Dozens of Arnotts shoppers have faced extra taxes and handling charges after buying shoes on the Dublin-based department store’s website this year.
The Irish Times reports that Brexit-related teething problems have been blamed for the charges.
Up to 100 customers were contacted by delivery company DHL following their online orders, and informed that their purchases had attracted taxes and charges as they were coming from the UK.
One customer received a text message from DHL seeking an additional €41.80 to cover “import duty/tax and advance fee” after she ordered a pair of Kurt Geiger shoes and a skirt for a total of €130. The skirt arrived without any problems.
A spokeswoman for Arnotts confirmed up to 100 people who had made online purchases had been asked to pay additional taxes and handling charges by a delivery company, but this was an administrative error and no money was due.
Reimbursed
“There is no additional VAT on any Arnotts.ie purchases for goods ordered online,” the spokeswoman told The Irish Times.
“Unfortunately, due to an administrative error last week a small number of Arnotts customers who ordered shoes online were incorrectly requested to pay additional charges. These customers will be fully reimbursed for any additional charges incurred.”
Most of the stock sold on the Arnotts website is stored in warehouses in Ireland, with a small percentage – which lead to the charge confusion - held in the UK.
DHL said a third-party vendor had quoted it “the incorrect shipping terms in declaring the shipments to DHL, which resulted in VAT being incorrectly applied to the shipments on importation into Ireland”.
