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[Crewella]

I started a new thread as I realised I was hijacking poor Ozpleos!

 

Well, Gimmidigi did their job beatifully and my blue Pleo arrived in the UK last Friday.  Unfortunately the scrooges at customs are holding him/her to ransom and it still says "At National hub - received from customs - charges to be paid"!  

Gah!

Maybe you should phone them and see if you can find out why it's being held up.

Well that’s just typical   isn’t it?  
 Kat I think there holding her pleo to ransom quite literally.  I’m guessing they want money in the form of import charges.
  
Really sorry that there are    holding on to it.  
Did hear once that they give you time to pay up at least but I don’t know if you get the item in the mean time.  Hope it’s not a case of no pay now no pleo though.        
  Hope you don’t mind me asking but have they contacted you to let you know how much you have to pay? Hope there not asking  too much from you.      
 I tried  looking through the sight over  the weekend  to see how much they might  charge so I could work out how much it might cost us  in the UK  in total but the  information  was so vague    that I gave up
    
  Hope you manage to get your pleo home safe soon
 

      

I'm afraid it is exactly a case of 'no pay now no Pleo'!  

I do import goods fairly regularly from the US for my busines, so I'm not at all surprised as I'm probably flagged up on their system somewhere!  The only really annoying thing is that I can see from the tracking details that that's what's happened, but now have to wait for the letter from them to tell me how much I owe them before I can pay it and get poor Pleo rb released!  From past experience, as soon as I pay I should get delivery the next day.  

I'll keep you all posted on what happens in case any other Brits are faced with the same situation - there's always a chance you might get through customs without charges, but it's much more likely that you'll get caught like me, I'm afraid!    

[RedwoodsMama]

 Oh Crewella, I am sorry, I know as exporting a lot of Pleo batteries, some customers get really upset when they get their batteris and depending on what country they live in, they get mad at me, I have only had two customers get upset with me as if I am supposed to reimburse them for a product that cost them less than $60.00 ( without shipping) and I can not control what the import duties are in a particular country.
          Hopefully your Pleo Rb gets released soon, Can't wait to see the photos!
                          RedwoodsMama

[Watergazer]

I got burned once with customs to Canada. I sold a dragon statue to someone on ebay for $50, then insured it for the said value (just in case), and when it hit customs they charged her $50...the value I had put on it which she already paid! Customs can charge whatever they feel is right for a duty fee apparently. In the end I gave her back all her money so as not to get a bad rating on ebay so I lost out. The customer was furious but at least she didn't have to spend the duty fee.

Now, every time I ship parsel post to anywhere around the world, or buy anything from around the world, I never insure it and ask that they do not. It's a big risk, but I've been lucky. I also do allow for tracking and signature delivery which I find prevents thefts and such. I mark everything as a gift with a value of less than $10USD even if the product cost $100. I've never had a problem with customs since, but again this is a risk. A high-priced item like the Pleo RB...I don't even want to THINK about the duty fees and hope they go easy on you. Sometimes the item description itself can determine what they will charge you, it seems. I always make the contents sound truly boring when I ship, however accurate, just so they don't think it's some expensive thing they can dip into other people's pockets for.

[Crewella]

Yep, the same happened to me when I bought a $200 Aibo ERS111 from the US - the seller insured it for $500 so I got hit for the full insurance.  I did, however, send UK Customs a letter explaining the actual cost, with a copy of the receipts, and they paid me half of it back again.  It's a bit of a money-go-round! 

[twoNZpleos]

I import for my business too so know to keep the total cost of any one package (product plus shipping cost) under $500 which is the limit without tax allowed in NZ - it's different in other countries .. If you go to your governments website you should be able to find out how much you will owe (to give you an idea I pay an extra %15), or just phone them and ask as you should be able to pay by CC over the phone - that's generally what the note they send out asks you to do anyway ..

RWM if you're willing to write 'gift'  on your packages then no-one should get any extra duty added ..

