An Post returning packages from outside the EU-See 1st post

See post # 1351.

Mistakes do happen in business though it's obviously particularly upsetting and irritating when you're on the wrong end of it. What you do expect when an error is made is:

• An apology
• Suitable compensation
• Root cause analysis
• Remedial action to mitigate the risk of a repeat incidence

Very little of the above seems to be taking place in respect of reported errors by An Post in this thread such as seeking CN23s when not required, charging VAT to parcels due for return and completely erroneous returns such as your case.

Would it be safe to assume An Post have realised they've been fecking up and now doing damage control - why would the parcel have Return to Sender on it and then still be delivered?

I think majority here would agree. Remedial action to mitigate the risk of a repeat incidence is definitely top of my list.

A common claim in the An Post thread is that customs problems are happening only in Ireland. There are three examples in this report of problems in Germany and Austria. There are bound to be thousands of others all around the EU, which would have no reason to be reported in Ireland.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0010wfd

Anyone reading this who intends to use Royal Mail / Parcelforce Worldwide to send parcels from the North to the EU, here's a tip. Go to a NI Post Office who will (should) know that no customs forms are needed. If you book it online the system may decide that you do need customs forms, and that will mean it will join the stream of parcels which have to be presented to Customs in the receiving country. The Berlin case was either the system seeing a UK postcode and by default generating customs forms. Or it could have been human error in GB where many people do not know that NI has remained in the EU Single Market. Of course all your good work could be undone by the bureaucracy of DHL or other courier which the postal service in the receiving country has partnered with.

Received a notice for a VAT charge for something to be delivered. A quick look at a Global Tracking site tells me this has already been returned to the States, while An Post wait for me to pay up.

How long can they expect to keep this sh1t up? 3rd time they have returned something that I could have paid for.

Tell that to the merchants who have specifically stopped selling to Ireland alone or stopped doing non courier shipping here. There's ample examples on twitter and this thread. This is not to say there's zero issues elsewhere but it seems to have been called out by plenty of non-EU merchants that Ireland is highly problematic and the same parcels they issue are making it to other EU states without issue. Do you believe other EU states are behaving broadly similar to Ireland and returning a similar proportion of non-EU originated parcels? How do you explain the merchants who stop sending to Ireland?

Thank you for your email to the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (the CCPC) in relation to your issue with An Post. We apologise for the delay in responding to your query.

In general, where there is a regulator in a sector we would always suggest that you contact them in relation to an issue that may fall within their remit. In this case, as you are aware, the Commission for Communications Regulation (Comreg) may be the most appropriate body to handle your query. Comreg regulates the telecommunications, radio communications and broadcasting sectors as well as postal services in Ireland. We would therefore suggest that you continue to communicate with Comreg regarding the matter.

Contact details for ComReg can be found through the following link: 

https://www.comreg.ie/ 

In addition, as your query relates to Customs duties, your issue falls outside the legislative remit of the CCPC. Customs & Excise fall under Revenue rules, therefore we would suggest that you contact Revenue directly.  

Contact details can be found through the following link:   

https://www.revenue.ie/en/contact-us/index.aspx   

We hope you have found this information useful and we are sorry we could not be of further assistance on this occasion. If you have any further consumer related queries please do not hesitate to contact us on ...

Yours Sincerely, 

I was trying to use that tool in a hope to help with the customs declaration to one retailer whom I was buying radio components from. The problem with the tool is that a concept of non-specific search is not known to it. I was hoping to get a few options as a result for my search for 'electronic components' but the only result I've had, was a 'Door Bell'. Was trying few more specific searches - no results returned. I've given up. Tweeted about it more than a month ago, but as that behaviour is still there, An Post seem to be happy with the way it works..

Hi, When you say add 2 zeroes, I'm presuming you mean to tell the sender to add the zeroes as An Post refuses to let you change anything (unlike pre Brexit when you could)! Has An Post changed the arrangement ?

Thanks!

You know what? I doubt if the vast bulk of the staff at anPost or customs could answer that question. Even with the packet and data in front of them. An automated system rejects your packet, they know or care not why it did. They have no intention of trawling through the fields of data. Computer said no. Good enough for them. It's called belief bias, believing the output of a machine even why your eyes contradict it. Planes have crashed because of this. You wouldn't want those fu***rs writing a system for air traffic control

It looks like the last (tenth) digit is always Zero, but the ninth can vary.

https://www.taricsupport.com/nomenclature/en/9001504990.html

Well there you have it. From a Whistleblower no less. The truth revealed. I was wondering why the official AnPost response constantly referred to 'our partners' so often, followed by the comprehensive list of, em, four. Amazon, boots, river island and M&S. Every other UK and non EU source can go to hell. It's DELIBERATE POLICY, not a glitchy customs process. This is totalitarian behaviour, worthy of Putin or Kim Yong. Our rights to trade with the world, taxes and duties notwithstanding, are being trampled on by unelected autocrats with their own agenda. Is it anti UK? Anti China? Where is the recorded documentary trail that has invoked this Deliberate behaviour, and who signed off on it? I can just SEE the little ba**ards in their civil service bunkers, putting us all in our place, for our own good. It's part of the DNA of the state machinery, started by DeValera, in cahoots with the wizened ayatollah McQuaid, and all the other subsequent moral and behavioural 'influencers' of the time. This attitude has continued right to the present day, and it's not coming from the EU.

A good example of this were the draconian measures agreed against used car imports, with double VAT, punitive emissions penalties, and duty imposed on used UK cars of EU manufacture! The private used car importation market collapsed overnight, leaving us paying through the nose for clapped out indigenous used junk on dealer forecourts. It affects us and Malta alone, and there was no reason to destroy an absolutely necessary trade path, but they did. Why? To teach us a lesson of course, losing the run of ourselves, with self imported decent, affordable, well maintained used vehicles. Back to the status quo of the 60s with you, little man, and leave the car importarion to the well connected cohorts of big smug dealers, in total control again.

This policy of Customs/anPost is no less a similar attempt to crush private importation, and return it to the high markup elite.