AddressPal & Lockers - An Post's Parcel Service SEE MOD WARNING FIRST POST

Jim_Hodge

dubrov wrote: »

But surely imports from the uk can claim back UK VAT. So really addresspal should be charging ROI VAT and offsetting it against UK VAT already paid.

I guess the latter is too difficult to administer but it really kills their use case without it

He bought the item in the UK for delivery to the UK so UK vat applies. He then separately arranged to have it imported to Ireland and must pay vat. Addresspal aren't charging him, they are just collecting the import costs on behalf of the Revenue.

dubrov

dubrov wrote: »

But surely imports from the uk can claim back UK VAT. So really addresspal should be charging ROI VAT and offsetting it against UK VAT already paid.

I guess the latter is too difficult to administer but it really kills their use case without it

Address pal haven't paid any UK VAT for this item.
It would be for the OP to sort that out.

Brexit is what disrupting their business model.
Not much they can do about it.

Billy Bloodshot

Shellie wrote: »

Has anyone had any success getting AnPost/AddresPal to revalue a package for VAT?

I ordered item on Feb 15 that should be zero VAT (children's picture books), got a VAT charge notice on Feb 25 and appealed it the next day. I finally got a response saying they have a backlog and are working through it with no ETA. Its only a small charge and not urgent but it was more that the charge was inaccurate that I appealed.

I have another delivery in the same situation (got VAT charge notice yesterday) and I'm debating just paying the €20 VAT and accepting it as hassle tax.

If anyone has had success appealing and having an item reassessed/revalued I'd love to hear, otherwise I'll cut my losses and know for next time.

I just had an email from the ecomm people at an post which might be of interest:

"...Unfortunately the Revenue system does not differentiate between what’s VAT exempt and what’s Vatable. It charges all items at 23%. They have now amended their system that will allow An Post put in a VAT code which allows for items such as books be VAT exempt. We are currently testing this and will hope to have it functional in the next 2-3 weeks.

The enquiry below is being processed and a reply will be forwarded to you in due course.

The 16-day return timeline is not applicable while your item is being held for revaluation.



We appreciate your patience at this time. "

That's a bit daft, isn't it?
I've had 14 address pal parcels,all containing books only, which have had vat placed on them. I'm still waiting on 4 of them, 2 since the end of January.

You'll probably get your books but you're going to have to wait.

whiterebel

I'd find it very hard to believe that Customs "forgot" there was more than one VAT rate, personally.

The_Conductor

whiterebel wrote: »

I'd find it very hard to believe that Customs "forgot" there was more than one VAT rate, personally.

I'm having a similar argument- but over duty rather than VAT- electronics are 0% rated for duty- and I have lots of laptop components held up (almost EUR400) that I have no intention of paying duty on, but fully accept that I owe VAT on.

This seriously isn't worth it anymore.

Billy Bloodshot

whiterebel wrote: »

I'd find it very hard to believe that Customs "forgot" there was more than one VAT rate, personally.

I don't think they forgot, just didn't bother. There seems to be a very simple system in place which just looks at the customs value of the package only, for the purposes of calculating the vat. The customs value is calculated by the address pal people and placed on the customs form which they then stick on your parcel. They also describe the contents and give the tariff code but that information seems to be ignored for the purposes of vat calculation.
Why does this appear so difficult for them to fix?

spix

I think I'm done with addresspal.
Had an item vanish. A parcel returned to sender for no reason whatsoever. Now they valued something at 3x the actual cost.

Has anyone been successful in getting the refund from ecommchargequery@anpost.ie
Are you supposed to pay it then get refunded or wait for them to change it before paying?

ExoPolitic

Hi,

I just wondered whether it is just me or is it all of us?

I had a parcel delivered to An Post in the UK for AddressPal in the morning on Tuesday 16th March, now it is Monday 22nd March and it has not moved from their Heathrow transit hub.

Thanks.

spix

Really don't know where they pull these prices from, I'm starting to think they actually just use a random number generator. An item cost me 10gbp+2gbp delivery, around 14 euro. + 6.50 addresspal charge is under 22 so no vat due.

Addresspal valued the item at 32gbp + 6.50.

spix

whiterebel wrote: »

Customs don’t take discounts into account when assessing charges.

I think they're saying that addresspal added on the 10 discount, so made the order 20gbp more expensive than it was.

