David joined The Denver Post in 1999, his second go-round in the Mile High City. Since then he’s cov

In all the years I have received FedEx packages from overseas, I had never seen this fee. And the mark-up on it wasn t anything I could replicate on my own at a bank, a CD, an investment not in the week between the time the box arrived and the bill came in the regular mail (how weird is that .my mail (the box) comes via FedEx but my FedEx bill comes via the mail ).
As a customer who got the bill, I called FedEx customer service the number is right on the several pages that made up the bill to find out what this fee was and to say I shouldn t have to pay it. After all, I wasn t the one who chose FedEx as the shipper, the guy who sold me what was in the box chose it.
The information the FedEx employee told me I corroborated it later with a FedEx spokesman when I called him and identified myself as a reporter cheap cruises uk was that it was the convenience charge for having cheap cruises uk FedEx pay the customs duty on the merchandise in the box. I figured as much. But, you see, I told the customer service rep, I never asked FedEx to do that, I never agreed they could and I certainly didn t agree that I would be charged a ridiculous fee at an even more-ridiculous percentage mark-up for the privilege of them doing it.
If they want it to be fair, then charge the 2 percent. I d be more understanding about paying $0.50 for the $25 that FedEx paid on my behalf (without telling me, I should repeat). I might not like it, but this way the 2 percent is assessed uniformly.
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I live in the UK and this is nothing short of outrageous. I have recently cheap cruises uk sent a letter to FedEX asking cheap cruises uk them to provide a bill of accounting / itemised receipt which proves that FedEX have paid this on my behalf. I have also asked them for a copy of the legislation which proves that these charges are legally applied together with proof that a contract exists between myself and fedex in which I have agreed to authorise fedex to pay charges on my behalf.
Yes, they did reply but they obviously couldn t produce any evidence that they did actually pay these charges cheap cruises uk on my behalf! No proof, no payment! Imagine if I lived next door to you and took a parcel for you one day as you were out. I could say that I had to pay fees on your behalf. Then I add my own fees etc without providing any proof and what would you say to that? You would tell me where to go!
2. They also cannot prove that a contract exists allowing them to pay these fees on my behalf. cheap cruises uk Therefore, any payment cheap cruises uk in advance by fedex is purely at their own risk. If you decide to pay these unlawful fees, you ve accepted the contract and it then becomes a legitimate contract, and you are bound by their terms.
They also said I had to pay according to Public Notice 143 on the HMRC website, so I had a look at that. Public Notice 143 only applies to Royal Mail and Parcel Force. No other courier cheap cruises uk is mentioned so it s simply not applicable. Again, nothing cheap cruises uk to say that I have to pay?
In my first letter I warned them that if they were unable to prove that I owed this amount then I would send them a bill of £60 for every letter I have to write in future to contest it. Therefore, I sent them an invoice for £60 in reply.
They never replied cheap cruises uk to this but instead passed it to some pathetic debt recovery agency and I ve ignored it. That was 3 months ago now and my £60 payment is overdue (please note that my charge is provable, theirs isn t so I could in theory get the bailiff s onto them). I haven t heard anything for about 2 1/2 months now so I m guessing that they don t want to pursue this any further. It d be a bit stupid if they did?
Just to be clear that if HMRC had sent me a bill then I would have paid it by now! But I m not paying for multiple fees of which I can only guess are some sort of bizarre wet dream fantasy conjured out of the blue by their Accounts department.
cheap cruises uk I had a similar charge, 23.56 euros on a shipment to France with a value of 61.14, quoting TVA, which is 19.6% here. However, on calling FedEx I was told this charge was only for commercial shipments and not for personal effects. I was asked to send an e-mail to FedEx confirming that the shipment contained only personal effects and the invoice was withdrawn. Seems fair enough, but I wish they d make this clear on the piece of paper, or ask to have this marked when the shipment goes out. Presumably many people simply pay up, giving FedEx a nice little earner.
cheap cruises uk I agree regarding the FedEx rip-off fee. These people are costantly looking for new ways to steal money from customers in a way or another. Royal mail and Parcelforce in the UK are a bunch of legal? robbers too. We buy often online, also from the USA. We buy old vintage antique cheap cruises uk collactables cheap cruises uk but we often deal with ignorant careless sellers not declaring the item properly, as antique over 100 years old and as consequence of this, we get charged of unfair customs fees. Many sellers still don`t know that in the United Kingdom, antiques cheap cruises uk over 100 years old are free of excise customs cheap cruises uk duty but they have to declare it on the parcel. (the handling rip-off fee is still charged anyway). Also Royal mail and Parcelforce claim that they pay your fee in advance and again no such agreement or contract exsist between you and them, or any approval cheap cruises uk to do this from your part. Therefore, they should not force you to pay a fee on your packages. In case of improper declaration from the sender, you might claim a refund with Royal mail (with a 3 months waiting list period !) but then they ask for a dozen of proofs, not only the invoice paid, description for the item, paypal payment or other, transaction number but also the paper work and labels attached to the parcel which is often missing !! Coincidence ? I don`t think so. The last 3 packages we received were without the paper work or labels. Lost or stolen ? Intentionally kept at the customs. Not only the customs make it very difficult for you to claim your money back but now they even make it impossible. They know that without the paper work connected with the package, you can`t claim your money back. As said these people are absolutely cunning robbers. Without even mention that the UK customs is the only country in Europe where absolutely EVERY parcel is stopped and charged at the customs. We never experienced cheap cruises uk anything like that in other countries. We lived in Austria, Italy and France for years, we used to get one or two customs cards in a whole year. In the United Kingdom, 99% of EVERY PARCEL we receive is charged with a fee by the customs. It is a shame. A country of thieves and the customs here is no exception.
I ve got a question. I bought some things from the USA, FedEx delivered to me the parcel and some days later I took an invoice letter by post. Is this the right procedure? I am from Greece and I don t know how things work. What is going to happen if I don t pay the invoice? Is there something which tells me the consequences of not paying this?
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David joined The Denver Post in 1999, his second go-round in the Mile High City. Since then he's covered a variety of topics – from human services to consumer affairs – most always with an investigative bent. Currently he does investigations and banking.
Kristen Leigh Painter is originally from Minnesota, but only occasionally elongates her vowels. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse in 2007 with a degree in history and a minor in ethnic and racial studies.