Mavic Care Refresh & UK Customs

[triffid]

Am UK based pilot who made a stupid mistake which required use of Mavic Care Refresh who are based in Holland. Brilliant service and replacement drone arrived in six working days so DJI certainly delivered on that.

However all UK users should be warned that, due to Brexit, the replacement drone is liable to UK import duties, which in my case, topped £90 with brokerage charges.

 

[THE CYBORG]

Why should you have to pay import duties for a replacement ? You already paid the duties when it was new.
Technically it is not a replacement, you are simply returning the drone to the country of purchase after a repair not importing one.

 

[ZenSamurai]

Hello Triffid
I've used Care Refresh for my Mini 2 just a few days ago, also UK based, so had to ship it to the Netherlands. But I did not pay any duty or customs charges. Did you follow the instructions from DJI on how to ship it? No duties apply.

The following text is copied from the DJI website instruction for posting -
3. If you are in a non-EU country, you need to write "Defective Component - No Commercial Value" on the invoice and send the invoice with your products.

If you have followed this step, there should not be any charges..

You can follow my post HERE

Regards

 

[triffid]

Hello Triffid
I've used Care Refresh for my Mini 2 just a few days ago, also UK based, so had to ship it to the Netherlands. But I did not pay any duty or customs charges. Did you follow the instructions from DJI on how to ship it? No duties apply.

The following text is copied from the DJI website instruction for posting -
3. If you are in a non-EU country, you need to write "Defective Component - No Commercial Value" on the invoice and send the invoice with your products.

If you have followed this step, there should not be any charges..

You can follow my post HERE

Regards

The duty was charged on the return of the drone to the UK so was based on the paperwork supplied by DJI when they did the shipping. I did approach DJI but they stated it was the UK post Brexit regulations but from your posting it is clear that there was a bureaucratic ****-up.

What exactly happened was that having been told by DJI that they had shipped the drone, I then got a pre-delivery note from courier UPS stating that they were going to deliver the next day but required the £90 up front. At this point any delay in payment would probably resulted in UPS shipping the drone back to Holland so I had no choice but to pay.

Given the monolithic structures or organisations like HMCR and UPS with hours spent waiting for somebody (who will never have any authority to solve the problem) who will merely refer you to another department, I think I can regard my £90 as lost.

However let us hope that DJI are reading this and will take note that their mistake cost a customer £90.

Cheers

 

[triffid]

Why should you have to pay import duties for a replacement ? You already paid the duties when it was new.
Technically it is not a replacement, you are simply returning the drone to the country of purchase after a repair not importing one.

Agreed! You will see I have made a more detailed reply to another response. Really this issue is casued by DJI's incorrect paperwork so let others be warned.

 

[ZenSamurai]

The duty was charged on the return of the drone to the UK so was based on the paperwork supplied by DJI when they did the shipping. I did approach DJI but they stated it was the UK post Brexit regulations but from your posting it is clear that there was a bureaucratic ****-up.

What exactly happened was that having been told by DJI that they had shipped the drone, I then got a pre-delivery note from courier UPS stating that they were going to deliver the next day but required the £90 up front. At this point any delay in payment would probably resulted in UPS shipping the drone back to Holland so I had no choice but to pay.

Given the monolithic structures or organisations like HMCR and UPS with hours spent waiting for somebody (who will never have any authority to solve the problem) who will merely refer you to another department, I think I can regard my £90 as lost.

However let us hope that DJI are reading this and will take note that their mistake cost a customer £90.

Cheers

I am sorry to hear that :/ If we start to dig, we'll probably end up in politics talk

I also had an argument with DJI, about payment, they have a contract with PayPal, basically, when you try to buy something from their website with a debit card, they decline your card on purpose and force you to use PayPal, illegal of course, but they'll never admit it.

Anyways, let's look it from the bright side, you have a drone back, so I wish you many accident-free flying and memorable moments to follow

 

[maelstrom]

This is the official UK government information:

Using outward processing to process or repair your goods

Find out what you can do with your goods when they are being processed or repaired using outward processing.

www.gov.uk

 

[triffid]

This is the official UK government information:

Using outward processing to process or repair your goods

Find out what you can do with your goods when they are being processed or repaired using outward processing.

www.gov.uk

Thank you very much indeed for that link but actually I think it reads as if duty is payable.
There is clearly a grey area as it whilst it states that
"You do not have to pay duty on goods that have been repaired or replaced free of charge under a guarantee"

it goes on to say that
"You do have to pay duty if a repair is made under a service contract or warranty that you've paid for. This is because the cost is considered part of the overall value of your goods"

As one pays extra for the Care & Refresh cover it would seem to me that duty is payable.

Clearly one for the lawyers

 

[maelstrom]

As one pays extra for the Care & Refresh cover it would seem to me that duty is payable.

There was a post made last month by @dawgpilot which may be of help:

Import Tax into UK from DJI Netherlands for repairs?

There is typically paperwork that you can file when you originally ship the item outside of the UK to make it "duty exempt". For example: Returning Imported Goods For Repair - Import & Export - How - Procurement - Help on - Information for Staff - Finance - The University of Sheffield

mavicpilots.com

 

[triffid]

There was a post made last month by @dawgpilot which may be of help:

Import Tax into UK from DJI Netherlands for repairs?

There is typically paperwork that you can file when you originally ship the item outside of the UK to make it "duty exempt". For example: Returning Imported Goods For Repair - Import & Export - How - Procurement - Help on - Information for Staff - Finance - The University of Sheffield

mavicpilots.com

Thank you for that suggestion. I was perhaps rather naive in that I presumed that DJI knew what they were doing and I used the shipping forms which they sennt me when I reported the damaged drone to them. Clearly they need to take heed of your advice so it would be good to have some indication from DJI that they are taking note of your suggestion and will amend their procedures to ensure that in future people do not get incorrectly charged in the way that I was.

So DJI - can you please indicate that you have followed this thread as it directly affects your customers.

 

[slup]

...So DJI - can you please indicate that you have followed this thread as it directly affects your customers.

This forum have no affiliation to DJI ... if you want to get heard, head over to their own forum here --> DJI FORUM