A DONEGAL pensioner got more than he bargained for when he recently purchased an electrical fuse online.
The 12 volt fuse, which initially cost £2.91, ended up costing him more than four times that amount when postage, VAT and handling fees were taken into account.
“Something which started out very cheap turned out to be very expensive and, to be honest, I nearly blew a fuse myself before all was said and done,” the retired professional man said this week.
“It’s not the value of the item in this particular case but it just shows how dangerous it can be to now purchase items online from the UK,” he explained.
The pensioner sourced the specialised computer part on eBay from a vendor based in the UK after he had been unable to find a similar product locally.
“The fuse cost me £2.91 and with postage (£2.79) – which I didn’t mind paying – and VAT (£1.31) it came to £7.01.
“This week I received a call from An Post to say that they had the package but I would have to pay anß additional €1.51 in VAT as well as paying An Post a handling fee of €3.50 before they would release it.
“They valued the item at €6.50 and that’s where the additional €1.51 in VAT came from because of Brexit but I can’t understand where they got the €3.50 An Post fee from. Again, it’s not necessarily the cost here but the principle.
“The only saving grace is that the item was cheap to start out with. God only knows what a more expensive item would have cost me to bring into Donegal from the UK.
“I’ve often heard of caveat emptor – buyer beware – but this is taking it to a whole new different level,” he said.
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