[RedwoodsMama]

 Hi , I did mark gift on my packages, but one package,( can't remember which country, may have been Italy which has TERRIBLE problems which I will not go into here..) ignored the gift and I even included a birthday card to make it seem legit, they got hit with import duties or taxes anyway. One thing that has helped is that instead of putting Pleo Battery and charger, I change it to read, " Pleo Toy accessory battery". and when they see the word, " toy and accessory", they don't think High end battery because of the word toy, and most don't know what Pleo is. LIttle changes in words can sometimes help.
            I have sold things on ebay since 1994, and with over 900 feedback and 100% positive feedback, I have never had a problem till about a week ago with a battery problem, I decided to not ship to certain countries that have poor mail service and avoid all the grief, it just is not worth it.
            Crewella, I hope your baby will be with you soon so we can get acquainted! Here is a hug for you while you wait from each of my little babies, and one huge one from myself.    and from me. 
                          RedwoodsMama

[scaledandtailed]

I import for my business too so know to keep the total cost of any one package (product plus shipping cost) under $500 which is the limit without tax allowed in NZ - it's different in other countries .. If you go to your governments website you should be able to find out how much you will owe (to give you an idea I pay an extra %15), or just phone them and ask as you should be able to pay by CC over the phone - that's generally what the note they send out asks you to do anyway ..

RWM if you're willing to write 'gift'  on your packages then no-one should get any extra duty added ..

Oh if only it where that simple. 
   It could be that I’m stupid which is a huge possibility  but when I tried to calculate from the UK  customs website to get  an idea of what  UK customers  might be expected to pay from importing a pleo there where really no  set fees to go on. Only info on when you could expect to be charged not what you would be charged. But to make it harder however there where so many different ways they used to calculate fees in any given decision   that it was impossible to work out what method they might use in regards to pleo imports. 
 Also gifts being imported to the UK still incur a charge if they’re over £40 and if they have any reason to think that the exporter is lying about the cost or description then they charge the person who is receiving the parcel   a handling fee on top, according to there way of thinking as it’s up to the importer to insure that customs declarations are filled out properly gift or no. 
 
   
     

[twoNZpleos]

Golly that's confusing ..  And weird, but only in the sense that I ship in and out all over the world (NZ, Australia, USA, Canada, England, Ireland, Spain) and no-one has ever had to pay any extra duty when I've written 'gift', despite the actual cost .. I do keep my descriptions brief though, like for a Pleo I'd just write 'toy' and for batteries I'd just put 'toy battery' - I've even been known to write 'priceless' as a value so that'd be interesting for them to work out tax on!

Anyhoo I feel your frustration and sure hope you get the notification letter and costing asap so you can finally get your Pleo, waiting sucks

[scaledandtailed]

 Yeah it is pretty confusing   
Well either that or I was just too stupid to understand the info. 
Really feel for you though Crewella. They could hold on to it for quite a bit until they send out the letter. They held on to something of mines for a week before sending it on.   Not sure why that is  but I read on the website that parcel force pay the customs charge on your behalf  and then send you the letter when it’s at the sorting office and that’s when you pay up so that would explain why you get it the next day. 
 Perhaps you can speed things up a little by calling the customs office    yourself. They should have a number on their   website   that you could use. Resigned   to having to pay some sort of import fee myself,   I managed to get two things past them but I was 3rd time unlucky so guessing my names prob on some lookout list now.

[Crewella]

Thanks guys! 

I remember Malfie looked into UK import charges on the UK HM Revenue and Customs site and apparently it says that goods sent as a 'gift' that are over £40 in value are liable to import VAT. Customs duty also becomes payable if the value of the goods is over £135 but is waived if the amount of duty calculated is less than £9.  

As scaledandtailed said the courier company usually pay it on your behalf, and then charge you £10-15 on top of the tax for handling - for that reason there is no point in contacting customs as it's out of their hands by the time you get the notification.  If there is a query, you can in theory refuse to accept the parcel and make them take it back to Customs and Excise and have it looked at again, but I've usually paid up and then got the Customs office to refund any overpayment.  You won't get the courier's handling fee back whatever you do!  

I'm just a-hoping and a-praying I get the notification letter tomorrow!  

[scaledandtailed]

 
 Now that’s just plane mean. 
  I didn’t realise that the courier took a handling fee on top of the custom charges already incurred. Seems like everyone’s cashing in on these import fees at the buyer’s expense. 
   There goes my idea about calling them to get it resolved quicker though. 
 Sorry about that. 
  Got my fingers    crossed for you that the letter does arrive first thing tomorrow though.    It’s really frustrating waiting when you know the item’s there and there’s nothing you can do about it to move things along. 
   

 
 

[Crewella]

Believe me, scaledandtailed, I did try ringing customs when this happened with my Aibo!  I had the same thought as you, and (trust me  ) if I don't get the letter in the morning I'll be on the 'phone chasing the couriers!   

