Just an update on my own personal expirience as outlined above.
Federal extortion passed my case on to a collection agency who sent me a letter.
i then contacted them via email. telling them i would not pay it.
they said that it was a tax invoice and i had no choice about it.
I told them that i never recived any tax invoice, and IF federal extortion belived i owed them money they should have requested it before delivering the item. I went on to point out if they had told me about any extra charges such as those I would have refuzed delivery and they would have had to return it at cost. and that i would have had my inital payment refunded.
I went on to tell them that they waited untill after the statutory 2 week cooling off period when i could have returned the item to claim that i owed them money, and that when i pointed this out to federal express they referd the issue to the debt collection agency.
I told them if they would return the item to the sender like federal express would have had to If they had mentioned any costs at the time, and that i would get my full purchace price refunded then i would happily pay the fee.
i also told them any other course of action would be pointless and if they wanted to get £20 out of me that they should take me to the county court and we could see what a judge thinks about the situation. I tehn appologized to them that federal express had lumberd them with a debt they had no possible chance of re-gaining and bid them a good day.
So far it has been over a month. and no more phone calls emails or letters regarding the matter.
I dont know whether they decided i was right or if they simply said this guy is going to make it a nightmare to get a measly £20 lets just forget it.
Either way it seems to be the end of the issue.
and federal extortion can shove it sideways. i wont ever order an item that uses them as a courier nor will i ever send anything with them. I really doubt they care. but as far as im concernd its chalk 1 up to the little guy. take that ludicrous charges!