I have the full email with header - If you don't believe it then I suggest you contact Alex Murrie yourself to confirm. Thank you for your email 23 April to Mandy Talbot regarding the Royal Mail handling fee. As you are aware I have been asked to look into your case and respond directly to you. Firstly, please accept my apologies that it has been necessary for you to bring this matter to my attention. I fully appreciate how important it is for our customers to have confidence in our ability to provide a reliable service and it is always disappointing when a customer expresses dissatisfaction with any aspect of what we do. I should explain that we are obliged to release any item of mail if you elect to pay the VAT charge so by way of apology I have advised the Delivery Office concerned to waive the £8 Royal Mail handling fee altogether. If you wish to either collect your item or arrange a re-delivery we will only request payment of the VAT charge levied by Customs and Excise. I have also contacted the Regional Operations Director’s Office, which is responsible for the staff and services we provide in the London postcode sectors. All the staff serving in this area will be briefed on the correct process to follow for Customs & Excise fees. Again please accept my apologies for any inconvenience this matter has caused. I would like to assure you that we at Royal Mail are constantly striving to ensure that our customers receive the level of service they have every right to expect. I hope that the action above resolves your enquiry and concludes this matter. However if you are dissatisfied with my response you can ask to have your case reviewed by the Postal Review Panel. They can be contacted by writing to FREEPOST Postal Review Panel or by email postalreview@royalmail.co m . Yours sincerely Alex Murrie Senior Customer Service Advisor * FREEPOST High Profile Case Unit If your depot refuses to give your parcel over after you have offered to pay the Customs fees only, take the name of the person who is holding your parcel, call the police so they can record the incident, prosecute the postal worker. I am making a complaint about OFT - they have replied once, I have to write to another department, then I will call in the Parliamentary Ombudsman

It's not a statement - it's an email from Royal Mail confirming that you don't have to pay their fee, also, if I don't post it every time, when new people come on here they will be fooled by the two prats that protect Royal mail: Thank you for your email 23 April to Mandy Talbot regarding the Royal Mail handling fee. As you are aware I have been asked to look into your case and respond directly to you. Firstly, please accept my apologies that it has been necessary for you to bring this matter to my attention. I fully appreciate how important it is for our customers to have confidence in our ability to provide a reliable service and it is always disappointing when a customer expresses dissatisfaction with any aspect of what we do. I should explain that we are obliged to release any item of mail if you elect to pay the VAT charge so by way of apology I have advised the Delivery Office concerned to waive the £8 Royal Mail handling fee altogether. If you wish to either collect your item or arrange a re-delivery we will only request payment of the VAT charge levied by Customs and Excise. I have also contacted the Regional Operations Director’s Office, which is responsible for the staff and services we provide in the London postcode sectors. All the staff serving in this area will be briefed on the correct process to follow for Customs & Excise fees. Again please accept my apologies for any inconvenience this matter has caused. I would like to assure you that we at Royal Mail are constantly striving to ensure that our customers receive the level of service they have every right to expect. I hope that the action above resolves your enquiry and concludes this matter. However if you are dissatisfied with my response you can ask to have your case reviewed by the Postal Review Panel. They can be contacted by writing to FREEPOST Postal Review Panel or by email postalreview@royalmail.co m . Yours sincerely Alex Murrie Senior Customer Service Advisor * FREEPOST High Profile Case Unit If your depot refuses to give your parcel over after you have offered to pay the Customs fees only, take the name of the person who is holding your parcel, call the police so they can record the incident, prosecute the postal worker. I am making a complaint about OFT - they have replied once, I have to write to another department, then I will call in the Parliamentary Ombudsman

