You know how couriers will try and charge an admin / disbursement fee on import duty, with no contract in place. They will repeatedly quote their contract terms on their web site even, in spite of explaining over and over again that we are not a party to that contract.
So it occurred to me, we just need contract terms on our web site. Almost any argument they make to validate their fee applies the other way. It's published terms. They acted (making delivery). The fees are not unreasonable, etc.
@revk@toot.me.uk Do let me know if this works.
@davidga@mastodon.xyz It helps if the demand is after delivery and has bank details so you can send payment just for the vat/duty and not the admin fee.
It leaves them just chasing their admin fee, which I find they often give up on, eventually!
I'll be interested to see how a counter claim to their arguments works. Using every trick they use ("it's in the contract", etc) back at them for my admin fee, just to see how they cope.
We'll see.
@revk@toot.me.uk @davidga@mastodon.xyz Do you even need to pay vat/duty if it has already been delivered? Surely you are not under contract to pay that, and if the HMRC want it they can invoice you directly?
@steve@mastodon.nexusuk.org @davidga@mastodon.xyz I have wondered that too.
@revk@toot.me.uk @davidga@mastodon.xyz I'm very surprised that it isn't just standard process for couriers to withhold the delivery until fees/duty have been paid. Throwing away the only leverage they have seems a bit short sighted.
@steve@mastodon.nexusuk.org @revk@toot.me.uk @davidga@mastodon.xyz there seems to be an /almost/ reasonable basis for them charging it, but I still don't really understand why it's not included in the total delivery price quoted to the sender.
If I was a courier firm I think I'd be building a blacklist of addresses that have refused the admin fee, and holding those deliveries until it's paid in advance.
The whole thing is a really weird area IMO.
@srtcd424@mas.to @revk@toot.me.uk @davidga@mastodon.xyz To me, it just seems to be part of the job they have already been paid to do (delivery). They don't charge the recipient a surcharge because it turned out they needed to fly the parcel from the sender's country to the recipient's country, so why should they surcharge the recipient because it turns out they need to do some completely routine paperwork?
RevK :verified_r:
David Glover-Aoki
