Parcel Motel Thread (post all related questions here)

rubadub

styron wrote: »

Oddly, unlike importing perfume from outside the EU where no excise relief applies, within the EU - personal internet/postal orders ('distance sales') of perfumes appear to be entirely exempt excise duty:

I am pretty certain typical perfume is included, it would probably be included in the "alcohol" they mention

5.1 What are excisable products?

Alcohol and alcoholic beverages (e.g. wine, beer, cider, spirits), tobacco products (cigarettes, cigars and cigarillos, Roll-your-own and pipe tobacco), mineral oils (in practice, motor and heating fuels).

notice they mention it and then beveages. I have seen alcohol free and therefore excise free perfumes.

The Raptor

I knew I had something coming as I got an email yesterday to say it reached the Dublin depot.

So I wasn't sure if there was deliveries on Saturday or Monday.

I checked my parcel motel account this morning and it was delivered to my local parcel motel lockers but I didn't get a text. What's up with that? I always get a text on the morning its due. Did anyone else ever have the same issue. I don't normally check the account, I just wait for a text.

recipio

The Raptor wrote: »

I knew I had something coming as I got an email yesterday to say it reached the Dublin depot.

So I wasn't sure if there was deliveries on Saturday or Monday.

I checked my parcel motel account this morning and it was delivered to my local parcel motel lockers but I didn't get a text. What's up with that? I always get a text on the morning its due. Did anyone else ever have the same issue. I don't normally check the account, I just wait for a text.

You should get an email and text. Are you sure it says 'delivered' and not just 'checked in ' . They have become shoddy recently and its not unknown for the IT to break down. Email asap.

The Raptor

recipio wrote: »

You should get an email and text. Are you sure it says 'delivered' and not just 'checked in ' . They have become shoddy recently and its not unknown for the IT to break down. Email asap.

Sorry, i took a screen shot in the morning to remember the pin. It said stored at and then the location.

I went and picked it up but no text. I did get an email though.

Raekwondo

What way should I go about using this? Found a great deal on a GPU from Ebuyer but they don't ship to Ireland. I've not used PM before but I presume I just sign up, get them to ship it to PM in the UK and then get them to ship it down to the nearest motel to me?

styron

Raekwondo wrote: »

What way should I go about using this? Found a great deal on a GPU from Ebuyer but they don't ship to Ireland. I've not used PM before but I presume I just sign up, get them to ship it to PM in the UK and then get them to ship it down to the nearest motel to me?

Ebuyer don't ship through PM any more - or any known PO Box/Forwarder that I'm aware of, a highly security conscious company.

Raekwondo

styron wrote: »

Ebuyer don't ship through PM any more - or any known PO Box/Forwarder that I'm aware of, a highly security conscious company.

Ah damn

madmaxvideo

frst time using parcel motel! My package was delivered to PM newtownabbey this morning, but it doesn't show on my profile that they received it, would the status normally update on arrival at the depot in newtownabbey, or do I just receive a text when it's ready to be collected? Do they normally drop to a kiosk on weekends?

nava

madmaxvideo wrote: »

frst time using parcel motel! My package was delivered to PM newtownabbey this morning, but it doesn't show on my profile that they received it, would the status normally update on arrival at the depot in newtownabbey, or do I just receive a text when it's ready to be collected? Do they normally drop to a kiosk on weekends?

It should show up on the website later today, depending on the motel location might get deliver to it over night, you will get an email and/or text to let you know the PIN.

madmaxvideo

nava wrote: »

It should show up on the website later today, depending on the motel location might get deliver to it over night, you will get an email and/or text to let you know the PIN.

Cheers nava! On the website it says 1 working day, didn't know if that includes weekends for them? Just anxious cause the item cost me a few quid, and not knowing where it is, is bugging me

Asmooh

Why do people on parcel motel sign packages with fake names?

Signed for by: THIERTY REC

Who the hell is that?

Thor

Asmooh wrote: »

Why do people on parcel motel sign packages with fake names?

Signed for by: THIERTY REC

Who the hell is that?

Thierty is a name, and Rec probably mean reception.

That being said, sometimes they just sign parcel motel.

Remember, they get hundreds of packages a day, plus the same delivery guy is probably dropping off hundreds. Doubtful they sign their name for every single one.

Asmooh

Thor wrote: »

Thierty is a name, and Rec probably mean reception.

That being said, sometimes they just sign parcel motel.

Remember, they get hundreds of packages a day, plus the same delivery guy is probably dropping off hundreds. Doubtful they sign their name for every single one.

hmm good point but! package from December 2015
Signed for by: JAMES STORES is "stores" a last name?

my package is: InTransit 29 Feb 2016 13:47
I don't know if "inTransit" means to my collection point or to the central hub, because from Dublin to Dublin shoulnd't take long?

