[briandear]

If it makes you feel any better UPS in France does that to me all the time. It isn't the carriers -- it's the protectionist tax schemes of the EU. I once had a replacement wheel for a kid's stroller sent to me in France from the US. The wheel cost $20, and I had to pay $35 in import duties -- despite that part being unavailable anywhere outside of the US.

Blame the government, not FedEx.

[invaliduser]

If you live in France, it seems that UPS made you pay abusively the custom duties (not due if the value of the package is below 150€). You should only have paid for the VAT, which tops at 20%. http://www.douane.gouv.fr/articles/a10753-achats-a-distance-...

Also, I got a delivery by UPS in France once, and they made me pay the custom duties (which was fine, for a parcel valued at 400€), but also added their own «paperwork fees» that were as high as the custom duties, and were pretty much unexpected.

[HugoDaniel]

FedEx (and apparently UPS) do this without any type of warning, they are probably exploiting some loophole in the law to be able to do it. They can't expect happy reactions from their customers. I blame them for doing it without proper communication and also anyone that plays along with them without providing proper alternatives after knowing that they do this kind of stuff.

That is not the way business should be done. There should be a social responsibility part in every company. Extorting money goes against that.

[smsm42]

Are you sure the money actually goes to Fedex? From the description it looks like the money goes to customs, which is a government agency. In that case, it's not clear why you're angry with Fedex, which pretty much has no choice but to charge whatever the government tell them to charge.

[HugoDaniel]

I called customs, talked to them, they don't apply fees to educational books. They released it free of charge but only to be picked by the entity with the paper for it. FedEx had that paper and they would only pick it up with 50EUR on their pockets. I argued that i could pick it up from customs myself and pay whatever taxes if i had the paper in my name instead. They said the 50EUR charge would be for the pickup paper and not for the package itself, that is why it was not charged by the sender. They threatened that if the money was not paid the package would return to sender (i have these emails and could send them to you if you want).

This story is not only mine but the same story for all the individuals who ordered stuff through FedEx that i have contacted here.

[smsm42]

Wow that looks like extremely shady practice.