[Lionheart]

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I have had so many rows with the people at the post office, I don't see why I should have to pay VAT on something I cannot buy in the UK.

There's no logic to it at all. The system is broken, and in the age of the internet that's unforgivable. It's literally a fucking scam.

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It's not even the VAT it's the poxy charge they class as a "handling fee", Surely thats what the postage is for seeing as they only do half the job.

When you've already paid for something to be delivered to you, for them to block it and say you can't have it until you pay makes a mockery of paying postage at all. And for them to then charge you the ludicrous £8 'handling' fee for something you don't want - and haven't even asked them to do, is the biggest scam of all.

There is literally nothing about this system - from the low import threshold (unfair and unrealistic, designed purely to guarantee people fall foul of it) the handling charge (unwanted and should not have a cost) to VAT (often charged on items you can't buy here) to the delaying of packages which *belong* to you and they are ransoming since postage has been paid - which stands up to scrutiny. It's a massive scam. Import duty for the US is something like $200. We're being cheated.

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Although I did have UPS turn up and ask for £70 on the doorstep before he would release my parcel, its all fun and games in the UK

Scumbags (not the delivery people - the system).