LANGLEY HWDC

[royhall]

I have been having a bit of trouble with the post lately. Parcels coming from abroad, in or out of the EU makes no difference, have been stuck at Langley HWDC incoming sorting centre at Heathrow. The worst was a wiring part from Poland that was stuck there for 9 weeks before being delivered. The lovely Post Office say that parcels clear Langley in 18 minutes, yeah right. Is anyone else suffering this, or have the Postal Orifice just got it in for me.

Update: I have had a reply from my complaint to the Post Office, just a load of cut and paste blurb. I don't think they even read my email as the reply was totally inappropriate.

Dear Mr Halliwell,
 
 Thanks for your email regarding an Royal Mail Royal Mail International Tracked item under the reference RR15568****PL I am very sorry to hear about the delay on delivery of your item. There is a possibility tahtthe recipient will have received a customer 'fee to pay' through their letterbox befor ethey can retrieve their item.
 
 As you may be aware, we’re required by law to cooperate with HM Revenue & Customs & the UK Border Agency and to work under their directions. We therefore have an obligation to present all packages entering the UK from outside the European Union (EU), which attract customs duty, to the UK Border Agency.
 
If an item of mail then goes on to have customs charges attached to it by the UK Border Agency, we’ll pay these fees on behalf of the addressee in order to speed up its release for delivery. Royal Mail then collects these monies from the addressee, along with a charge to cover the additional handling and administration incurred by us, before the item can be released.
 
HM Revenue & Customs is the main point of contact for enquiries about why items are charged, what the charges are, and general customs advice. For more information, please see Notice 143 on the HM Revenue & Customs website at gov.uk/government/publications/notice-143-a-guide-for-international-post-users.

Also may I add we have a Universal Agreement with all postal operators around the world which means that all items sent overseas are handed to the postal administration of the destination country. Therefore, we don't offer any guaranteed international services as we don’t handle the item outside of the UK. As a result, we’re unable to offer any compensation for the delay of international items.
 
 For more information about our compensation policy, please visit our website at royalmail.com/claims.
 
 I hope you’ve found this information useful and that your enquiry has been resolved. If you need further help, please visit our Help and Support Centre on our website at royalmail.com/help where you can find the information you need quickly and at any time.
Thanks again for contacting Royal Mail and if there’s anything else we can help you with, please let us know.
 
 Regards
 Rehena Begum
Customer Service Advisor 

[Nurse Julie]

No Roy, it's not just yourself that's having problems (never had to wait 9 weeks though!!!).A majority of what we order, I must say, comes through very quickly. We have parts from Japan delivered quicker than parts from UK at times.

[UK Pete]

So frustrating I feel your pain roy

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

[royhall]

Not all my stuff gets stuck Julie, but when it does it sticks for ages. The one they are holding at the moment has been there since 30th January. The bad one was a wiring component that they probably thought was bomb making materials. But when it finally arrived the parcel had not been opened to check? I personally think I may just be underestimating the incompetence of the Post Office, or maybe I've had a card saying there's a customs charge (from Poland) through the door. Don't know why I wasted my time complaining.

Your right about Japan, Cruzin stuff comes like lightning. Think they must have a special arrangement bypassing the Post Office.

[Seabeowner]

My mate works at Langley on the engineering maintenance. Amazing stuff in there. All German and US unfortunately. You can see where they spend the admin charge! My Cruzinimage stuff has also always sailed straight through. They seem to have a policy to be tough on USA stuff but you shouldn't have a problem and I never have had with EU stuff.
The one thing he hates is the rare earth magnets that stick to the conveyors, but not a lot of those on SOHCs.

[Nurse Julie]

We had parts through from Cruzinimage last week. It was sent by DHL and I had an email from DHL a day after it had been posted with an invoice to pay for import duties and hijacking fee which I paid online and the package got delivered direct to here. The Cruzinimage postal costs have gone up significantly though, this lot was £54 just for the post, then the duty and hijack fee on top. In our case we have to pass the costs on to the customer, or a proportion if more than one customer's parts are in the box. If the parts are for our own bikes though, its a pain having to pay all the costs.

[paul G]

I have just had the hijack and import duties from USA what pisses me off is they will not give you a vat receipt for it

[royhall]

I wish I could pay the hi-jack fee, they just won't deliver the blooming things. For some reason the worst always appears to be items from Poland. Not sure why, the last time I checked Poland was still in the EU. If you Google the problem, sure enough Poland is a problem with 4 to 5 weeks wait not unusual. Another symptom of Broken Britain sorry to say, amazing how we ever ran an empire.

[royhall]

Well my parcel arrived from Poland this morning. Finally came unstuck from the Langley conveyor belt, a mere 25 days after it arrived there. Well done UK Post Office, a feat of incompetence that will take some beating, even in the UK where incompetence is the norm.

[Nurse Julie]

I have just had the hijack and import duties from USA what pisses me off is they will not give you a vat receipt for it

I actually had a VAT receipt and breakdown of all the import duties / hijack fees from DHL yesterday. This was for the Cruzinimage order that arrived last week. Still incompetent as the invoice says 'Pay Now' and we will deliver the goods. I paid 10 days ago and the goods were delivered a few days later. I phoned DHL to ask why they have sent an Invoice even though the account had been paid. She said the 'system' cannot distinguish between what has been paid and what is owed, so they send an invoice anyway. Very comprehensive invoice though, all 6 pages of it !!!

[MCTID]

This is the e mail address of the MD of Parcelforce:     gary.simpson@parcelforce.com

I had a problem with a Honda part I imported from the US.   Parcelforce sent me their usual notification for payment and delivery, but when I went on their Website to pay or phoned their Preston Office on a Saturday morning I got nowhere because their kit simply did not recognise the ID numbers on their notification. I was so bloody incensed at this I sent their MD Garry Simpson a very nicely worded E Mail saying that all I wanted to do was give him my money and get my parts.....and would he be kind enough to help !

He phoned me first thing the next Monday morning and promised that somebody would contact me from their local office in Preston. An hour later a very nice Lady called me - as promised - and took my payment over the phone. Job done !

This Website also provides other CEO/ MD contact information.........I can recommend it.  https://ceoemail.com/index.php - if you have something constructive to suggest or think a Company could or should do better.

Personally I don't have a problem with the £8 Parcelforce charge......it's HM Customs who can't be arsed, so they subcontract it to Parcelforce - and they are not a charity......but why they have to send out a paper Notification is beyond me......E Bay and the E Bay or Internet Sellers ALL have our E Mail and Mobile contact details so using that may be quicker, cheaper and easier.
Mmmmmm maybe another E Mail to Gary Simpson may be in order. Watch this space !