Customs Charges Applied to Returned (undelivered) Parcel by RM, from US.

[JPMiddleton]

We have a parcel that has not been delivered in the US, and we received an email from Royal Mail stating that it's from the US returns centre. All fine, we've had returns (admittedly not a huge number) over the years and factor that into our margins.

What is new, at least to us, is that RM are asking for VAT, duty (it's over £135) and a handling fee. Obviously the VAT can be reclaimed and I am aware that we can fill a form with HMRC to get the duty and VAT refunded, but my issue is the handling fee. Is this something that is common with RM now? We haven't used them in any serious volume for overseas parcels since the strikes began last year.

DHL, UPS and others that we use/have used have never applied customs charges to a parcel that was not delivered and returned.

I've searched Gov.uk and I can't find any cast iron info' to email across to our RM account manager, if anyone knows of the correct URL - that would be greatly appreciated!

 

[DontAsk]

You shouldn't be charged anything. Someone cocked up and entered it as a new parcel rather than a return.

 

[JPMiddleton]

You shouldn't be charged anything. Someone cocked up and entered it as a new parcel rather than a return.

Yes, I am aware of that. Just wondering if anyone has any experience of it happening with RM or a solid link on gov.uk which I can use to send to them.