*
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
March 29, 2024, 04:55:36 AM

Login with username, password and session length

Donate

We Appreciate Your Support

Members
Stats
  • Total Posts: 1686609
  • Total Topics: 118113
  • Online Today: 626
  • Online Ever: 2235
  • (October 29, 2023, 12:32:45 AM)
Users Online
Users: 7
Guests: 462
Total: 469

Recent

Author Topic: Avoid >>> Parcel2go.com UK Ltd = Landmark Global  (Read 3576 times)

Offline Sir Barnaby Hammond-Rye

  • Mastermind
  • Posts: 1615
    • The Tekumel Project
Avoid >>> Parcel2go.com UK Ltd = Landmark Global
« on: March 05, 2019, 10:28:37 PM »
Nothing! I my experience!  :-[

I have a parcel, that I am picking up tomorrow, which the Post Office tells me has over $70 in duty (and I assume fees) on it and I am keen to see how it got to that amount.

And a week or so ago I received a Landmark Global package with a $30 COD charge on it - but I already paid the shipping, so what gives?

They appear to be the Belgium equivalent of UPS. That is to say, they screw Canadian recipients!

Hopefully Brexit will kill them off, otherwise UK Vendors: Please do NOT use Landmark Global to ship to Canada. They suck big time!

Offline Sir Barnaby Hammond-Rye

  • Mastermind
  • Posts: 1615
    • The Tekumel Project
Avoid >>> Parcel2go.com UK Ltd = Landmark Global
« Reply #1 on: March 06, 2019, 10:24:50 PM »
I would like to plead with shippers in the UK no to use Parcel2go to ship to Canada. Apparently they just hand the parcel off to Landmark Global who are worst than UPS in levying outlandish brokerage and service fees, compounded by taxes.

UPS has long been infamous for this sort of nonsense for parcels coming from the US. Now Landmark Global is coming to the front as their European equivalent. Only the added twist with LG is that the charges are not itemized, merely appearing as a 'COD' charge.

I just shelled out $77.28 (yet the invoice said $77.56 - what gives?) in 'COD' and the Post Office clerk is trying to tell me that the sender requested the money. And I know very well that I paid the postage up front so I know that is a lie. So, my guess - and I think it's a good one - is that the COD is the duty + taxes + brokerage fee + taxes + service fee + taxes! But no statement to that effect. No breakdown, so we can see how much they are gouging us.

So, again, I'm asking UK sellers to stop using these services.

Thanks. Rant off.

Offline Dan55

  • Librarian
  • Posts: 187
Re: Avoid >>> Parcel2go.com UK Ltd = Landmark Global
« Reply #2 on: March 07, 2019, 09:38:15 AM »
Refuse to accept the charges and demand your money back from the sender.

They seem like a real vulture of a company - but there is a reason behind not using courier companies for international postage.  They are  excluded from the international agreement between national postal services not to charge duty on international mail.


Offline Matakakea

  • Scientist
  • Posts: 494
Re: Avoid >>> Parcel2go.com UK Ltd = Landmark Global
« Reply #3 on: March 07, 2019, 04:06:52 PM »
UK Mail don't charge 'duty'. They just call it a 'Handling Fee'. >:( >:(
I'm not a mercenary. Killing's more of a hobby for me.

Offline dadlamassu

  • Mastermind
  • Posts: 1535
    • http://www.morvalearth.co.uk
Re: Avoid >>> Parcel2go.com UK Ltd = Landmark Global
« Reply #4 on: March 07, 2019, 05:35:37 PM »
UK Mail don't charge 'duty'. They just call it a 'Handling Fee'. >:( >:(

Oh yes they do https://personal.help.royalmail.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/7208/~/help-with-paying-customs-fees :

Royal Mail is required by law to present all items arriving from outside the EU to Border Force. Please note: In the event of the UK leaving the EU with 'No Deal' all items arriving from outside the UK will be presented to border force. This mail may be checked by them and be subject to customs charges.

Any charges are calculated and applied by Border Force on behalf of HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC). These charges aren’t applied by Royal Mail.

The charges depend on the contents, where the item came from and who sent it. Letters, postcards and parcels containing only documents are normally exempt.

For items sent through the post, Royal Mail pay HMRC any import VAT and Customs Duty on your behalf. This ensures you receive your item as quickly as possible.

We’ll then send you a Fee to pay card. This shows how much you need to pay before you can receive your item. The amount will include our £8 handling fee.

'He could have lived a risk-free, moneyed life, but he preferred to whittle away his fortune on warfare.'
-- Xenophon, The Anabasis

Offline Sir Barnaby Hammond-Rye

  • Mastermind
  • Posts: 1615
    • The Tekumel Project
Re: Avoid >>> Parcel2go.com UK Ltd = Landmark Global
« Reply #5 on: March 07, 2019, 10:24:16 PM »
In this case, I suspect Landmark was acting as a broker "for my convenience" and collected the customs duties and/or taxes, applied a service charge or two, and then more taxes on each line item and then again on the total. Or some other BS.

Of course, this is a guess, as there was no summary of this. No customs form. No nothing.

Now they are declining to respond to my requests for an explanation of the charge.

I'm going to have to find out what body oversees them, if any, and report them to that.

Offline Dan55

  • Librarian
  • Posts: 187
Re: Avoid >>> Parcel2go.com UK Ltd = Landmark Global
« Reply #6 on: March 08, 2019, 09:01:17 AM »
Yes, it's the brokerage fees that postal services are exempt from, not duty (my mistake).  "Service charges" tend to get tacked onto the brokerage fees (which can be steep).

