Guest guest Posted May 15, 2009 Report Share Posted May 15, 2009 Bless you Wannette - thanks for doing this for all of us. I hope we can get something settled soon on behalf of every body who is having to buy their life-saving medication from Internet Pharmacies, because of the lack of knowledge or education from the NHS. Luv - Sheila I have had a reply from Royal Mail concerning the postal charges . Basically they are saying that by law they have present all packages from outside the UK and the EU, that attract customs duty to HM Revenue and Customs ( so its their fault!) Royal Mail says they pay the customs charges on behalf of the addresses in order to speed up the release and then collect these along with a charge to cover RM handling and admin costs. ( I think we all figured this out anyway) RM says that if I want this fee to be refunded I must first successfully challenge HM Revenue and Customs and obtain a full refund of the customs charges, and then send proof of this to RM. RM has apologised for the delay in receiving my goods but haven't explained why it was so delayed, nor have they even attempted to justify this exorbitant administration charge or why we are all suddenly getting slapped with it. I shall let everyone know when I have heard back something useful from my MP and from HM Revenue and Customs. Best, Wannette No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 8.0.238 / Virus Database: 270.12.30/2115 - Release Date: 05/14/09 17:54:00 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 15, 2009 Report Share Posted May 15, 2009 Hi Jacqui, Yes thats about it, but of course it doesn't speed this up, and this I also complained about, becauses we need our meds! My letter is from: , Customer Service Advisor, Glasgow Contact Centre PO Box 740 Glasgow, G22 6WW Scam? I think the whole thing is getting increasingly scandalous. But you know this was similar to my experience at the depot where the woman behind the counter just tried to blow it off and say she didn't know what it was all about they just have to do this. They are clearly loathe to take responsibility here. Best, Wannette From: mistress.goth <mistress.goth@...>thyroid treatment Sent: Friday, 15 May, 2009 16:36:35Subject: Re: postal charges Hi WannetteSo Royal Mail are admitting that they don't have to pay the charges, they just do it to help us out and let us get our goods a wee bit quicker. Is there any chance you could let me have the contact details of who gave you that info? I would like to find out how much longer we would have to wait if we cut out the Royal Mail payment on our behalf bit, which feels like a ruddy great scam to me!JacquiRoyal Mail says they pay the customs charges on behalf of the addresses in order to speed up the release and then collect these along with a charge to cover RM handling and admin costs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 18, 2009 Report Share Posted May 18, 2009 Am sending this ... unless anyone has anything they think I should change? HM Revenues & Customs Charges Dear I understand that Royal Mail charges £8 handling fee for any packages sent from outside this country that incur HM Customs and Excise Charges. Apparently Royal Mail pays the charges and then recharges the person who should be receiving the package whilst adding a substantial fee for undertaking this process. Can you let me know 1 Why Royal Mail pays these charges on our behalf? 2 As the levy of the £8 charge is for a service is it possible for customers to not have the service and simply pay the customs fee direct to HM Customs and Excise? 3 How much time would it add to delivery for customs charges to be paid direct rather than through the third party of Royal Mail? 4 If a package is returned to sender do HM Customs and Excise repay the fee that Royal Mail has paid on behalf of the customer? As you can appreciate £8 a time is a substantial amount to pay for a service that has not be requested, particularly when customers are not informed as to whether there is an alternative. I look forward to your reply Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 18, 2009 Report Share Posted May 18, 2009 Excellent and many thanks. We will see how they respond to this one. The thing that gets me is that we are paying the Royal Mail a 'Handling Charge' yet the Royal Mail demand that we go to their Post Office to collect it - this is wrong surely. With the many Post Offices that are closing down throughout the UK, many of us have to travel a long way to find our nearest Post Office and when so many of us are ill and unable to get around, this is really unfair. Luv - Sheila Am sending this ... unless anyone has anything they think I should change? HM Revenues & Customs Charges Dear I understand that Royal Mail charges £8 handling fee for any packages sent from outside this country that incur HM Customs and Excise Charges. Apparently Royal Mail pays the charges and then recharges the person who should be receiving the package whilst adding a substantial fee for undertaking this process. Can you let me know 1 Why Royal Mail pays these charges on our behalf? 2 As the levy of the £8 charge is for a service is it possible for customers to not have the service and simply pay the customs fee direct to HM Customs and Excise? 