A small victory

[Stan Palmer]

I had one of those small but significant end results today. The kind that don't change your life but make you feel better.
At Christmas I ordered a pair of passenger footrests from Enfield India. £31.99 post free.
These were delivered surprisingly quickly on 15 January. A week later an invoice from Fedex arrived for £41.84. I was shocked, I already bought bits from the USA for the Mountain Cub (and paid eye watering delivery and taxes) but this was out of order. Also, those USA parts were delivered by the Post Office, a simple card was dropped through the letterbox detailing what the services and charges were and payable on line before delivery.
Examination of the Fedex documents revealed that I understood very little of it. Maybe they are designed for that purpose. But two figures stood out: the unit value on the Indian invoice was 1480.33 Rupees, converts to £15.73. But on the Fedex document that same figure in Rupees was converted to £92.77.
And the delivery cost was not stated on the Indian document but on the Fedex was £132.94.
I am still not certain how the invoice of £41.84 was arrived at, the only thing clear was that the Fedex charge was £12 and the balance of £29.84 was VAT.
Anyway, I assembled the evidence and sent it to Fedex. They ignored my message and sent me further demands, a final notice and then a debt collectors letter (Control Account)and a final collectors demand, now increased to £60.44 and threatening legal action. I responded to every communication, gradually making my evidence clearer and clearer and inserting information from the vendor. I did receive some replies and a phone call but these were of the template type, not applicable to my case and threatening. I also logged on to Resolver and used all the same information. Yesterday at the invitation of Resolver I escalated my claim. It seems they use the same information but target somebody high in the organisation.
Today I finally received a message from Fedex withdrawing the whole claim and cancelling the Control Account action. I would not go so far as to say they apologised.
The thing still niggling me is how to avoid it in the future.
Stan

[Group Leader]

Excellent news, such a shame that you were subjected to such ridiculous, inconsistent and outrageous demands in the first place.

Well done sticking with it and standing your ground

Alan

[Cjay59_LAPSED]

Well done Stan, you sure are a Terrier, i take my hat off to you, Cliff..

[Plugsnpoints]

Good news. We don't need to be bullied.

[56G80S]

Well Done Stan,

I understand your last sentence, and thta's the worrying part. It's all a lot of hassle and time gone west.

I had a similar experience with the DWP. Ended up dealing with a debt collection agency (who were very good).

I eventually received an apology and a cheque for £50 to compensate me for my distress. I've never failed to pay a bill. I don't operate debt.

Johnny B

[Stan Palmer]

If it had been a smaller error I probably would have just paid it. It choked me that it was more than the item cost. Google search showed this to be a common problem, possibly a business plan but more likely the modern day incompetence. I was thinking how it would change if we had trade deals. I think not very much as the actual tax doesn't seem to be a problem on smallish items, it's the VAT, delivery costs and admin charges. I guess it must be worse when building a Japanese bike as most components could come from abroad, even secondhand.
Luckily there are only a few Mountain cub parts exclusive to the model, and I have most. It seems only one Mountain cub was sold in Britain apart from the batch that became the Comerfords Cub.
Stan

[Winkie]

Well done for persevering and resolving the matter. In fairness I must say that I have bought many parts from India for my Indian made Enfield and most have come by FedEx with no problems. I actually received a speedometer in 2 days! I suspect that lot of issues arise from the sellers screwing up the customs declarations, but I may be wrong. Glad it was sorted for you.

[Group Leader]

I guess it must be worse when building a Japanese bike as most components could come from abroad, even secondhand.

My RD125 will have to wait even longer now (Its been in the shed for 30 years all ready!)

Alan

[BeenyBoy]

Well done !!

I had a similar issue with a Lycett Saddle for my C11- which was £50 but then faced with a Fedex Bill for another £45...tried to make them see sense but failed