Should I ignore this? And can they do anything to me?

[Staz]

In April I bought a VCDS cable from Ross-tech and it was shipped by Fed-Ex. I bought it when I was on leave in the UK and went back to Germany soon after. Since then all my mail has been building up at my mum's and over Christmas I finally got around to sorting it all out.

I have found an invoice dated 12/05/08 from FedEx with a copy of the Ross-tech invoice attached to it asking for £25.67 for VAT and an administration charge.

I have found another letter dated 15/05/08 from Fed-Ex stating that:

'On entering the country your goods have attracted Import Tax & Charges levied by HM Revenue & Customs'

and that they were unable to contact me by phone so I was to call them.

Then there is a third letter from a company called Avance dated 21/05/08 (only 9 days after the invoice!) which is a FORMAL DEMAND threatening legal action if required.

Well it's now January and there are no more letters, no phone calls and no big men have arrived at the door so what should I do?

 

[motorbikez]

My advice is do a credit check on yourself, costs a couple of quid from eqifax or other such credit score agencies.Just to make sure you have not had your credit record damaged by the company called advance.

If you have some sort of adverse credit record I recommend you contact them and say you were out of the country which you were and offer to pay the invoice.
If you get a bad credit score no matter how trivial especially in todays climate you will cause yourself all sorts of grief financially.

 

[DiscoPanda]

In my opinion, for the small price of £25 you will give yourself peace of mind. Phone them, pay by credit card and then you can forget about it. The alternative is this ruining your credit rating and coming back to bite you in a few years.

 

[Staz]

I looked at the equifax site but they want me to register and then I get a free report from the 30 day free trial. Trial to what? I only want 1 credit report!!

Plus I assume they send the report to your house yes? Well I'm not there! lol Oh the irony!

 

[Issac Hunt]

Ignore it. If they had any real legal grounds they would have actioned something in the last 7 months!

 

[Staz]

Ok I went to experian and signed up to their trial and have got my credit report. There's nothing on there from Avance whatsoever.

I'm inclinded to agree with Issac!

I didn't think there would be anything on my credit history anyway as I had no contract with anyone or credit agreement that I defaulted on but worth a check anyway.

 

[Issac Hunt]

If they had legal grounds to get money out of you then you'd have been in court by now. Its just a standard letter designed to frighten people into paying up IMO.

 

[simch]

Er, no it isnt!
You incur duty charges when ordering from the USA, you have to ay them t Fedex as Fedex have paid them for you to HMRC.

you owe Fedex money, they have not collected it so Advance are a collection agent for them.
If you dont pay the liability you pwe, which is genuine, you will start to incur costs and charges and they could get a ccj against you.

Contact them, pay the debt, it is due afterall, and explain you have been overseas.

 

[DiscoPanda]

Er, no it isnt!
You incur duty charges when ordering from the USA, you have to ay them t Fedex as Fedex have paid them for you to HMRC.

you owe Fedex money, they have not collected it so Advance are a collection agent for them.
If you dont pay the liability you pwe, which is genuine, you will start to incur costs and charges and they could get a ccj against you.

Contact them, pay the debt, it is due afterall, and explain you have been overseas.

Exactly. Your debt is sitting somewhere and could reappear any time. Simply getting in touch will sort it out. £25 is nothing. If they ever send anyone out to visit you, add at least £250 onto that immediately. Its just not worth the hassle.

 

[NHN]

Yeah Leon I agree call fedex explain your vocation & why you were away, blag a bit u know war & all, lol, they will drop any added charges for non payment, the duty is chargeable & due so pay it fella, I assume you got your cable as I dont recall reading that part fella, usually they dont release goods until duty paid no?? Thats what RM do anyway

 

[Staz]

Yeah you've changed my mind peeps. I'll call them tomorrow!

 

[Issac Hunt]

Chicken! You don't think that if they wanted money they just might have done something in the past SEVEN months? Its probably such a low sum of money that they just write it of rather than waste more money chasing you.

 

[Staz]

lol cheers Issac!

 

[Geordie Mike]

I can't believe you'd even risk it. You owed the government, they paid it on your behalf, they want their money back. Just because they aren't very organised doesn't mean it won't reappear.

 

[Staz]

I can't believe you'd even risk it. You owed the government, they paid it on your behalf, they want their money back. Just because they aren't very organised doesn't mean it won't reappear.

I was only considering it!

 

[quattrojames]

At least you are getting a definitive answer from the poll results!

 

[unkle]

Shame you didnt get it sent to your BFPO address (or maybe they wouldnt), then you wouldnt of had to incur any tax...

 

[Staz]

Shame you didnt get it sent to your BFPO address (or maybe they wouldnt), then you wouldnt of had to incur any tax...

Yeah I wanted to at the time but I still had 2 weeks leave left in the UK and was desperate to make some changes to my new car




I have just called them and there was no mention of the fact that it's been 7 months, she just said 'Yes £6.80 (the admin charge) has been paid by FedEx so you need to pay £18.87'. I was quite suprised!