The UK Toy Discussion

Discussion in 'Transformers Toy Discussion' started by Boardwise, Feb 23, 2011.

  1. Skywarp SCS

    Skywarp SCS AKA "Pretender Skywarp"

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    Peeps, can i just chime in on this issue, especially as it may save you some money.....?

    I though that may get your attention!!

    Anyways, the key here is to know your legislation, most notably the Postal Services Act 2000.

    Here is a familar story;

    i) Order expensive item from Japan.
    ii) Get letter from Parcel Farce stating that you owe customs and handling charges.
    iii) Trudge down the depot, at your own time and expense and fork over £20(ish) to get plastic crack.
    iv) Have the 'ump for the rest of the day because that figure you wanted has cost you £20 more tahan you thought it would.

    Am I ringing any bells? Thought so....

    So what do we do? Firstly, we realise that we have to pay tax, no escaping it and generally I don't have too much of an issue with it, lets say the VAT is £7, not too much of hit. All good so far? Read on.

    The real pi$$-take is the Parcel Force "handling" charge, depending on the speed of shipping used can be up to £13, thats another deluxe you could have bought.

    What people don't realise is that Parcel Force are being downright sneaky and borderline illegal in the way they go about this and this is where the Postal Services Act 2000 comes in.

    Postal Services Act 2000

    I don't expect you to read it all, so here are the important bits;

    Section 104 Inviolability of mails
    (2) Anything to which this subsection applies shall have the same immunity from
    (a) examination, or seizure or detention, under a relevant power conferred by virtue of this Act or any other enactment,
    (b) seizure under distress or in execution,
    (c) in Scotland, any diligence, and
    (d) retention by virtue of a lien,

    Section 105 Application of customs and excise enactments to certain postal packets
    (3) Duties (whether of customs or excise) charged on imported goods or other charges payable in respect of postal packets to which this section applies (whether payable to a postal operator or to a foreign administration) may be recovered by the postal operator concerned and in England and Wales and Northern Ireland may be so recovered as a civil debt due to him.


    In other words, yes Parcel Force can pay the duties on your behalf and request you pay them back, but it has to be treated as a civil debt, they are not allowed to retain your package on this basis. Theoretically they should deliver, then bill you. Fedex and DHL already do this.


    83 Interfering with the mail: postal operators

    (1) A person who is engaged in the business of a postal operator commits an offence if, contrary to his duty and without reasonable excuse, he—
    (a) intentionally delays or opens a postal packet in the course of its transmission by post
    (6) A person who commits an offence under subsection (1) shall be liable—
    (a) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to both,
    (b) on conviction on indictment, to a fine or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to both.


    84 Interfering with the mail: general.E+W+S+N.I.

    (1)A person commits an offence if, without reasonable excuse, he—

    (a)intentionally delays or opens a postal packet in the course of its transmission by post, or

    (b)intentionally opens a mail-bag.

    (2)Subsections (2) to (5) of section 83 apply to subsection (1) above as they apply to subsection (1) of that section.

    (3)A person commits an offence if, intending to act to a person’s detriment and without reasonable excuse, he opens a postal packet which he knows or reasonably suspects has been incorrectly delivered to him.

    (4)Subsections (2) and (3) of section 83 (so far as they relate to the opening of postal packets) apply to subsection (3) above as they apply to subsection (1) of that section.

    (5)A person who commits an offence under subsection (1) or (3) shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to both.



    At the point where, Parcel Force decide not to send you your plastic crack, it could be construed that they have committed the offence, ultimately that would be for a court to decide, so where doe that leave you?

    This is what I did, I went to the depot with my letter in hand (and the legislation), I poiltely, but firmly told the lady behind the desk that I wanted to pay the customs/revenue charge, but not the Parcel Force levy and duly did so. She informed me that Parcel Force would still charge me and would bill me separately. I still walked away with my package, only having paid £7 and still having enough left for that deluxe...

    About a week later a bill came throough from Parcel Force for the remainder, I responded with a polite, but again firmly worded letter (and copy of bill) stating that they had illegaly delayed my parcel and had effectivley tried to charge £13 for saving them the job of delivering it. I went on to say that the £13 was adequate to cover my costs and inconvenience and was more than happy to let the matter rest if they were.

    I haven't heard any back in the last 6 months:wink: 

    Know your rights people, you might just save same cash:D 

    I apologise for the long-winded post, but this is an important pitfall to be aware of whenimporting toys to the UK, I hope it helps someone.
     
  2. Erector

    Erector I ruined the Hall of Fame

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    But... but he didn't claim that.

    You're kind of making it worse.
     
  3. ninety

    ninety NERDS!!

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    Awww :(  Only time I reckon I'll be far enough south is AA, so may return to Kapow with you afterwards, so I get chance to see the shop! (Actually thinking about it, will you still be there after AA as it'll be August?)

    I own all of BOTTOM on DVD, from a UK retail shop no less!
     
  4. Kraken

    Kraken Is a vegiesaurus, Lex. Veteran

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    ^^^ UK Gold and Sky+ works for me. Getting the Young Ones now as well ;) 
     
  5. Omnius

    Omnius Guest

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    I'd love to know how you managed to infer that from my post. :lol  Oh, and if that smell is still around, I recommend a shower. ;) 
     
    Last edited: Feb 25, 2011
  6. Thenames9

    Thenames9 D-d-d-d-duel!