I would take it all up with Alex Murrie at Royal Mail - he seems to agree with the complainers on the thread. We have two Royal Mail stooges on here - the truth is this: Thank you for your email 23 April to Mandy Talbot regarding the Royal Mail handling fee. As you are aware I have been asked to look into your case and respond directly to you. Firstly, please accept my apologies that it has been necessary for you to bring this matter to my attention. I fully appreciate how important it is for our customers to have confidence in our ability to provide a reliable service and it is always disappointing when a customer expresses dissatisfaction with any aspect of what we do. I should explain that we are obliged to release any item of mail if you elect to pay the VAT charge so by way of apology I have advised the Delivery Office concerned to waive the £8 Royal Mail handling fee altogether. If you wish to either collect your item or arrange a re-delivery we will only request payment of the VAT charge levied by Customs and Excise. I have also contacted the Regional Operations Director’s Office, which is responsible for the staff and services we provide in the London postcode sectors. All the staff serving in this area will be briefed on the correct process to follow for Customs & Excise fees. Again please accept my apologies for any inconvenience this matter has caused. I would like to assure you that we at Royal Mail are constantly striving to ensure that our customers receive the level of service they have every right to expect. I hope that the action above resolves your enquiry and concludes this matter. However if you are dissatisfied with my response you can ask to have your case reviewed by the Postal Review Panel. They can be contacted by writing to FREEPOST Postal Review Panel or by email postalreview@royalmail.co m . Yours sincerely Alex Murrie Senior Customer Service Advisor * FREEPOST High Profile Case Unit If your depot refuses to give your parcel over after you have offered to pay the Customs fees only, take the name of the person who is holding your parcel, call the police so they can record the incident, prosecute the postal worker. I am making a complaint about OFT - they have replied once, I have to write to another department, then I will call in the Parliamentary Ombudsman.

We have two Royal Mail stooges on here - the truth is this: Thank you for your email 23 April to Mandy Talbot regarding the Royal Mail handling fee. As you are aware I have been asked to look into your case and respond directly to you. Firstly, please accept my apologies that it has been necessary for you to bring this matter to my attention. I fully appreciate how important it is for our customers to have confidence in our ability to provide a reliable service and it is always disappointing when a customer expresses dissatisfaction with any aspect of what we do. I should explain that we are obliged to release any item of mail if you elect to pay the VAT charge so by way of apology I have advised the Delivery Office concerned to waive the £8 Royal Mail handling fee altogether. If you wish to either collect your item or arrange a re-delivery we will only request payment of the VAT charge levied by Customs and Excise. I have also contacted the Regional Operations Director’s Office, which is responsible for the staff and services we provide in the London postcode sectors. All the staff serving in this area will be briefed on the correct process to follow for Customs & Excise fees. Again please accept my apologies for any inconvenience this matter has caused. I would like to assure you that we at Royal Mail are constantly striving to ensure that our customers receive the level of service they have every right to expect. I hope that the action above resolves your enquiry and concludes this matter. However if you are dissatisfied with my response you can ask to have your case reviewed by the Postal Review Panel. They can be contacted by writing to FREEPOST Postal Review Panel or by email postalreview@royalmail.co m . Yours sincerely Alex Murrie Senior Customer Service Advisor * FREEPOST High Profile Case Unit If your depot refuses to give your parcel over after you have offered to pay the Customs fees only, take the name of the person who is holding your parcel, call the police so they can record the incident, prosecute the postal worker. I am making a complaint about OFT - they have replied once, I have to write to another department, then I will call in the Parliamentary Ombudsman.

Troll Rickyd knows full well that there is no choice when someone is sending a parcel from the US for instance. Part of Parcelforce is as a Universal Carrier - a parcel will automatically go through Parcelforce if sent via a country's Universal Postal service. We have two Royal Mail stooges on here - the truth is this: Thank you for your email 23 April to Mandy Talbot regarding the Royal Mail handling fee. As you are aware I have been asked to look into your case and respond directly to you. Firstly, please accept my apologies that it has been necessary for you to bring this matter to my attention. I fully appreciate how important it is for our customers to have confidence in our ability to provide a reliable service and it is always disappointing when a customer expresses dissatisfaction with any aspect of what we do. I should explain that we are obliged to release any item of mail if you elect to pay the VAT charge so by way of apology I have advised the Delivery Office concerned to waive the £8 Royal Mail handling fee altogether. If you wish to either collect your item or arrange a re-delivery we will only request payment of the VAT charge levied by Customs and Excise. I have also contacted the Regional Operations Director’s Office, which is responsible for the staff and services we provide in the London postcode sectors. All the staff serving in this area will be briefed on the correct process to follow for Customs & Excise fees. Again please accept my apologies for any inconvenience this matter has caused. I would like to assure you that we at Royal Mail are constantly striving to ensure that our customers receive the level of service they have every right to expect. I hope that the action above resolves your enquiry and concludes this matter. However if you are dissatisfied with my response you can ask to have your case reviewed by the Postal Review Panel. They can be contacted by writing to FREEPOST Postal Review Panel or by email postalreview@royalmail.co m . Yours sincerely Alex Murrie Senior Customer Service Advisor * FREEPOST High Profile Case Unit If your depot refuses to give your parcel over after you have offered to pay the Customs fees only, take the name of the person who is holding your parcel, call the police so they can record the incident, prosecute the postal worker. I am making a complaint about OFT - they have replied once, I have to write to another department, then I will call in the Parliamentary Ombudsman

