Royal Mail customs clearance fees

If your item is coming from the US via USPS and it is insured, even if just for a token amount, get the insurance# from the seller, this will a tracking number once it has landed in the UK. I've had parcels take 24hrs to get this side of the pond, then 10 days wandering from depot to depot in the UK before arriving. With the number you can often get to the depot early and pre-empt the invoice saving another couple of days.

~Fil

correction, "...this will BECOME a tracking number once..."

If you still have a local post office.

Adrian

LOL! I've been there with Canada Post priority mail. They are supposed to land in this country and be treated as Parcel Farce 48 (hours) priority items. One parcel took two weeks. The sender did eventually get me a refund from Canada Post.

Even if you know the item has arrived (by tracking it on the PF website), trying to pay the fees by CC over the phone and arranging delivery is like getting blood out of a stone unless you have the reference number on the fee invoice which is different to the tracking number!

MBQ

Yes - but you HAVE to try and ring the depot as any other help line is unable to tell you what the INVOICE number is until the depot raises it. The parcel does not wander, it's number changes between the US and UK and then again in the accounts system so that you can't pay on-line until the LETTER has arrived with the invoice number on. Most satellite depots only have the phone on for a couple of hours a day, so getting through is difficult. WHY they can't let you simply pay against the tracking number .......