Parcelforce/Customs Clampdown
For the last couple of years I’ve been regularly using Ebay to support my RC heli addiction, importing items in from all over the world with no problems what so ever. That does not seem to be the case anymore…
I’ve order 3 items, one from the US, one from Hong Kong and the other from Taiwan all of which have got caught at customs, what are the chances? Something has definitely changed, these are not large items. One can’t help think the recent economic climate has brought on the change in operational policy. In many ways this is a form of protectionism which is what we should be trying to avoid. And the delay is crazy, check out the the online tracking for one item from ParcelForce:
07-06-2009 21:32 International Hub AWAITING CUSTOMS CHARGES
07-06-2009 21:29 International Hub Arrived in destination country
06-06-2009 21:15 Delivery Agent – HONG KONG – PTT Left origin country
06-06-2009 20:43 Delivery Agent – HONG KONG Collected from customer
Today is 10-06-2009, and no delivery, seriously this is sh*t!
One item has been “delivered”, if you can call it that, as I had to go and collect it “EMS Priority Delivery” yeah right!
ParcelForce are the worst delivery agent know ton man IMHO
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I just spoke with the “Customs Advice Line” and there is a massive backlog in the Coventry International Hub. I was told to expect up to a 7 day delay, it is due to the screening of deliveries from China, in my case Hong Kong. They are apparently looking for counterfeit items.
Are Zippy batteries considered counterfeit lol
Finally movement, 4 days in Customs, what a Joke.
This has happened recently as of June, all goods from china are being stopped and checked. They are checking every parcel for fake shoes especially ugg boots and nike trainers. This however means that every other parcel from china is being delayed. The usual waiting time is around 2 days but this has now jumped upto 4-5 days. They are banning everything with brand names which are being confiscated, if you have any goods with brand names on it its likely it will be delayed or even confisicated. However Customs are STRICTLY looking at the shoes/hair straigtner market because the brand names have insisted that their own people should check the goods themselves. Its not actually customs that are doing the checking its the actual brand companies themselves.
Secondly Customs have installed new xray equipment to detect goods which are like shoes straigtners etc, if anyone is importing counterfeit goods from china via ems like shoes straigtners then they wont be lasting long, however this does not apply to all goods such as mobile phone accessories which are actually made and distributed in china.
So basically anything with a big brand name which is considered counterfeit is confiscated.
We import tea from China using EMS. It used to take about 7-8 days door to door, from China to our UK address – now the delays in clearing customs generally add an extra week to the total delivery time. Our parcels will never clear customs in less than four days – which turns an impressive delivery time into a sluggish one. Disappointing.
I would be interested to know if the commercial courier companies like DHL or UPS have the same customs delays – I can’t help feeling that Parcelforce aren’t that bothered about pushing for quicker movement of the goods being carried in their name.