02-12-2020, 02:20 PM
(02-04-2020, 02:58 AM)PDofCC Wrote: Hi Darryl - an update. It's incredibly hard to follow up on a shipment with DHL. Customer Service is another name for a department that simply gives you other departments to call, invariably the wrong ones. After 5 calls I reached the DHL Customer Accounts department who confirmed that the surcharges are due to a discrepancy in the shipper's declared value and the amount paid to Indiegogo. On pressing for the actual numbers, it seems that this may be due solely to currency exchange variations, and the difference is only a few GBP (all dealings with Indiegogo are in USD, but all UK customs valuations are in GBP). The adviser I eventually spoke to has opened an enquiry into the surcharge and I am promised they will get back to me in 3-5 working days. Watch this space!Sorry to read that other European NDLRs are also being hit by the DHL surcharges, but it may be worth challenging them. As mentioned above I persisted with DHL and eventually got through to the UK customer accounting department where I queried the reason for the surcharge, which was cited as a Post Clearance Modification surcharge, allegedly because the shipment value declared by the Hong Kong supplier differed from the amount invoiced to (i.e. paid by) me. I sent them a copy of my receipt as evidence. In fact both values were identical, in USD, but the GBP equivalents were calculated at different times and there was a small difference due to currency exchange rate fluctuations. I protested that the “amendment” surcharge was unfair as the correct valuation was in USD and this was absolutely consistent between the supplier declared value and my payment amount. An enquiry was opened by DHL and I heard today that I will receive a full refund of the GBP45 surcharge. It took a lot of patience and a total of 7 calls, but was worth it in the end! Maybe it would be worth investigating alternative international shipping agents? Anyway, I was relieved to resolve the issue and in the meantime The NDLR is proving to be well worth its cost, with or without a surcharge! A great piece of kit - congratulations to Conductive Labs.