UK DVDs arrived and I was charged shipping???

[Tracy]

I was going to ask if anyone knew of an e-mail address for AU so I could find out what the other orders might cost.

thomas@anotheruniverse.com sometimes responds to emails sent to him, though it make take 2 days. But you are only concerned with the bonus disc costs, so I guess 2 days won't make much difference. I emailed him recently asking when my DVDs were supposed to ship and how long it was supposed to take the DVDs to get to London, and he sent me answers to both questions, claiming to have asked the "shipping staff" to get his answers. So at least you may get some answers, even if they are BS.

[Naomi]

I need to know if the company ever stated that they were planning to mail international orders. If that is the case then surely they are in the wrong? They did confirm shipping was free which is why I was so shocked when my mum told me what I had been charged and now I find it was because of AUs choice to use UPS. I have sent an e-mail asking what the total cost is likely to be and I also asked why they choose to use UPS. I'm hopeful for an answer soon.
Still knowing this company they probably won't have the bonus disk out for about 2 years so at least I will have plenty of time to save up in preperation for shipping costs or whatever the excuse is for getting more money off me. I really though I was covered having paid my fee to AU. I have decided screw the cost I am bloody well going to receive my bonus disk that I paid for fair and square. They can keep the lunch box though as I have no doubt it will be sent seperately with another high charge.

[Natasha (candygirl)]

But couldn't AU have called the merchandise "samples" instead of "merchandise" and it would have been less, or something? I just feel like there must have been some way of shipping it (legally) where we wouldn't have to pay so much.

Businesses can't just mark merchandise as samples to save the customer money because it's illegal. I know we're talking about AU, a company which obviously doesn't concern itself with the legalities of stealing money from its customers, but lying on customs forms is a big deal. Any time you put something in the mail and there is anything illegal going on, that is a count of mail fraud. The possibility of some customers bothering to sue over $300 in small claims court is nothing compared to federal investigation due to mail fraud.

What is UPS. Why would AU ship by UPS to cover themselves?

UPS is United Parcel Service, which is a shipping company similar to Federal Express. The reason that AU chose UPS over regular United States Postal Service is that UPS assigns every package a tracking number so both the customer and the vendor can check the delivery status online. UPS also (supposedly) requires a signature upon delivery, which the USPS does not. You can get signature confirmation with the USPS but it costs extra and the only tracking information you get is the little piece of paper that the recipient signs, and that information is not available online. AU chose UPS so that everyone who says, "I don't have my DVDs yet - where the hell are they?" can be told to use their tracking number at the UPS website. Essentially the tracking number absolves AU of responsibility or knowledge of where the package is once it leaves their warehouse.

[Natasha (candygirl)]

I need to know if the company ever stated that they were planning to mail international orders. If that is the case then surely they are in the wrong?

I don't know what you mean - AU knew they were shipping international orders and they posted a separate chart of shipping charges by company just for MSCL customers.

They did confirm shipping was free which is why I was so shocked when my mum told me what I had been charged and now I find it was because of AUs choice to use UPS.

Shipping is free, but customs and taxes are the customer's responsiblity. That said, I don't know how or why customs or taxes would be charged to your credit card. You usually have to go to pay those fees when you receive your package. You should ask AU exactly what that charge was for.

[Naomi]

Well I have just been checking out the other threads and a few people mentioned that they were under the impression that the DVDs would be mailed and UPS would not be used in order to avoid the costs. I wouldn't have a problem if there was no way around paying the money but then I hear that AU choose to use UPS to cover themselves and if I'd ordered elsewhere my order would only have cost something like £12 when it arrived. So I am annoyed at the apparently unnessery extra cost and I was wondering if anyone could confirm AU had explicitly said they would not use UPS in order in avoid charges to the customer. If they did I was thinking I might be able to claim some of my money back.
I would still have had to pay tax and I appreciate that but I am annoyed that I had to pay a premium for brokeage if it was unnessery. I don't want to keep going on about it but my funds really are very tight at the moment and AU choosing to sent my order by UPS may just sound like a minor irritation but it is quite a problem for me.

I need to know if the company ever stated that they were planning to mail international orders. If that is the case then surely they are in the wrong?

I don't know what you mean - AU knew they were shipping international orders and they posted a separate chart of shipping charges by company just for MSCL customers.

They did confirm shipping was free which is why I was so shocked when my mum told me what I had been charged and now I find it was because of AUs choice to use UPS.

Shipping is free, but customs and taxes are the customer's responsiblity. That said, I don't know how or why customs or taxes would be charged to your credit card. You usually have to go to pay those fees when you receive your package. You should ask AU exactly what that charge was for.

I wasn't charged shipping as they told me when I pre ordered that the DVDs were free to deliever. I just mean the money my mum was charged. I never expected it to be almost £30.