Gamergurll

Hadn't bought online via Address Pal in a few months so got something 2 weeks ago, 20 something pounds. For a blanket of all things, stupidly didn't even think about customs. Had to pay just short of €11, it's a bit of a stinger paying the UK vat, address pal fee and then customs, what bugged me the most was I really overpaid for the item, the company here wouldn't ship it so had to use the middleman, my choice obviously, but don't think I will be buying much from the UK anymore. Not AnPosts fault obviously but the whole thing is just a headache now

spix

Gamergurll wrote: »

Hadn't bought online via Address Pal in a few months so got something 2 weeks ago, 20 something pounds. For a blanket of all things, stupidly didn't even think about customs. Had to pay just short of €11, it's a bit of a stinger paying the UK vat, address pal fee and then customs, what bugged me the most was I really overpaid for the item, the company here wouldn't ship it so had to use the middleman, my choice obviously, but don't think I will be buying much from the UK anymore. Not AnPosts fault obviously but the whole thing is just a headache now

At least you paid the right charge?
I'm annoyed because I took it from recent posts here and one of my recent addresspal items that they finally stopped over valuing things. Only reason I gave them another chance. Then they overvalue by 3x. Why don't they just email people for proof of purchase? They're going to destroy their business, no way people will keep using addresspal with the amount of failure going on there right now.

whiterebel

spix wrote: »

I think they're saying that addresspal added on the 10 discount, so made the order 20gbp more expensive than it was.

I posted on the previous page to this. Customs don't take into account the discount for assessing VAT. Amazon show discounted prices and they ignore it.

So far I've ordered 6 items through Addresspal in the last month.

4 items came through no problems, with the customs charge lower than the items value.

One item was returned to sender for being overweight. It's not overweight as the other 4 items I ordered were the same item and they all came through ok. Weight is 18.5kg.

And one item is in the Dublin Parcel Hub since the 9th March.

It's a bit hit and miss

spix

Deleted User wrote: »

So far I've ordered 6 items through Addresspal in the last month.

4 items came through no problems, with the customs charge lower than the items value.

One item was returned to sender for being overweight. It's not overweight as the other 4 items I ordered were the same item and they all came through ok. Weight is 18.5kg.

And one item is in the Dublin Parcel Hub since the 9th March.

It's a bit hit and miss

I had a large parcel returned to sender as well , definitely was well under limit. I still don't know was it the size or some other reason. Even though it was delivered and signed to Addresspal, then next day 'returned to sender' They denied they ever received it and told me to sort it out myself with the courier. Obviously just trying to remove themselves from any liability as it was taking a while to be returned to sender with no tracking updates.

Ended up paying the seller to send direct to me with DPD, got it in 2 days. Down 20 euro on that one though because of addresspal. All they're doing for me right now is causing headaches and losing money.

I too have one stuck in Dublin Parcel hub , customs charges were paid a week ago.

el Fenomeno

I have a parcel stuck in customs since I contested the charge first week of February. Keep getting pawned off with "we're working through a backlog" messages.

Anyone else in the same boat?

Now the tracking number and customs ref number returns an Error 404, as does the original customs payment link....

The_Conductor

el Fenomeno wrote: »

I have a parcel stuck in customs since I contested the charge first week of February. Keep getting pawned off with "we're working through a backlog" messages.

Anyone else in the same boat?

Now the tracking number and customs ref number returns an Error 404, as does the original customs payment link....

I have two packages from January that were signed for by Addresspal in Englishtown PA- but never entered the An Post/Customs system at all- its like they just vanished.

I honestly wouldn't advise anyone use Addresspal at the moment- either the US or the UK branches- until they get their house in order.

With respect of missing items- they promise its been escalated to management- I'll get a call back within 48 hours etc etc- to absolutely no avail.

Seriously- use Addresspal at your peril and only for items that you don't really care about- how your package may be dealt with is too random to have any confidence whatsoever in.

silver2020

ExoPolitic wrote: »

Hi,

I just wondered whether it is just me or is it all of us?

I had a parcel delivered to An Post in the UK for AddressPal in the morning on Tuesday 16th March, now it is Monday 22nd March and it has not moved from their Heathrow transit hub.

Thanks.

There's this little thing called a pandemic going on. This has led to very few flights and thus delays in moving post and parcels from one country to another.

labrador77

Same problem here. I received a package at AddressPal UK on Tuesday March 16th and paid the €6.50 straight away.
On Friday March 19th I received a mail requesting to pay customs and did so straight away.

