Dear Tracey Asai

Thank you for your enquiry.

I fully appreciate your concern with regard to these charges and an explanation of what they consist of is provided below.

The charges on your parcel are Customs duty and/or VAT.  Goods sent from non-EU States, both new and used for business and personal use, as well as from Mail Order companies, are liable to attract Customs charges.  A part of the charge is the clearance/handling fee, which is payable to Parcelforce Worldwide.  This charge is to cover the cost of administration when Customs raise a charge on imported goods.

Unlike most other carriers, we generally do not charge for Customs clearance except where duty or VAT is payable.  In this case, we charge an Inbound Customs Clearance Fee, which covers the cost of presenting the parcel to Customs, opening and repackaging if necessary, paying the Customs duty or VAT on the addressee's behalf and collecting the payment from them.

A red label is attached to the parcel giving a breakdown of the charges.

If you feel the charge may be incorrect, you can query this with Customs.

Any queries about the clearance fee must be directed to our Clearance Fee Enquiry Team in writing.  They will respond directly to your letter within 28 days.

To avoid duplication, we would request that you do not contact us about this matter until the 28 days has lapsed.

In order to obtain a refund of the clearance fee you will need to send a copy of the reassessment letter from Customs to the Clearance Fee Enquiry Team.

Parcelforce Worldwide will only refund the clearance fee if Customs refund the full charge on your parcel and this is the only channel to have any monies refunded where appropriate.

I do understand your concern and hope this information has helped to explain the process to you.

Please find below contact information for Customs and Parcelforce Worldwide.

HM Customs and Excise
Siskin Parkway West
Middlemarch Business Park
Coventry
CV3 4PF

General Enquiries Tel No:  02476 212860
VAT Enquiries Tel No:       0845 010 9000

Parcelforce Worldwide
Clearance Fee Enquiry Team
1st Floor Royal Mail House
2 Denby Dale Road
Wakefield
WF1 1AA

Kind regards

Paula Nichol
Parcelforce Worldwide
Customer Service Email Team

If you require further assistance, please contact us at:  parcelforce@parcelforce.co.uk
Our hours of business are Mon to Fri:  8am to 7pm and Sat:  8.30am to 12.30pm.

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Parcelforce Worldwide is a trading name of Royal Mail Group plc.
Registered in England and Wales.  Registered number: 4138203.  Registered office at 100 Victoria Embankment, London, EC4Y 0HQ.