Just wondering whether anyone from the UK has recently purchased a Honeycomb ALPHA Flight Controls XPC from https://flyhoneycomb.com ?
The website information says orders for the UK will ship from Germany, there may be additional taxes/duty due etc which is fine.
The issue I have is that if a purchase is over 135GBP no VAT should be added at source as it will be charged upon import/delivery. When I add the ALPHA XBC (or ALPHA) to the cart and update shipping address it still includes 20% VAT in the price. Oddly if I add only the BRAVO to my cart it does not include VAT. Even more inconsistently if I add the ALPHA and BRAVO to my cart it adds just a few $USD to the ātaxā amount - no idea how thatās being calculated I canāt work it out. If I just add a couple of accessories of value below #135 no VAT is added while actually they should be collecting it at point of sale in that instance.
So itās a bit of a mess and if I ordered at the moment Iād end up paying at least some of the VAT twice. I emailed their support address on the website asking for assistance so I can place an order, no reply.
Is this typical? Anywhere in the UK I can buy them instead?
I think you can get them from Amazon UK, and possibly other resellers. Not sure how the price will compare though, Amazon is usually a bit more expensive for computer / gaming hardware.
The Honeycomb site you linked to does look a bit confusing re. taxes. Normally, if youāre buying something from the EU with a value under Ā£135, no VAT is payable from the source, although you will probably still get hit with customs charges and import duties. These are usually settled by you paying the courier before the items are delivered.
If the value is over Ā£135, then again no VAT should be applied by the seller, but it will be payable on import to the UK. This is settled by you paying the courier as per above. Of course, import duties and customs charges are still payable as well, so it might well be quicker and cheaper to go with Amazon or any other UK reseller you can find.
Amazon donāt have stock of the XBC version otherwise I probably would have purchased it there already. I donāt think youāre right regards Ā£135. Anything under Ā£135 needs to have VAT collected at the point of sale and the seller has to register with HMRC to pay them.
Anyhow, the flyhoneycomb e-commerce site just seems to have a few errors in the way the inventory is loaded. Just wonder whether anyone who has had dealings with them knows tether its usual to have no response to a query?
It could also be the Alphaās are shipped from within the U.K. now. That would make sense and then at least Iād know that Iām not going to be double charged the VAT.
Well I just read about the whole Honeycomb debarcle and the history on FSElite. What a mess.
Looking at some of the component quality comparisons of Charlie pedal units produced by the original manufacturer Ryder and SnakeByteās new manufacturer Satura - Iām not sure that I want to take the chance that if I buy Alpha and Bravo from the flyhoneycomb.com website I could potentially get a version manufacturered to lower quality standard by this new outfit. Iām not saying that would be the case but seems like a risk. Not being able to apply taxes correctly on the web store and not responding to customer queries are additional red flags. Not even an automated āThanks, we received your query and weāll respond in 24/48hā.
Such a shame, I really liked the look of the Yoke and Quadrant and have read they are really good for the price point. Guess Iāll just have to look at improving my clunky old Saitek with some Hall Effect sensors and rubber bands
From the dozens of posts that I read, Honeycomb is in a corporate legal mess between the two original partners.
I donāt think you can even get an XPC (xbox/pc computer) , so you might want to consider other options. If others have more up to date and accurate information it would be helpful.
Yes absolutely, the original question of whether anyone has recently purchased from this website and what the experience was like still stands.
They say they have stock of the XPC, I can buy one now if I want to quite likely be charged VAT twice (by the website and UK customs). Whether or not the order would ever arrive, and if so, who manufactured it and to what standards are the big questions.
Thanks, the price seems comparable too. I imagine a lot easier to return if unhappy as well.
There are definitely two versions of the XPC out there. One has the Xbox button, the other has the Xbox button plus three additional buttons youād expect to find on an Xbox controller.
Youāre right, my apologies - VAT is always payable, either at source or in the UK if importing from the EU or elsewhere. The Ā£135 threshold is for customs charges & import duties.
If you can get them from Scan however, that seems like a far better option - I have always found them to be prompt, reliable and fairly priced.
