warranty - VAT - ParcelForce

[mega_kas]

Hi

Just received a letter from Parcel force asking for £24.27 VAT and £13.50 admin for my RMA'd C200.

I called ParcelForce and they say I have to pay it and claim the fee back from customs. I am presuming customs will not refund my parcelforce admin fee.

They are witholding delivery until the fee is paid.

This is my second RMA. On my first RMA I had the same problem but with Fed-Ex. They delivered the C200 and billed me for the VAT and admin. I called them and they cancelled it as it was a repair.

- What can I do with ParcelForce? I don't want to have to run around sorting out refunds but I want my C200 back after -another month without it due to repair.

- What is wrong with the PCH shipping documentation that means we end up getting doubled billed for VAT? I've never experienced this with other products.

My first PCH ownership experience is proving to be a headache

[chris57]

The shipping documentation from PCH should show that it is a warranty replacement/repair.

Read the other thread and in particular the HMRC link which shows that the UK government does not charge you for repair/warranty.

So provide Royal Mail with shipping documentation that shows that you paid import duty on the unit when first received, you then sent it out of the EU under warranty.

Which courier are PCH RMA now using?

[mega_kas]

Thanks for the quick reply.
It was sent US postal service and they used parcel force when it reached UK.

Parcelforce have dug their heels in. I have to either pay up or do the legwork myself to prove to customs that it VAT isn't applicable.
Fed-ex were a lot easier to deal with when the same problem happened.

So I have to wait until Monday to speak to customs. If they don't cancel the charges straight away I'll pay it and claim it all back again.

[chris57]

That's strange that it went US postal as they were only for US deliveries and overseas was Fedex. Trying to talk to someone at the Post Office collection points is a waste of time, you just get a jobsworth who will refuse to talk to you or give you the parcel unless you pay. If you get irate they just point to their poster about not abusing staf and ask you to pay up or get out in my experience.
I would do like you, pay and then write providing the proof and the link to the HMRC site showing that you should not be charged and demanding a refund. They should either pay or at least tell you what's wrong with the documentation.

I have asked that the PCH RMA centre approach their courier and ask exactly what paperwork they expect or is needed to ensure that this double charging does not occur. This is happening more often and with far greater frequency that is required.

I'll keep on at this so PM me with specific details on what they say was wrong or unclear on the paperwork to cause you so much hassle.

You know we wouldn't have this bother if we could persuade Werner to set up an EU RMA Centre in his cellar.

[peterjcat]

My RMA is in transit via USPS too, so I guess I can expect the same thing. I don't see how this can be happening with such regularity. The admin fees these people charge for doing stuff they're not even supposed to are criminal.

I wish PCH would just have a normal distribution chain like a regular company.

[tux99]

(03-21-2010 01:15 AM)peterjcat Wrote:  I wish PCH would just have a normal distribution chain like a regular company.

But they do, you could have bought it from a local reseller, at least in Europe there are many of them in many countries!
(I listed a few of them in a news article when the C-200 was released)

I know they charge more for the unit, but ultimately in case of a warranty problem it's much cheaper and easier to deal with a local reseller in your own country (or at least within the EU) than with Popcornhour in Malaysia or US.

By buying direct from Popcornhour.com you may save initially, but if you need to RMA then it could end up costing more (and a lot more hassle) than if you had bought from a local reseller.

[peterjcat]

Tux, you're right that there are resellers and they do offer a pretty good deal considering how painful the RMA process is, but that's not the same as having a real distribution chain where stuff is wholesaled to distributors/retailers at a meaningful discount and is available from a wide variety of outlets through a local distributor. I don't know what kind of wholesale price (if any) is available to resellers but it can't be that great if they can only get down to 30% more than a direct sale, even given the efficiencies in shipping they should be able to achieve.

Anyway it's more a complaint about the UK side of things... the whole place seems to be going to a Ryanair model, looks cheap but they kill you on the hidden costs!

[chris57]

That's a bit unfair, it's not PCH who hit you it's your own government or EU import taxes. Some call it protectionism others unfair.

Do agree that the whole process has gone very painful recently, especially for those who are illegally charged twice for importing the same product. I'm hoping that PCH Support will respond and tell us why things have changed and what they intend doing about it. If USPS is like the UK Royel Mail, too large to listen, then lets get back to Fedex or even better UPS who never charged us anything (in the service that you pay for costs) but cost more.

[Trollslayer]

Chris,
delivery companies are now above the law in the UK, it's not just Syabas who are getting hit.
I would be willing to pay a bit for a FedEx option, our coporation use them and have always found them to be professional and honest.
We stopped using DHL several years ago when I shipped some equipment to San Jose and discovered that some of the items had been sent back to the manufacturer when others (same make and model) had been sent on to their destination. I also had badly damaged and incomplete deliveries with DHL, Parcelforce trying COD charges for items that were pre-paid etc.

[peterjcat]

mega_kas, have you spoken to customs yet, and if so who did you talk to and what was the result?

Mine's with them at the moment but I haven't heard from Parcel Force, and I need my C-200 like yesterday (but would rather not pay all over again).

[mega_kas]

I know the feeling.

I've been trying to call them all day.
They just have an answerphone message saying "thanks, for your call, all agents busy blah blah blah call back later"

I'll post here when I have the results and will PM Chris with the shipping details so we can see why we're getting charged VAT.

[peterjcat]

I like your Czech flag -- the whole thing is decidedly Kafkaesque!

[mega_kas]

haha - I just noticed that.
I'm in Prague today, I'm impressed the forum knew that.

Back on topic - I just spoke to -another- Parcelforce rep.
He gave me the number for the Parcelforce customs team 02476 212860 but said "they don't like answering the phone much"

Either he is right or the number doesn't work from outside the UK.
Anyway, it might be worth you giving them a preemptive call with your parcel force tracking number.

[peterjcat]

Actually it looks like I might have got away with this one -- after a nervous 24 hours at the Customs Charging stage the repaired C-200 started moving again and is now Out for Delivery. So they might still send a bill but at least they're not holding the C-200 to ransom. I did drop Parcel Force a message as soon as it went into Customs saying it was a warranty return and not chargeable, but had no response and have no idea if it made any difference (probably not).

So assuming it's come back in the box I sent it in, and not a single sheet of the LA Times, it should be a good day!