Company Thinks It Can Get Away With Hidden Costs Until One Father Proves Them Very Wrong
Interview With Author
Stories where companies take advantage of customers never get old. Especially when the customers get sweet, sweet revenge. Who doesn’t like a nice case of “sticking it to the Man?” So, following this tradition, here’s another story of how a savvy customer dealt with an entitled company.
The Redditor predtech posted his tale of retribution on the r/ProRevenge subreddit. It all started quite innocently – with ordering a Christmas gift for his son. When the gift arrived, however, the parents saw some extra customs charges that weren’t there when they placed the order. Not willing to let anyone ruin his little boy’s Christmas or walk over his rights as a customer, the OP turned to social media to get some justice.
- Customer fights back against undisclosed fees using social media.
- Brexit-related changes lead to unexpected customs charges for the Irish.
- Consumer Rights Act requires clear disclosure of fees which was violated.
- Story goes viral, encouraging others to stand up for consumer rights.
Luckily, Bored Panda was able to have a chat with the OP. The Redditor kindly told us more about his motivation and what Irish customers should be aware of when ordering from a British retail site. Read our short interview with him below!
Ordering gifts online might seem like an easier, stress-free version of holiday shopping
Image credits: Karolina Grabowska / pexels (not the actual photo)
But when this man ordered his son an Xmas gift online, the company tried to charge him an extra fee for customs
Image credits: gpointstudio / envato (not the actual photo)
Image credits: Vlada Karpovich / pexels (not the actual photo)
The OP hopes his story will inspire others to fight for their consumer rights
Image credits: Alex Green / pexels (not the actual photo)
Bored Panda had a short chat with the author of this post. The user predtech told us he didn’t expect this kind of attention. “I’m surprised this story has gotten so much attention on Reddit alone, but I’m happy people like it and hopefully it can help a few people along the way,” the OP tells us.
From the way he dealt with the company, it seems that this is not OP’s first rodeo. But he tells us this is his first time calling out a big company publicly. “I don’t usually call out companies on their BS but I’ll be damned if I’ll let anyone walk all over my family,” the Redditor reiterates what he already wrote in his original post. “My son’s opinion of Santa and Christmas is far more valuable to me than the opinions of a multi-million-pound company.
In this case, the OP used LinkedIn, but he agrees that other social media platforms can help customers hold companies accountable. With a few conditions, of course. “It takes a little ingenuity to weaponize it,” the OP says. “In this case, I took LinkedIn and used it to single out as many senior officers as I could find. It was easier to find those guys thanks to the way LinkedIn is structured.”
predtech encourages other people not to be afraid to do what he did. “I would advise people in similar situations to just value your money and time more than these companies do,” the Redditor says. “They think because they are so big, that regular people like us can’t actually reach the heights of the real people that can make a real change. Don’t be afraid to think of ways to put them, and their actions, in the public light.”
Thanks to Brexit, the Irish have to pay import taxes when buying from a UK website
Image credits: Kindel Media / pexels (not the actual photo)
We were curious to know more about why an Irish person has to pay additional customs charges if the retailer ships their item from the UK. As an Irish person and being very well-informed about his consumer rights, the OP explained some of it to us.
“It’s usually obvious that you’re purchasing from a UK company based off the domain of the site (.co.uk vs .ie), so when you’re on an English website, you expect to have to pay import taxes thanks to Brexit, and they are roughly one-third of the total purchase price plus the shipping cost. Yeah, the Irish government likes to stick their hands as far down into your pockets as they can reach!” the OP adds with a dash of sarcasm.
In this case, the OP and his wife ordered the present for their son from a British company. The catch is that this company also has many stores in Ireland, but they have a separate website for Ireland and its customers. “So we don’t have to pay any import taxes on anything purchased from an Irish website, as per the law here,” the OP tells Bored Panda.
“When they decided to ship from the UK and not inform us of any pending charges in order to actually receive the item, they violated our rights,” the OP explained further. “I despise bullies and anyone that walks all over, or attempts to browbeat, anybody that they see as helpless, indefensible, or less than themselves.”
The Irish 2022 Consumer Rights Act protects the rights of the consumer in such cases. It states that retailers must inform consumers about any extra fees, such as customs tax. This applies to all delivery costs and restrictions: “The seller must give you information about the total cost of the order in a clear and understandable way. This must include information about extra unavoidable costs such as delivery or postal charges and arrangements for delivery.”
In his original post, predtech mentioned that “there was nothing saying we’d have to pay import charges” at the checkout screen. This is a violation of customers’ rights on the company’s part. The legal requirements state that “for products bought at a distance (that is online, by phone or away from the business premises), you [as a customer] must get this information by the time you get to the payment stage, at the very latest. A seller cannot charge you extra without your explicit agreement.”
“These people made a decision to not care about our rights, then ignored three days worth of polite requests to have the issue resolved, and then finally they tried to hide their wrongdoings when it was thrown into the public light. I simply wasn’t having that and I took action the best way I could think of,” the OP explains his motivation.
The OP’s strategy impressed many commenters and prompted them to share their stories
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So sick of getting a notice that my package is being held hostage in customs until I pay the ransom for stamp duty when I was led ro believe it was coming from ireland. Its bad enough having to buy from the UK since BREXIT, avoid it now as much as I can due to the additional duty.
So sick of getting a notice that my package is being held hostage in customs until I pay the ransom for stamp duty when I was led ro believe it was coming from ireland. Its bad enough having to buy from the UK since BREXIT, avoid it now as much as I can due to the additional duty.
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