Tense in indirect speech???

Today’s conversation.
James: Did you the photos on my daughter on my Facebook? She was wearing an Yukata which is a kind of Kimono.
Alex: Yes!
James: At that time, my friend in Japan sent it to me as a gift. But the Post office here asked me to pay USD100 for tax.
Alex: Wow! So finally how much did you pay for it?
James: USD40.
Alex: The tax rate is very high in Vietnam. How could you do like that?
James: At the time, my wife said that if I refuse to receive a parcel from the post man, the post office has to send it back to Japan. They need to spend money to send it back. They don’t like to spend money like that. They might try to negotiate for tax rate with me again. I just followed her opinion.

Q1) My wife said the underlined parts. I feel it a little odd. It is indirect speech. But tenses of those sentence are out of grammar. But I think if I write it under past tense, I’m worried if the listener “Alex” misunderstand it. I just changed subjects only. Could you teach me how I should tell him by indirect speech?

Q2) Do I have to say them by direct speech? Like this,
My wife said, “If you refuse to receive a parcel from the post man, the post office has to send it back to Japan. They need to spend money to send it back. They don’t like to spend money like that. They might try to negotiate for tax rate with you again”