An Post returning packages from outside the EU-See 1st post

innuendo141 · 30-08-2021 3:19pm

Has anyone else fund themselves in a situation where they have paid the Customs/VAT charge, but the package was then returned? I was advised by An Post to seek a refund for this by emailing the eComm email, but I have had no response since mid last week. The anpostvox account on Twitter is as much use as brick.

My main query now is, will the An Post handling charge of €3.50 be refunded along with the VAT charge? This seems to be an absolute disaster, and definitely won't be paying any more VAT charges until all of this has been sorted properly.

Edit: The DPD handling charge is €5.00 FYI.

dxhound2005 · 30-08-2021 4:22pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117820944#Comment_117820944

Your friends did not know about what has been happening in Sweden.

https://www.thelocal.com/20180416/sweden-forced-to-return-400000-packages-to-china-and-other-non-eu-countries/

Sweden's postal service will have to return around 400,000 letters and parcels from non-EU countries after introducing an administration fee for imported goods.

rf4c · 30-08-2021 4:28pm

While your article about the Swedish situation has a degree of relevance, I notice

a difference you chose not to highlight.

In the Swedish case, packets are being returned because customers chose not to collect them.

In the case of An Post, customers are neither given a choice, nor informed of An Post's enforced choice.

Hippodrome Song Owl · 30-08-2021 4:47pm

It is very concerning to read the number of cases where parcels are returned to sender after the Customs/Duty has been paid. There are so many on twitter. So even if it gets through customs and you pay, it's still no guarantee An Post won't just send it back. This is ridiculous!

My parcel tracking is still unchanged since my chat with them on Friday - still sitting in the Dublin Parcel Hub. We live in hope.

dxhound2005 · 30-08-2021 4:53pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117823992#Comment_117823992

I see on the Spain Post site a tracking for Being returned due to insufficient, incorrect or incomplete declaration. No option there for people to contact Spain Post for an explanation. Because it is not Spain Post who make that decision, it is Spanish Customs. Same thing in Ireland, Revenue are the only people with the power to return parcels.

https://packageradar.com/courier/correos-es/status/return

rf4c · 30-08-2021 4:55pm

Somebody said that maybe it's time to open it to the public through programmes

like Liveline with Joe Duffy and others. I'm planning to go with that.

It might be futile, but it's better than sitting here staring at the mailbox as An Post

continue with their silence!

starbaby2003 · 30-08-2021 4:58pm

I am glad I stumbled across this thread as I too have a package they are returning. Tried to call, phone off hook; three emails, no response; chat, just close it when you are close. What an utter shambles. I really need to resolve this and it is so frustrating that they have NO way to contact them.

rf4c · 30-08-2021 5:07pm

An Post are blaming it all on COVID now!

Check out what they're telling the world on "quadient.com" I can't post links on here, so you'll need to search an article entitled "quick links: Mail and Parcel

Carrier Service Updates from around the globe"

dxhound2005,

Perhaps An Post told you it's only in Revenue's gift to return parcels, my last return was back with the sender in the UK before I even knew it had come to Ireland.

Enquiring with Customs, they pointed out that this parcel reference never entered Customs as it was a zero rated child's toy which had been re-exported arbitrarily by An Post.

dxhound2005 · 30-08-2021 5:14pm

In another recent post, An Post are being quoted as saying Revenue are lying to customers.

"They also said Customs were giving out incorrect information (ie. lying) to customers".

greenbicycle · 30-08-2021 5:34pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117823651#Comment_117823651

This is exactly my issue, I am so annoyed and frustrated. actually havent gotten as far as you though, have tried daily to ring An Post but got nowhere, have only just found this thread, no wonder there is no getting through to them there seems to be so many people in the same boat.

I must email customs now and look for a refund. So annoyed as I presume I will wait ages for the retailer to get the item back, it was a sale item, never likely to be sold again as it will be last season, I have totally missed out now cause of An Post. Fuming!

rf4c · 30-08-2021 5:37pm

In my opinion, based on numerous experiences,

Revenue were the only ones, who were courteous, friendly and accurate in their information.

They gave as much help as they could, but I had to appreciate that they were not a substitute

for the dysfunctional An Post Customer Service. They tried to point me in the right direction on

the technicalities of the famous"declaration" but they are not there as instructors or teachers but

I made some progress because of them. By contrast, it was very clearly An Post who are lying and did so to

me many times.

Even if An Post posted a new page that said "Here's what you're doing wrong and here's how to fix it"

I'd be happy to pay the new levies and tell my overseas senders what the must do in the future, but then again,

they can't even bother to answer legitimate customer queries!

Touch Fuzzy Get Dizzy · 31-08-2021 1:36am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117824291#Comment_117824291

You mean this one?

https://www.anpost.com/Media-Centre/News/Customs-declaration-Postal-items

How is the electronic customs put to the package, through the PO? Tried searching online but its just keeps showing the sticker. I dont mind forwarding thar link to sellers in future but want to understand it all too.

