Duty | Tax | Customs for International shopping {VAT refund}

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#691
Does anyone know how they actually catch you? If you manage to pass through customs w the bag, is there another way?

When I got my vat refund, travelex did record my passport number (interestingly only for value above £3k, not the others)
 
#695
ipudgybear said:
I am still waiting for my VAT refund and I've been waiting since early March. I always call them the wrong time since it's like six hours ahead there. I purchased the items in France and left from London so I don't know which office to call. I emailed them and they just said I'll get a response in a few days which never happened. Can you even choose which tax refund to do? They just gave me the premier tax one in Chanel. I'm getting kind of hopeless.
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Omg that's long!! Same here... I still haven't received mine as of today. i wondered what happened!
Have you contacted them again?
 
#696
bagreedy said:
Every place you shop at will give you a Vat refund form(they fill it out). You will only need to take all your goods(unused and in original packaging, incase the customs officer wants to see them) to the airport and get the Vat refund forms stamped at the customs counter. Once these forms have been stamped you can opt for credit card refund (fill out credit card number on the form yourself if not already done) and drop the form off in the drop boxes for the specific company (global blue or premier tax) or go to the vat refund office at the airport and get your refund in cash. Since Barcelona is your exit point from EU, that is where you get all your forms stamped, no matter where in EU you bought them. Check out the airport map for Barcelona to see where these counters are located. Also, if you plan to check these items in, you need to first get your boarding pass but not check the bag in, go to customs, get the customs stamps on your vat refund forms and then check the bag in. At the customs counter in Rome, they had a bag drop belt right there. So, no need to go back to airline counter. In Paris, we had to go back to airline counter because we used Pablo system(automated kiosk for customs)
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Can you always opt for cash instead of cc refund? I will be travelling out of Heathrow and am wondering if I would have a cash option.
 
#697
sugaryblue said:
Omg that's long!! Same here... I still haven't received mine as of today. i wondered what happened!
Have you contacted them again?
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I did contact them a few weeks ago. They told me it never came and to wait since it may take time due to a large amount of refunds etc. I might contact them again soon, if not then it may be a loss cause :( I don't want that to happen though. Still thinking optimistic!
 
#698
Prettyvogue said:
Can you always opt for cash instead of cc refund? I will be travelling out of Heathrow and am wondering if I would have a cash option.
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If the purchase is not from UK, don't opt for cash at Heathrow. From what I understand from my past research, the amount in EUR will be converted to GBP and then converted back to EUR in the prevailing exchange rates before given to you as cash refund.

For some places in France for example, you are supposed to decide cash or cc refund at the time of purchase as the refund rate would differ. This is not the case for Paris Longchamp boutique and Italy's Chanel and Louis Vuitton boutiques though.
 
#702
You just need to know that u'll get less than what u'd get on CC. It's 2% give or take anywhere in UK or EU. Don't get stuck on these minor details, it really boils down to if u have time to stand in line to get ur refund in cash and if you don't want to wait it out for CC refund. CC refund will also get u bad exchange rate from my experience 'cas Global blue and Premier tax will decide the exchange rate which is lower than if they just do the Euro/GBP refund. They refund in the currency your CC uses and not the currency the refund is offered in.
 
#703
Mumof2mOnstErs said:
If the purchase is not from UK, don't opt for cash at Heathrow. From what I understand from my past research, the amount in EUR will be converted to GBP and then converted back to EUR in the prevailing exchange rates before given to you as cash refund.

For some places in France for example, you are supposed to decide cash or cc refund at the time of purchase as the refund rate would differ. This is not the case for Paris Longchamp boutique and Italy's Chanel and Louis Vuitton boutiques though.
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I had no idea, thank you for the information!
 
#704
bagreedy said:
You just need to know that u'll get less than what u'd get on CC. It's 2% give or take anywhere in UK or EU. Don't get stuck on these minor details, it really boils down to if u have time to stand in line to get ur refund in cash and if you don't want to wait it out for CC refund. CC refund will also get u bad exchange rate from my experience 'cas Global blue and Premier tax will decide the exchange rate which is lower than if they just do the Euro/GBP refund. They refund in the currency your CC uses and not the currency the refund is offered in.
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This is very helpful, much appreciated!
 
#705
bagreedy said:
You just need to know that u'll get less than what u'd get on CC. It's 2% give or take anywhere in UK or EU. Don't get stuck on these minor details, it really boils down to if u have time to stand in line to get ur refund in cash and if you don't want to wait it out for CC refund. CC refund will also get u bad exchange rate from my experience 'cas Global blue and Premier tax will decide the exchange rate which is lower than if they just do the Euro/GBP refund. They refund in the currency your CC uses and not the currency the refund is offered in.
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For Italy at Chanel or Louis Vuitton, the cc or cash refund rate is exactly the same in EUR amount.

From my experience at Paris airport, Travelex using terrible exchange rates. Most money changers at airport are like this. Therefore I would think that opt for a cash refund that needs to undergo more than 1 exchange rate will be worse. This is on top of the fact that a commission is still payable for cash refund at some airports.
 
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