Thor

Asmooh wrote: »

hmm good point but! package from December 2015
Signed for by: JAMES STORES is "stores" a last name?

my package is: InTransit 29 Feb 2016 13:47
I don't know if "inTransit" means to my collection point or to the central hub, because from Dublin to Dublin shoulnd't take long?

yeah, I have seen weird names a few times.

if it has checked in, then it means it arrived in dublin, and is now on it's way to the locker. This means you should have it in the locker tonight or very early morning (6-7am) depending on your locker location)

TitianGerm

Asmooh wrote: »

hmm good point but! package from December 2015
Signed for by: JAMES STORES is "stores" a last name?

my package is: InTransit 29 Feb 2016 13:47
I don't know if "inTransit" means to my collection point or to the central hub, because from Dublin to Dublin shoulnd't take long?

I assume it's James that works in the Store Roo.

Asmooh

Thor wrote: »

yeah, I have seen weird names a few times.

if it has checked in, then it means it arrived in dublin, and is now on it's way to the locker. This means you should have it in the locker tonight or very early morning (6-7am) depending on your locker location)

yeah I know, I always hope that they deliver it before 17.00 (end of working day) which would be nice because the PM locker is at the business park so most people will benefit if they deliver it like 16.30 or so

But I guess I need to have one sleepness night and pick up my package tomorrow

WildCardDoW

So this is more of a "I ****ed up" story than a Consumer Issue, but I do think it is something people could be impacted by. So this wasn't Parcel Motel, the shipper or DHL (who the shipper used) causing me any trouble but I figured it would be good to let people know.

So I ordered an item from one of the many electronic deal websites (Gearbest, Geekbuying etc.) that have cropped up, as you may or may not know these are largely based in China.

When placing my order I was in auto pilot and used the stored address from my browser which I use quite commonly for eBay and Amazon and some other websites. The Parcel Motel NI address.

Eventually I received a mail from the shipper that they had been told I had refused to pay the VAT / Duty / Customs charges of 14.24. I hadn't been made aware of any of these charges, so I checked out the DHL website for my tracking number. Because I used the ParcelMotel NI address of course the custom's clearance was in the UK and not Ireland!! :eek:

The item was stuck in Custom's clearance with DHL who were apparently trying to get the shipper to pay. Now, as you might realise the shipper will refuse to pay these charges and they state this up front: these charges are the responsibility of the receiver. So I had no problem paying the charges but I also did: it was very hard to establish how to pay the charges.

DHL offer an online service to pay the charges for a package by searching for your "waybill", invoice or account. The waybill did not show up for me when I searched, so I rang DHL UK Customer Service who quickly told me that the item was with their aviation team and I'd need to talk to them.

Once talking to the aviation team they told me that I couldn't pay the charges as I was in "southern" Ireland and they don't accept credit / debit cards based outside the UK. They also wouldn't ship the package on to pay at the door because they knew ParcelMotel wouldn't pay the charges (naturally) and from what they said they had issues chasing up invoices afterward if they did do this. I couldn't get the parcel redirected to my own address, one option I discussed with them was to deliver to their NI depot that offered collections, I think this would have been possible but I didn't explore further!

I informed them I was quite willing to pay in advance using another method as they had a number of different methods stated on the website. Nope, "credit / debit only" I was told and they didn't even want to try process my card details at all. Fair enough, "what if I have a prepaid debit card" I enquired, some I talked to weren't sure, some said it would be rejected as I lived in "southern Ireland".

I think they were wrong here and that any prepaid card would work, or it would be quite easy for me to get access to a UK prepaid debit card to use. Fairly sure Prepaid debit cards don't have addresses associated with them.

I quickly went back to the shipper and asked if they would pay the charges and I would reimburse via PayPal. They didn't really understand my point, and never engaged me properly.

After a fair bit of back and forth with DHL I eventually got them to agree to email me about the issue, the next email I received simply had their bank account details included for me to use as payment and I was able to transfer the money over. Finally, I don't know why it took so many calls to get to that point, perhaps they were just helping me out and this is something outside the norm for them.