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    Buuurrrrnnnnnnnnnn! ;) 
     
  7. Boardwise

    Boardwise There are no strings on me Veteran

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    Dam, sorry to hear about the end of Kapows Shop front :( 

    As for upcoming stuff, very little of DOTM interests me, which will be great and save me money.
     
  8. cosmos360

    cosmos360 Not a door bell

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    Just Pre-ordered Generations Warpath from Kapow. Real shame about their actual shop.
     
  9. Cal

    Cal Well-Known Member

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    How did you pull that off? The page for Warpath simply displays "Product not found!"
     
  10. Erector

    Erector I ruined the Hall of Fame

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    Sounds like he nabbed the last one :lol 
     
  11. tas262

    tas262 Well-Known Member

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    I must add my voice to the disappointment of Kapow having to scale back. It comes just at the time when I decided to make all of my purchases on-line too. The smack round the head from the wife for another parcel of toys turning up is worth it to get the products I want, hassle free and when promised from a top notch firm. I hope all goes well with future endeavours Red Leader, you guys will still be my first port of call for my 3rd party goodness. Fans Projects Insecticons anyone ? Yes please, they look amazing.
     
  12. Xenon

    Xenon Well-Known Member

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    Gutted about the shop having to close, I was only up there a couple of weeks ago and never wanted to leave. I feel guilty that I didn't spend more :( 
     
  13. Auto Morph

    Auto Morph Gimmick Bot

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    My approach to collecting the movie toys this time around will be slightly different from last time. For RotF, I went to TRU on their release day and bought one of everything. I just let excitement get the better of me! :eek:  Then what do I have to endure, almost a year of those very same figures calling out to me from supermarket shelves at a fraction of the cost I paid for them.

    This time, I'm playing the waiting game. No way I am I forking out £45 for a leader class figure who will then turn up at Tesco for £25 eventually. Also, I need to be a bit more savvy with what waves we will be getting in the UK and those we won't. I don't want to have to go through another Long Haul/Grindor fiasco again!

    Check me out, all this big talk and when they are finally released, I will probably be going round every shop in a 20 mile radius trying to find them! :lol 

    I don't know, it's just that if there's one line of toys you know will be hugging shelves at discount prices long into the winter months it's the movie stuff. Also, I may become terribly weak willed whilst at Auto Assembly...
     
  14. baggzey23

    baggzey23 psn - baggzey23

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  15. tas262

    tas262 Well-Known Member

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    DOTM holds next to no interest for me at all. Leader Ironhide and Sentinel Prime look nice, but I'll wait til they're discounted. The scout human alliance stuff appeals to the M.A.S.K fan in me but the rest is ho hum. I'm actually looking forward to the movie more than the toy line this time round. I've tried to stay spoiler free so hopefully I'll enjoy it more than ROTF.
     
  16. Mighty.Maximal

    Mighty.Maximal Banned

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    I sent someone a Animated Jazz once that went missing I claimed for it even gave them the reciept for the sending of the parcel and the certificate of posting they wouldn't pay the claim though as they said they needed a commerical invoice for the item.

    Which it says nothing about needing on the claim form and I never had anyway.... I'd love to know what they'd except as reasonable proof of value ? I've claimed 3 times for missing mail over the years and they never just give you the money they always have an excuse for loosing it. Or want more info that you probably don't have.

    Having that info to hand is even harder if you no longer have the certificate of posting forms to scribble any of the the details they ask for on the claim forms on the back.

    I don't post much but That seems short sighted to assume that everyone didn't need them - especially when they have yet to include proper tracking of all parcel mail by default and I'm sure that filling in the post code on receipts will double the time taken to send each item and increase post office queues as people can't fill it all out themselves at home before hand anymore.

    I'm tempted to change to some of those newer services that have popped up recently for anything of modest size. they seem cheaper for things close to 5kg and are fully tracked.
     
  17. Luffy20

    Luffy20 Well-Known Member

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    Hi guys

    I have a bit of problem here and I wonder if anyone can help me.

    I have ordered something of kapow toys only to have the paypal transaction take longer than expected.

    My dad refreshed the page and it said paypal session timed out. I have received an email saying receipt of payment to kapow toys.

    The problem is the order is not on my account on kapow toys and the items are still in the shopping cart on the site.

    I have emailed kapow toys about this, but thought one of you may be able to help me

    Thank you
     
  18. nemisispringer

    nemisispringer Well-Known Member

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    Dont worry dude same thing happened to me kapow will sort you out nobudy else can do anything though

     
  19. Kraken

    Kraken Is a vegiesaurus, Lex. Veteran

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    I'm definitely adopting a more wait and see attitude with my purchases from here on in. I have a one version of any given mould rule in my collection, and I'm a bugger for getting all excited the second a toy gets released and snapping it up the second I see it, only to kick myself when a much cooler repaint comes out 3 months later. Either that or it ends up going on sale for half of what I paid for it. With shelf space limited and an extra mouth to feed, I definitely need to be more discerning.

    Having said all that, I'll be heading over to the mainland to watch DOTM in 3D since we don't have a 3D screen here, and you can guarantee I won't be able to resist a visit to TRU with all their fully stocked goodness :( 
     
  20. tikgnat

    tikgnat Baweepgranaweepninnybong.

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    If your Kapow account doesn't update, I'd email Paypal and tell them about the timeout and ask Paypal to add the owed funds to Kapows account, then tell Kapow about it.

    I think that was the Swine fluu going around that made you feel weak...
     
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