Sharing a repair experience

  • Hey all. It’s been a while since I’ve been on here, last few years have been tough work wise, though the KPA has been in regular use for remote guitar sessions. Until it had a hardware failure of course. It was 6 years old, so it had a very good run.


    Unfortunately the experience of getting it repaired was not great. If you guys want to know what happened, this video has the whole story. Hopefully it might be useful to someone.


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    It’s up and rocking again now. Hope you’re all enjoying the delights of the KPA!

  • Bummer.

    I'm in Canada and needed to send mine to USA for repair.

    I took it to a local UPS store, filled out the paperwork, paid shipping and had it back in about 10 days hassle free.

  • Partly. I spent MONTHS arguing with the norwegian post office because of the same paperwork that UPS made you pay VAT on. They based the value, and of course insurance value, on the document showing a 400-something euros sum.


    What a headache. Never again. And I had to buy a new Kemper. Luckily I found one used…

    Edited once, last by dahla ().

  • I found one misconception in your video that might have caused you at least some of the troubles.

    VAT isn't only charged for purchases but also on services provided by a company.


    Another problem might exist, although I'm not sure about the current status.

    To avoid double taxation, two countries have to agree on a tax treaty that avoids double taxation. If this still doesn't exist between the UK and Germany / EU, then Kemper has to charge german VAT and on import you have to pay UK VAT again, on top of the total bill.

    If a corresponding tax treaty isn't yet in place, there's absolutely nothing Kemper could do. They must (and have) charge(d) german VAT. If the UK charges again, it has to be handled by you and you only.


    I feel your pain but if the above is the core of the problem, then ... I'm sorry ... it is one of the consequences of a terrible decision your country has made.

  • Ok. The charge is import VAT. It’s not for a service, it’s based on the amount on the INVOICE that Kemper included with the item. The issue is with the categorisation of it as an import rather than a repair. I thought that was fairly clear.

    Secondly the UK and Germany have a tax treaty in place.


    As for the terrible decision of Brexit, believe me this has been wearisome for years and I don’t need reminding what a mess it is. We are suffering, rest assured.


    My issue is with Kemper’s part in it. They must have some understanding of the process and could advise customers on likely outcomes. They also didn’t label the package sufficiently that I didn’t have to provide UPS with info on their behalf when it was shipping in both directions. They ignored the email saying something needed to happen or it might be disposed of by customs, and offered no help in contacting UPS to advise it was a repair not a sale.


    Like I get it, had the UK been in the customs union it would all have been easier, but it’s no different to all the other countries that are also not in (including Norway) and they’re offering an international service. They give the strong impression that they don’t care.

  • I sent my Kemper for repair. It vanished. Never to be seen or heard of again. Last trace of it was leaving Norway.

    So I feel you…

    Bah! I had mine sendt for repair from Norway back in 2013 i think it was. The Kemper was a big seller and pretty new tech, the music store i bought it from got it back from repair and sold it to someone else.

    They never told me, and i had to wait 5 months to get a new one from them and only after i threatened with legal conseqenses. Yay

  • Bah! I had mine sendt for repair from Norway back in 2013 i think it was. The Kemper was a big seller and pretty new tech, the music store i bought it from got it back from repair and sold it to someone else.

    They never told me, and i had to wait 5 months to get a new one from them and only after i threatened with legal conseqenses. Yay

  • Secondly the UK and Germany have a tax treaty in place.

    I looked it up, the protocol to the double taxation convention entered into force on December 17th 2021 and took effect in the UK from January 1st 2022.

    Since the estimate of cost you received from Kemper is dated December 1st 2021, I'm afraid the entire transaction and mess happened before/during the implementation of the double taxation convention. Really bad luck it seems and don't get me wrong, I really feel for you. Must have been a terrible experience for sure. But still I want to state that (from what I see and understand) Kemper couldn't have done anything differently.

  • Sounds like an issue with your country's policies not with Kemper. It sucks that you needed to have it repaired in the first place, and I'm very glad you got it back ship shape, but I would direct your video to some of your politicians and have them fix shipping and trade laws.

    Larry Mar @ Lonegun Studios. Neither one famous yet.

  • I looked it up, the protocol to the double taxation convention entered into force on December 17th 2021 and took effect in the UK from January 1st 2022.

    Since the estimate of cost you received from Kemper is dated December 1st 2021, I'm afraid the entire transaction and mess happened before/during the implementation of the double taxation convention. Really bad luck it seems and don't get me wrong, I really feel for you. Must have been a terrible experience for sure. But still I want to state that (from what I see and understand) Kemper couldn't have done anything differently.

    I'm sorry but I really think this is a red herring. There has been a tax treaty between the UK and Germany for many years - the treaties are here: https://www.gov.uk/government/…ions/germany-tax-treaties. The 2021 treaty is just the latest. Yes, there have been new treaties to deal with the UK's exit from the EU.


    Double taxation, as far as I can see, relates to individual and business taxes rather than import duty. I'm not an expert, but they seem to be separate.


    In any case, I can find nothing that says that a repair should have import charges applied to it. And that doesn't seem logical, at all. There were forms I used when sending declaring it was for repair, and UPS contacted me during that out-bound shipment to confirm it was a repair which I assume resulted in there being no import fee in Germany. Do you really think Kemper are paying hundreds of pounds/dollars/euros import fee on all non-EU repairs or returns that they receive? Seems very unlikely to me.


    I can't believe there was not a legitimate way to move a piece of electronics between Germany and UK for repair, without such import fees being charged in both directions. UPS were hassling me for information about the shipment long before they allocated a customs fee - I think they added the fee because despite me providing the info exactly as they asked, they'd ask me again the next day, suggesting something in the system was broken - so eventually a customs fee was applied.


    EVEN if there was absolutely nothing they could do and these fees were completely unavoidable (which I don't believe), it would be ethical and good practice to properly warn customers about it, communicate properly with the shipper, and try to help as much as is reasonable. As it is the strong impression is that they don't care much, leave the customer hung out to dry for high repair costs, and blame governments and even residents of those countries for shipping being a bit more complex than it used to be.

  • Sounds like an issue with your country's policies not with Kemper. It sucks that you needed to have it repaired in the first place, and I'm very glad you got it back ship shape, but I would direct your video to some of your politicians and have them fix shipping and trade laws.

    Again, I think this is a red herring. I'm bemused and dismayed at the UK's decision to leave the EU, but all it means is that the UK is no longer in the customs union. The trade laws are there.

  • I had a similar experience shortly after brexit. The whole process was unpleasant, and the huge bill from ups for customs charges was way in excess of what it should have been, however we are stuck with it.


    Can’t we get an approved repair centre in the UK? Maybe Anderson’s or GAK…. Would be much better customer experianece.