parcelforce handling fee

hi. i ordered items from japan to uk on june, and value was below £135, june currency exchange rate, but my parcel arrived at customs on september and september currency exchange rate has changed and value changed to above £135. i sent bor 286 to borderforce and they will refund me vat and duty, but will not refund parcelforce handling fee, they didn't give me a reason why. i read appex b in their letter and contacted parcelforce twitter, and they told me, they don't refund handling fees, and didn't gave me a reason too, but advised to contact customs. appex b is about mistakes: border force, parcelforce, or sender; if borderforce's mistake, borderforce will refund; if parcelforce's - parcelforce; if sender - no refund. i asked parcelforce, who's mistake, do they have an evidence, can they investigate my issue, because they can't just say, 'they don't refund handling fees', but they had no answer. my ref is CN083192283JP. thank you.

Hi,

Please contact Imports and exports general enquiries helpline for guidance on your query:

Imports and exports: general enquiries

Thank you.

HMRC and Border Force are separate Government organisations and Parcel Force is a company. The Parcel Force fee is therefore a commercial charge and nothing to do with either HMRC or BorderForce. BorderForce cannot refund something that wasn’t paid to them. Your issue remains with Parcel Force , whether they refund handling fees or not is a commercial matter. The customs value is that applicable at the time of import so you need to allow for possible currency variations. It is therefore unlikely that the original charge based on an exchange rate applicable at the time of import could be considered an error by either Parcel Force or Border Force. The £135 threshold only applies to duty and not VAT . VAT is due on the whole value which should have been charged by the seller for shipments below £135 If Border Force has refunded duty and VAT that is generous.

i got a letter from border force about my full vat and duty refunds, and Annex B is included at the end of letter: 'if correction results in no taxes being due and the mistake was made by HMRC or Border Force an ex gratia payment equal to the handling fee will be made and included with the refund of taxes'. if Border Force didn't see it's fault, Parceforce or sender made mistake; but Border Force didn't explained me about mistake and Parcelforce can't tell anything too. i don't know where to find a help, and where and how to complain; i already paid postage for sending BOR 286, and £12 fee may not much worth to try with much effort, but i feel it's unfair. i talked with hmrc assistant before sending my BOR 286, and he told me, parcelforce or border force ( i don't know who calculate currency exchange and make mistakes) must use june month currency exchange rate, when i bought my items abroad, i can see june date on senders invoice, but i can't the dates, when i bought items, but invoice has no fields to enter such data. i can't see any sender's mistake, and either Parceforce or Border Force was wrong, or just unfortunate situation, not well considered by law

Hi,

Please contact Imports and exports general enquiries helpline for guidance on your query:

Imports and exports: general enquiries

Thank you.