Engineer Boots Crisis!

[wdw]

That sounds way too much. It should be around 20-25% max of cost including shipping.

I had a similar problem when I was charged£290 extra for a BR N-1 jacket from Japan. I had to pay, but claimed using a standard form and got a £200 or so refund about 2 months later.

 

[Jkohl]

Yes, vat/import duty. I wrote to attractions asking why I wasn't informed of this and they said they hadn't experienced it before. Really frustrating!

 

[Jkohl]

Thanks @wdw I'll find the form and give that ago. I've been in touch with hms and it looks like it is a legit charge - 30% of the items cost etc. Frustrating as had I known I might have ordered differently

 

[wdw]

Over the last year I've increasingly hit with this when importing from outside the EU, to the point where it's now almost a dead cert that you'll get hit.

I only do it if the purchase price +20% is at least 10% less than the UK price, which it often is, or for items not available in the UK (such as your boots).

If it gets through, great, but the terms and conditions you ticked on your order will almost certainly mean you accept responsibility for additional customs charges, so the seller won't give you any sympathy.

 

[Jkohl]

Not sure if it makes a difference but the order was made directly through email and PayPal so I didn't actually tick or see any t&c

 

[Harris HTM]

Thanks @wdw I'll find the form and give that ago. I've been in touch with hms and it looks like it is a legit charge - 30% of the items cost etc. Frustrating as had I known I might have ordered differently

Isn't 30% of the product price ridiculous high? Isn't the VAT there 20%?

 

[wdw]

Poor guy. I guess waiting almost 9 months for a pair of boots that didn't fit would drive anyone to take extreme measures to get something decent.

And the massive delay of course took you past Brexit and a 20% or so devaluation of the pound (since around Christmas), so you've been rogered there too.

Let's hope the boots fit well and you're happy with at least that part of it. Please keep us updated on that.

 

[Justhandguns]

Yes, I think I have mentioned in some other posts that the increasing likelihood of being charged for VAT & Custom here in the UK. I think it started right after Cameron took charge for his 2nd term (although short), the HMRC started to implement a digitised barcode scanning system for overseas imports. I suspect it was because they realised that more and more people are buying overseas and it is indeed a good source of income for the government. I would not mind paying the VAT but it looks to me that HRMC is being run like a business. I got charged around £18 for a product which cost roughly £20. This is unacceptable as 1. I had no way to ask the sender to declare and process the import tax for me in advance (Ebay may have this option these days), 2. they charge admin fee on top of the VAT paid (I thought we all have paid tax to hire these people already?) 3. the delivery should have been a speedy registered delivery but I ended up getting my good after 4weeks, and while they were processing your import, there was absolutely no way to tell where and when it would be done. To me, it is always a frustrating experience dealing with postage and custom.

 

[Blackadder]

The official explanation for import duties is to level the playing field for your local business. Way back most countries only levied duties on expensive items like vehicles etc, now a lot of countries have lowered the exempted value. Can't believe that they are levying charges on a GBP20 items. 20-30% of GBP20 does not even cover the man hours. No wonder they charge an admin fee.
VAT on the other hand is meant to cover all goods sold for local use and the gov't does not want people to get away from paying it by buying from overseas.
Well from a different perspective, some EU sellers keep the VAT as admin fees (meaning it does not go to the gov't as overseas sales are exempted) while still charges shipping when they sell to outside EU and that means non-EU buyers get charged a 20% admin fees that is in fact extra profits for the sellers.

 

[Jkohl]

I too am having to pay some kind of admin fee / express delivery fee, even though the item was meant to arrive in 3 days and due to the customs hold up its still lost in the system somewhere. Very frustrating and doesn't seem like there's much I can do about it apart from not order expensive products from other countries again!

 

[Harris HTM]

I too am having to pay some kind of admin fee / express delivery fee, even though the item was meant to arrive in 3 days and due to the customs hold up its still lost in the system somewhere. Very frustrating and doesn't seem like there's much I can do about it apart from not order expensive products from other countries again![/QUOT

I really hope you can avoid paying so much extra. Keep us posted and hopefully you will enjoy your new boots so much you'll soon forget about the cost!

 

[Gav]

Holy shit that sucks. I'm crossing my fingers for you that they fit and work out for you in the end...

 

[yakima]

I get a lot of low cost items from Asia (into the UK).

At one time, maybe one in four parcels would get hit with a charge - now, it is every single one.

A parcel can be under the value for duty, but HM Border Force will still add import VAT - always a minimum of £8 (they add the cost of shipping to the value before adding the tax)- plus an "admin fee" of £13.50.

So, a charge of over £20 on items that are worth about the same.

And to add insult to injury, they usually sit on a parcel for up to 14 days before releasing it.

I have one coming through right now. It took just two days to land in the UK from the other side of the world, and landed on the 26th September. I will hopefully get it on Monday 11th October.

If I was the Her Majesty Queen of England, I'd be pretty pissed off that they attached my name to such a shoddy, underhand service.

 

[Jkohl]

So I went and picked up my engineers from the depot (I paid the fine and got a complaint form - hopefully I will get some £ back but not much by the looks of things). The attractions are beautiful but I'm unsure about the sizing!
They feel quite snug on the toes / foot but very roomy in the heel.
I know there's meant to be some heel lift but i'm wondering if it's too much? i can quite easily move my feet around in them.
Perhaps some thicker socks and thicker insole would do the trick.

 

[Gav]

Good luck. I hope these work out. Heel lift is ok, but 'moving your foot around'....how much room have you got in the toe? Can you cinch the strap on to the tightest hole to make the heel fit a bit more snug?

 

[Jkohl]

The toe feels okay, just the back part of my foot and heel there's quite a bit of movement.. Is this something you experienced?

 

[handymike]

You can put in heel pads to help. I do it with my kids shoes when they're in-between sizes.
take some pictures for us...please

 

[Jkohl]

Here's a couple of piccys... Fresh out the box!

 

[handymike]

Nice!

 

[Sloan1874]

The look great. I hope you can get them to fit properly.