ManicMan
Lord
Okay, This is gonna take a little bit of explaining and then kinda why I'm posting about it.
I had two pre-orders on stuff from the USA. When the first was dispatched, I followed the tracking every few days and on 22nd of May, It arrived in the UK at Heathrow Customs.. and then did nothing. After tracing around between the shipping company (DHL) and the Seller (a popular USA company), I was able to get passed to Custom Clearance LTD and get a valid contact e-mail for them (so many companies either don't want you to be ABLE to contact them, or just remove e-Mail and make it as hard as possible.. one reason alot of people are soo with Shoplifty is because they pretty much shut down and fired all customer service staff. So if you have a real problem, screw you!.
Anyway.. I got a reply from CCL on the 10th June and it turned out, It as waiting for me to pay import on it (I knew it SHOULD have some VAT as the item was over £135, even if not much over) but while there 'system' sent out the e-mails, they didn't arrive. I had checked junk folders and stuff but nothing. Talking with the seller, it appears quite a few UK customers had that same problem. But as CCL replied to my e-mail, I was able to pay and get my order (yay). They reported there was an issue with their e-mail system which has seen been repaired. But I knew I had a second order due not long later..
and the Second order arrived in Heathrow on Monday. And was still sitting there.. So I e-mail CCL to see if it was the same issue, and yep, it was. VAT and stuff to pay.
So it appears they STILL have an issue.
Now.. Why Am I saying about this? if you haven't figure it out, DHL is a pretty big company.. In fact, CCL is also a pretty big company it appears and I don't know if they are only the Customs broker for DHL in the UK or for others too, but If they have some screwy e-Mailing system, I can imagine ALOT of people have parcels waiting cause they haven't received an e-mail telling them to pay. I even checked my e-mail address with the seller (the fact I get the newsletter because of my account and some 'personalised' adverts based on what I brought (boy, they are often annoying)) confirms that THEY have my e-mail address right so.. sigh..
I was lucky that my orders were tracked. I can picture some other people who have orders which have no tracking, but over the £135 HMRC threshold. I don't know if there is a way to just contact the company to inquire if they have anything for you based on your address or anything (I always had the tracking numbers to help) but yeah. If anyone has ordered some bunk of minis from the USA which work out to over that price, and it's coming via DHL (or maybe others, Like I said, I don't know if they are the only ones they are a broker for. I know they aren't for Parcel Force (which kinda are their own) or TNT (which have a .... interesting system where they will 'pay the fee' for you, THEN send you the bill later.. which can be good cause them doing that without telling you, means they can't charge you for the admin costs, ONLY the VAT.. so a quick e-mail can sort that out so you only pay VAT/import. Where as other companies are 'smart' enough to NOT give you your order until you have paid) then you might wanna check with them if it's taking over a week or so in customs or appears lost.
I'm not sure how public the e-mail is, but I'm pretty sure it is (just hard to find) but:
I just put it in the tags to kinda reduce web crawlers though.. they are a company so I'm not sure why I bothered.. also, I'm not sure if that works these days ^_^
Anyway... If this DOES help anyone with an order, then great. If not, oh well. I just thought It was something worth mentioning.
I had two pre-orders on stuff from the USA. When the first was dispatched, I followed the tracking every few days and on 22nd of May, It arrived in the UK at Heathrow Customs.. and then did nothing. After tracing around between the shipping company (DHL) and the Seller (a popular USA company), I was able to get passed to Custom Clearance LTD and get a valid contact e-mail for them (so many companies either don't want you to be ABLE to contact them, or just remove e-Mail and make it as hard as possible.. one reason alot of people are soo with Shoplifty is because they pretty much shut down and fired all customer service staff. So if you have a real problem, screw you!.
Anyway.. I got a reply from CCL on the 10th June and it turned out, It as waiting for me to pay import on it (I knew it SHOULD have some VAT as the item was over £135, even if not much over) but while there 'system' sent out the e-mails, they didn't arrive. I had checked junk folders and stuff but nothing. Talking with the seller, it appears quite a few UK customers had that same problem. But as CCL replied to my e-mail, I was able to pay and get my order (yay). They reported there was an issue with their e-mail system which has seen been repaired. But I knew I had a second order due not long later..
and the Second order arrived in Heathrow on Monday. And was still sitting there.. So I e-mail CCL to see if it was the same issue, and yep, it was. VAT and stuff to pay.
So it appears they STILL have an issue.
Now.. Why Am I saying about this? if you haven't figure it out, DHL is a pretty big company.. In fact, CCL is also a pretty big company it appears and I don't know if they are only the Customs broker for DHL in the UK or for others too, but If they have some screwy e-Mailing system, I can imagine ALOT of people have parcels waiting cause they haven't received an e-mail telling them to pay. I even checked my e-mail address with the seller (the fact I get the newsletter because of my account and some 'personalised' adverts based on what I brought (boy, they are often annoying)) confirms that THEY have my e-mail address right so.. sigh..
I was lucky that my orders were tracked. I can picture some other people who have orders which have no tracking, but over the £135 HMRC threshold. I don't know if there is a way to just contact the company to inquire if they have anything for you based on your address or anything (I always had the tracking numbers to help) but yeah. If anyone has ordered some bunk of minis from the USA which work out to over that price, and it's coming via DHL (or maybe others, Like I said, I don't know if they are the only ones they are a broker for. I know they aren't for Parcel Force (which kinda are their own) or TNT (which have a .... interesting system where they will 'pay the fee' for you, THEN send you the bill later.. which can be good cause them doing that without telling you, means they can't charge you for the admin costs, ONLY the VAT.. so a quick e-mail can sort that out so you only pay VAT/import. Where as other companies are 'smart' enough to NOT give you your order until you have paid) then you might wanna check with them if it's taking over a week or so in customs or appears lost.
I'm not sure how public the e-mail is, but I'm pretty sure it is (just hard to find) but:
I just put it in the tags to kinda reduce web crawlers though.. they are a company so I'm not sure why I bothered.. also, I'm not sure if that works these days ^_^
Anyway... If this DOES help anyone with an order, then great. If not, oh well. I just thought It was something worth mentioning.
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