I broke an early Gravity Dropper post, the remote cable assembly came unbonded from the post, and I was overjoyed when I found I could pay $15 (plus $28 return shipping) to Gravity Dropper and they would strip and clean it and fix the remote assembly (screwed on like the later versions).

So we sent it back with ‘warranty’ written all over the box, its now come back a few weeks later, except we just have the drop card with import duty and/or VAT of 38.49 (+£8 handling fee)

Customs is shut so I can’t clarify what the ‘relief from customs charges’ mentioned on their website are. Does anyone know? I’ve already coughed up the duty and VAT as we bought it direct from the US a few years back.

I’ve probably got the original invoice but probably not for the duty we paid originally.

Any advice welcome!

It’s a shame that some people/tax avoiding scum use the warranty replacement on new stuff to avoid duty so that probably explains why yours got identified.

Call customs when their open, an original invoice should help.

Just found a different site that (dutycalculator.com) that says duty/vat is only payable on the repair cost, so that’ll be the $15 plus $5 for a new boot. And hopefully as that comes under £9 it will be waived, sure I read that somewhere in the last ten minutes.

However, if Gravity Dropper has replaced it free of charge instead of repairing, the full duty/vat is payable, so lets hope they haven’t swapped it for a new one! (although I have paid $20 so technically they haven’t replaced it free of charge!)

I have a genuine warranty replacement frame coming from Canada – so your saying ill get charged full whack customs and vat? That’s crackers isn’t it? I never knew, and haven’t got the budget for that!!

Unless you can prove it is a warranty replacement – receipt etc…..

To be honest I had heard they were getting stricter but I’m relieved that there is at least a chance I can reclaim the cost (or even better, Royal Mail write it off when I collect it)

Handybendy, no, the site I looked at said if its a free replacement rather than repair, the full duty/vat is payable!

Royal Mail won’t write it off when you collect. You will have to claim it back from HMC&E.
Some carriers are a little over keen on collecting duty – Fedex just think of a number and double it, but claiming it back overpayments is/was relatively simple if a little slow.

I had this row over a warranty repaired Chris King hub about six years ago.

Unfortunately VAT is payable even on warrantied goods and the only one who can change that is…. The Chancellor 🙁

Last time this happened to me i was told that i needed to pay the duty on it and then try to reclaim the duty I paid first time round.

Only problem was I couldn’t find the reciept for the first duty payment so couldn’t claim it back.

Looks like they are getting a bit keen at the moment. This charge is for a shock that I purchased in the UK and sent to America for a £100 re-tune! All clearly marked as such.

Arse by MattNSmith, on Flickr

Is there anyway to get the £8 handling fee back from Royal Mail if I successfully claim from HMRC?

I got some stuff back from the US (Alaska) as warranty and didn’t have to pay duty. Definitely challenge it.

Try https://www.gov.uk/outward-processing-relief-opr and http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/channelsPortalWebApp.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pageImport_InfoGuides&id=HMCE_CL_000225&propertyType=document

Looking at section 3.4 in the latter it seems you can apply when you re-import, so don’t worry about all the stuff saying you have to set it up in advance (sorry I’ve not read much more than that so you’ll have to work it out for yourself, but as I knew this existed thought it useful to pass on).

My sternly written letter* is already sent.

*begging

My warranty replacement frame from China didn’t result in any charges if that’s any use. As with the OP the customs receipt stated that it was zero value.

<grumpy>

The really annoying thing about this is that it’s really difficult to arrange the duty in advance, so you end up having to pay porcelfarce their £8 fee for doing it “on your behalf”. On smaller items, this can be more than the duty itself.
Then they have the cheek to deliver it when you’re not in, so you end up spending petrol money going to pick it up (delaying delivery further)
If you’re really unlucky, they then dispose of your item because it’s deemed to be dangerous (and pocket the auction fee, apparently)

</grumpy>

Well it appears Gravity Dropper have filled out the customs label incorrectly (value of $300 instead of $20). This means I cannot claim my money back 🙁

I am awaiting gravity droppers response…fingers crossed…

Good luck…would a replacement declaration cut it?

spooky_b329 – Member

Is there anyway to get the £8 handling fee back from Royal Mail if I successfully claim from HMRC?

Zero, at least with regular RM rather than Parcel Farce. RM claim the fee is purely for the local depot collecting the money and it’s non of their business if the money was due in the first place (Mount Pleasant assess that).

Couriers like Fedex, UPS, etc are another matter as they assess the fees up front on their judgement. PF I’m not sure if they assess it or MP do.

As for vat/duty on a service, in my opinion that should apply to service such as postage but not a repair service on an item abroad even if they then send that item back to you. You haven’t had the service imported, but postage is an import service though.

Though I’m all for dodging fees anyway. Have done for years. Sorry 😛

Learnt through years of DVD and photography equipment importing, anything that comes in through regular Royal Mail stands the best chance of slipping through, and yes, declaring as a warranty repair on a new item works often 😀 . Though photography dealers I’ve used have also guaranteed vat refund if you do get stung. Personally I think the main rip off are the handling fees. £8 for a guy at the Post Office spending half a minute taking your money 👿 . ParcelFarce fees are even worse, and they used to charge even more for an expedited package. Not sure they still do, but it takes them the same amount of time to collect the money so why do you pay even more!

Customs will refund the handling fee if they have charged the duty incorrectly (i.e the form was filled out correctly)

I got the impression (like you say deadkenny) that some of the other couriers are more integrated with customs and can cancel the charge including the duty at point of collection rather than a retrospective refund.

Seems to be another consideration for those “oh so cheap” off-shore bargains.

When you buy from a UK or EU supplier, at least they’re doing all of that for the extra £££ you pay.