Between 2003 when I started to collect ponies and about last summer I had, at most, three or four customs charges. Whatever, I can deal with that, even the £40 one I had to pay on a lot of about 100 ponies. However, this year alone I have so far paid nearly £100 in customs charges! What the hell happened?! Why have they suddenly gone nutso checking packages?? To top it all off they don't just charge the VAT aspect, they also charge an £8 handling fee every time! What a crock of steaming festering shite that is!! Not content with charging VAT on things that, if bought in the UK wouldn't even have VAT on them because they are second hand and bought from private sellers, they also want to charge me for the "privilege" of them going through my stuff, something I very much do not want them to do in the first place! What a bunch of arse holes! There is no point what-so-ever in trying to speak to anyone regarding the charging of VAT on secondhand goods because anything run by HRH (insert sarcastic salute here)
It looks like I'm going to have to take serious consideration as to where I'm purchasing my ponies from in the future, which will obviously have an effect on what is available to me. It will also affect my new venture of buying pony lots, though I have to say the majority of the ones I'm finding are worth buying in order to re-sell are in the UK, due to the cost of overseas postage, so the effect on this will hopefully be minimal.
The fly atop this steaming mound is that the woman who attempted to deliver a package today to Joe while I was at work was a complete and utter bitch to him, declaring that payment by credit card and cheque were not possible, it had to be cash only, which he didn't have on him, so she stormed off stating the package would have to be returned to America if we weren't able to pay! She picked the wrong people to mess with! Joe was straight on the phone to UPS customer services which resulted in a phone call from the bitch, who was swiftly kicked into touch by Joe who demanded immediate re-delivery since discovering she could have taken credit card or cheque payment and at the very least she should have arranged a re-delivery once we had payment available, and as a stroke of luck for us but not so much for her, her boss lives on our street. He will be visited by a disgruntled Joe later today. The moral of the story? Don't fuck with Joe, especially over his wife's ponies.
Rant over.