Offline Sir Barnaby Hammond-Rye

  • Mastermind
  • Posts: 1615
    • The Tekumel Project
Re: Avoid >>> Parcel2go.com UK Ltd = Landmark Global
« Reply #7 on: March 11, 2019, 10:49:43 PM »
Still waiting for a response from "customer service".  lol

Offline Sir Barnaby Hammond-Rye

  • Mastermind
  • Posts: 1615
    • The Tekumel Project
Re: Avoid >>> Parcel2go.com UK Ltd = Landmark Global
« Reply #8 on: March 21, 2019, 10:06:43 PM »
Landmark Global still has not responded to any of my inquiries.

Offline boywundyrx

  • Librarian
  • Posts: 158
Re: Avoid >>> Parcel2go.com UK Ltd = Landmark Global
« Reply #9 on: March 21, 2019, 10:49:02 PM »
I've had issues with Landmark as well - they seem to be used more now, so I plan on asking from UK companies before I order, or if it's not clear from the website, whether they're used.

Offline Fighting15s

  • Scientist
  • Posts: 226
    • Fighting 15s
Re: Avoid >>> Parcel2go.com UK Ltd = Landmark Global
« Reply #10 on: March 22, 2019, 08:20:49 AM »
The TrustPilot reviews of Landmark Global are not good: https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/landmarkglobal.com

To be fair to Parcel2go, Canada Post via Landmark Global is just one of the many options to use as a courier and appears in the economy section. It would have to have been chosen by the sender, presumably because it was the cheapest option by some way (it was almost half the price for a sample package I tried a quote for). The sender could have chosen a more mainstream option: however, you would still get import duty and handling fees to be paid on or before receipt.
Ian
Fighting 15s
Gladiator Miniatures, Fighting 15s Flags, Martian Empires and Flashing Blade Miniatures
https://www.fighting15s.com

Offline Sir Barnaby Hammond-Rye

  • Mastermind
  • Posts: 1615
    • The Tekumel Project
Re: Avoid >>> Parcel2go.com UK Ltd = Landmark Global
« Reply #11 on: March 25, 2019, 01:15:08 AM »
I assume the $77+ "COD" charge was duty, brokerage fees and taxes, but I would have expected to see the breakdown of the charges and none was given.

Offline Menelduir

  • Scientist
  • Posts: 298
  • Pulp Alley Phantom Agent
    • Rants and Ramblings of an Unfocused Gamer
Re: Avoid >>> Parcel2go.com UK Ltd = Landmark Global
« Reply #12 on: March 25, 2019, 03:19:07 AM »
The TrustPilot reviews of Landmark Global are not good: https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/landmarkglobal.com

To be fair to Parcel2go, Canada Post via Landmark Global is just one of the many options to use as a courier and appears in the economy section. It would have to have been chosen by the sender, presumably because it was the cheapest option by some way (it was almost half the price for a sample package I tried a quote for). The sender could have chosen a more mainstream option: however, you would still get import duty and handling fees to be paid on or before receipt.

I too have been hit by them. I contacted the sender when I first got the invoice. The sender in the UK indicated that the courier showed up as the cheapest option, and I guess it is for the sender, but the recipient gets screwed over!
The mysterious fees (no breakdown on my parcel either) that get tacked on when it hits Canada are exorbitant.

I already have to try and ask companies not to use couriers where possible, but maybe the best plan would be that we need to reject the parcel when it shows up at the post office, this may convince companies not to use them.   

But what a pain to have to do that!
For more gaming stuff feel free to check out my blogs:
General blog: Rants and Ramblings of an Unfocused Gamer @ http://menelduir.blogspot.ca/
Painting/building blog @ https://menelduirspainting.blogspot.com/
VSF related blog @ https://vsfadventuresofmenelduir.blogspot.com/

Offline Fighting15s

  • Scientist
  • Posts: 226
    • Fighting 15s
Re: Avoid >>> Parcel2go.com UK Ltd = Landmark Global
« Reply #13 on: March 25, 2019, 08:19:50 AM »

I already have to try and ask companies not to use couriers where possible, but maybe the best plan would be that we need to reject the parcel when it shows up at the post office, this may convince companies not to use them.   


For some items or size of parcel, couriers are a more cost-effective way of exporting items than the mail service (or also in the U.K. Parcelforce) especially when using a broker such as Parcel2go or Parcelhero. Which couriers not to use becomes a matter of experience. Once a parcel goes over 2kg for international packages, a sender is forced to use a courier if the parcel cannot be split into smaller ones. 

There are quirks. For example, Royal Mail hands tracked or signed mail to the EU to its EU delivery arm GLS, which in Germany I find cannot reliably deliver a parcel. It’s a courier and therefore outside the normal German postal system, can’t use Packstation addresses (PO boxes), and most recently lost three parcels from me (two of which were actually returned months later with labels covering the return address so the boxes had to be opened to find an address on the invoice). So now I don’t use tracked or signed mail to Germany so that everything goes via Bundespost. I guess that’s another “don’t use a courier” argument, except that it’s sold as a postal service and I suspect a number of senders don’t realise this. GLS seems to function OK in my experience elsewhere in the EU.

In the U.K. I won’t use Yodel or My Hermes unless a customer gets good service from their particular drivers. Mine here on the Island have proved reliable. I did for a while offer a cheap My Hermes option for delivery but only one person ever opted for it.  Nowadays, they’re the desperate measures considered in the event of a postal strike.

For me it is handy knowing about Landmark Global. I’d never come across it before, and now I’ve seen the TrustPilot reviews and read about the experience here, I’d not use it.

Offline Sir Barnaby Hammond-Rye

  • Mastermind
  • Posts: 1615
    • The Tekumel Project
Re: Avoid >>> Parcel2go.com UK Ltd = Landmark Global
« Reply #14 on: March 26, 2019, 01:08:11 AM »
FEDEX would be better than Landmark Global.