[Elecraft] UK import duty (fwd)

[John GM4SLV]

David et al,

It's a mystery to me too.

I received a K2 kit on Thursday which is now sitting on the bench, tuned to 
7040.00 having passed all tests at "Alignment stage II", has had the filters 
aligned with noise gen/AF spectrum analyser and the MDS estimated with a XG1 on 
1uV at -138dBm (pre-amp on).

I was charged 12.74 GBP for "Import Duty" and had to pay Parcel Farce (over the 
phone, by credit card, to Aberdeen) before they'd release it for delivery. They 
didn't even have the decency to get it as far as my local delivery office so I 
could pay in person - Aberdeen is 200 miles south of me (a 14 hour overnight 
ferry trip each way....)

It makes a mockery of the use of "Commodity Codes" to set the duty rate if the 
Customs routinely ignore correctly applied codes. Is it a case of "charge them 
anyway and only repay the ones who complain?"

I am currently away from home, but when I get back I shall be applying for a 
refund of my 12.74GBP. Can't let them get away with it every time!

Cheers,

John

K1 1672
K2 5542 (2/3 of the way there.....)


On Wed, 14 Jun 2006, David Andrews wrote:

> This has been mentioned from time to time but still caused a problem when I
> ordered a KX1 kit recently. Elecraft's documentation is correct and
> perfectly clear - one of the commodity codes was 8529 9040 00. UK Customs
> truncated this to 8529 90 and charged import duty at 3%. If you don't pay,
> you can't get your parcel. Then the fun begins, because had all 8 (or10)
> digits been taken into account, no duty was payable. I'm waiting to see if I
> get a refund, but why do they still get the wrong answer?
> 
> David G4CWB