Parcelforce Woes

I recently had my grandmother back in the States mail me a 3-year-old non-working laptop of mine to me here in the UK for my husband to tinker with (he's into computers and thought he might be able to salvage it somehow). It is literally worth nothing as it doesn't work. And since it's over 3 years old (and was originally bought in the US), the receipt was long lost in our move to the UK. My grandmother put the value at zero, which although accurate, I understand probably looks fishy on a laptop. So it's no surprise I've gotten a letter saying I owe customs fees on it. My question is: do I? I seem to remember a thread somewhere along the way about sending your own possessions to yourself and not needing to pay if they were not new. Can anyone clarify or point me in the right direction? I called Parcelforce today, but they said I need to talk to HMRC, who aren't open until Monday. Any advice would be much appreciated-- I really don't want to spend money on a computer that's not worth the plastic it's encased in.

What she ought to have put on the form was that it was a previously owned item, thus no customs fees would be necessary (note this for the future).  What I would do is call HMRC and let them know that it's been owned for years, thus you don't have the receipt and that you aren't willing to pay any customs fees for it.  They may let it through with no payment or they may not...either way, don't pay.  It doesn't sound worth it.

Yep. For future reference put something like "Personal Items - No Commercial Value" on the forms and it should be okay..

I was pretty detailed with telling my grandmother what to put (this is the first time I've had to have her send something to me-- it's usually my stepmother who follows directions much better). I have no idea what my grandmother put on the form, she just proudly told me she put the value as zero. I'm calling on Monday and hopefully they won't make too much fuss about it. It's quite obvious that it's not less than a year old, and I think if hard-pressed, they could remove the battery and see a manufacture date on it.

I think if hard-pressed, they could remove the battery and see a manufacture date on it.

The customs people could probably tell you its year of manufacture after one look at the outside. If not, they can get the model and serial number off the maker's label. It's their job to know these things.