cd wow starting warn about import tax

Seems like all the emails from them are just to fob us off and keep everyone odering from them :(

I did notice that the response to my email was not a direct answer "YES/NO we refund customs charges" but a more vague "we have systems in place...." response which seems now deliberately wooly.

I think they are avoiding directly addressing the issues of customs. They are probably well aware of the damage it would do to their buisness if they admit customs charges are a lottery and are also aware how expensive it could get if they agree to refund charges accross the board.

I still think they are an excellent company with about the best service/prices but I'm not impressed at the way they are dealing with this. Sending non-commital emails which seem to be worded in a way that makes people think customs isn't an issue, when in fact it looks like it is!
 
What exactly is this 'shipping in place to prevent any more charges'? Seriously, anything over £18 and you risk being charged, what are CD Wow doing that they can guarantee no charges? Smuggling the DVD's into the country?

I was under the impression that they do/did reship from within the EU, meaning no customs charges for the recipient. But looks like I was/am wrong.
 
This whole customs crap is the kind of stuff the contributes to piracy. Want the latest film? Don't want to be raped by customs if you order the Region 1 version? Don't want to wait maybe 6 months for the UK release? Download it!

Seriously, this is the way people will go, I also recently got hit by customs (or should I say 'handling fee's') on a number of things I'd imported (GBA, games, 128Mb Duo, etc, all seperately). In fact, I kicked up such a fuss at UPS they sent a letter promising to give me a £10 refund (ooooh, wow, they only had about £60 out of me within the space of a week) and I haven't received it yet, better get on the phone to them.
 
Originally posted by nobby69


ONLY THING IS NOW I'VE GOTTA PAY £16 TO GET MY BOX SETS!!!!!:( :( :(

Have you tried contacting them to see if they will refund you, im pretty sure they will.
 
Personally I don't think piracy is the way to go. Mainly because it's not the studio's fault that royal mail charges high collection rates and our government sets a low personal import allowance. But in the long run it's the studio's that suffer.

If the government set a realistic personal allowance, such as £100, then the problem would dissapear. This could even apply to only media.

I don't have a problem paying customs on larger orders because the amount you pay in the end is not to bad proportionately. But when you order a dvd that's a couple of quid over the limit and end up paying an extra 30-40% once all fees are taken into account then I have a problem with it.
 
Not the studios fault? Hehe, don't forget, they're the ones who insist on region coding. Did you hear the recent story about a guy in the US who had a link on his webpage to a Hong Kong Store that was selling Jet Li's new movie 'Hero'? These weren't pirate copies, they were legit copies but as Miramax has the distribution rights to Hero in the US they sent this guy a Cease & Desist letter.

The reason they hit us with Tax and extra charges is to encourage us to buy from the UK but this is kind of stupid if said product isn't available here.

In my opinion, the extra fee's couriers add is extortion, you either pay or you don't, if you refuse the item and they send it back, you will also have to pay the return shipping charges. It's a no win situation.

And I didn't say piracy IS the way to go, just that if people can't reasonably get something legitamtely then they'll turn to the simplest option.

Nonetheless, Miramax contends that its decision to send a cease-and-desist letter to the Kung Fu Cinema site was a sound one.

"The letter served its purpose because Mr. Pollard stopped linking to the sites," said Matthew Hiltzik, a representative for Miramax. "By removing these links, he's making it more difficult for people to purchase these films, thereby allowing us to protect our interest in these properties."

Don't worry, the studios won't suffer, besides, they don't give a toss about you, the customer, don't worry about them too much.
 
Oakey unfortuanatley i am going to agree with you. I hate region coding and time delayed releases and it is fear of piracy nothing else that means starwars matrix etc have international simultaneous releases!
DVD burner here i come i already have broadband and and £100 DVD burner will pay for its self in 20 films!
 
Originally posted by ferris57
I was under the impression that they do/did reship from within the EU, meaning no customs charges for the recipient. But looks like I was/am wrong.

