Bought from HK and now can't return, anything I can do?

[Feasty]

So I've been looking for a smart watch for a while, and ended up buying one from Curry's but it turns out the watch was faulty. I contacted the watch company directly and they suggest I buy direct from them as it was cheaper and the watches are newer too.
So, got my refund from Curry's and ordered direct from the company, which turns out are in Hong Kong. Watch arrives and turns out it's pretty crap, alerts are so faint I can't hear or feel them and it keeps disconnecting/connecting. I asked for a refund but just got told it won't be worth the cost of the P&p back. Their website states returns go to a U.S address so I requested this happen anyway so I can work out the P&p costs for myself - but they haven't been back to me about that since.

Today I received a tax/duty bill from FedEx for the delivery of the watch! Now I'm really pissed, all the company say is that it's in their terms and conditions on the website - but it's not clear, and they never mentioned this when highlighting it was free P&p in the beginning.

I paid via PayPal from a debit card, but it seems I can only raise an issue through PayPal if the item is faulty or significantly different than described.
Is there any other way I can get any of my money back? And do I just have to pay the duty fees and suck it up as an experience never to be repeated?

This was a birthday present so I'm just well pissed now, any help is much appreciated!
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Previous: Aprilia Habana Retro 50cc (beauty), Yamaha SR125 (fell apart), Honda XR125 (nippy little commuter), Honda SLR650 (Geewhizz), Yamaha Diversion 900S (Smoooooth) written off courtesy of a stupid escaped horse.
(7 year gap), BMW F650 (Relaxing ride). Aprilia Caponord ETV1000 (Big and bold). Yamaha FZS600 (got me in trouble too quick!).
Current: Yamaha TDM 900 (Comfy, light but big, power when needed).

[Ste]

"alerts are so faint I can't hear or feel them and it keeps disconnecting/connecting"

Sounds faulty to me, you should open a dispute on Paypal to get a refund.

[Wonko The Sane]

it won't stay connected to your phone and the alerts don't sound properly = faulty, no?
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[waffles]

The watch sounds faulty, why cant you start a PayPal dispute? You have contacted the company to try to resolve it and they fobbed you off. It is worth making a short video of it connecting and disconnecting then the faint alerts not being visible?

The Fed Ex thing is annoying but that is the import tax, unlike Royal Mail who hold your parcel until you pay Fed Ex deliver anyway and send you a bill a few weeks later. Sometimes you get stung and sometime you dont. Although everything I have ordered from non EU countries recently has had charges slapped on it.
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Theory test - 19/8/09, CBT - 11/10/09, MOD 1 - 16/8/10, MOD 2 - 27/10/10
Past rides Yamaha XT125X, Triumph TT600, Honda XR250
Current rides Suzuki GSXR 600, Honda MSX125

[Feasty]

Hmmm, I wonder if there's a bit of a crackdown on tax/duty payments - I've bought plenty of stuff through Ebay and the likes before from Hong Kong and not paid any extra.

I am wondering about the Paypal dispute thing, I guess they could always go back to Paypal with a copy of the messaging details where I say I'm not keen on the watch can I have a refund in the beginning.
The videoing it will be difficult as the connect/disconnect thing is completely random. I was in the cinema the other night and I noticed it then because the lights on it flashed every now and again when it connected/disconnected and it was dark. Still couldn't feel the vibrate though, I can only feel that if I know it's coming and really feel out for it.
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Previous: Aprilia Habana Retro 50cc (beauty), Yamaha SR125 (fell apart), Honda XR125 (nippy little commuter), Honda SLR650 (Geewhizz), Yamaha Diversion 900S (Smoooooth) written off courtesy of a stupid escaped horse.
(7 year gap), BMW F650 (Relaxing ride). Aprilia Caponord ETV1000 (Big and bold). Yamaha FZS600 (got me in trouble too quick!).
Current: Yamaha TDM 900 (Comfy, light but big, power when needed).

[duhawkz]

Chuck it on ebay/scumtee as an unwanted gift, you might be able to recover a fair bit of cash
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"The guy is a worthless cunt and I honestly believe I would be a slightly happier person if he died." - Chris-Red

[Ste]

Screenshots are easily faked. The HK people aren't going to care enough to go digging through your messages to find something to send to Paypal. Paypal aren't going to care even if the HK did send them some possibly fake screenshots which don't change the fact that the watch is faulty. You don't need to make a video of the faulty watch, just start a Paypal dispute and you'll get your money back.

There isn't a crackdown on custom duties. Most of the time stuff arrives without a bill but it's just the luck of the draw.

[Speedy2007]

Ste's absolutely right. Also there's a thread on Consumer Action Group about the import tax/admin charges. Someone there reckons that he's never paid them and the companies won't risk any court action as they may lose and it may ruin their uncontracted game.

In other words it's a semi-legal try on that they don't want to rock the boat over.

[-]

[M.C]

[Feasty]

I've been doing a little more research and it seems I do have to pay the tax costs of the item, but I don't have to pay any added admin fees FedEx like to add to it.
I don't have the paperwork with me right now, but I'm guessing this is why a £50 item has a £20 duty cost - far higher than it should be if the duty cost was just tax. And it is labelled as a gift, but apparently you still have to pay tax.
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Previous: Aprilia Habana Retro 50cc (beauty), Yamaha SR125 (fell apart), Honda XR125 (nippy little commuter), Honda SLR650 (Geewhizz), Yamaha Diversion 900S (Smoooooth) written off courtesy of a stupid escaped horse.
(7 year gap), BMW F650 (Relaxing ride). Aprilia Caponord ETV1000 (Big and bold). Yamaha FZS600 (got me in trouble too quick!).
Current: Yamaha TDM 900 (Comfy, light but big, power when needed).

[M.C]

So apparently it's:
- gifts worth more than £39
- other goods worth more than £15

So labelling as a 'gift' can help but not in this case.

[Feasty]

I've looked into this more and discovered FedEx charged me an admin fee of £12 for delivering the item, and then the tax charge was £8 something on top.
However since I don't have a contract with FedEx and wasn't given the choice to turn the item away and reject the payment, it's not legally binding. I wrote them an email to this effect and now only have to pay the tax owed - which I'm fine with.


Since then I've recently sent the item back to the warehouse - which has a returns address in the U.S. So it doesn't cost too much to send back and makes it worthwhile getting a refund.

Unfortunately, I made a bit of a fuck up at the same time and mentioned to the post office the pack doesn't have a battery in it. I've only just remembered I did remove the battery but then put it back in again just before packing it up - I thought I'd left it out!
Is it a big deal and likely to get messy? It's only a watch in a pack with one of those tiny batteries in it so it can't be that much of a deal can it?
____________________
Previous: Aprilia Habana Retro 50cc (beauty), Yamaha SR125 (fell apart), Honda XR125 (nippy little commuter), Honda SLR650 (Geewhizz), Yamaha Diversion 900S (Smoooooth) written off courtesy of a stupid escaped horse.
(7 year gap), BMW F650 (Relaxing ride). Aprilia Caponord ETV1000 (Big and bold). Yamaha FZS600 (got me in trouble too quick!).
Current: Yamaha TDM 900 (Comfy, light but big, power when needed).

[Ste]

If you've returned it then you can get your import duty monies back from HMRC.

Don't worry too much about the battery.

How's the Paypal dispute progressing?