Sob….my quilt is stuck…or lost…or something..
Ladies, I need your advice….
Remember this quilt?
The Siblings Together one…
I sent it off in a box to England on February 15th, it was delivered to British customs on the 21st…..and it is still there, three weeks later. (Swiss Post very kindly track all parcels going abroad).
I marked on the box that it was a charity quilt and I gave the value as the fabric I used and marked it as a gift. All of which should mean that it should incur import duties and moreover, it shouldn’t sit in customs for 3 weeks.
What to do? Has anyone had this experience and more to the point WHAT DID YOU DO?
It feels like my baby is lost ;-(
Helen
March 9th, 2013 at 9:12 pm
I’ve had inbound parcels stuck in customs for several weeks that have all made it, it just seems that sometimes HMRC are sitting around with their feet up in the inbound parcel shed!
March 9th, 2013 at 10:03 pm
I think it will be fine. I just mark the value as a “resale” value, not the value of the fabrics, so normally I say $5 – $20. I know quilts are worth more but I think if they were sold in a big store they would be this cheap and that avoids a lot of customs attention. It may be that they are just preoccupied with other things and it is waiting on the shelf.
March 9th, 2013 at 10:04 pm
Oh no, but don’t worry yet, seriously, they’re all sat around eating cake and donuts, and they’ll get around to sending it on soon! :o)
March 9th, 2013 at 10:20 pm
Um… if you valued it at over £40 (maybe even over £14 if it was not addressed to a specific individual) it will definitely cost £8 + 20% of the stated value, and be for Siblings Together to claim back, and I know last year there were problems as they cannot be paying out to accept ‘they know not what’.
If it returns to you, put a value of £25, tick gift, and address to ‘a specific’ person c/o the address.
I suspect by being helpful you have put the HMRC team into brainfreeze!
HMRC staff do not have time to put their feet up, trust me!
March 9th, 2013 at 11:25 pm
I wouldn’t use the cost value of the fabrics either – especially if they are scraps, where you would have written down your obsolete stock ha ha! I would put a nominal value given that it is not intended for resale and there is no purchaser.
As for getting it out of there, I have no idea. HMRC has a very extensive website but I expect you need to get through an admin bod and point out that it is a charity quilt which is being donated and not then resold in any way.
March 10th, 2013 at 2:32 am
oh no! I hope noone from the post office has liberated the quilt–it’s so pretty; it needs to arrive at its proper destination
March 10th, 2013 at 5:29 am
Oh no, I do hope your quilt has not been lost. Did you send it by registered mail? I sent a quilt from here to the UK a while ago and Singapore Post promised me that it will be there in five working days. Of course it wasn’t; it took them three week to deliver it. And it was also meant for a charity raffle, so it didn’t make it in time. So annoying!!!
March 10th, 2013 at 6:53 am
ah, I don’t know what to tell you but I hope it arrives at it’s intended destination soon
March 10th, 2013 at 9:33 am
Contact swiss post,say its lost and u want to claim the basic post cost….I’m sure it’ll miraculously appear then, one of our French/us parcels did,cos they push for complete tracking and I’m sure get it moving onward. I send quilts courier,its often cheaper here than post and 3 day delivery. Good luck x
March 10th, 2013 at 10:39 am
I wouldn’t worry that it’s lost just yet, I’ve had parcels take good three weeks to come through customs. Unfortunately, that’s usually a sign that there’s going to be a charge. Ticking the gift box is vital but I think the main thing is noting the value of the item as being below that which will incur a customs toll. I used to order small amounts of fabric from the US online in order to avoid reaching the charge threshold – even with the postage it didn’t cost much more than buying from this country. Unfortunately as postage costs in the US have risen so much recently I’ve had to give up doing that so less choice of fabric. I think perhaps you could get in touch with siblings together and let them know that they may get a letter from the customs. As a charity they may well be able to get the toll refunded but unfortunately there is a handling charge for just going through customs which can’t be avoided.
March 10th, 2013 at 4:51 pm
Oh how frustrating. If it can be traced to customs then surely there is a way of contacting them online to question them. No idea, as I have never had this problem.
March 17th, 2013 at 5:30 pm
And it’s so pretty. Praying your gorgeous quilt gets loose from Customs soon.