Yeah, I thought I would be ok as I was ordering Region 2.

Can't they get round the customs problem by labeling anything over £18 as gifts? I'm sure some firms are shipping them this way?
 
I contacted CD-Wow and they sent me a reply stating that as of 25 Dec 03 they had posted warnings on their site using the pop up for region coding that anything over £18 is likely to attract an import tax. As I had ordered after this date they would not compensate me.

So folks be warned!

What really ****** me off was the tax was only £4 on each package, then the Royal Mail added another £4. What a rip off!

However, I would like to say that CD-Wow are still one of the best sites and I will still use them, just not for box sets!
 
I think this is misleading as right before i ordered i was assured that they had shipping in place to make sure i didnt get charged import tax.

If when my boxset arrives i am charged i will email them back with acopy ofthe email i was sent and i will neverorder from them again period.
 
I agree they are still very good, but will deffinately shop elsewhere for anything over £18 from now on.
 
Originally posted by Confucius
I don't consider £4 a "rip-off" for the Royal Mail to pay the customs charges on my behalf.

Hmm.

Well before Christmas they charged me £12 to pay £7 on my behalf.

I don't mind the payment per se but it strikes me that:-

a) £12 is unreasonable.
b) There is NO other way to pay customs in advance.

I've emailed HMCE to ask them how I might voluntarily pay my taxes up front on duty attracting imports. I suspect there is no method.

Personally I think that the RM charge could therefore be a barrier to free trade given that there is no other mechanism to pay. If that is the case I might even take this to my MP.
 
I agree that £12 is a bit excessive, but that £4 is not.

Hence my previous (post).

What would be good to know is whether the charges are standardised, and are there circumstances that increase the fee payable.

I don't agree that the charge in itself is a barrier to free trade. One can still purchase from abroad, as long as the goods are legal to import. If the amount payable is known then the system is fair - whether 'we' like it or not.
 
Originally posted by Confucius
I agree that £12 is a bit excessive, but that £4 is not.

Hence my previous (post).

What would be good to know is whether the charges are standardised, and are there circumstances that increase the fee payable.

I don't agree that the charge in itself is a barrier to free trade. One can still purchase from abroad, as long as the goods are legal to import. If the amount payable is known then the system is fair - whether 'we' like it or not.

From what I've seen, the more VAT / Duty you pay, the more they charge you. In fact, from my recent experience, I've had to pay them the same amount back for their 'fee'.

In my eyes it's equivalent to a loan with 100% interest.

It's like they're saying "Hey, you have this package, but there were customs charges. Don't worry about it though, we paid it for you, it was only £15. Okay, now give us £30"

The VAT/Duty on the GBA I imported came to roughly £15, I had to pay UPS £30. The Memory stick Duo VAT / Duty was £10, I had to pay UPS £21.

I don't believe in 'admin charges', it's a load of crap, I paid £15 shipping, the charges should be inclusive.
 
Originally posted by Confucius
I don't agree that the charge in itself is a barrier to free trade. One can still purchase from abroad, as long as the goods are legal to import. If the amount payable is known then the system is fair - whether 'we' like it or not.

I agree partially. As I said tax is not a bar to free trade. The fact that no mechanism exists to pre-pay it and not have to pay RM is IMO. Mind you I'm a lawyer so I would argue that!

What if the RM fee for administration was £200? silly example granted but clearly that would dis-encourage you to import thus presenting a bar to trade. You could ask at what stage does it become a bar? £2, £4, £10?

And as I say the main problem is that an honest citizen cannot choose to avoid it by paying up front. Although I concede you could use Discemporium et al.
 
Originally posted by Oakey
I don't believe in 'admin charges', it's a load of crap, I paid £15 shipping, the charges should be inclusive.

Like it or not 'admin charges' are a fact of life. The Royal Mail are a business not a charity run for your benefit. Inclusion of customs clearance fees in shipping would be an administrative nightmare, and no doubt put shipping fees up by as much as the amounts you are complaining about!

