Serves me right.

[Lumberjack]

Just thought you might like to know I am feeling a little silly at the moment.
Last week I ordered one of those boxes for keeping my mother's tablets in.
Cost of item £3.82. Fair enough, so I just clicked the order button.
Today I discovered, to my chagrin and dismay, the cost of the postage and packing is ...... wait for it ...... £5.76. It is a piece of plastic, as light as a feather, and I don't think the packaging is gold plated. I checked the website and the cost is there so, Caveat emptor, is, I believe the expression.

Oh Dear, or should that be Oh expensive.

[starry]

I am pretty sure you can get them for a pound or so in local chemists ;)

[Iffy]

Hi Lumberjack,

I know how you feel !

I sent off for a package on behalf of my Dad from an American company. Within the payment was included overseas packaging etc, which made the item come to about £20 over the initial price of said product - OK.

I collected it today from the Royal Mail depot only to find that THEY had charged an EXTRA £12.55 for UK Royal Mail handling !!!!

My Dad is a pensioner and the original price alone was quite extortionate, and he/we WEREN'T informed of this "extra" handling charge !!!!!

I paid for the extra charge, otherwise my Dad wouldn't have received the goods he was expecting, but I find this quite atrocious that "imported" goods from another country DO NOT come with a warning of a surcharge from our very own "Royal Mail"

IF I hadn't been willing to pay for same (my Dad lives outwith the town) then he MAY have had to do without his long awaited package ????????

[Kodiak]

It is possible you are blaming the wrong company. Seeing that the item you bought was from the USA I think you will find that what Royal Mail charged you was for Import Duty and that they had no choice to charge you as they would have had to have paid that amount to the Customs.

The company that sold you this item should have advised you of this.

[Tristan]

Some companies like Amazon will charge for the shipping and the custom charges which they take care of.
If the company said they were going to take care of that then you should write them and ask for the appropriate refund. If all they were charging you for was the postage then unfortunately it is a case of buyer beware and always check with HMRC.

[scorrie]

Just thought you might like to know I am feeling a little silly at the moment.
Last week I ordered one of those boxes for keeping my mother's tablets in.
Cost of item £3.82. Fair enough, so I just clicked the order button.
Today I discovered, to my chagrin and dismay, the cost of the postage and packing is ...... wait for it ...... £5.76. It is a piece of plastic, as light as a feather, and I don't think the packaging is gold plated. I checked the website and the cost is there so, Caveat emptor, is, I believe the expression.

Oh Dear, or should that be Oh expensive.

Should have asked your Brother, HE'S The Man!!

ps That Frankie Boyle thing, well, let's just say your Brother wasn't The Man on that occasion. ;)

[David Banks]

Hi Lumberjack,

I know how you feel !

I sent off for a package on behalf of my Dad from an American company. Within the payment was included overseas packaging etc, which made the item come to about £20 over the initial price of said product - OK.

I collected it today from the Royal Mail depot only to find that THEY had charged an EXTRA £12.55 for UK Royal Mail handling !!!!

My Dad is a pensioner and the original price alone was quite extortionate, and he/we WEREN'T informed of this "extra" handling charge !!!!!

I paid for the extra charge, otherwise my Dad wouldn't have received the goods he was expecting, but I find this quite atrocious that "imported" goods from another country DO NOT come with a warning of a surcharge from our very own "Royal Mail"

IF I hadn't been willing to pay for same (my Dad lives outwith the town) then he MAY have had to do without his long awaited package ????????

I purchase stuff from the US sometimes.
I expect to have to pay for:
- clearing package thru customs (I set up an account with the courier company to act as my customs broker)
- any import duty applicable (usually zero below a certain $ value)
- GST, same thing as your VAT

Envelopes (i.e.: regular mail) don't get stopped at the border, but theoretically could -- packages are different.
You should ask for an itemised bill from the Royal Mail.

Sorry!

[©Amethyst]

I'm sorry to hear that you've had problems with postage charges, Lunmberjack.

And of your extra charges from Royal Mail, Iffy.

I've recently bought a pair of jeans from the USA through ebay - The guy I bought them from even gave me a refund on shipping costs as he managed to fit them into a smaller package. Customs slip was on the package and all got through to the UK okay.

I hope you guys get your disputes sorted out... nothing worse than when you think everything's going okay and you get stung in the wallet.

[George Brims]

IF I hadn't been willing to pay for same (my Dad lives outwith the town) then he MAY have had to do without his long awaited package ????????
You mean he MIGHT have had to do with it. There, that's my "correct someone on the internet who probably couldn't care less" done for the day. Carry on with what you were doing.

[Vistravi]

Just thought you might like to know I am feeling a little silly at the moment.
Last week I ordered one of those boxes for keeping my mother's tablets in.
Cost of item £3.82. Fair enough, so I just clicked the order button.
Today I discovered, to my chagrin and dismay, the cost of the postage and packing is ...... wait for it ...... £5.76. It is a piece of plastic, as light as a feather, and I don't think the packaging is gold plated. I checked the website and the cost is there so, Caveat emptor, is, I believe the expression.

Oh Dear, or should that be Oh expensive.

oops not nice when you realise you could have got something alot cheaper.