Import duties when buying ezcooldown product as UK based customer
I experienced clear and efficient communication and customer service from ezcooldown (who are based in the Netherlands) when buying a cooling vest from this company. The cooling vest is good quality and the cooling gel packs work well for approximately 2.5hrs in my experience (a hybrid 8 cell vest). However, in addition to shipping costs of £18 charged upfront by ezcooldown for delivery by fedex, I received an additional charge directly from fedex, a couple of week after receipt of the vest, of £57. This was stated to be the import duty owed. Although ezcooldown do state in their terms and conditions that any import duties are the responsibility of the purchaser, this is not flagged on the final purchase page when ordering from ezcooldown. Consequently, it was a significant additional and unexpected expense that I hadn't factored in when deciding to buy the product. It appears that Fedex's policy/practice is to inform you of the charge after delivery, and ezcooldown 's returns policy is such that it seems cost ineffective to return the product. I therefore ended up deciding to keep the vest but it ultimately cost me a significant more than I had originally thought it would. I just wanted to make any UK based customer aware of the import duties.