In any case, if you will use a courier such as UPS you will get stung for far higher fees than using The USPS/RM 'combo'. It's one of the reasons I've not used UPS for over 4 years.

One buys abroad - one pays the fees.

Get over it!
 
Load of tosh, the 'admin charge' has become an excuse to charge people extra. I spent about 30 minutes messing about with UPS on the phone going from department to department, this was during MY work time. Can I invoice them £20 as an 'admin charge'? Think they'd pay?

The problem with couriers is that it's extortion. You have no choice but to pay their fee, if you refuse and tell them to return to sender then you get charged the return shipping costs.

I have no problem paying VAT / Duty, I do have problems paying the same amount again as a 'fee' towards the courier. If there was a standard fee, (ie something like £5) then it wouldn't be such an issue, the problem is they seem to charge whatever they hell they like, if it truly is just an admin charge then why should the fee vary? Does a package that has more VAT / duty require more administrative work, etc than one that cost less?
 
There's an item on The Register noting CD-Wow along with Play are being sued by the BPI .. wonder if this tax issue is merely a coincidence?

The BPI, the UK's equivalent of the RIAA, has already launched legal action against two e-tailers, Jersey-based Play.com and CD Wow, one of the most prominent UK online merchants, for selling CD imports. CD Wow is also being sued by the Irish music industry. The CD Wow case hits the High Court next month. Philip Robinson, director of CD Wow, said: "We have got consent (from the record companies) and change of ownership takes place outside the UK.
 
I've got to agree that discriminatory pricing, delayed releases, region coding, and cutting scenes to fit local ratings all push people towards importing. If I'm buying a film to keep for 10 years (or whatever), then I want the best presentation available for the money. But when they start cracking down on importing, that's when people turn to piracy.

Frankly, I'll never buy a full high street price for a DVD in the UK ever again. The prices are just rediculous. If that means importing, fine. If that means pirating, fine. If that means not buying any more DVDs, fine.
 
...What extra work do the post office or cutoms actually do then?

None of my packages appear to have been opened just stamped.

I can't buy the same thing in this country so the government isn't losing money 'cos it just doesn't supply the same goods for me to have a choice.

I don't mind paying a tax be it local or here in the UK but I object to being forced to pay twice.

The region coding is a bit of a farce. The film companies use it to ensure that each 'region' receives equal opportunity to get the correct advertising/marketing % and the stars themselves promoting the releases or so they say.

And then as previously mentioned they release Starwars whatever everywhere at the same time.

Also the BBFC should take some blame as well. Without cuts more region2 films would be bought anyway.



Whats the postie gonna do then if you refuse to pay after he's lumped your boxset around only for you to tell him to get stuffed with the charges?
He takes it back and you just ring up and say its not arrived hoping that the second copy escapes customs :D
 
Originally posted by alle v


Whats the postie gonna do then if you refuse to pay after he's lumped your boxset around only for you to tell him to get stuffed with the charges?
He takes it back and you just ring up and say its not arrived hoping that the second copy escapes customs :D

It gets returned to sender, who will promptly bill you for the return shipping fee's.

I almost did it when my Sony Duo arrived, I said I refused to pay yet more fee's to UPS but would happily pay the Tax, if this wasn't possible, and if they wouldn't waive the fee, then send it back, Both UPS and the company said I'd be billed for return shipping.

Therefore, it's extortion imo.
 
Just received R1 Season 2 of The Shield from CD-Wow - charged £9.07, £4 of which went to yer man who used to be at the F.A. - he can F.O. if you ask me :thumbsdow
 
Maybe this has got something to do with the fact CD-WOW were recently taken to court?

It wouldn't surprise me in the least if Hollywood and their pals had taken a stance and ordered the customs people to get tough on DVD imports from the likes of CD-WOW.
 

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