Thanks for the support! It helps to vent! 

[kat]

Here's hoping you get your letter tomorrow.  If not then good luck with chasing up the courier.  Can't wait to see your pleo.

[Crewella]

Well, no letter as yet, but I did look at the tracking again and as of today it said it had been processed and was a my local international depot awaiting payment of charges, so I rang them and they tracked it down from the tracking number.  I paid over the phone for delivery tomorrow -  £22.64 in total, which isn't actually as bad as I'd feared it might be!  As so often happens, half of that is the bloomin' processing fee!

I've just got to make it through until tomorrow now! 

[Jules]

Well £22.64 is a lot less than I thought it would be  Might think again now as to get mine before Christmas  Pink, Blue or Green 

I hope your Pleo arrives very soon

[Crewella]

Go on - go for it Jules!  You know you want to!   

[barrettgazzy]

Yeah i am shocked , that is cheap for customs fees , Taxes will be going up to 20% in new year so it is has got me thinking to order the blue reborn now . 

[Crewella]

I must admit I was quite relieved!  Problem is you're never sure you'll get the same charge twice!  When it arrives I'll have a good look at the labels and reprt back on what Gimmedigi put on them.  Thanks 

[Jules]

Ok I'll wait for your customs report lol.
My problem is colour, My girls want Pink, I'm not sure about blue and Oliver wants green so I'm in a dilemma right now!!

[scaledandtailed]

   That really isn’t bad. I’d feared it might be a lot worse. Pleased for you that it wasn’t a huge fee and it’s Grate that you’re getting your pleo tomorrow   
 Jules point about vat going up is something I’ll need to consider. I really want a green one and not sure if I can order before January in any case so either way I’m going to have to pay the vat increase. 
   
 The really odd thing is  I  ordered an item that cost less than half  the price of   Pleo RB and I’m sure my   charge came to  almost the same amount give or take a pound   so I have no idea how they work it out.
 

   
 The really odd thing is  I  ordered an item that cost less than half  the price of   Pleo ~RB and I’m sure my   charge came to  almost the same amount give or take a few  pence  so I have no idea how they work it out. 

[Crewella]

If it helps, I have a fairly regular order of around £50 that, if it gets caught at all, usually costs me an extra £12 or so - most of which is the dreaded handling fee.  I'm guessing it's the fact that the forms are filled in the same way that makes it reasonably reliable, as I ordered similar items from somewhere else once (which looked cheaper) but for some unknown reason cost nearly £10 more in import charges.  I did notice they'd put a higher insurance value on it.

[scaledandtailed]

 
   Thanks for the info Crewella. 
  Well I’m sure I   paid a little extra for insurance so guess I made a rod for my own back. The term custom made on the description probably went against me a little as well.   
 
 Would be interesting to know what description Gimmidigi gave though. 
 Can’t remember what description Innvolabs gave on the customs decoration for my 2009 pleo. I didn’t pay much attention to it at the time 

   Can’t wait to read about your pleo when he/ she arrives tomorrow.
   
Hope it all goes well. Try to get at least some sleep tonight lol.   
     
. 
 

[Malfie]

I remember Malfie looked into UK import charges on the UK HM Revenue and Customs site and apparently it says that goods sent as a 'gift' that are over £40 in value are liable to import VAT. Customs duty also becomes payable if the value of the goods is over £135 but is waived if the amount of duty calculated is less than £9.  

Sorry I haven't been on the forum for a while. I kind of gave up hope of owning a Pleo RB And yes Crewella, I did look up a lot of info on UK HM Revenue and Customs. Anyway, I'm so glad you've managed to track down your Pleo RB And if £22.64 is all you have to pay, then that's VERY cheap!! The last time I imported (from the US) I ended up paying the full price of my order again, had to drive 15 miles to collect it, and then had to pay them for having kept it at the depot for 13 days without them telling me! I was not very happy!! I just hope your new addition arrives tomorrow!!

[Crewella]

Hey, Malfie!  Good to see you - it was like I thought of you and 'poof' there you were!  Hope you do get an rb one day! 

[Malfie]

Yes, that was rather strange I've been wondering for about a week now if any of you actually had your Pleo RBs yet but haven't had much time to get online lately, but did get to find a UK site with a picture of two Pleo RBs (the blue and pink ones!) saying "Out TBC £TBC." Of course, whether they ever get any, only time will tell