parcelforce ripoff rant

[pgkevet]

I'm Getting just about F**ked off with buying from overseas. I've had loads of stuff delayed/damaged/faulty/customs charged. the latest was from hobby king, first i get hit with the charges from friggin parcelforce then 2 out of the 4 battery packs i got from hobby king are faulty and unbalanced, 1 battery pack had a cell that is completely flat and when you read the warranty page from hobby king they say that they check every battery pack prior to shipping (what a load of old bolllocks). and then i contacted them, and they say send it back at my cost. why should i have to pay? This i put to them and needless to say they have not responded. never again from HOBBY KING. I'm sure loads of people have had good service from HOBBY KING so I guess my order was processed by the lazy liar of the company.

No point bitchin'.. we buy abroad 'cos it's so cheap but with that also comes some hazards and gambles. You aren't protected by UK laws; UK postal charges to send stuff back are silly and if you were HK you woulnd't want every wally that's dropped/wrecked a product demanding you pay postage etc or your fees would be way higher. I'm not saying you did anything wrong..but everyone who connected a speedy wrongly and fried it would be sending it back at HK's costs.

Accept the fact and your choice whether to use them or not. I've had 2 dud lipos and a couple of dodgy products over time with them..but I've still managed to buy £2K's worth of stuff over the years and generally it's been thoroughly good value and saved loads...

[R1stu]

No point bitchin'.. we buy abroad 'cos it's so cheap but with that also comes some hazards and gambles. You aren't protected by UK laws; UK postal charges to send stuff back are silly and if you were HK you woulnd't want every wally that's dropped/wrecked a product demanding you pay postage etc or your fees would be way higher. I'm not saying you did anything wrong..but everyone who connected a speedy wrongly and fried it would be sending it back at HK's costs.

Accept the fact and your choice whether to use them or not. I've had 2 dud lipos and a couple of dodgy products over time with them..but I've still managed to buy £2K's worth of stuff over the years and generally it's been thoroughly good value and saved loads...

Thats why I didnt send my duff esc back. cost like £12 delivered. was going to cost like £6 to send back. didnt see the point! However I did send the lipo back I fried. that was not too bad about £4.

So what next? if the send me a letter?

[leckylee]

No point bitchin'.. we buy abroad 'cos it's so cheap but with that also comes some hazards and gambles. You aren't protected by UK laws; UK postal charges to send stuff back are silly and if you were HK you woulnd't want every wally that's dropped/wrecked a product demanding you pay postage etc or your fees would be way higher. I'm not saying you did anything wrong..but everyone who connected a speedy wrongly and fried it would be sending it back at HK's costs.

Accept the fact and your choice whether to use them or not. I've had 2 dud lipos and a couple of dodgy products over time with them..but I've still managed to buy £2K's worth of stuff over the years and generally it's been thoroughly good value and saved loads...

you are 100% right just wanted to have a bitch
still think hobby king are liars about testing their batts before sending them. i don't mind if things go faulty but don't lie about testing them before sending - TOSSERS HK.

[PsiLo]

So what next? if the send me a letter?

If they do bother to send a letter asking for the fee then just send them a reply stating that they were in contravention of section 104 of the Postal Services Act (2000) and if they insist on pursuing the recovery of their fee then you will take civil action to claim damages for them holding your property in lien and the costs associated with you having to have collected the item. In addition you will be contacting the police to press criminal charges for the clear contravention of the Postal services act which under section 83 is a criminal offence.

From my experience they either do not write back at all after or write back to say on this occasion they will waive their fee!

[brin]

No point bitchin'.. we buy abroad 'cos it's so cheap but with that also comes some hazards and gambles. You aren't protected by UK laws; UK postal charges to send stuff back are silly and if you were HK you woulnd't want every wally that's dropped/wrecked a product demanding you pay postage etc or your fees would be way higher. I'm not saying you did anything wrong..but everyone who connected a speedy wrongly and fried it would be sending it back at HK's costs.

