Khukuri held up at customs

K

keikuru

Joined
Jun 1, 2012
Messages
39
Hey guys, I recently ordered two khukuris before Christmas, the first one was my first ever HI khukuri which I am very happy with, aside from it being kind of blunt. It arrived fine, it's the 18" sirupati. The second one was a Chainpuri khukuri, and it hasn't arrived yet - today I received a letter from Parcel Force saying that I had to pay a £30 customs charge. What do I do from here? Do I have to pay that charge or will HI do it for me? If so then can I cancel my order and get a refund? I paid the full shipping price and now I am lost and upset and confused. To make matters worse it seems my tracking number doesn't seem to work on the parcel force website. :(
 
just pay it , HI cant be responsible for your native customs , which as you said already are not typical, as another arrived without hitch, I will pay your 30 pound charge , dont ask for a refund - gimme your paypal

also since they picked it out of customs it wont be in the system any longer, thats why you have to pay the 30 pounds to pay for the search etc -- its not really a bad thing, just a thing that happens if you ship packages overseas, eventually they will check the package to make sure you arent involved in some illicit thing, I have never had it happen to me, but know several others who have ( when buying antiques, guns and knives overseas) sometimes you catch extra customs.
 
Sorry to hear about this entanglement with the bureaucracy. International shipping charges (from any seller) typically do not include the customs duties/fees that may or may not be charged by foreign governments.

Maybe it's a mistake (since other khukuris have been sent to the UK without customs charges), in which case there should be a way to appeal or get a refund of the duties. Maybe it's not a mistake, and the other khukuris that weren't charged customs duties somehow luckily made it through without notice. Perhaps some other HI customers from the UK who post to this forum would have some relevant experiences to help you with this.

From HM Revenue and Customs (UK):

Questions about the tax and/or duty you've been charged?
If you've got any questions about the tax and/or duty you've been charged, you can contact the UKBA office at the postal depot that dealt with it...

If you don't agree with the decision
You can ask the UKBA office at the postal depot that dealt with your package to review their decision...

Claiming a refund of Customs Duty or Import VAT
Use form C285...


from
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/customs/post/paying-tax.htm

[written before seeing the previous comment]
 
Hi keikuru, sorry to hear that the parcel is stopped by the custom . However it's very common in my ctry to go down to custom to collect the parcel n pay a fee if the value of the goods is above certain amt. Nevertheless I count myself to be very lucky as I just need to pay a fee and collect my precious . Understand from the officer that khukiri are not even be allowed to be imported the year before .
 
Hello, I spoke to parcelforce on the phone and they told me that the reason why the code could not be entered was because the item was damaged going through customs and thus had been returned to the seller. So the khukuri is on its way back to Auntie in the US and I guess I have to arrange a refund then. Thank you for all of your advice though.

Especially thank you to Gehazi who offered to pay the £30 customs fee. You guys are amazing.
 
Gehazi said:
deep sadness, let us pray for parcel insurance
Click to expand...

I live in the UK and have about 30 Kukris from HI.

I would say that with the exception of perhaps 2 , all of them have been subject to custom charges on entering the UK before being released by the Royal Mail to me.

So I just accept it as a cost of acquiring such beautiful blades.

If you escape custom charges, I reckon you are just lucky.

regards

Tartan George
 
I am lucky to be in the USA , but you can get real antiques with much greater ease than me, so we call it even. in my youthful country where 200 is really old for an antique
 
I can sympathize, we have to frequently pay a duty fee in Canada from items coming out of the states. It worked out to me paying the same as my international shipping - but that's just the breaks.
Sorry to hear you had some bad luck with the chainpuri. What I can say is that Auntie is fantastic and might even have another one similar coming in - so not all hope is lost.
 
Gehazi said:
just pay it , HI cant be responsible for your native customs , which as you said already are not typical, as another arrived without hitch, I will pay your 30 pound charge , dont ask for a refund - gimme your paypal

also since they picked it out of customs it wont be in the system any longer, thats why you have to pay the 30 pounds to pay for the search etc -- its not really a bad thing, just a thing that happens if you ship packages overseas, eventually they will check the package to make sure you arent involved in some illicit thing, I have never had it happen to me, but know several others who have ( when buying antiques, guns and knives overseas) sometimes you catch extra customs.
Click to expand...

:thumbup:
Classy, Gehazi.
Thanks for being here.

Mark
 
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