[zero]

I think (from memory) AU said that shipping would be free within the US - and international orders would be reduced by $6 (the cost of shipping internally to the US?)

Anything you buy from abroad that costs over £35 is liable to have VAT imposed on it by customs - I paid about £8 + a few quid handling charge from my local post office - as they have to pay the VAT import duty to customs and then pass the cost on to me when i pick the package up. It came to just over a tenner.

Yours was probably more, because the cost of the DVDs was more (AU again!)

Sorry this upset you so. It's the price we are paying for having AU as part of the picture. RR and AU have proved to be emotionally bankrupt.

[efer]

I just got my set, finally. With UPS and I had to pay them over 230 Shekels which is about over 40$. I remeber AU saying that shipping was going to be free for international orderes. Now my mom is all pissed at me and wants the money back, and I'm a student too so I'm not exactly swimming in money.
I ordered things from abroad before, both from amazon.com and uk and never had to pay any extra for customs and stuff like that. The thing just arrived at the post office and I went to pick it up, Why couldn't this be done here?
If another universe would have told me in advance that I'll have to pay so much for UPS, or whoever the money went to. I'd told them to ship it with regular US postal service. I waited so long for this to arrive I really don't think that another few weeks waiting for the shippment to arrive would have mattered much.
Anyway, I'm not giving up, I'm going to get my money back. Since I ordered abroad before and never paid taxes, and since they didn't give an alternative about regular shipment I'm going to do everything about getting my money back.

[kez]

it isn't a shipping cost. it's the VAT and customs duty. shipping was free (included in the $99.99)

i'm looking at the UPS invoice, as i've just had to hand over £28.37 !!

taxes £15.56
duties £2.81
brokerage charge £10.00

[eloise]

I just paid £28.37
£18.37 tax and duties and £10 brokerage fees.
The brokerage fees are the rip off, but my UPS delivery man said I could ring UPS to try and get it back !! worth a call their UK number is 08457 877877

[Naomi]

Thanks for the phone number. What would you tell them if you called? I first thought I had been ripped off but am now getting the impression that what happened was legit, the company were just unfair about it. I.e choosing to sent it by UPS which is faster when I would have been perfectly happy with regular mail as I won't be able to watch them for about 3 weeks anyway. So basically they arrived early just to sit in my room for 3 weeks.
I feel that AU should consider the customers needs and ask if we wanted our order send by UPS and ask if we wanted it sent seperately. I am mainly anngry about the customer service therefore rather than actually being screwed out of my money. I feel it could all have been avoided.
On what grounds could I claim back the brokerage fees?

I just paid £28.37
£18.37 tax and duties and £10 brokerage fees.
The brokerage fees are the rip off, but my UPS delivery man said I could ring UPS to try and get it back !! worth a call their UK number is 08457 877877

[theandygrant]

It's worth mentioning at this point that although we all agree brokerage fees are a ripoff, the ten quid that UPS charged is actually less than the 13 quid you would have been charged by Parcelforce.

[Jim]

it isn't a shipping cost. it's the VAT and customs duty. shipping was free (included in the $99.99)

i'm looking at the UPS invoice, as i've just had to hand over £28.37 !!

taxes £15.56
duties £2.81
brokerage charge £10.00

I wonder why UPS charged brokerage fees in some countries and not in others? I'm in Canada, and only had to pay Canadian taxes. Very strange...

Jim

[eloise]

[I wonder why UPS charged brokerage fees in some countries and not in others? I'm in Canada, and only had to pay Canadian taxes. Very strange...

Jim

yeah I noticed that too - Canadian customers got the EXPEDITE service (see threads that MartinPierre has commented on) which you dont pay brokerage on but UK customers got the faster EXPRESS service, which you do!! Who knows why - having the option would be good - will we have the option when/if we get the lunchbox cos I dont much feel like paying another £28 to get that!

[kez]

what annoys me is that the customs charge and brokerage fee comes to nearly the same as deepdiscountdvd are charging for the DVDs themselves!!

[canavan23]

When (sorry, I meant "In the unlikely event that") AU send the lunchboxes/bonus discs there should be no extra charges for import.

You were charged $98.98 for the DVD box set, the lunchbox and the bonus disc.
Upon receipt of the box set you will pay the import tax for the whole order, including the "freebies".

As all of the tax on your order has been paid, there is no reason why the extras should not be sent as "gifts", or sent with a value of "$0.00".

If you are charged import tax, the charge should be reversable if you have your box set import charge receipt. You will probably need to find something to show that they are part of the order you have already paid import duty on, but that shouldnt be too hard.

Also, if UPS have no tax to claim from you, there should also be no brokerage charge.

That said, none of this matters.
There is more chance of Bin Laden winning Time magazine "Man of the Year" than these extras ever being shipped.