Accept the fact and your choice whether to use them or not. I've had 2 dud lipos and a couple of dodgy products over time with them..but I've still managed to buy £2K's worth of stuff over the years and generally it's been thoroughly good value and saved loads...

just like you i have also had a few bad bits but nothing worth worring about just placed another order .i have had bad batterys here aswell but at least sending them back was easier.

[brin]

just got another letter from parcelfarce so i rang them up and had a good arguement with someone after i made him aware that i was only prepaired to pay the customs and he would have to invoice me seperately for the charges he said that i would recieve a invoice within 2 weeks and when that was paid they would release the parcel i said that was illegal and i would sue them for witholding my post it will be delivered tomorrow and they will still send the invoice for their fees so i said thankyou and put the phone down.

[millerman]

just contest the parcel force fees once you get em but you will still have to pay the customs charges

[Angelos]

My mistake, it's actually sections 83, 89 and 104/105 that are relevant, here is the page with 89 on...

Postal Services Act 2000 (c. 26)

The bit to highlight on page 89 is
(7)Any charge payable by virtue of this section may be recovered by the universal service provider concerned and in England and Wales and Northern Ireland may be so recovered as a civil debt due to him

paired with this from section 104...

(2)Anything to which this subsection applies shall have the same immunity from—
(a)examination, or seizure or detention, under a relevant power conferred by virtue of this Act or any other enactment,
(b)seizure under distress or in execution,
(c)in Scotland, any diligence, and
(d)retention by virtue of a lien,

which basically means they cannot hold your package in lieu of the payment owed to them as that is only recoverable as a civil debt. If you then point out section 83 in particular this part...

(6)A person who commits an offence under subsection (1) shall be liable—
(a)on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to both,
(b)on conviction on indictment, to a fine or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to both.

And take the guys name down then call the local police station (in front of him)to report an illegal act relating to the Postal Services act

So there is a "Postal Services Act 2011" and "(d)retention by virtue of a lien," does not seem to be there any more.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2011/5/pdfs/ukpga_20110005_en.pdf

New stuff:

“104A Power to detain packets in respect of unpaid or underpaid postage
(1) A postal operator—
(a) may detain any postal packet in respect of which there has
been no payment, or an underpayment, for postage, and
(b) may impose a surcharge in respect of that non-payment or
underpayment.
(2) A postal operator may detain the packet until the correct postage and
any surcharge have been paid

-Angelos

[brin]

that does not allow the po to hold on the package because there is import taxes due .

[Angelos]

The 2000 Act specifically stated that they are not allowed to hold the package. However the 2011 Act specifically states that they can.

-Angelos

[Dedcalm]

Only true for under paid postage not for they admin fees. It's the same as the 2000 act.

[Sqn]

I've known a couple of people who have recently taken RM to the Small Claims Court over this issue - and won. RM plays on people's ignorance.

[Smoothound]

I've known a couple of people who have recently taken RM to the Small Claims Court over this issue - and won. RM plays on people's ignorance.

Like so many other companies

Banks
Debt Collectors
Vets

To name a few. The 2nd ones being the worst of the lot!

[Angelos]

Only true for under paid postage not for they admin fees. It's the same as the 2000 act.

I see your point. Yes, it does specifically say "unpaid or underpaid postage" and customs charges is not part of that.

As for taking RM / ParcelForce to the small claims court what could you possibly win other than proving them wrong? If the parcel has been delayed past its guaranteed delivery date at best you can get your postage back. The T&Cs of all courtiers state that there are never liable for consequential damages of the parcel being delayed. In fact possibly you can't have any claim at all since you are not the person who commissioned the shipment, the sender is.

BTW, I have no objections to paying the VAT on the imports. It is all transparent to me as the VAT gets reclaimed via my company. But it annoys me that you loose another 2-3 days until you get the paperwork to pay for the charges. Then they always have issues taking a credit card that is registered to my address when the goods are meant to be delivered to another.

-Angelos

[st200ol]

I've known a couple of people who have recently taken RM to the Small Claims Court over this issue - and won. RM plays on people's ignorance.

They most likely won because RM didn't bother to turn up. For me to take a day off work, go to small claims court for a few quid, its just not worth it. I just pay it, its only a couple of orders a year for me.