"Outlaw miniatures WWX vat issues and non delivery" Topic

I have a problem with Vat due on a Kickstarter that stated that Postage and VAT would be included in the postage costs. After extensive discussions with Outlaw Miniatures refusal to pay the £200.00 GBP odd pounds VAT bill, in accordance with their Kickstarter promotion FAQ (also quoted on this forum). I am left with no money (£700 plus) and no figures. The package is currently held at the Bristol postal depot and is due to be returned to sender.
PayPal are not interested as it is outside their 45 day period for making a claim.
So, has anyone else experienced this in the UK or Europe? Any help or advice is welcomed.
I have since spoken to my bank and they say that they will contest the payment directly with Kickstarter on proof of despatch back to Outlaw.
Thanks
Glenn
Below is the extract from the kickstarter website page for Outlaw WWX project.
Update -3emails sent since Wed 5 mar. No response since then.

Shipping to the UK, EU, and Worldwide.
All Customers that are overseas will be receiving their items from our UK warehouse and shipping partner.. Some delays may occur but should be minimal as we have set out a good window for arrival dates on all of your items.
Why is there shipping charges if the product is being distributed from the UK and the US?
The international shipping is something that we have to include even with a distribution center in the UK. The problem is not getting it from our warehouse in the UK to all of our EU and UK customers. The problem is getting it into the UK. The product will be manufactured in two locations. Parts will come from the US and parts will come from China. This means that a container will need to be shipped overseas to get the pledges distributed. A container from the states or China costs from $5,000 USD to $7,000 USD depending on the time of year. There is also customs and VAT that must be paid on these shipments. Those charges when divided out to all the pledges actually is much, much higher than the fees we have listed as shipping. We are making this a bit better on the customers by simply adding more free stuff to the starter boxes. As more stretch goals are passed more free items will be added. This should outweigh the charges you are seeing as international shipping. This is not the greatest answer but it is the best we could really do with the costs at hand.

Unfortunately these custom charges have dented any further kickstarter activity from me and some gaming buddies.
I have not had any over £200.00 GBP yet (closest being £180.00 GBP so far ! Two more incoming)
I feel your pain ,go for a good deal and end up with a hole in your pocket.
Reaper vampire incurred £84.00 GBP charge for my address and yet a friends got through to him with no customs fee.
Most kick starters do state that the recipient is responsible for these fees and taxes from shipping so we need to be more vigilant and look for EU based ones from now on .
Unless of course some are too " oh shiny" to resist .arcadia quest and Counterblast are looking nice but I must remember the fees.
But like others that go for overseas kick starters we have to sometimes wait for them to hit local distributors after the ship to the pledgers ,hopefully.

Looking into your kickstarter it appears that outlaw miniatures have been bitten by tax and fee red tape too. This is a shame as the kickstarter idea is great but too many outside influences want to get a piece of the action and make both parties pay extra.

Learn by experience on this and swallow it. Move on chaps

I know i could be wrong here but reading your post if that is directly from the Kickstarter i don't read it that VAT is in the shipping charge or at very least it is ambiguous

But hay Kickstarter's are a risky job in my opinion call me old fashioned but i would rather a company produce the goods off their own back and then let me buy them.

My apologies, I tried to highlight the relevant bit of text from their webpage that clearly states that they include the vat in carraige costs. So, this means to me that if they don't pay the vat then they are misleading me and misrepresenting.
Cheers for the comments so far.

Quote
Shipping to the UK, EU, and Worldwide.
All Customers that are overseas will be receiving their items from our UK warehouse and shipping partner. This means that anyone looking to pledge will not have to worry about international customs and other taxes seen from US packages. Some delays may occur but should be minimal as we have set out a good window for arrival dates on all of your items.

All the Kickstarter updates say things shipped from the UK. It would be interesting to know where your package shipped from.

It was sent from the USA. It should have been included in the main consignment to the uk distributer. They obviously made an error that they won't admit to, much less apologise for, by leaving my order out. So their error has lead to this situation.

Many thanks to everyone. The Kickstarter package worth approx $3,000 USD is now awaiting return by the Border Agency. Outlaw miniatures did not respond to the specific issue of what they stated on their Kickstarter webpage about them specifically including VAT in their postal costs.
They actually said that others had to pay their VAT. I would be interested to hear from others who were affected by the VAT issue.
I will post here when I get my refund from visa or Outlaw. I'm won't be touching anything by outlaw ever again and will certainly be much more selective in my Kickstarter backing decisions. I will certainly be taking this up with Kickstarter to see if they will do anything. Does anyone have contact details for them? I can't see anything on their website.
Thanks

Many thanks to everyone. The Kickstarter package worth approx $3,000 USD is now awaiting return by the Border Agency. Outlaw miniatures did not respond to the specific issue of what they stated on their Kickstarter webpage about them specifically including VAT in their postal costs.
They actually said that others had to pay their VAT. I would be interested to hear from others who were affected by the VAT issue
I will post here when I get my refund from visa or Outlaw. I won't be touching anything by outlaw ever again and will certainly be much more selective in my Kickstarter backing decisions. I will certainly be taking this up with Kickstarter to see if they will do anything. Does anyone have contact details for them? I can't see anything on their website.
Thanks

Update.
The parcel has been returned.
Outlaw miniatures have been challenged over their statement on the Kickstarter pages ref the vat being included and shipping within the uk . No response
They mentioned that consideration for a refund on return of the goods. When asked when and how this would happen – no answer despite 2 subsequent emails.
So ,
No figures, no refund and very hacked off with Outlaw Miniatures. Now proceeding with refund procedure, charge back I think it called, through my bank and VISA.
Thanks

Having had a quick look at the project details and the Kickstarter Terms and Conditions it looks fairly clear that Outlaw have breached T&C of use of Kickstarter (at least in relation to your parcel).
Under 'Rules of Use' Outlaw should not have posted anything 'misleading'. As it was clearly stated in the Kickstarter that UK parcels would be sent from the UK and thus not attract VAT charges for imports but yours was sent from the US and has then i would say that was pretty misleading!
I'd complain to Outlaw and Kickstarter on these grounds.
Good Luck!