Dutch customs nailed me big time

[mbhandy]

Sounds like some Customs Agent has their nickers in a twist and some one is giving them a wedgie. Are they out to get you or What? As Rocky said above could be a misunderstanding. Keep your fingers crossed.

MrBill

[Pour1Malt]

aye- ha them send it back!

a' least ya'll ken where it is...

then hae Barb resend....

[Sylvain]

You're outside the UK and had to pay VAT?

Of course. Everyone has to pay the taxes to the country he lives in. When I got a kilt from UK, I didn't pay the UK's VAT but had to pay Canadian custom fees and Canadian equivalents of VAT.

[The Wizard of BC]

Robin,

Would it help if I send you a copy of the invoice that you used to pay for the fabric?

It's fairly official looking and may help because it shows the country of origin of the fabric.

If you don't have your copy I can re-send mine.

[Robin]

Thanks for the offer Steve, but I don't think I need it.

I hope when they see my payment to Barb...they will reconsider. I'm now charged for the insured value ($500), because that's all they have so far.

[An t-Ileach]

A couple of years ago I had to import some butts of 16 oz russet from Colorado - just the leather, nothing had been done to it. I then had to travel to Liverpool to collect them from the Customs warehouse. I then had to pay a handling charge and, to cap it all, VAT: just because it had arrived in the UK, somehow HM Customs and Excise felt they had added value to the consignment. The end result was I paid nearly twice the listed price from the American supplier.

Stupidly I forgot about this when I bought some "SaveGaelic.org" t-shirts from Cafe Press, and got stiffed again. (However, I learned that if the order is valued less than £21 it's VAT exempt) Next time I'm going to try having it sent in two packets - on principle I'd prefer to pay two lots of postage than donate money to HMG which will only go and waste it, let alone the EU (which every day seems more and more like a conspiracy in restraint of trade).

I like the idea of "burrocracia": really asinine paper shufflers

[Bob C]

Robin, Barb should be able to email you an invoice. Your bank can give you a statement that shows the payment from your Visa account.

That won't help you with the charges, but it could save you some time.

[abbieduff]

Hi Robin,
Michty me! Eh ken how yea feel,though no' on sich muckle pennies. Eh wis in meh hame toon( Batac) in the Philippines, an eh left meh troosers a'hent. So meh wee brither sent them tae the U.K. by DHL it wis twenty poonds $36" Fair enough" yea micht say. Bit when the manny delivered the troosers he guid me a bill fae the customs fir $27 Eh said " hing on a wee meenit" The troosers only cost $5.50 It's afae cheap in the Philippines.
"Ehm no listening tae yer havers" says he, jist gis the pennies. Bit eh wisnae beat yet. Eh phoned them custom guys and telt them eh wis wearing them troosers and jist didna pack them. "Ah" says he, "then yer brither should hae said when sending the troosers, coz we dinna charged fir AULD troosers " So wit happens noo " says I ? Well the upshot o' this wis eh didna hae tae pay coz the item was AULD .Ither weys eh hiv heard o' are sending as SAMPLE or as GIFT
nenita

[Pour1Malt]

aye...

ai sometimes sell rare bottles o' malt tae folk in the usa...

ai always list the value as £1.00... tae avoid tax....

[John M.]

That really sucks.

Hope things get straitened out for ya.