Today the item was still showing in Heathrow so I called AddressPal customer service.
The agent I talked to was friendly and insisted that if I had paid customs the parcel was already in Ireland but hadn't been scanned, hence it was still incorrectly showing as in Heathrow. I also tried to call AN Post who stated the opposite of what AddressPal had said: charges are apparently applied when the parcels are still in the UK and not in Ireland so the parcel was likely still at Heathrow airport depot.
Go figure...

Shortly afterwards, I received an e-mail from AddressPal asking to contact eCommChargeQuery An Post email address as the parcel was in Ireland and AddressPal could not help with it. In the meanwhile, the tracking number appears to have been removed from the system entirely after contacting AdressPal (or AN Post)!

I did send an e-mail with all information eCommCharge and got an automated reply. I just hope the parcel will eventually show up.
I can only imagine the runaround for trying to recuperate the value of the item or even only the customs charges if the parcel is lost for good!

Jim_Hodge

silver2020 wrote: »

There's this little thing called a pandemic going on. This has led to very few flights and thus delays in moving post and parcels from one country to another.

Is that really the issue? I'm getting plenty of parcels from the UK within 3 days. This delay seems to be on AdressPal's side.

Beric Dondarrion

I finally took delivery of my AddressPal item last week. 2 full months after it was accepted into their delivery hub in the UK. Like others on here, my item was seriously overvalued (almost 4 times the amount I paid for it).

I used the ecommchargequery email address to dispute the claim and received the standard replies etc. over the next 4 to 5 weeks.

After repeatedly emailing them, engaging with An Post via Facebook etc, I finally managed to make progress in getting my item delivered. I spoke with one of the An Post managers (who in fairness was very helpful) and they explained that since Brexit their systems have been stretched and new procedures had to be brought in and so on.

Whilst I appreciate that An Post/AddressPal are struggling due to what happened I have decided that I will not be using AddressPal going forward. The service is just not reliable and based on some of the posts here, things are not getting any better.

My advice to anyone chasing packages that have been delivered or mis-costed, keep sending emails and queries whatever way you can and push to have your case(s) escalated until you get an actual person from An Post involved.

silver2020

Jim_Hodge wrote: »

Is that really the issue? I'm getting plenty of parcels from the UK within 3 days. This delay seems to be on AdressPal's side.

Customs paperwork to be processed and then the item shipped. OP's parcel only arrived in Addresspal last Tuesday, so yesterday was 4th working day. Hardly a delay at this point considering Addresspal have to do customs.

Spocker

Big AddressPal thread on this topic already -> https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057516584

Jim_Hodge

silver2020 wrote: »

Customs paperwork to be processed and then the item shipped. OP's parcel only arrived in Addresspal last Tuesday, so yesterday was 4th working day. Hardly a delay at this point considering Addresspal have to do customs.

And I'll repeat. This seems to be peculiar to addresspal as other deliveries are not experiencing such delays.

blade1

Jim_Hodge wrote: »

And I'll repeat. This seems to be peculiar to addresspal as other deliveries are not experiencing such delays.

I think all the other delivery companies have packed in the similar type of service so doesn't apply.

VG31

blade1 wrote: »

I think all the other delivery companies have packed in the similar type of service so doesn't apply.

This company gets good reviews but it's very expensive so unless it's something expensive and/or urgent it wouldn't be economical to use them.

https://www.forward2me.com/

schriss

Ordered few things via AddressPal and so far no issues all delivered, but as an example I had to pay 10 euro VAT/taxes/whatever on top of a £22.90 item and also €6.50 delivery, so I'd rather start finding other places to order from within EU.

odyssey06

I got a text from Address Pal saying an item had arrived in their depot addressed to my name.

Now I am expecting something from book depository, but I didn't use my AP handle I used my Irish address.
Could this still have been routed to Address Pal for customs processing?

whiterebel

They send them around if there is no AP number on it, to anyone they have registered with the same name.

schriss

odyssey06 wrote: »

I got a text from Address Pal saying an item had arrived in their depot addressed to my name.

Now I am expecting something from book depository, but I didn't use my AP handle I used my Irish address.
Could this still have been routed to Address Pal for customs processing?

I would guess the AP doesn't matter to them as much as the country of origin - to determine to vat/tax it or not.