My secret santa parcel has been held by customs

ruthyb

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I presume that its this, I've had a letter from Parcel Force today saying that a parcel from USA has been held by customs and I have to pay £44.75 to get it released or after 20 days it will be returned to sender. What a bad situation, I don't want to know who my SS is so if my SS is reading this then I think we will have to use a super snooper to communicate. x
 
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ruthyb

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Originally Posted by Natalie_ca

OMG! How awful!!!

Did they say why you had to pay 44 pounds for the parcel? Is it VAT tax or custom processing?
VAT is £36.75
Parcelforce clearance fee £8.00

I will try and scan the letter and put it on here.


Why me??
x
 

natalie_ca

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Originally Posted by Ruthyb

VAT is £36.75
Parcelforce clearance fee £8.00

I will try and scan the letter and put it on here.


Why me??
x
WOW! That's $70.95 USD and $72.45 CAD!!!!

Best to have it returned to sender for that price!

Maybe they can change your SS to someone closer to you, or the person who sent it can repackage it and change the value on the shipping label to something way less than the value of the actual contents of the box and then resend it?

When shipping across borders, it's best to put a small token value on things and not the actual value. When people ship to me from the USA, I tend to ask them to put a token value of $10.00 on things because the border customs is awful....especially when things are sent UPS from the US. Things arriving in Canada via UPS can sometimes require 50% to 100% of the value listed on the parcel.

I'm not an official snooper, but I'm also not participating in SS this year. So if you both need a go between to communicate, I can be that person for you.
 

catmom2wires

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Yes, have it sent back, and then have the sender resend it, marking a MUCH lower value. It will likely slide right through then, and if not, it can again be returned.

I ship overseas several times a week. If you put a low value on something, there is rarely a problem. Maybe 3 packages a year gets stopped.

Cally
 
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ruthyb

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I hope my SS put their return address on it, I sell alot of things on ebay to abroad and I always put £10 value on and have never had anything stopped as of yet. Will my SS have to pay for having it returned to them? x
 
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ruthyb

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Originally Posted by Natalie_ca

WOW! That's $70.95 USD and $72.45 CAD!!!!

Best to have it returned to sender for that price!

Maybe they can change your SS to someone closer to you, or the person who sent it can repackage it and change the value on the shipping label to something way less than the value of the actual contents of the box and then resend it?

When shipping across borders, it's best to put a small token value on things and not the actual value. When people ship to me from the USA, I tend to ask them to put a token value of $10.00 on things because the border customs is awful....especially when things are sent UPS from the US. Things arriving in Canada via UPS can sometimes require 50% to 100% of the value listed on the parcel.

I'm not an official snooper, but I'm also not participating in SS this year. So if you both need a go between to communicate, I can be that person for you.
It is a horrendous amount of money. Thanks for the offer of being a go between, this is so frustrating, I hope they haven't rummaged through it either, have sent items to my grandad in canada before and he has recieved them broken or items missing.x
 

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OMG wow that sucks so bad. I barely know how to ship stuff within the states let alone overseas. I would do some incognito communication between you and your SS and see what possibly can be done like sending it back to them and the value being changed etc like it was suggested above. Hopefully this all gets worked out for you and your SS.
 
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ruthyb

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It says on the letter after 20 days it will be returned to sender.
Now I have to wait even longer for my SS gift
Mind you theres no way I could have kept it until christmas, theres ages to go. x
 

natalie_ca

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Originally Posted by Ruthyb

I hope my SS put their return address on it, I sell alot of things on ebay to abroad and I always put £10 value on and have never had anything stopped as of yet. Will my SS have to pay for having it returned to them? x
No. I don't think they are charged. Just refuse the parcel.

I've ordered items from the USA (a stethoscope for work). It was $150.00 US, cheaper than to buy it in Canada. But when it arrived at my door by UPS, UPS demanded $95.00 for brokerage fees, taxes and Lord knows what else. I refused the parcel and notified the company of what transpired. They were in agreement with me that I should send it back.
 

natalie_ca

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Originally Posted by Ruthyb

It says on the letter after 20 days it will be returned to sender.
Now I have to wait even longer for my SS gift
Mind you theres no way I could have kept it until christmas, theres ages to go. x
No you don't. That is only if you don't reply. Call them and tell them that you are refusing the parcel and to send it back.

And I really hope that your SS put their real name and address.
 
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ruthyb

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Originally Posted by Natalie_ca

No you don't. That is only if you don't reply. Call them and tell them that you are refusing the parcel and to send it back.

And I really hope that your SS put their real name and address.
Oh great I will ring them monday, yes I hope they did too.x
 

cruisermaiden

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I thought marking the package as "gift" would prevent this sort of thing? I don't know anything about shipping overseas though. My SS is in the US for this reason (not giving too much away there).

I think to ship it overseas they would have had to put some sort of return address on it, hopefully they put their address or at least to someone they know and can get the package back from.

Look at it this way - at least you know you have a GREAT package coming if they want that much for customs.
 

katiemae1277

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oh dear
I've sent a message to your SS, Ruth, we'll get this worked out
 
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ruthyb

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Originally Posted by CruiserMaiden

I thought marking the package as "gift" would prevent this sort of thing? I don't know anything about shipping overseas though. My SS is in the US for this reason (not giving too much away there).

I think to ship it overseas they would have had to put some sort of return address on it, hopefully they put their address or at least to someone they know and can get the package back from.

Look at it this way - at least you know you have a GREAT package coming if they want that much for customs.
I know my hubby said crikey thats loads, you must have a fab SS, I will ring them monday and refuse the package and hopefully it will get sent back to the sender and then it needs marking as gift and value as a low amount. I just hope they havent damaged anything and how terrible that my SS has had to pay postage and then will have to pay it again.x
 
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ruthyb

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I am really upset and I also really feel for my SS, I don't want it to cost them more money by having to send it again, the value written on the customs form must have been too high or something.I am so mad with Parcelforce though, don't they make enough flippin cash as it is?robbin gits!
. x
 

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Before you refuse the package, ask Parcelforce what the extra charge is for?. The post office where the parcel was sent from obviously weighed it for it to leave the country etc... so this could be Parcelforce being "jobs worth".

I get letters at work saying there wasn't enough postage on the odd bit mail that had about 8 invoices in, and to frank the extra or stick stamps on the letter and send it back....Pfffttt it goes through the shredder!
 
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