Parcelforce Clearance Fee Solution

[TB-Stalker]

After receiving yet again another £13.50 "handling charge" on top of my VAT when buying parts from abroad I thought I would try and see if there was any way around it and I believe I have found the solution.

I was charged £4.00 VAT which I was fine with however I was not so happy with this fee Parcelforce then added on top of this. After reading through the law on this it was my understanding that it is illegal for a delivery company to hold your item in lieu of payment, what they are supposed to do is deliver your parcel and then send you an invoice for the fees which is what companies such as UPS etc do.

So when I received my bill, I went to the small claims online section: https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/web/mcol/welcome

I filed a claim for the £15 (£13.50 fee and £1.50 for the hassle) plus the £25 court fee so £40 in total.

In the description I entered the following:

"Parcelforce Worldwide held a delivery of mine until the VAT and their clearance fee was paid.

According to the postal act of 2000 sections 83,84 and 104 it is 'illegal' for a courier to hold a parcel in lien of payment. I should have received my parcel and had any fees invoiced to me.

I also did not enter in to an agreement with Parcelforce asking them to pay VAT on my behalf and was willing to do this myself and did not want to incur their fee."

My claim was submitted on the 14/07/2011 and issued on the 15/07/2011. Then today (31/07/2011) I received a letter from Royal Mail saying the following:

"Dear Mr Carr

Carr v Royal Mail Group Ltd (sued as Parcelforce) County Court Claim No 1QT74411

We have received your County Claim form.

I write to let you know that a cheque in the sum of £40.00 for the full amount claimed plus Court fee has been requested which I shall forward to you as soon as possible. Payment is however being made without any admissions as to liability.

I would therefore be grateful if you would not seek to enter judgement in default in the meantime.

I hope to write again soon with the settlement cheque.

Yours sincerely

Mr Peter Speller
Dispute Resolution"

So it looks like I will be getting all of my money back, it takes a while and you have to pay the court fees but in the end it works! :D

I hope you find this helpful!

Alex

[North West Outpost]

Re: Parcelforce Clearance Fee Solution

I think I will just print this off so I don't loose it.

Well done mate....Just what we need.

[TB-Stalker]

Re: Parcelforce Clearance Fee Solution

I think I will just print this off so I don't loose it.

Well done mate....Just what we need.

Glad I can help, feel free to C&P what I entered as my description for the claim.

Oh and before I forget, when you make a claim it asks for the person/company's address you're claiming against, I used the address of my local Parcelforce depot.

[cornishpotshot]

Re: Parcelforce Clearance Fee Solution

Nice mate - previously I've managed to bullsh*t my way through not having to pay and then chucked the invoice for their fees in the bin - had no comeback after a year so I'm ok with that.

But this should help and if more people do this, we can hopefully get rid of this all together

[tisane]

Bloody good to see someone showing Parcelforce they cant do what they want and get away with it.

[starscream]

Well done to the OP.

[TB-Stalker]

Re: Parcelforce Clearance Fee Solution

Nice mate - previously I've managed to bullsh*t my way through not having to pay and then chucked the invoice for their fees in the bin - had no comeback after a year so I'm ok with that.

But this should help and if more people do this, we can hopefully get rid of this all together

Yh, I just never had any luck trying to BS my way through

Bloody good to see someone showing Parcelforce they cant do what they want and get away with it.

Well done to the OP.

Thanks

[cornishpotshot]

Re: Parcelforce Clearance Fee Solution

Yh, I just never had any luck trying to BS my way through

like I said it was over a year ago, I think they've got tougher with trying to force people to pay for nothing.

[ElCarl]

Re: Parcelforce Clearance Fee Solution

I've previously had a fairly epic battle with parcelforce involving tens of emails back and forth... I was trying to get a breakdown of the charge (i.e. what it costs them to clear it) and I just got endless bullsh*t, each different person referring to different laws to justify the charge... etc... etc...

Good to see that you managed to nail them for this then
They really do deserve it.

[seansamurai1]

Re: Parcelforce Clearance Fee Solution

Id heard you dont have to pay anyway, you arent legally obligated to. Most of the cost has been covered when you payed for the item (bar the customs side). But I think its great that you 'sued' Parcel Farce, I think we should all do it and show them whos boss.
Good job fella.

[Paul55]

Re: Parcelforce Clearance Fee Solution

What a great result. One for us "little guys"

[North West Outpost]

Re: Parcelforce Clearance Fee Solution

I just wonder if they will find a reason to refuse delivering any further parcells.

I have never had any success in BS my way though either and as any parcells are normally an hour and a half away at Preston, I have to pay or go and collect.

[Major]

Re: Parcelforce Clearance Fee Solution

I just wonder if they will find a reason to refuse delivering any further parcels

do you mean just the OPs parcels? Because not delivering any parcels would make it a fundamental flaw in a parcel company :P

[Abbadon101]

Re: Parcelforce Clearance Fee Solution

My solution was to play dumb, tell them I didn't understand what the fees were for.

They send me a bill for them, I write back saying I still don't understand the fees as I never asked for them, can they please give me a full break down of the costs so I can see why I need to pay them, if they do that I will be happy to.

A year later still waiting for a break down of the costs. And I get to keep my £17.50 "clearance, admin and handling" (yep listed as 3 different things at 3 different times) fees.

But cracking job Stalker.

[seansamurai1]

Re: Parcelforce Clearance Fee Solution

I agree, that would be breach of contract if it doesnt fall under a rule or law, that leaves them liable for a damn good sueing. Its about time people on a whole started reminding who pays these idiots wages and who keeps them in business.

Abbadon, thats great, it just shows that officially you dont need to pay, its PF being greedy and trying to 'blag' the punter with official words. The fact that when the item is ordered no matter where from, the postage costs have already been payed to your door, anything else is Customs and Excise for tax etc etc, so PF has already been paid for handling the item by either the seller or the courier who collected it from the retailer. Ive personnaly never been stung for this but my mum has, and when I told her not to pay it, she refused and behold the item still turned up.