DPD: your package will either be delivered by Gwen or Larry. Gwen has a 5 star customer service award and is very friendly. Larry is practicing to become an olympic shot putter and your parcel is his chance to win big.

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 that DHL one is everybody here except for fedex

unfortunately, this means fedex is even worse. you’ll owe duty and they will simply deliver the package, no indication of what you owe, no indication that you even do owe anything. then two weeks, a month later you’ll check your mail and see a letter from fedex: it’s an invoice due upon receipt for taxes, duties, and their brokerage fee, surprise!

@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. :)

@dragonarchitect @whitequark whoops, yeah

@demize @whitequark yeah fuckers tried to sting me for several hundred in bullshit fees.on an LCSC order recently, which is now literally illegal due to recent legislation but they do it anyway