We have two Royal Mail stooges on here - the truth is this: Thank you for your email 23 April to Mandy Talbot regarding the Royal Mail handling fee. As you are aware I have been asked to look into your case and respond directly to you. Firstly, please accept my apologies that it has been necessary for you to bring this matter to my attention. I fully appreciate how important it is for our customers to have confidence in our ability to provide a reliable service and it is always disappointing when a customer expresses dissatisfaction with any aspect of what we do. I should explain that we are obliged to release any item of mail if you elect to pay the VAT charge so by way of apology I have advised the Delivery Office concerned to waive the £8 Royal Mail handling fee altogether. If you wish to either collect your item or arrange a re-delivery we will only request payment of the VAT charge levied by Customs and Excise. I have also contacted the Regional Operations Director’s Office, which is responsible for the staff and services we provide in the London postcode sectors. All the staff serving in this area will be briefed on the correct process to follow for Customs & Excise fees. Again please accept my apologies for any inconvenience this matter has caused. I would like to assure you that we at Royal Mail are constantly striving to ensure that our customers receive the level of service they have every right to expect. I hope that the action above resolves your enquiry and concludes this matter. However if you are dissatisfied with my response you can ask to have your case reviewed by the Postal Review Panel. They can be contacted by writing to FREEPOST Postal Review Panel or by email postalreview@royalmail.com . Yours sincerely Alex Murrie Senior Customer Service Advisor * FREEPOST High Profile Case Unit If your depot refuses to give your parcel over after you have offered to pay the Customs fees only, take the name of the person who is holding your parcel, call the police so they can record the incident, prosecute the postal worker. I am making a complaint about OFT - they have replied once, I have to write to another department, then I will call in the Parliamentary Ombudsman.

My first post in 2007: The Parcelforce clearance fee is not illegal, the way they collect it is illegal according to section 104, 105, 83 and 84 of the Postal Services Act 2000: It has always been about the handling fee, you two have been 'confused', not me. Anyway - I'm glad you understand now, Royal Mail can't hold your parcel in lien for the handing fee.

Sooo.... it seems all the trolling you two have done amounts to nothing. I now have the email in my posession from Alex Murrie (Senior Customer Service Advisor) Royal Mail, they have finally admitted that they should not be holdiong the parcels in lien, you two must be a couple of halfwits not to have understood the law concerning this, or you are a couple of Royal Mail stooges: 'Firstly, please accept my apologies that it has been necessary for you to bring this matter to my attention. I fully appreciate how important it is for our customers to have confidence in our ability to provide a reliable service and it is always disappointing when a customer expresses dissatisfaction with any aspect of what we do. I should explain that we are obliged to release any item of mail if you elect to pay the VAT charge so by way of apology I have advised the Delivery Office concerned to waive the £8 Royal Mail handling fee altogether. If you wish to either collect your item or arrange a re-delivery we will only request payment of the VAT charge levied by Customs and Excise. I have also contacted the Regional Operations Director’s Office, which is responsible for the staff and services we provide in the London postcode sectors. All the staff serving in this area will be briefed on the correct process to follow for Customs & Excise fees. Again please accept my apologies for any inconvenience this matter has caused. I would like to assure you that we at Royal Mail are constantly striving to ensure that our customers receive the level of service they have every right to expect. I hope that the action above resolves your enquiry and concludes this matter. However if you are dissatisfied with my response you can ask to have your case reviewed by the Postal Review Panel.

