Raspberry Pi 3 foundation development board $24.49 and free shipping from arrow.com

Phibsboro

i have a feeling this is going to be a nightmare :mad:

Suckit

It may not be so bad, as there are a few people arguing for the same corner.

My total was €22.87, and UPS still wanted to charge me tax initally, until i was able to send them the negligible link. I doubt Fedex will try the same.
Especially not if there are a few people contacting them at roughly the same time (same day) about the same item using the same link (that scamalert posted).

Ninjini

Sent an email and received an automated reply acknowledging receipt of it and noticed this at the bottom of the email "Customs Clearance Claims:
If your enquiry requires a claim or amendment to be submitted to the local Customs Authorities, we may need to contact you for further information before we can proceed. Please be aware that claims for clearance errors not caused by FedEx may incur an administration fee of €84.00 + VAT."

scamalert

well it seems there might be hassle if all of us suddenly start getting asked for delivery payment,but yeah as mentioned theres invoices email in the link below all fields, so include your paypal or email invoice screenshot and they should back off, also since it went trough paypal buyers protection should kick in at worst.

edit:also somehow no mention of pi 0 being shipped or any updates, could be just another gimmick since seems few didn't receive it (suckit) given he had to contact them about price being wrong, so doesn't sit right.

Phibsboro

So what I have done is forward on the Arrow email with the right invoice (and delivery note) to ieinvoicequery@fedex.com, with this text :

Hi,

I am writing to query a VAT charge invoice I received today. The invoice is number xxxx, the shipment is number xxxx. The sender is Arrow Electronics and the reciever is myself, Mr Phibsboro.

I am forwarding on the invoice I received from Arrow at the time of shipment. It shows a value of 24.49USD which would be below the 22eur threshold, or at the very least below the VAT collectible threshold of 6eur.

Can you explain why I have been charged VAT in this case?

Cheers,
Mr Phibsboro

I have also sent a similar email to arrow, against replying to their email with the invoice and delivery note:

Hi,

I am writing in connection with the transaction below, where I ordered a raspberry pi 3 for USD24.49, shipped via FEDEX International. I received the package a couple of weeks ago and was surprised today to get a letter from FEDEX demanding VAT and associated fees (to the tune of an extra 26eur over and above what I paid for the package). The Irish VAT threashold value is EUR22 (or EUR6 VAT payable) so I wasn't expecting any VAT in this case.

It appears that the shipment via FEDEX from yourselves had a commercial invoice that did not have the correct declared value - it looks like it was declared at the amount before discount. Is this correct? Do you have the ability to correct this mistake with FEDEX?

The FEDEX shipping ref is xxxx and their invoice is xxxx.

Thanks,
Mr Phibsboro

Dymo

Just off from Fedex, they seem adamant that the charges are to be be paid €25.56, the pi only cost $24

A) I'm not that comfortable paying customs and duty to a UK address
b) I wouldn't of bought from arrow if this was the case.

scamalert

Dymo wrote: »

Just off from Fedex, they seem adamant that the charges are to be be paid €25.56, the pi only cost $24

A) I'm not that comfortable paying customs and duty to a UK address
b) I wouldn't of bought from arrow if this was the case.

dont see how they would even be able to collect if from you if say you didnt pay,once submitting original invoice and letter that arrow sent out id say they have no legal chance.

Suckit

They will be adamant that it is to be paid (as were UPS), but if you tell them that the total including shipping was €22.87 (or whatever it was in your case), you could ask them to re-evaluate it.

When it appears below €6, they should not chase it. If they do, you could link them to the negligible value.



From here -http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax-professionals/tdm/customs/import-export-policy/customs-manual-on-import-vat.pdf

3.8
WAIVER OF SMALL AMOUNTS

An administrative  arrangement allows for the  waiving of Import VAT where the total Import VAT calculated on a consignment does not exceed €6.

As originally pointed out by Teotwawki here - http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=103558450&postcount=33

Dymo

scamalert wrote: »

dont see how they would even be able to collect if from you if say you didnt pay,once submitting original invoice and letter that arrow sent out id say they have no legal chance.

I have also been incontact with arrow and they said

i can send you the correct commercial invoice that you can forward to Fedex.

Which they did and I forwarded to Fedex with MrPhibsboro's templates. Just have to wait and see.

Just don't like the idea of paying customs duties and the Irish vat rate to UK customs.