3 How much time would it add to delivery for customs charges to be paid direct rather than through the third party of Royal Mail? 4 If a package is returned to sender do HM Customs and Excise repay the fee that Royal Mail has paid on behalf of the customer? As you can appreciate £8 a time is a substantial amount to pay for a service that has not be requested, particularly when customers are not informed as to whether there is an alternative. I look forward to your reply No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 8.0.238 / Virus Database: 270.12.32/2118 - Release Date: 05/17/09 16:58:00 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 18, 2009 Report Share Posted May 18, 2009 This is a good letter, and raises some important points, ie. paying charges we haven't agreed to in advance. Best, Wannette From: mistress.goth <mistress.goth@...>thyroid treatment Sent: Monday, 18 May, 2009 13:58:40Subject: Re: postal charges Am sending this ... unless anyone has anything they think I should change?HM Revenues & Customs ChargesDear I understand that Royal Mail charges £8 handling fee for any packages sent from outside this country that incur HM Customs and Excise Charges. Apparently Royal Mail pays the charges and then recharges the person who should be receiving the package whilst adding a substantial fee for undertaking this process. Can you let me know1 Why Royal Mail pays these charges on our behalf?2 As the levy of the £8 charge is for a service is it possible for customers to not have the service and simply pay the customs fee direct to HM Customs and Excise?3 How much time would it add to delivery for customs charges to be paid direct rather than through the third party of Royal Mail?4 If a package is returned to sender do HM Customs and Excise repay the fee that Royal Mail has paid on behalf of the customer?As you can appreciate £8 a time is a substantial amount to pay for a service that has not be requested, particularly when customers are not informed as to whether there is an alternative.I look forward to your reply Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 18, 2009 Report Share Posted May 18, 2009 Somebody has to finance the indexed pensions of postal staff -- at least until a government has the courage to deal with that problem! Hans ....we are paying the Royal Mail a 'Handling Charge' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 18, 2009 Report Share Posted May 18, 2009 Its a double whammy for the government.....HMS Customs and Excise charges and Royal Mail charges, who says the government aren't devious, more taxes on those least able to pay. Lynne > > Somebody has to finance the indexed pensions of postal staff -- at least until a government has the courage to deal with that problem! > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 18, 2009 Report Share Posted May 18, 2009 I posted the details a few days ago about how you can bypass the post office and deal direct with customs. It was from their website.Here it is again. 13. Can I declare goods myself so I don’t have to pay the Royal Mail handling fee?Yes as the importer you can carry out your own customs procedures. If you want to do this you will need to ensure the sender clearly marks the packet 'goods to be customs cleared by importer'. You will then need to complete a legal import declaration which you will have to send to our Central Processing Hub in Salford. They will calculate any import charges and write and advise you of your tax liability.When you have paid this and the funds have been cleared, the Hub will clear the documentation and inform the Customs unit at the relevant Royal Mail Office that the goods may be released for delivery. This manual procedure will considerably delay receipt of your goods if you decide do your own import declaration. You can obtain copies of the import declaration form and further information from our National Advice Service (NAS) on Tel 0845 010 9000. http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/channelsPortalWebApp.portal?_nfpb=true & _pageLabel=pageVAT_ShowContent & id=HMCE_PROD1_028719 & propertyType=document#P49_6061 mary On Mon, May 18, 2009 at 7:07 PM, physicalgal <physicalgal@...> wrote: Its a double whammy for the government.....HMS Customs and Excise charges and Royal Mail charges, who says the government aren't devious, more taxes on those least able to pay.Lynne >> Somebody has to finance the indexed pensions of postal staff -- at least until a government has the courage to deal with that problem!> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 20, 2009 Report Share Posted May 20, 2009 Thanks Wannette - perhaps when we have more time on our hands, we can arrange a letter writing campaign to all the MP's and get them to investigate the Royal Mail £8.00 charge - but quite frankly, I think they have enough on their plates right now. Luv - Sheila I have received a letter today from HM Revenue and Customs. Basically they tell me there is no general VAT relief for medicinal products. Drugs, medicines and other pharmaceutical products are only zero rated when dispensed by a UK pharmacist and when prescribed by a UK doctor ( or dentist). So importing such products means they are treated no differently then if purchased over the counter and are therefore taxed at 15%. The only way to get a refund is if I have evidence the goods were of lower value. obviusly I do not have such evidence. They say that the RM handling fee of £8.00 is outside their jurisdiction and they cannot answer any enquiries about it. ( so its their fault!) I can of course dispute this, but I see they are playing within the rules, its just that the rules are pants. I think we may have to go higher up to change the rules. I wish I had better news for everyone. Best, Wannette No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 8.5.339 / Virus Database: 270.12.35/2123 - Release Date: 05/19/09 17:59:00 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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