Brexit: tell us your consumer concerns

This would seem to be just the same as personal imports from anywhere else in the world and a known result of leaving the EU.

I agree. This was well flagged-up as a consequence of leaving the single market. We can’t have it both ways.

Some people grudgingly accept the customs charges and/or taxes imposed on imports but resent the fees due to the carriers for collection and remittance of them to HMRC. Such transactions require time and administration both of which cost companies money for no profit.

I think it is good that the Government have acted to restrict tax avoidance by GB consumers if they shop mail order anywhere overseas.

But I’m still waiting to see if the Government will do any to combat tax avoidance by large multinationals.

Some consumers may also find that these new arrangements now restrict their available choices as Internet shoppers. I’ve seen several recent examples of both US and EU firms that will no longer directly supply UK consumers, because the new rules require too much effort for little return on their part.

It would be interesting to see what essential items are involved that cannot be purchased through a normal retail channel.

Malcolm, I expect that the majority of GB consumers will still be able to buy what they need.

But I cannot help but think that reducing consumer choice and increasing prices are anything but disbenefits of Brexit.

Yes. I’d like to see a popular move towards this. Good for the economy and good for jobs. Maybe Which? could promote decent UK made products in their news items and reviews.
I don’t remember seeing anything essential when people complained about the extra costs of importing goods from the USA but I may have missed them.

Personally, I am all in favour of buying from GB firms whenever I can.

But sometimes, specialist items are not available at competitive prices or even at all from GB suppliers.

Pre-Brexit, one example was a replacement UK style keyboard for a Acer laptop that I was repairing. The nearest supllier to me was in Poland. Once ordered, their product reached me very swiftly, faster than the typical speed from UK suppliers.

For me, the cost of essential spares does affect the sustainability of items. I do like to be able to repair items, but only if I can obtain spares at sensible prices.

In the past, I have come across quite a few who have made personal imports from the USA “because of rip off Britain”. In such cases, UK prices in pounds were often the same as USA prices in dollars and a strong pound favoured the economics of such trades.

As far as I know the only item I have bought directly from a foreign seller was a spare part for a generator belonging to a charity I’m a member of. It cost £4.60 from a Chinese seller. Had I bought the part from a UK source it would have cost between four and five times as much. There are limits.

I take Derek’s point about sustainability and in the case I have referred to the cost of the spare part from the UK seller would be almost as much as our society had paid for the generator, which is old but is now in good working order. The alternative would have been to scrap it.

The NHS is a huge spender on equipment, supplies and provisions. I should like to think that there is a big enough market there to enable UK industry to produce most of its requirements and avoid outsourcing from far away places. Let the construction of forty new hospitals [or whatever the latest number is] be the opportunity for decent-sized contracts that give our own companies the incentive to develop apparatus and products that meet the needs of the service at an economical price. This will boost the economy and also open up export opportunities around the world. We might have to be dependent on foreign supplies of many pharmaceuticals because it is a rarefied market with lots of restrictive licensing protocols, but our scientists and home manufacturers are world-renowned in innovation and high-quality production lacking only the scale to compete against other producers globally. Outside pharmaceuticals, there is an enormous range of requirements in hospitals, laboratories and other health establishments for everyday and specialist material and we should ensure this purchasing power benefits our own economy first.

I am not clear why you would expect VAT to be levied at all on personal possessions. It never happened to me in non- EU countries. You don’t expect to pay vat on your clothing, car, camera etc. Have I missed something?

Hi Malcolm r,
Have you taken high-value personal belongings with you to an EU country since 1st January 2021? I guess not given the current restrictions on travel. The UK Government guidance states that VAT will be charged on goods (above a value of a few hundred quid, I forget the exact figure) purchased in the EU when returning to the UK but how will they differentiate between what I brought with me and what I may have purchased in France? The same applies when entering France. It could be chaos!

Hi again Malcolm,
Cars / vehicles (but I guess not trailers, caravans, boats etc) are OK if they are registered in the UK, you take your registration (or equivalent proof of ownership) with you, and you stay in the EU for no more than 6 months.

If they are high-priced items, you will have receipts showing when and where they were purchased.

Or you could take photos of them at your home to prove you owned them in the UK.

Can’t see what the problem is and no different than the rest of the world.

No. I was interested in the principle, since travellers have often taken fairly high value goods abroad – cameras, for example. I presume the safe way is to ensure you have proof of purchase to avoid any imposition of vat (and duty).

Conventional wisdom would suggest that having receipts for high-value personal belongings should be sufficient. The operative word here is “should”. There is no government guidance on this so holidaymakers will be at the mercy of the vrious border officials. It is important because the difference here (compared with travelling on holiday to non-EU destinations which will usually be by air and so the amount of belongings you can take is limited) is that you can take your car or van to France and other EU countries with a large quantity of personal belongings – mountain bikes, scuba gear, skiing gear, canoes, speed boat, touring caravan! This, together with evidence that the EU and UK border officials don’t really know what to do in cases like this, could lead to a very undesirable situation for holidaymakers in the potentially near future.
The bottom line is that our Government needs to publish advice and to do so in consultation with the EU so that everyone including the relevant border officials know what to do.

Hi Em,
We don’t have a trade deal with India but we do with the EU so it is our Government’s responsibility to provide guidance. It is also very clearly our Government’s responsibility to provide guidance on what to do when returning to the UK from the EU with personal belongings so people know what they need to present to YK border officials. Like you, I have never had a problem with taking stuff to / from France in the past but things are different now as we are not in the EU and we are not part of the EU Customs Union.
Having receipts for personal belongings is always a good idea but we do not currently know if this alone will be sufficient for both the French and the UK border officials when going on holiday to France. We need to know.

Hi Peter – You have statutory rights against the retailer: https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/advice/what-do-i-do-if-i-have-a-faulty-product-aTTEK2g0YuEy In most of the UK you have six years in which to make a claim regarding faulty goods. Elsewhere in the EU the period is generally two years, I believe. Most retailers are not good at telling their customers they have statutory rights.

You could get advice about your legal options by joining Which? Legal, even if you are not a subscriber.

Peter – You wrote that you have a dispute with the manufacturer. Is it not possible to resolve it with the retailer as Wavechange has suggested? If you are seeking a financial remedy you can make a court claim against the company. It is cheap and easy to do yourself and can involve a mediation process similar to an Ombudsman’s consideration.

As both wavechange and John have indicated when you purchase a product you enter into a contract with the seller, usually the retailer. So when you have a problem with a product it is the seller who is legally responsible for dealing with it. That is what the Consumer Rights Act 2015 is there for. You can choose to go direct to the manufacturer if you want to exercise their guarantee offering of course. That is what the consumer can do.

So if you have not already done so I suggest you approach the retailer with your problem. Which? give advice on your CRA rights.

Not completely in my case.

But I don’t think we can easily distinguish between the effects of covid and the effects of Brexit right now.

Also, how’s our new Irish Sea border coming along?

And who is going to pay for the costs of all the extra red tape that businesses now face?