Seeing that it got posted back even though people it probably doesn't maje a difference atm

Hippodrome Song Owl · 31-08-2021 7:04am

So as of this morning my re-sent package:

-which had been in the Dublin Mail Centre since Friday

-and which An Post Chat said on Saturday had a customs declaration that 'appeared fine"

has disappeared from tracking.

When I went to bed last night it had three scans from Fri at Dublin Mail Centre. Now 'we don't have your parcel yet". This is just nonsense!

dashdoll · 31-08-2021 7:50am

Hi folks.

I was having a quick Google seeing as my parcel is god knows where and came across this thread. I had no idea of all the issues at the moment. I currently have a parcel coming from China via EMS. I paid €210 so tbh Im happy to pay VAT if that's the issue. My package was showing as being in Portlaoise Mail Centre since last Thursday but I didn't take too much notice. Status was "has left An Post". Well now this morning I check again and nothing at all appears on the tracking. It's a bloody joke. Does this mean they have sent it back to China or that its with customs or what the hell is going on......this is ridiculous that they don't inform you if something is being returned. Can anyone help me out? It's a fair bit of cash to be down. Thanks

Padraig Mor · 31-08-2021 8:23am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117825994#Comment_117825994

An Post tracking seems to be down since last night. I hope anyway, as had a €700 package due today which has disappeared from tracking!

innuendo141 · 31-08-2021 9:34am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117824276#Comment_117824276

I actually held on for most of the day with Firefox open in the Chat Queue and the customer service rep I got was absolutely atrocious. Started off with copy and paste responses and kept asking "have I contacted the seller" when I was advising that my issue was that An Post took a charge off me for something that was not delivered, and my issue now was the lack of response from the email address they had advised me to contact (like other posters, revenue were quite quick to respond to me and advise me of what had happened). At one point she actually said "well if the seller had filled out the forms correctly I wouldn't be in this situation." Unreal.

She kept using the "we are experiencing delays" line, which I dont think most people have a problem with. If anything, its to be expected that there are delays since July 1st. I explained that the issue was the complete lack of clarity about what is going on, how our items are being sent back to sellers AFTER CAT charges have been paid, leaving people in a situation where they do not how/when/if they get a refund. She could not confirm that An Post would refund the handling charge of €3.50 either.

You'd swear An Post had no time to prepare any sort of procedure with regards to this. I myself am now a week waiting for a response from that eComm email about my refund. I honestly would advise everyone to avoid contacting customer care on Twitter, Chat or phone. They are told to spin this and it's blatant that they do not have any answers whatsoever. Not a hope will I be paying any charge until this seems long sorted.

Did anyone notice that An Post said in cases of repeated charges being required to be paid that the charge will in fact change to €10? I can't remember where I saw this, and I may be wrong.

davetherave · 31-08-2021 9:40am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117824291#Comment_117824291

They have done, there is a banner appearing at the top of the an post website that brings you to this page https://www.anpost.com/Media-Centre/News/Customs-declaration-Postal-items

If you have been prompted with a 'Returned to sender' message on your track & trace, please see the below information.

Item returned to sender

If your item has been returned to sender, it means that the electronic customs declaration made by the retailer / sender or their agent was insufficient or invalid. Items received into Ireland from outside the EU without this information cannot be electronically customs cleared.

An electronic customs declaration must include the following:

Item description
A valid TARIC/Commodity code
Country of origin
Destination country

To help find a TARIC/Commodity code we have a built in customs code finder.

dashdoll · 31-08-2021 9:53am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117826057#Comment_117826057

I finally got through to An Post this morning after 45 mins on hold. My package has been returned to the sender in China and is currently en route. Couldn't give me any reason why so I don't know if its to do with not having a code etc. Would have been happy to pay VAT. Silly thing is the online tracking doesn't even say that's it has been returned. 🙄🙄🙄

innuendo141 · 31-08-2021 9:55am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117826404#Comment_117826404

But how is the receiver to know if the declaration is missing/invalid? I know my issue is that I paid the additional charges as requested only to find out after the fact that it had in fact been returned to sender. This should surely be returned before requesting any additional VAT/Customs charge be paid. Especially if they seemingly do not wish to respond to refund requests.

Touch Fuzzy Get Dizzy · 31-08-2021 10:03am

Emailed E-Comm-charge Query about how to avoid this happening twice, included my message from An Post twitter, just got same answer.

Sent on Thursday replied today if that's any gauge for anyone

Unfortunately, this item has been marked to be returned to the sender.

This item arrived in our network with insufficient electronic data submitted by the sender. Due to this issue, Irish Customs could not release the item for delivery, and it was returned back to Japan.

