Did anyone else get a bill from FedEx for "duty and taxes" for your empeg?

They sent me a bill for $30.75! Is this right?

- Jon

That figure is far too low to apply to the player - it must be duty on the panel kit and carry case that you ordered, plus a handling fee.

Rob

I did not get a bill from Fedex for those charges, they will included on my empeg bill. Did you check to see if you are getting charged twice?

-Doug
(Mk2-12G-Blue)

I did not get a bill from Fedex for those charges, they will included on my empeg bill

They certainly weren't - the only duty we ever charge is VAT to customers in the European Community.

The empeg bill would have included the cost of buying the product from us, but if your local customs department decide to charge you duty on them then that's an issue between you and them (and FedEx in this case, as they pay the duty on your behalf).

In your case it seems you were lucky and customs decided not to make any charge. It's luck of the draw (maybe depends what kind of mood the customs agent is in!).

Rob

How long after you recieved the Empeg did Fed-Ex charge you? I haven't recieved such a bill and am just wondering if it's gonna pop up outta no where. Seems sorta fishy that some people get billed and some don't.


|| loren.cox
|| 080000446

I received a bill from Fed-Ex for $0.00 for duty/tax. They used about four or five pages explaining how they had paid the $0.00 to expedite my delivery, and were now presenting me with the bill.

I still have a copy of it in my office somewhere (I'm on vacation in Maine right now so I can't check the date they sent it.)

-Trevor

-----
Mk 2, Green 12GB 080000349

I got one of these as well from my Mark 1. I recieved the player Feb 7, and the FedEx docs Feb 19.

Well, I got my empeg around August 23rd and got the Fedex letter yesterday.

- Jon

Ditto. I just got the same "activity record" of $0.00 from FedEx today. THIS IS NOT AN INVOICE. DO NOT PAY FROM THIS DOCUMENT.

Okey dokey...

I go my empeg on ~Aug 22 and got the FedEx bill on the 30th. Pretty darn quick, if you ask me. My bill was for $31.36 for customs duty + $5 for an advancement fee. In plain English, according to the FedEx bill, it breaks down as such:

.21% processing charge of $4.09 for the empeg (Digital Processing Unit w/no CRT, as they called it)
2.9% T.S.U.S.A Rate/I.R.C. Rate of $1.16 + .21% processing charge of $.08 for the sled
20% (holy sh*t!) T.S.U.S.A. Rate/I.R.C. Rate of $5.20 + .21% processing charge of $.05 for the carrying case

Anyone know what the T.S.U.S.A. Rate and I.R.C. Rates are? I got charged $6.36 (totals of above) in duty. I also got charged $25 for "other". I'm not sure what exactly the "other" stuff is, but that was the biggest chunk. How appropriate is that? They charge me $25 for something they can't explain. It's the American way!

George

Okay, i KNEW it would happen. I got my bill from Fed-Ex on Saturday fora grand total of US$30.78. Apparently the charge is $25.78 for Customs Duty (some sort of handling fee)and $5 for an "advancement fee". Included with the bill were 7 various fax copies and customs papers which i can't decipher for the life of me.

First off... Does anyone understand exactly what is going on? Why did some people get charged and others didn't? Was it for the Empeg or the carrying case? (doesn't say on the bill, but they were in the same package). I'm going to attempt a call to fed-ex to see what this is about as i sure as hell am not going to pay something that others recieving the same package didn't have to pay. Anyone else done this or have any advice?

Thanks! =]


|| loren.cox
|| 080000446

Well my Empeg was in that same batch that got stuck in Memphis, and I just got my FedEx letter. Something close to $30 for duty/taxes.

Did anyone notice the quality and quantity of paper they used for this? High bond, Two color letter head... I had about 15 pages of it. I think the $30 is just to pay for the invoice printing...

Brian H. Johnson
MK2 36GB Blue
"Born to Lose..."

Guys,

I still haven't paid my bill for this. Let us know if you are successful in getting FedEx to somehow drop this charge...

- Jon

Sorry guys - I just got my bill for $0.00. 3 copies in fact. It was very nice letterhead paper! Remember - life is not fair. Just be glad it got there in one piece or at all. :-)

-Doug
(Mk2-12G-Blue)

I would point out that this is a tiny fraction of what just about everyone else in the world has to pay in duty - including our UK clients, who have to pay 17.5% sales tax. I was amazed we found a way to get the car player into the US at zero duty and I would encourage you not to dig TOO deep - I'd hate to provoke some suited wonder at Memphis into running a tariff check and deciding this is just another car stereo (subject to duty).

Keep in mind that you haven't even paid state or federal sales tax on a $1200+ item - in most states you would pay more for this product if you bought it from a store than you've paid to ship it over from the UK.

Rob

Argh... and with that statement by Rob i'm now waffling on whether or not to bother. I wouldn't want to ruin it for everyone, but it is indeed a load of crap that some have to pay and others don't. I hate arbitrary things like that that slip through all the time in large corporations and people just pay either out of not knowing or not wanting to bother dealing with the people on the other end of the line.

*grumble* =]


|| loren.cox
|| 080000446

Did anyone notice the quality and quantity of paper they used for this? High bond, Two color letter head... I had about 15 pages of it. I think the $30 is just to pay for the invoice printing...

I noticed that too! heheh. That was my first thought... "damn, i bet i'm just paying for them to send me this 10 pages of high stock paper!" Maybe that's what the $5 "advancement fee" is for. Yeesh.


|| loren.cox
|| 080000446

I tend to find that if you demand a ruling on such things, that ruling will be that everyone has to pay. If some slip through without paying - I guess that's their good luck.

In this case FedEx have already paid customs, and there's almost no chance of getting that refunded (the appeals procedure takes months). Your best chance would be to hassle FedEx into writing off the invoice, but they won't do that lightly.

Rob