Falling foul of Customs and Excise
...yikes, scary title or what, huh? Don't worry, it's not some huge VAT fiddle - I've never earned remotely anywhere near enough to even worry about VAT.
No - a bit of a saga involving my imported Blu Ray of The Office - season 8 - bought from Amazon.com in the USA.
Why am I buying this from them? Well quite simply, because the release schedule has been held back in the UK for whatever reason - they have been up to 3 years behind. Gradually it's catching up - season 7 has just come out here but it is still a year behind. So what I have been doing is buying the DVD's (and latterly Blu Rays) from the states - up until now - with no problem.
As regards customs - well I have never paid import duty on anything in my life. Now being a responsible citizen I've never been one of those people to come back to the UK with suitcases bulging full of thousands of fags to sell down the pub. Though quite honestly - having walked through customs at most airports and not seen any officers in sight (for several years) I wouldn't blame anyone for trying. As for bringing through "restricted" material - well I leave all that sort of thing to Dogger.
Anyway, what happened with this Blu-Ray? Well got a card through the post Saturday morning saying it was being held at the sorting office, as there was import duty to pay - £13 odd. I wondered why - as they hadn't charged me in the past. Planned to go and get it yesterday but then panic ensued after turning the house upside down and discovering that the card had completely vanished, never to be seen again. Disappeared into that black hole where all your most important documents go. So - had a word with postie this morning and he said to go up to the sorting office with ID and they would sort it as long as I said "Clippie sent me" - which is presumably his nickname and he must have a bit of clout up there.
So I did ultimately retrieve the package and it seems this duty is payable only on items worth £15 or more. Well I paid $34.99 for this which brings it into that range. In the past - I have paid less - I think last year's was $23.99 which must have brought it in under the £15 threshold. So that's that mystery cleared up.
Anyway add all that up and this has cost me way too much. I pride myself on getting DVD bargains (e.g. all 8 series of 24+ redemption for £45) but I've dropped a gonad on this one for sure.
Still, looking on the bright side I did call in at Aldi on the way back and picked up 20 more bags of those imitation Wotsits they sell so saved a few quid there. So not all bad.
One other thing - I am very much sold on the concept of Cloud Computing and have started using a free service called Dropbox. Cloud Computing basically means that you hold your files on a server elsewhere - nothing really new in concept - same as hotmail or yahoo mail - but it's very handy not only for sharing files between your devices but you can also share common interests with friends.
Plus - the added bonus that if disaster should strike - earthquake, meltdown, that destroys everything, your computer, your back up, your memory stick, the lot, at least you know your files are out there in the ether somewhere. It's what we used to call at Nielsen "Disaster Recovery Planning". Never got a chance to see those plans put into action sadly, my dreams of arriving one Monday morning to find the building burned to the ground going unfullfilled. Still the concept's a good 'un - contingency plans should always be in place.
If you have enjoyed reading this blog, please take a look at my books on Amazon (Paperback & Kindle), where you can read lots more of the same! Click here.
Jason x x
No - a bit of a saga involving my imported Blu Ray of The Office - season 8 - bought from Amazon.com in the USA.
| Better be good after the money I've paid for it! |
Why am I buying this from them? Well quite simply, because the release schedule has been held back in the UK for whatever reason - they have been up to 3 years behind. Gradually it's catching up - season 7 has just come out here but it is still a year behind. So what I have been doing is buying the DVD's (and latterly Blu Rays) from the states - up until now - with no problem.
As regards customs - well I have never paid import duty on anything in my life. Now being a responsible citizen I've never been one of those people to come back to the UK with suitcases bulging full of thousands of fags to sell down the pub. Though quite honestly - having walked through customs at most airports and not seen any officers in sight (for several years) I wouldn't blame anyone for trying. As for bringing through "restricted" material - well I leave all that sort of thing to Dogger.
Anyway, what happened with this Blu-Ray? Well got a card through the post Saturday morning saying it was being held at the sorting office, as there was import duty to pay - £13 odd. I wondered why - as they hadn't charged me in the past. Planned to go and get it yesterday but then panic ensued after turning the house upside down and discovering that the card had completely vanished, never to be seen again. Disappeared into that black hole where all your most important documents go. So - had a word with postie this morning and he said to go up to the sorting office with ID and they would sort it as long as I said "Clippie sent me" - which is presumably his nickname and he must have a bit of clout up there.
So I did ultimately retrieve the package and it seems this duty is payable only on items worth £15 or more. Well I paid $34.99 for this which brings it into that range. In the past - I have paid less - I think last year's was $23.99 which must have brought it in under the £15 threshold. So that's that mystery cleared up.
Anyway add all that up and this has cost me way too much. I pride myself on getting DVD bargains (e.g. all 8 series of 24+ redemption for £45) but I've dropped a gonad on this one for sure.
Still, looking on the bright side I did call in at Aldi on the way back and picked up 20 more bags of those imitation Wotsits they sell so saved a few quid there. So not all bad.
One other thing - I am very much sold on the concept of Cloud Computing and have started using a free service called Dropbox. Cloud Computing basically means that you hold your files on a server elsewhere - nothing really new in concept - same as hotmail or yahoo mail - but it's very handy not only for sharing files between your devices but you can also share common interests with friends.
| I really like this logo! |
Plus - the added bonus that if disaster should strike - earthquake, meltdown, that destroys everything, your computer, your back up, your memory stick, the lot, at least you know your files are out there in the ether somewhere. It's what we used to call at Nielsen "Disaster Recovery Planning". Never got a chance to see those plans put into action sadly, my dreams of arriving one Monday morning to find the building burned to the ground going unfullfilled. Still the concept's a good 'un - contingency plans should always be in place.
If you have enjoyed reading this blog, please take a look at my books on Amazon (Paperback & Kindle), where you can read lots more of the same! Click here.
Jason x x
I, too, enjoy the benefits that Drop Box offers, storing loads of stuff on it now,so I can easily pick stuff at work or on iPad. However, I was being too clever for my own good the other day, as I downloaded lots of docs for a gov meeting at my kids school, with the intention of using them all on the iPad that evening. Oops, forgot u need Internet connection for it to actually work . . . was left sitting in mtg with no paperwork. . . humph. Helen.
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