The Taric code was missing on the electronic data submitted which is required for the item to be processed by Irish Revenue.

You will need to contact the sender/sending retailer directly regarding any queries concerning the electronic data submitted.

Kind regards

MrCouperin · 31-08-2021 11:10am

Well, my package is back in Japan now, expected back at ZenMarket today apparently. I checked with FedEx again, who told me that they can import the package. I'll see how I get on with them.

whiterebel · 31-08-2021 11:40am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117824182#Comment_117824182

Someone is lying. In my experience of customs, which goes back a long way, they have no need to. Do their job properly, according to the rules, and they don't get put into a position to lie. People who do the customs clearance, as I did, are the ones that usually need to tell lies.

This is supposed to be automated, just becoming VAT collection exercise. An Post don't seem to want to do the customs clearance part of this, i.e. looking up TARIC codes to complete the entry. I said after 1st January that the drop to €3.50 was a big mistake by An Post for the amount of work that needs to be done. Looks like they have realised that for themselves and taken the easy way out.

DaireQuinlan · 31-08-2021 11:48am

I'm currently trying to source some stuff from the UK and got onto two online retailers to see if they'd experienced any problems.

First one said that ..

We did have a few problems and delays during July and early August but things have settled down now and seems be going through without too much complication.

In fairness most countries (not just Ireland) had to get much stricter with their customs and it was the reason for the extra delays that everyone experienced but we are now seeing packages get through faster now.

Second one said that ...

Thanks for getting in touch, you can see the latest update on our delivery page here. Due to the recent changes we've limited our delivery options to just DHL express service for now. An Post have advised us that there is a bug in their system which is causing customs codes to not be detected correctly.

(emphasis there is mine)

so, in short, I think I'll be holding off on ordering for a bit 🙄

Johnstaf · 31-08-2021 1:13pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117826404#Comment_117826404

A Taric/commodity/HS code isn't required on packages valued at less that €300. A description of contents is enough.

An electronic customs declaration isn't required unless the package is valued at €1000 or more.

Someone at An Post needs to look up the Revenue website. 🙄

whiterebel · 31-08-2021 3:35pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117827593#Comment_117827593

The Revenue website was playing catchup a lot pre and post-brexit. I wouldn't take that as gospel.

Johnstaf · 31-08-2021 4:59pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117828560#Comment_117828560

The revenue info is dated post-brexit, and includes the changes from July.

cnocbui · 31-08-2021 7:52pm

An post have charged someone I know, €3.50 handling fee for someting that cost 70c and for which no tax is due on. Words fail...

reni10 · 31-08-2021 9:39pm

I bought something on AliExpress and paid the VAT on Ali when buying and now I get a bill from Anpost for 61c VAT and 3.50 admin charge!

The item only cost €2 and they are looking for double the cost even though I have already paid the VAT!

Anpost is not fit for purpose at all and it is just pathetic now!

hammerheart · 01-09-2021 12:08am

An update on my situation:

I had mail refused and returned from Ireland to Japan on August 18th.

After probably two dozen emails, this is the best information I have got.

"Unfortunately this item has been returned to sender because the customs declaration which was provided electronically was insufficient i.e had no TARIC Code. As we cannot amend or rectify any electronic customs data, the item was returned as a result. This is beyond our control as Customs & Excise are a separate entity to An Post."

Ok, so it sounds like all I need is this arbitrary TARIC code. I asked him to confirm this, even including a mock TARIC code I got from the An Post site.

"Thank you for your further email and I am informed that the item should be processed for delivery if the parcel is sent again with the below Taric code attached electronically."

I pushed back, 'should' isn't bloody acceptable - considering I have to pay for shipping again. Also, what does 'electronically' mean exactly, I asked for a second time.

"Again, please accept my apologies for the frustration and inconvenience this issue has caused you, but as previously stated, I can only speak for An Post and not for any other party. To put this into context, An Post will be the final mile delivery agent of this item, from Japan. What precedes, prior to An Post receiving this item for delivery, between the sender, their carriers, the airlines, and Customs and its documentation requirements, An Post has no control over. I am genuinely sorry that this incident has been the source of much frustration for you, but I only can reiterate, we only can deliver what we receive and that An Post cannot amend or rectify any electronic customs data."

At this point, I gave up. Neither revenue or An post are taking responsibility, and deflecting off each other. I have seen others saying TARIC codes aren't even necessary for goods under €100 such as mine. So much contradictory information. If this is an EU thing, are other countries' postal services doing such a brutal job, I doubt it.

Touch Fuzzy Get Dizzy · 01-09-2021 12:34am

A friend sent an email to Joe Duffy, I might do the same. I can't take time to talk live though but might help if they look into it.

I think most here and on Twitter have given it a good go contacting all parties for them to help and it's just as vague and confusing with it 'should '

An Post returning packages from outside the EU-See 1st post

Comments