Alde Spares

[maingate]

The circulating pump for my heating has been sticking for a little while now so I ordered a spare one from Alde UK. I did this by phone as I wanted to make sure I got the right one with the beefed up motor.

I gave the man my card details and he said it would be on its way the same day (yesterday). It arrived by courier just now and I got quite a surprise when I read the invoice.

The pump is £78 which seems a lot for what it is. The carriage was £10.44 which seems a lot as well. Not only that but they added the pump cost and the carriage cost together for VAT and the total came to over £103.

So, my message is, do not buy direct from Alde but shop around. I have paid much much less for carriage on bulkier and heavier items in the past. I was not given an option on types of delivery so I am assuming that you cannot do this.

I have also now learned to ask about carriage charges before committing to a purchase.

 

[watchthis]

QUOTE
The pump is £78 which seems a lot for what it is. The carriage was £10.44 which seems a lot as well. Not only that but they added the pump cost and the carriage cost together for VAT and the total came to over £103.

Hi there
I think there wrong charging you V.A.T. on the carriage I don't think you can charge this. Might pay you to phone tradeing standards or the revenue poeple...but don't do this unless your own 'book's' are up to date
bye for now
Freddie

 

[Dezi]

Hi, V.A.T. on carriage is dependant on whether Alde is acting purely as an agent of the customer, or is supplying the item directly with no other choice options. Basically it’s a complicated VAT system that we have.
Dezi

 

[biggirafe]

I don't know about the VAT but I work for 1 of the major carriers and can tell you that all our customers get a different rate depending on many factors from what the goods are to how many despatches they send with us, So whilst this sounds alotits not easy to tell whether £10, they may not have a good deal with their carrier.

Quite often our customers charge more for carriage than we charge them, its a sly way of increasing the cost of their goods and making it look like the carrier.

I've been caught out on telephone purchases in the same way and also forgetting to ask if VAT is included in the price, I like buying on line for this reason.

As you say Maingate it pays to ask before you commit to buy

 

[bigboack]

The circulating pump for my heating has been sticking for a little while now so I ordered a spare one from Alde UK. I did this by phone as I wanted to make sure I got the right one with the beefed up motor.

I gave the man my card details and he said it would be on its way the same day (yesterday). It arrived by courier just now and I got quite a surprise when I read the invoice.

The pump is £78 which seems a lot for what it is. The carriage was £10.44 which seems a lot as well. Not only that but they added the pump cost and the carriage cost together for VAT and the total came to over £103.

So, my message is, do not buy direct from Alde but shop around. I have paid much much less for carriage on bulkier and heavier items in the past. I was not given an option on types of delivery so I am assuming that you cannot do this.

I have also now learned to ask about carriage charges before committing to a purchase.

Wasn't CITYLINK was it, I've heard rumours about them being a bit dodgy and employing dodgy geezers also.

 

[maingate]

It was City Link Bigboack.

It is not run by the Mafia is it?

Can I get this thread deleted ASAP please Admin.

 

[bigboack]

I'm saying nothing, I've signed the official secrets act.

 

[Norris]

Couple o' years ago I bought some camera lenses from a chap on ebay. In the auction he said that the goods were in Brighton. When they arrived they came by FedEx and were from America. Fortnight later I got a letter from Fedex telling me I had to pay over £70 import duty and no amount of explaining would get them to collect the money from the sender. He of course had disappeared from ebay, but I took the step of logging him as a "favourite seller". 18 months later he popped up again and he promptly got an email from me. Fair play, he paid the money back to me but I got no apology or explanation. It isn't just the government that is out to rob us!! You have to be on yer guard!!

 

[biggirafe]

Couple o' years ago I bought some camera lenses from a chap on ebay. In the auction he said that the goods were in Brighton. When they arrived they came by FedEx and were from America. Fortnight later I got a letter from Fedex telling me I had to pay over £70 import duty and no amount of explaining would get them to collect the money from the sender. He of course had disappeared from ebay, but I took the step of logging him as a "favourite seller". 18 months later he popped up again and he promptly got an email from me. Fair play, he paid the money back to me but I got no apology or explanation. It isn't just the government that is out to rob us!! You have to be on yer guard!!

This happens alot. if you buy goods from outside the EU on ebay and they look cheap you need to be aware that there might be import duty to pay. Customs of course can not open everything that comes into the country but they will open a % and they will check a % of carriers documentation. If they do then the carrier must pay the duty to customs and then they will claw it back from the receiver who is the person liable for the import duty.
I'm looking at a document on my laptop at the moment that is over 1000 pages and its the abridged version of the import rules so don't ask me what you would have to pay for different things its a minefield

 

[biggirafe]

It was City Link Bigboack.

It is not run by the Mafia is it?

Can I get this thread deleted ASAP please Admin.

If it was Citylink I would be very surprised if they have a con rate of £10 you might want to ask them to explain there carriage charge to you but they can charge whatever they want there is no rule to make them charge you what they are charged by the carrier.
Also remember you have to pay for packaging, In my department I move alot of PC's around the network and the packaging for a full pc incl monitor and foam inserts costs me £5 a time before we put it near a van