DHL: we delivered your package. you owe us the import duty plus £19 for prepaying the import duty. no we do not have a way for you to prepay the import duty ahead of time. pay us £19. no it's not a loan with a 36500% APR it's a duty advancement fee. pay us £19. no it does not matter that we were actually hired by the retailer and have no contract with you. pay us £19. we are definitely not attempting to extort £19 from you. pay us £19. pay us £19.
@whitequark @gsuberland I've pretty much decided to never buy anything from Blackstyle again (I'm a kinkster, ofc I know some kinky retailers) *because* they only use DHL and the shipping costs alone have always hyperinflated my orders by 200% AFTER I have clicked the "Pay now" button.
DHL are professional extortionists fencing as a logistics operation. >:(
@dragonarchitect @whitequark on the plus side it's now literally illegal as of April 6th 2025 under the DMCC.
@gsuberland @whitequark If that's a British law thing (I know you're both UK) I'm still screwed because I'm an American. Smile. :)