Having bought an item through Ebay, the location of the item being listed as in the United Kingdom, Europe, Worldwide. I was really pleased when it arrived via DHL in under a week.
I was then surprised to see the item had been shipped from Hong Kong. As I was not at home when the parcel arrived I asked my wife. "was there any VAT to pay on this as its been shipped from Hong Kong? "
"No" replied my wife, "the guy just delivered it". "Good, the item was supposed to be in the UK or Europe any way" was my relieved reply.
3 weeks later my relief was turned to pure anger as I had received a bill from DHL for VAT and clearance charges.
What did I do,
1) Contacted the company I bought it off and complained. There reply was "do not pay it - you paid for everything when you bought the item, get them to contact us if you have a problem. these charges are illegal! ". It was at this point I noticed the company selling these items in the UK was based in the USA and was wise enough to know that the charges weren't illegal charges as I do import quite a few items and have my receipts for VAT paid to Parcel Force.
Furious that the item location had been stated as UK and Europe I complained to Ebay and Paypal, the seller automatically raised my complaint to a claim which Paypal dissmissed as I had received the item.
Having received a second letter from DHL requesting payment, I sent them a complaint containing a copy of the Ebay description, the comments from the seller, and the comments from paypal and stated I had not imported any item as the item was listed in the UK or Europe which would not incur VAT charges. Plus DHL delivering the item without notifying me that any cost had been incurred had removed my opportunity to complain about the seller through EBAY. I also suggested that they should go back to the sender for payment.
Having had no reply from DHL to my letter I have now received a third letter saying DHL have passed my debt onto debt collectors.
I telephoned DHL to see why I had not received a reply to my complaint and was told we have it on file as of today and will look into it.
The main thing that has infuriated me with this, is that I do import items quite often. Parcel Force always send me a notification that an item has cleared customs detailing any costs incurred so i can settle up or dispute prior to receiving the item. Good business practise in my mind. However DHL deliver with no notification of additional costs, then send a bill 3 weeks later, then pass onto debt collectors very quickly if you dispute. This is bad business practise in my mind.
Also I do feel that EBAY should take some action against sellers who deliberately mislead a buyer when selling an item, by providing some form of consequence. That way everybody can enjoy the Ebay shopping experience.
To be continued
Richard
East Sussex
United Kingdom
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