No EU countries & VAT charged on upgrade

[AllenB]

First of all, none of a), b) or c) apply to me (not unless the French have taken back Jersey without us knowing).

The "claimant" is Devialet, not you.   a), b) and c) apply to Devialet. And it looks like they think the upgrade is a "service", not delivering a new HW product.

I'm sorry, I smell a rat in the way Devialet are palming this off as a 'service'. If the VAT is being charged in France because it is a 'service', how are they tackling the Customs authority at every port of entry to various countries when the goods are being returned? Are they telling each Customs authority that the physical goods passing through the border are a repair? If they are paying the duty at the receiving border, does that mean taxes have been paid twice, once in France for the 'service' and again at the border according to the value of the upgrade? Something does not add up.

My understanding and bottom line is a 'service' is for intangible goods, for example, downloaded software or streaming services. Patently an upgraded Expert is not that.