I did not get a Fedex letter but I assume it is on the way.

I suggest you guys read the dealz.de thread linked a few pages back as the people there were getting Fedex letters last week.

The first thing I would do is simply contact Fedex and politely tell them (with invoice attached) that the value was €22.32. At 23% that incurrs a €5.10 vat fee...however revenue do not collect liabilities below €6 (include link to revenue site if you want). Therefore there is nothing due and that should conclude your dealings with Fedex.

If they argue against that I would contact Arrow as they have been sorting it on behalf of customers.

Dymo

Reply from Fedex

Dear Mr. Dymo,

Thank you for your email.

I am sorry to hear of your recent experience and would like to thank you for bringing this matter to my attention. Please accept my apologies for the circumstances surrounding this incident.

I have forwarded your email to our invoice enquiry team who will contact you within the next 10 days.

Should you need to contact them in the meantime, please email ieinvoicequery@fedex.com or contact our Customer Relations Team on UK 03456 070809 or IE 1800 535 800 Monday - Friday 0730 - 1930.

Yours sincerely,


Ashish Chavan
Customer Relations Representative, Customer Service UK &Ireland
FedEx Europe

Suckit

Suckit wrote: »

They will be adamant that it is to be paid (as were UPS), but if you tell them that the total including shipping was €22.87 (or whatever it was in your case), you could ask them to re-evaluate it.

When it appears below €6, they should not chase it. If they do, you could link them to the negligible value.

From here -http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax-professionals/tdm/customs/import-export-policy/customs-manual-on-import-vat.pdf

As originally pointed out by Teotwawki here - http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=103558450&postcount=33

This seems to be called the 'de minimis limit', you can see it here also: (section 3)

http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax-professionals/tdm/customs/reliefs/customs-treatment-of-gifts-and-items-of-negligible-value.pdf

lau1247

got the letter also from Fedex, and fired on the invoice from Arrow and made reference to Revenue limit. Now it is just a matter of wait and see.

Dymo

A reply back from Fedex, it appears to be a generic message as they addressed it sir or Madame and didn't address the points in the original email.

Dear Sir or Madam,

Thank you for your query regarding the Duty and Tax charges levied on invoice 190XXXXXX

Our Terms and Conditions are such that the recipient or importer will be invoiced for Duty and Tax charges unless the sender selects the ‘bill sender’ or ‘bill 3rd party’ option on the FedEx International Air Waybill. Unfortunately, neither of these options has been selected on this occasion, therefore FedEx have invoiced you, the recipient, correctly.

FedEx pays the import Duty and Tax directly to Customs and then subsequently sends the invoice to the ‘bill to’ party on the FedEx International Air Waybill.

FedEx trust this clarifies the matter, however should you have any further queries please do not hesitate to contact us.

Yours Faithfully,

Shwetha Ravi

That's the worst part of dealing with customer service nowadays, these generic cut & paste replies from India that don't address any of your points/questions.

For those who got a free Pi Zero, Arrow have the official case for €3.06.
https://www.arrow.com/en/products/raspberrypizerocase/raspberry-pi-foundation

I got two of them shipped for €6.13.

Places like PiHut are charging ?6 each plus ?4 shipping so the same order would have been ~ €18

scamalert

acrylic+zip ties, smth like 99c holds tight and covers from dust/shortage

Phibsboro

Just to let you know that arrow asked for the FedEx invoice last night and this morning said they have refunded the price of the pi! Which seems an astonishing response. I'm still out a few euro (the FedEx bill was 26 odd) but that certainly softens the blow. What a peculiar company to deal with - whoever was involved with the PayPal issue and then the misstated commercial invoice most be getting a rollicking right now.

niallb

Phibsboro wrote: »

Just to let you know that arrow asked for the FedEx invoice last night and this morning said they have refunded the price of the pi!

What email address in Arrow did you use?
I mailed the address on my invoice and I've had no response yet.
I'm anxious to get back to FedEx as soon as I can before they send me another letter!

Phibsboro

niallb wrote: »

What email address in Arrow did you use?
I mailed the address on my invoice and I've had no response yet.
I'm anxious to get back to FedEx as soon as I can before they send me another letter!

I replied to the email they sent me that had pdf attachments with the invoice and the delivery note. Websupporr@xxx I think it was.

niallb

Thanks @Phibsboro.
That's the address I used, and I got a reply last night.
I've forwarded them the invoice, and will post back with any resolution.