The fact is that the charge is technically legal but cannot be enforced by holding your mail to ransom. Insist that your mail is given to you after payment of the Duty only. State that you dispute the handling charge and that you will call the police to register the name of the employee that is holding your parcel in lien. If the police are called, get the incident number from them, you will then be able to take the employee to court, they were breaking criminal law. The fact again is that Royal Mail will buckle before it goes to court as many of us have already discovered. RM will not allow this in court as it will set a precedent that they will have to abide by. Stick to your guns - don't pay the handling fee. This thread is dominated by trolls owned by Royal Mail: Posted on the thread I started in 2007 (Moneysupermarket.com) - there are many other posters that have not paid the fee: moneysupermarket.com | community | - Parcelforce Clearance Ransom Charge Dear tandym, Many thanks for your reply - much appreciated. I tried sending you a PM - but this forum does not seem to allow that! In any case, there's been an interesting turn of events here. After I emailed Mandy, she said she could not help but she DID pass my details on to a senior customer service rep. He just replied with: "...I should explain that we are obliged to release any item of mail if you elect to pay the VAT charge so by way of apology I have advised the Delivery Office concerned to waive the £8 Royal Mail handling fee altogether. If you wish to either collect your item or arrange a re-delivery we will only request payment of the VAT charge levied by Customs and Excise. I have also contacted the Regional Operations Director’s Office, which is responsible for the staff and services we provide in the London postcode sectors. All the staff serving in this area will be briefed on the correct process to follow for Customs & Excise fees. " Great! I was ready to go to court. I'm just very annoyed that Consumer Direct is STILL giving incorrect advice to customers - and when I called them today to give an update, they were sticking with the old story. They are STILL claiming that the charges CAN be bundled and that they are NOT required to release the parcel if you just choose to pay the VAT. And that is their specialised Royal Mail complaints department. I just do not want other customer in the same situation to get wrong advice and to stop fighting. Thanks to everyone here for their help! THIS SITE IS 'OWNED' BY ROYAL MAIL TROLLS, DON'T BELIEVE THEM.

The fact is that the charge is technically legal but cannot be enforced by holding your mail to ransom. Insist that your mail is given to you after payment of the Duty only. State that you dispute the handling charge and that you will call the police to register the name of the employee that is holding your parcel in lien. If the police are called, get the incident number from them, you will then be able to take the employee to court, they were breaking criminal law. The fact again is that Royal Mail will buckle before it goes to court as many of us have already discovered. RM will not allow this in court as it will set a precedent that they will have to abide by. Stick to your guns - don't pay the handling fee.

buzby & rickyd are both employees of Royal Mail, saying the charge is fair is totally ridiculous - the fact is that the charge is technically legal but cannot be enforced by holding your mail to ransom. Insist that your mail is given to you after payment of the Duty only. State that you dispute the handling charge and that you will call the police to register the name of the employee that is holding your parcel in lien. If the police are called, get the incident number from them, you will then be able to take the employee to court, they were breaking criminal law. That fact again is that Royal Mail will buckle before it goes to court as many of us have already discovered. RM will not allow this in court as it will set a precident that they will have to abide by. Stick to your guns - don't pay the handling fee.

I didn't skip paying duty - Royal Mail paid it on my behalf -

I don't receive parcels from abroad, I have only had the experience once in 2007 and refused to pay the handling fee. I phoned the Royal Mail legal department and they eventually caved in and let me have the parcel for nothing, I didn't even pay the Duty! I find it strange that you and some other trolls find it ok for a majority publicly owned company to continuously break the law when collecting their fee. That is my point and the point of many others that have succeeded in challenging the payment. If they want to hold a parcel in lien for their handling fee, then they should get the Government to change the law in their favour. I suggest that the postage you pay to have your parcel delivered from abroad should have all postal fees (including handling charges) paid at the post office. All (non-EU) parcels go through the same Customs handling procedure regardless of whether duty is imposed on them or not. Only those that have Duty applied are charged the handling fee, so it is a double punishment just because your parcel happens to have a value of £17 or over (roughly). It means that those with duty applied are paying for the handling fees of those that don't have it applied - an unfair system if you ask me. I believe you are signing on as different users, giving it full troll factor, a nut with a compulsive oposition to sense

Duh - yeh - but they hold it in lien even if you pay the Duty - we all know that by now.

barracad The letter was from 2007 as per my previous posts. The handling fee info has been put up since this action and in my opinion is excessive. This work used to be done by HMC employees and the Duty paid for it. I don't care about paying duty but the law states that they can't hold the parcel in lien for the handling fee - that is what this thread is about. You have the right to protest against that fee but Royal Mail don't allow you to. Unfortunately some people have taken the thread off at a tangent - we are talking about Royal Mail breaking the law as stated in section 104 105 & 106 of the Act - if you have anything that disproves they are breaking the law, please post giving your sources.