I have a friend who sent the back axle of his camping car to the UK for repair, by carrier, as it was not possible to find someone to undertake the work in France.
FEDEX sent him an invoice for €620 to cover TVA etc.
He has paid in full, with proof of payment showing on his bank information.
Now he has received a “reminder” saying that he has he should pay up or go to court. hmmmm.
He has repeatedly sent (electronically) proof of payment, it seems impossible to talk to a human. AI???
However, FEDEX don’t seem to want to believe him.
That is the simple version.
My question today is there the equivalent to The Citizens Advice Bureau here in France who can converse in English and give advice on how to proceed.
Or if not an organisation, an individual with experience in how to go forward with such things.
Obviously, if he employed an advocate etc. he will incur costs.
France Services - try local website, Google or via Mairie to find nearest one.
I’m actually surprised he is having to pay VAT - I believe there is a particular way of sending something for repair, that means it can be repatriated without being subject to VAT.
If he can’t get Fedex to sort it then I believe next step would be médiateur, Fedex and/or the industry would have one, or final step complaint to Répression des Fraudes DGCRF.
But I doubt it needs to go further than Fedex sorting themselves out. I presume he’s called their Customer Services with details of the payment?
I appreciate that the question of this thread is not about VAT per se, but maybe worth asking - this £620, what exactly does it cover VAT-wise? I ask as it sounds exhorbently high for a diff re-build (I am surprised that a diff cannot be rebuilt in France though…they are not rocket science.)
The process for sending something to the UK for repair and back again comes under the customs terms ‘outward and inward processing’ where the courier takes the diff to the UK repair facility who repairs the diff free of UK VAT, and notifies Fedex to collect, deliver back to the originator via the French Douane who levy the TVA on the repair and return carriage only.
I am surprised at Fedex being so stupid in demanding payment. I have used them and found them quite efficient, albeit very hands off.
So as UK and French VAT % is close enough, if the send had been processed as ‘outward and inward processing’ then the VAT payable on its return to France would be close enough to the UK VAT that didn’t need to be paid, plus the VAT on Fedex’s transport costs only?
You are correct, it’s not really an issue about paying the money, as you said, it appears that UK VAT was not charged on the repair. So the amount is not in question.
I’ve since seen the FEDEX invoice, giving an IBAN for payment.
Payment is confirmed to this IBAN on a screenshot from Revolut.
The second invoice however has a slightly different IBAN, There’s a zero that is not in the original.
In all other aspects the information on the invoices is identical.
My friend (truly this is not me), has sent copies of these to the FEDEX help desk on 4 or 5 occasions, he can’t get to speak to a human, each time he gets an automated reply, allocating a different case reference number.
Lately he has received a notice that legal action may be taken against him.
This worries him, understandably.
To my mind there are two possibilities,
FEDEX system has an error.
There’s something fishy going on.
He’s looking for preferably free guidance, as how to resolve the situation.
I don’t supppse the link he paid on could have been a scam link? Awful idea but who knows.
Fedex has a number popping up on Google that’s chargeable. I presume if charged it’s genuine? (Setting aside the legalities of this number being chargeable.)
Also if language is an issue has he tried their UK or US numbers? Quite a lot of tracking info is normally visible across countries in courier firms - some countries actually serm to give destinatee more info than others on the same tracking number.
If the second IBAN with the additional zero is the correct one then I can imagine his money has not gone to the correct account and is probably ‘lost’, hopefully on a temporary basis. This will be why FedEx haven’t been paid and are becoming difficult, though it’s no excuse for them not to have a human contact point with whom it might be more quickly explained and sorted.
Knowing almost nothing about French banks, I think he needs to contact his bank as a matter of urgency, to see if the missing payment can be recovered, and also to get what I assume is a legit invoice paid.
IBANs include check digits - an incorrect IBAN should have been rejected.
The format in France is:
Country code - FR
2 check digits
5 bank identifier digits
5 branch identifier digits
11 account number digits
2 digit RIB key - second set of check digits for when the IBAN is used as an RIB without the country code and initial check digits.
So, too many characters or a wrong character should be picked up.
There’s a zero that is not in the original.