I ordered a DVD from Japan last week which cost me £19 and I paid around £10 postage. I had a tracking number from the company I ordered the DVD from and I kept an eye on it and when it got to the awaiting custom charges payment I rang them to ask them what the charges were and I was shocked to find out they wanted £19.20 on a £19 DVD. They immediatly pounced on me on the phone and asked do you want to pay now. I said no and said I would ring back. I rang customs themselves and spoke to a gentleman who seemed shocked at how much they were demanding from me. He said I should contact them and ask for a breakdown of charges which I did via email and in reply I receieved saying that a red sticker would be attached to the parcel with a breakdown of charges. Which is nice but completely useless since they refuse to send out my parcel until I pay them.
"Luckily" I had a letter from them come saturday morning since the email was stupidly useless.
On the actual letter it said:
Dear Customer,
Important: International Parcel
We are holding an International parcel for you at our depot. Delievery of this parcel is subject to payment of charges raised by HM Revenue & Customs. These Charges are:
Import Duty: Nothing
Excuise Duty: Nothing
V.A.T: £5.72
Other: Nothing
Parcelforce Clearance Fee: £13.50
TOTAL: £19.22
Then it goes on to say if you pay it we'll deliever it or if you want to pay another £12 you can have it delievered on a Saturday.
I have no issues with paying the V.A.T but the parcelforce charge which they try to fob off as a custom charge. No. I'm not going to pay basically another 100% on my DVD...
Is there anything I can do to pay just the V.A.T and get my DVD since I've already paid postage once and I don't agree with the charge.
Any help would be appreciated.