed to pay the fee.

[InitialDave]

visitinglondon said:

Jordie Barretts sock said:

In answer to your question about whether you were given the option to refuse, if you had, you wouldn't have receive your parcel. Which would prefer?

If you want to wreck your credit rating over £12.50, crack on. I've no dog in the fight.

You don’t have the option to refuse as the other invoice is sent after delivery but don’t let facts get in the way of your bizarre ranting

I think you misread JB's post.

They're not saying the OP could have refused, as yes, that option wasn't presented before delivery.

They're saying if it had been an option, and OP had taken it, they'd have not received their parcel, which is correct.

[MickC]

Here's a thought. You say you paid FedEx the VAT/Duty, but not the admin charge. Were they billed as separate items where you were asked to pay for both separately? If so, good. If not, what's to stop FedEx taking the admin charge out of the 'VAT' payment and either not pay HMRC for you or only pay VAT-12.50? HMRC will then be chasing you for 12.50 which is alot worse.

I guess I'm with you in principle, legally you never agreed to that charge (but the auction house probably did when they shipped the goods and said you would pay it), so you could not bother. You would need to tell the debt collectors its a contested debt and (in theory) they will go away for a while. Whether anyone (FedEx or debt collectors) would bother going to small claims over the small charge is debateable. Usually their tactics would be to add loads of charges and interest on those charges on first so they'd be after 200 quid, but you'd hopefully will that case. Maybe Again, if you did that both FedEx and the auction house could choose not to do business with you in future.

[ShredderXLE]

MickC said:

Here's a thought. You say you paid FedEx the VAT/Duty, but not the admin charge. Were they billed as separate items where you were asked to pay for both separately? If so, good. If not, what's to stop FedEx taking the admin charge out of the 'VAT' payment and either not pay HMRC for you or only pay VAT-12.50? HMRC will then be chasing you for 12.50 which is alot worse.

I guess I'm with you in principle, legally you never agreed to that charge (but the auction house probably did when they shipped the goods and said you would pay it), so you could not bother. You would need to tell the debt collectors its a contested debt and (in theory) they will go away for a while. Whether anyone (FedEx or debt collectors) would bother going to small claims over the small charge is debateable. Usually their tactics would be to add loads of charges and interest on those charges on first so they'd be after 200 quid, but you'd hopefully will that case. Maybe Again, if you did that both FedEx and the auction house could choose not to do business with you in future.

The invoice that was posted in the weeks after delivery had it itemised as two separate amounts - the vat due and their disbursement fee, but both on the same invoice. I paid the VAT part online via a bank transfer.

I just re checked the paperwork.......its actually £12.75!!!!!!!

[MickC]

ShredderXLE said:

The invoice that was posted in the weeks after delivery had it itemised as two separate amounts - the vat due and their disbursement fee, but both on the same invoice. I paid the VAT part online via a bank transfer.

I just re checked the paperwork.......its actually £12.75!!!!!!!

So how did you pay the invoice? Was there a separate invoice number or whatever for each item that you could pay separately? If the bill was 87.75 and you paid 75 towards that, then they could easily say you still owe them 12.75 vat... I guess if they already paid HMRC then it would be difficult for them to tell HMRC you still owe it.

[ShredderXLE]

MickC said:

So how did you pay the invoice? Was there a separate invoice number or whatever for each item that you could pay separately? If the bill was 87.75 and you paid 75 towards that, then they could easily say you still owe them 12.75 vat... I guess if they already paid HMRC then it would be difficult for them to tell HMRC you still owe it.

No just one invoice number but with two charges listed out separaately. The invoice had their bank account details on the top of it. On the transaction reference for the bank transfer I made I added the invoice number. They then sent me another seperate invoice for the £12.75 a couple of weeks later (arrived yesterday) with the threat of immediate payment needed or debt collectors etc.

[gazza285]

Jordie Barretts sock said:

Yes, but these aren't unsolicited goods. And I suspect, OP go and check, the seller will have in their small print that the purchaser is liable for all fees and duty.

In which case, yes OP you are obliged to pay. Obviously for £12.50 I doubt FedEx will chase you, time and money and all that, but I doubt they will deliver to you again unless you pay a substantial fee up front before delivery.

Only a problem I guess if you use that supplier again.

This has always been the case when I have bought things from overseas, so while I do not have a contract with the courier company I do have an obligation to pay the duty and the fees incurred, as that is in my agreement with the seller. While it makes me slightly grumpy I accept it as part of the process of buying things from overseas.

The OP may have been unaware that this is a normal cost of overseas shipping, but he has more than likely agreed to cover this cost in his dealings with the seller.

[BertBert]

gazza285 said:

This has always been the case when I have bought things from overseas, so while I do not have a contract with the courier company I do have an obligation to pay the duty and the fees incurred, as that is in my agreement with the seller. While it makes me slightly grumpy I accept it as part of the process of buying things from overseas.

The OP may have been unaware that this is a normal cost of overseas shipping, but he has more than likely agreed to cover this cost in his dealings with the seller.

Having had a look at the Ts&Cs that the OP linked, they are silent on the matter of fees, so I don't think he has agreed to cover those costs,

[Kart16]

In Switzerland this admin fee is 25 francs.

[GasEngineer]

OP you haven't commented on the earlier point about you paying the admin fee charged by other couriers in the past - presumably without fuss.

[Rufus Stone]

ShredderXLE said:

The invoice that was posted in the weeks after delivery had it itemised as two separate amounts - the vat due and their disbursement fee, but both on the same invoice. I paid the VAT part online via a bank transfer.

I just re checked the paperwork.......its actually £12.75!!!!!!!

So you are happy for them to act as your agent to collect the VAT due and remit it to HMRC on your behalf, but aren't willing to pay them the charge for doing so.

[TonyF1]

I’ll bet that £12.50 the OP ticked a little agree to T&C box when buying that had some conditions they didn’t bother reading that set out the OP is responsible for any duty and associated fees regarding the purchase.

Edited by TonyF1 on Monday 29th April 07:13

[vikingaero]

My Dad ordered something and got hit with a small amount of duty and the £12.50 Fedex admin charge. Try as I might I couldn't register an account on their amazingly poor website. One thing I've learnt is to screenshot evidence of the multiple failures. When they sent their threatograms I emailed back with screenshots and they waived the charge.

[psi310398]

Rufus Stone said:

So you are happy for them to act as your agent to collect the VAT due and remit it to HMRC on your behalf, but aren't willing to pay them the charge for doing so.

That said, there’s a fairly respectable argument for saying that the service they are charging for is a central part of what FedEx are already being paid quite handsomely for. Customs handling always goes with cross border shipments, even if it results in a nil return. It is an unavoidable cost of doing this business.

I’m slightly surprised the couriers don’t all roll the costs up in their headline fee but there’s probably some accounting/fiscal advantage to them in inconveniencing the customer…or it’s just double bubble.

[Muzzer79]

ShredderXLE said:

So for those who are beter experts than me in the world of modern commerce is the answer definitively, yes - I am legally obligated to pay the fee in these circumstances?

(Obviously Id rather not if I didnt have to)

I've looked through your Buyee link and your posts on this thread.

Did you ever receive a quote for shipping when you were in the purchase process?

The buyee link takes you to pages where you can get an estimated shipping cost, but there is nothing on there stating what actual shipping costs are. It looks like, essentially, they're saying that shipping is between you and the carrier?

[Some Gump]

ShredderXLE said:

I recently ordered some parts from Japan and the seller arranged shipping by Fed-Ex Intl.

OP, yesterday.