The Microbrand Store Reviews 

Reply from The Microbrand Store

Mar 2, 2020

Mr. Marques did not purchase his watch from an Italian microbrand. Instead he purchased this watch from our store, which is based outside of the EU, a fact he is well aware of as he pretty much told us so in an early communication. He was unable to purchase it from the microbrand in question, as only our store had any remaining stock.

He placed his order at 8:10am, before we were open, and requested a cancellation at 10:20pm, well after our normal hours, when his timepiece had already been tested, had the warranty card written, packaged, and gone out of the door, handed off to our shipper on what is always the busiest day of the year for shipments. We are always happy to give a full refund, no fuss and no questions asked, if a customer contacts us before we've handled their order. It happens, folks change their minds, and we have immediately refunded other folks who contacted us in a timely manner, and indeed we had issued refunds like this during the week of his order without any issue.

Mr. Marques was unhappy that he contacted us too late, and immediately started trying to troll the store, even trying to charge us for every email reply we sent in response to his enquiries into this matter. He also deliberately let the package that was shipped to him languish in customs for almost two months with the duty unpaid while trying to dispute the charge, presumably so he could score a free watch. Had he been more genuine, he could've contacted customs to explicitly decline the delivery at any time but it appears he did not.

Instead he first tried to claim thrugh PayPal that he didn't place the original order while the watch was still in customs. PayPal of course found in our favor. Then he tried disputing again saying that he'd not received the watch while still deliberately leaving it in limbo in customs where he could pay the import duty to receive it at any time. PayPal have also agreed with us that since this customer has acted in bad faith, once the watch is returned to us, (we hope to get it back this week,) then the PayPal dispute will be closed and they will find in our favor. We'll be pleased when this package does come back as that will stop us being potentially scammed for what would've effectively been a free watch.

With regard to the import duties, we have several points here:

1. If Mr. Marques had instead purchased from a UK-based watch store he would've had to have paid the 20% VAT (sales tax) charged in the UK anyway. The only difference here is the extra 2.7% import duty, which is more than covered typically by the aggressive discounts that we give, not to mention the free shipping too. So we're talking about an approximate 2.7% difference, not 25%.

2. Mr. Marques already knew he was importing from outside the EU as he pretty much told us so in an early communication, and it is common/public knowledge that customers typically have to pay import duties when purchasing luxury goods from overseas from a country that is not in a customs union with their own country so we are not buying Mr. Marques's story of surprise at having to pay import duties. In fact Mr. Marques has emailed us that he recently made a couple of watch purchases from the U.S. over the last few months, so he clearly knows the situation regarding import duties.

3. We provide many references on our web site to help our customers understand the situation regarding taxes and import duties too. For example:

* Our FAQ page explains in detail about where we ship from and any import duties and even has helpful links so customers can work out what they'll likely be paying on receipt, if indeed they have to pay. This varies from country to country.

* Our invoices include our mailing address and a clear simple statement that the customer is responsible for paying any import duties.

* All of our shopping cart and checkout pages give prices in US dollars, and customers are charged in US dollars.

* We have our US corporate name (an Inc., not a UK-style Ltd. or PLC.) on every page in our store.

* We publish our mailing address on many pages on our web site, including on our contact us page, and also on our terms and conditions and policy pages, which are made available to every customer on each page of their checkout, and which also, by the way, explain about the fact that the customer is responsible for paying any import duties.