Oh, I'm fully expecting the £13.50 extortion to be added to duty and VAT for the privilege of them sitting on their thumbs for a week or so.
A few weeks ago, I ordered some Altama boots from the USA. Took just over 24 hours from the sender to the DHL depot at Rotherham. They charged me a wopping great £1.25 administration fee for sorting out the import fees. Fed-Ex and UPS are very much the same, so why is our national carrier holding us to ransom? Privatise them and watch them go bust. They deserve it 
TNT charge £15 (+VAT) deferment fee. Or at least they tried.
Last time, I sent an internet enquiry which basically said "Why are you charging me extra after I'd already paid for an international service?"
They sent another demand letter with a threat of legal action. I sent the form back, modified to just the customs fee and a "See query #xxxxx WRT the Deferment fee" note on it, and a cheque for just the customs fee.
That was a month or 2 ago, and nothing back yet.
Update on this matter.
Got a message from Karl this morning to say that UKBA had called him to verify my membership, despite the fact that they spoke to PD on friday about the very same thing, while I was sat next to him. Than got a call at 11.30am from UKBA themselves to let me know that they'd turned it back over to Party Farts for delivery after charges are paid.
Good news: Charges are £15 less than I worked out, which is nice.
Bad news: 13 hours later, Partial Faeaces (They're a bit sh!t 
) have not moved it anywhere. It's still showing as 'awaiting customs clearance' on their website.
I will not be paying the £13.50 "handling fee" to Parcel Force, just the VAT and duty, and will instead be insisting that they bill me directly for their fee, which is my right. Their head office is then going to get a letter explaining that I will not pay the express handling fee of £13.50 on an Express 24 parcel which they are treating as economy delivery.
That's still better service than I got. It would seem that various different people in ukba can deal with your item. Each then takes a different approach. The woman I dealt with wanted insurance, copies of Agra cards, spoke to both Karl and pd on various occasions, then wanted a full schedule of insurance. Copies of ai mag cos I was in it in kit and finally i had to send her a dvd of the bushey event, before she even considered releasing my m60. She then contradicted her self on a point of law regarding the vcra act. So finally after two weeks of daily phone calls, I finally heard one of her colleagues say, "for f### sake just release it". So I finally got it. It's a lottery who you get. At least they are now accepting Afra as a legitimate defence. What is funny is they actually don't have access to the ukara data base. They have to ring whatever site you are with.
My personal favourite was the dude who told me the following " ah you do realise that these guns look real, and if you were to go and rob a bank with one, the police would not know the difference"
I pointed out that if bank robbery was my intention I would probably choose something a little more discreet than a 4 foot long box fed light machine gun and as a police officer I am morally and contractually obliged not to rob banks. Still I thanked him for his advice. Genius.
I pointed out that if bank robbery was my intention I would probably choose something a little more discreet than a 4 foot long box fed light machine gun and as a police officer I am morally and contractually obliged not to rob banks. Still I thanked him for his advice.
Classic 
Free speech is expensive these days!
as a police officer I am morally and contractually obliged not to rob banks. Still I thanked him for his advice. Genius.
Another update, as of 19:49 hrs this evening, a full 32 hours since UKBA told me it had been handed over to PF, they finally updated the tracking to "Received from Customs - charges to be paid" at the International Hub. You might think that this would mean it was now winging its way to the National Hub to be forwarded to the Rotherham Depot so I can get the charges paid in the morning, however, you would be wrong. My Express 24 parcel is still sat at the International Hub. I think my case for not paying the full express handling fee of £13.50 just got a little more backing 
Wait one. It now appears as "Received and processed" at the National Hub at 01:28. Wasn't updated until just now though. Might be at Rotherham tomorrow 
PD! Fancy a road trip? 
I have a PPSH sitting at customs now but all seems ok ATM.
Not sure what is going on since 27th though.
27-05-2011 09:15 International Hub Received and processed
26-05-2011 19:23 International Hub Awaiting Customs clearance
26-05-2011 12:36 Heathrow Airport Received in destination country
25-05-2011 22:23 Delivery Agent - HONG KONG - PTT Forwarded for export
25-05-2011 18:48 Delivery Agent - HONG KONG Collected from customer
Free speech is expensive these days!
I went to the local depot and collected it before the letter came to me with customs charges for £37.
No hitches with customs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pl_ol9OvuII
Free speech is expensive these days!