I noticed in the small print on the FedEx document that they had valued the package differently even to the "Commercial Invoice" we thought was the problem.

There was a little box called "Statistical Value" marked for EUR 61.79 and their VAT calculation was based on that.
The 26.71 noted in my reply from Arrow is exclusive of the VAT FedEX also charged on their service charge for another 2.88!

Anyway, this is a messy situation, but Arrow seem to be engaging in it well.
We'll see where the buck stops!

Arrow wrote:

Your analysis of the issue is exactly correct - we showed the full list price of the RP3 on the shipping invoice, not the promotional price.

Would you please send us a copy of the FedEx invoice you received for the duties, VAT, and other fees? You noted the total was 26.71€. We will gladly have FedEx re-bill that invoice to our account, but need to present your FedEx invoice to complete the process.

lau1247

sent mail to arrow yesterday afternoon but haven't got any response yet

scamalert

as most received fedex letter today asking for 25.64e .Long story short did screenshot of original invoice received from paypal with correct amount and told if they have issues to take it up with arrow given transaction ID, and my account number is provided.

anyone has any update on them free pi 0s ? since cant bother remembering password so not sure is there any indication they are sent or being prepped, since think with this mess its well deserved.

scamalert

scamalert wrote: »

anyone has any update on them free pi 0s ? since cant bother remembering password so not sure is there any indication they are sent or being prepped, since think with this mess its well deserved.

On my Arrow account there's an order for one and it's in the processing stage.

Suckit

To be fair to Arrow, they tried to offer everyone a Raspberry Pi, every where in the World for less than €23 with free fast shipping and duty paid.
As soon as they realised their  mistake with Paypal, it sounds as though they emailed everyone and told them they were giving them a free Raspberry Pi zero.
I think that they have a contract with Fedex, DHL and UPS, but there was a miscommunication somewhere for the Pi promotion.
They have offered to reimburse some people for the price of the Pi or possibly sort it out with the courier that charged the end customer with the handling + duty invoice.
I will use them again, as i believe they have learned some lessons this time around, and so far they seem to be doing as much as they can to rectify any of the issues.

I got a reply from Fedex saying the invoice was cancelled.

Hello,
Today I received an unwarranted and erroneous duty & tax invoice (see attached).

The invoice relates to a parcel of value €22.32 (see attached purchase invoice).

At VAT rate of 23% this amounts to VAT liability of €5.1336
This is below the current de minimis limit of €6:
http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax-professionals/tdm/customs/reliefs/customs-treatment-of-gifts-and-items-of-negligible-value.pdf

"Where the vat liability on any consignment amounts to less than or equal to €6 it should not be collected"


Therefore no VAT or duty is payable with respect to this shipment. I await your confirmation of invoice cancellation.



Sincerely,

Dear , Thank you for your query regarding invoice #xxxxxxxx, Having reviewed the above mentioned invoice, we are pleased to advise that a full credit of 25.56 Euro has been raised. FedEx trust this concludes the matter, however should you have any further queries please do not hesitate to contact us. Yours Faithfully,

I also got shipping notification for the Pi Zero from Arrow.

Dymo

It's obvious that Fedex don't read emails, There still telling me that the value of the goods was $34.99 even though I emailed them the receipt I received for $24

niallb

I got my shipping notification for the Pi Zero too - the paperwork attached shows a 0.00 value.
Hope that works out and they don't give it a "statistical value" of $860 or something!

scamalert

Dymo wrote: »

It's obvious that Fedex don't read emails, There still telling me that the value of the goods was $34.99 even though I emailed them the receipt I received for $24

after ive sent them email ive got zero reply besides generic we received your mail etc.

anyway amount is so low and given that theres invoices to back it up,only response id imagine to get from them that they dropped any tax/vat.

Its good to hear that 0s are rolling out now.

lau1247

Heard nothing yet from FedEx after I sent them the invoice I got from arrow after the order. I insisted that the invoice showed 0 Eur for shipping and therefore the full value was under the limit and that they paid the revenue by mistake and need to recoup it back from the Revenue. Given how their generic mail says it can take 10 days, I'll sit on that for the moment.

No news on the RPi 0W yet, still showing as processing in the order history section.

Anyway went ahead and bought the official RPi cases for the RPi 3 and RPi 0W. Can't wait to get them.