Anyway, short story is: don't order to ParcelMotel NI unless you are sure VAT, duty, customs will be paid by shipper in advance as you might struggle to pay the charges otherwise. I don't know how this would have worked out if it was Royal Mail who I owed the charges too directly.

slimjimmc

This 'heads up' thread is probably more suited to the Online Buying & Auctions forum. Moved.

nava

MOD: Threads merged with main PM thread

Rayne Wooney

Strange one here I haven't used parcel motel in months and I got an email earlier saying a parcel has arrived in the Dublin depot, there's an image attached and it looks like a large envelope from Amazon. I go onto Amazon and check to see if I accidentally ordered something but nothing there, log into parcel motel and see I've been charged the usual fee for receiving a parcel

One of my additional addresses on Amazon is the parcel motel one in Antrim, could it be a case of Amazon sending out promotional stuff to that address?

Curb Your Enthusiasm

Same thing happened to me! Somebody elses parcel. Despite not even having my name or PMID on the parcel! PM are a balls of an operation.

recipio

Been there and done that. Its a major pain trying to pay customs charges to the UK because of the credit card issue and you have to go to a Post Office to do a money transfer under 3k ( or so BOI told me ) The moral is stick to Paypal in future if possible.
Incidentally I bought something off Amazon.com in the US ( to my home address ) and despite paying shipping was caught by a FedEx bill for customs and vat -- curiously from the UK. The trick here is to wait a few weeks as the FedEx website is terrible with no online payment facilities. They will pass the bill along to a collector in the UK who have excellent online IT for payment.
With the exchange rate I've pretty well given up buying in the US but I would only do it again using USPS - they seem a bit lax with customs charges.

Xenji

Rayne Wooney wrote: »

Strange one here I haven't used parcel motel in months and I got an email earlier saying a parcel has arrived in the Dublin depot, there's an image attached and it looks like a large envelope from Amazon. I go onto Amazon and check to see if I accidentally ordered something but nothing there, log into parcel motel and see I've been charged the usual fee for receiving a parcel

One of my additional addresses on Amazon is the parcel motel one in Antrim, could it be a case of Amazon sending out promotional stuff to that address?

I randomly received an empty box from Amazon a few years back, had all my details on it, but I had not ordered anything and there was nothing in the box when I opened it.

styron

Rayne Wooney wrote: »

Strange one here I haven't used parcel motel in months and I got an email earlier saying a parcel has arrived in the Dublin depot, there's an image attached and it looks like a large envelope from Amazon. I go onto Amazon and check to see if I accidentally ordered something but nothing there, log into parcel motel and see I've been charged the usual fee for receiving a parcel

One of my additional addresses on Amazon is the parcel motel one in Antrim, could it be a case of Amazon sending out promotional stuff to that address?

Contact PM and tell them it's unsolicited/promo and they'll reimburse you.

Rayne Wooney

Are those images PM send you now just generic photos, I feel cheated I thought it was a cool new feature

I'll go down to the PM tomorrow and see what it is, here's hoping they mistakenly sent my loads of vouchers

Rayne Wooney

Turns out Amazon sent me two things, two small envelope packages. Got an email for the second one this morning and the fee has been deducted again from PM

The first one I collected this morning and it was a PlayStation 4 controller "skin". Presumably because I bought a ps4 off amazon last year is the only thing I can think of, I don't see anywhere on the site where I can opt out of this free stuff. I assume the second parcel is going to be the same junk. Will have to get on to both PM and Amazon

WildCardDoW

recipio wrote: »

Been there and done that. Its a major pain trying to pay customs charges to the UK because of the credit card issue and you have to go to a Post Office to do a money transfer under 3k ( or so BOI told me ) The moral is stick to Paypal in future if possible.
Incidentally I bought something off Amazon.com in the US ( to my home address ) and despite paying shipping was caught by a FedEx bill for customs and vat -- curiously from the UK. The trick here is to wait a few weeks as the FedEx website is terrible with no online payment facilities. They will pass the bill along to a collector in the UK who have excellent online IT for payment.
With the exchange rate I've pretty well given up buying in the US but I would only do it again using USPS - they seem a bit lax with customs charges.

I paid via AIB Online Banking via an International Transfer. To do this cost €15 but I still made savings on the device I bought luckily.

Toxica

So, I got a text from PM telling me there was insufficient funds on my account for a parcel that had come in and asking me to top up, if I make sure there is enough on the credit/debit card linked to my account will they try charging that again or do I really have to top up via my PM account? I had actually left enough on there but the item must be slightly oversized as it was €7 they wanted.

Also will it still arrive the next day at the local depot even though there was insufficient funds?

I need to return a laptop battery I bought with Parcel Motel on eBay. Are PM like An Post and have a prohibition against laptop batteries?

styron

Deleted User wrote: »

I need to return a laptop battery I bought with Parcel Motel on eBay. Are PM like An Post and have a prohibition against laptop batteries?

Not on the list ... looks safe enough to give it a go, even if opened.