TL;DR — customs are trying to charge me too much for a delivery, and I need some help to contact them and sort it out.

So a friend of mine sent me a box of Hong Kong-themed masks from Hong Kong in June, worth HKD50 so about €5.5. Note that the HKD50 value is declared directly on the parcel.

After 2 months Post attempted to delivery it at the end of August, but I wasn’t home. When I got the card and went to the depot, they wanted to charge me a customs fee of €41 to take the delivery, as they calculated the value at over €200. I explained to the guy that it makes no sense, given the value of the masks. He said he will contact customs to resolve and call me back, but cannot let me have the parcel without payment.

After a couple of weeks of nothing, I went back to the depot to inquire about progress. Another rep was there, who told me that:

1. There was no note on their system about the customs issue and
2. They could no longer find the parcel

I was understandably annoyed by this. The rep apologised, said they would look into it and try to find the parcel and call me back. I asked when to expect a call, they said in 2 days.

The rep did call me back this time, only to tell me (rather unapologetically) that the parcel was being sent back to Hong Kong! 🤬

That was last week. Today the doorbell rings, and it’s the postman trying to deliver the parcel to me again, but this time they want me to pay a customs fee of €39 (value was still quite high). [https://i.imgur.com/lybTS1H.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/lybTS1H.jpg)

I of course refused the parcel and told the postman I will need to contact customs about it.

All of this brings me to my question: does anyone know how I go about contacting Customs to sort this out?

6 comments

  1. 39E sounds reasonable. You have to realize, the delivery company changes (or maybe customs too) a set charge (15 or 20) just to apply ANY VAT tax.

  3. **UPDATE:** the rep (who contacted me unapologetically last week) called me back to say, “good news — your parcel is here!” I explained that I knew. She asked if I got the missed delivery card. I said I saw the postman and refused the delivery due to the charge. She eventually figured out that, based on what was written on the parcel from Hong Kong, I was right all along to challenge the fee. She has now said she will discuss with her supervisor and figure out a way to contact customs and sort it out, as she couldn’t tell me how I could contact customs. Given my experience, I will give them until Monday and call them back!

    *The saga continues…*

  4. Honestly, I feel your pain – I’ve had a parcel stuck in customs from the UK since mid-August. The agent misread the value of £100 as £400, and since then I’ve heard nothing and don’t know who to contact just to get my damn parcel delivered.

  5. The VAT and customs now starts at €0. There’s no lower limit. As of July.

    On top of these, you pay an admin fee to Post / the courier.

    So, unfortunately, this amount seems correct

Leave a Reply