DHL EXPRESS, WTF?

[Pyr0]

DHL were fast and efficient when i placed an order from CRC this month. It took 4 business days to arrive. Clearance and customs were dealt with easily and the parcel could be tracked the via their website. Great service.

 

You will pay more for this service as opposed to snail mail. Its a disbursement fee of R150 and VAT of 14%.

 

I would use them again.

[build2race]

I recently had the displeasure of having to deal with the bullsh*t called DHL. I had to send shoes I bought in the US back for a replacement (wrong size). DHL was the cheapest at R1600 for a shoe box of 1.5kg. Anyways, I was not sure about a box i had to tick, permanent, refund etc (it makes a lot of sense now). I spoke to the woman at DHL on the phone and told her that i did not mark that section. She told me no worries, she will mark it as return. this means no paying taxes again when the shoes came back. Long story short, when the shoes came back customs wanted duties & taxes on the $450 shoes again because the woman filled the form as permanent. So customs thought it was a new purchase. Of course that same woman now don't remember anything about our phone call. After long talks with customs, they agreed to scratch the duties. But i still had to pay the R830 taxes. Very expensive experience with DHL

[Maniax]

I also burned myself with DHL. I will never use them again

[hopefield]

I recently bought something from Australia. I had it shipped to my local post office and collected it 10 days later, no charges except for the payment to customs.

[YUMEYA]

There was a change to how SARS does the customs evaluation that was recently initiated. I think they've used that a necessary and/or convenient moment to adjust their fees.

 

and what do you mean 15% and 15.8% VAT? Last i checked, VAT is officially still 14%, no matter where it's taken from.

 

Total value R5096.00

VAT @ 14% is R713.44

 

VAT R784.84 which is about 15.4% (according to DHL)

+ the R150

 

Any ideas as to why?

 

No duties.

Maybe I am missing something.

Edited August 22, 2013 by YUMEYA

[Skylark]

There was a change to how SARS does the customs evaluation that was recently initiated. I think they've used that a necessary and/or convenient moment to adjust their fees.

 

and what do you mean 15% and 15.8% VAT? Last i checked, VAT is officially still 14%, no matter where it's taken from.

 

What's changed?

[Skylark]

 

Total value R5096.00

VAT @ 14% is R713.44

 

VAT R784.84 which is about 15.4% (according to DHL)

+ the R150

 

Any ideas as to why?

 

No duties.

Maybe I am missing something.

 

Ja customs vat has always been some odd figure around 15% , no idea why its not 14%

[GrumpyOldGuy]

Customs takes the full disbursement and adds an imaginary 10% THEN calculates the 14% Vat.

 

So lets say your disbursement is R100.00 under normal circumstances, locally you would pay R14.00 Vat.

 

However on imports customs takes the R100.00 adds 10% = R110.00 then calculates Vat R15.40. So you will pay R15.40 Vat not R14.00

[GrumpyOldGuy]

There was a change to how SARS does the customs evaluation that was recently initiated. I think they've used that a necessary and/or convenient moment to adjust their fees.

 

and what do you mean 15% and 15.8% VAT? Last i checked, VAT is officially still 14%, no matter where it's taken from.

 

Yeah, the new digitised system. It has however been running in tandem with the old system for quite a while now, maybe 6 months or more.

 

Its actually an excellent system and clearances are much quicker, I have had customs clearance on orders 30 minutes after submission of documents, whereas the old Compu Clear system was usually at least 24 hours or overnight.

 

Wether there is an extra cost to forwarders using this system is unlikely, but dont worry about SARS, they have finely honed the best method to grab your tax dollar.!

[Neg]

My Wife ordered her dress on line- its was a perfect fit!!!! Our wedding was in January this year, We ordered it on 5th JULY 2012... 3 weeks to make the dress done on the 26th July and send it, received all the documents from the maker, tracking number etc ETA- 2nd August 2012 using dhl...

 

IT ARRIVED 8th JANUARY 2013!!! 3 days before our wedding!!!!!!!!!!

 

We had made a plan B when we realized it was not going to happen... lucky it arrived and was perfect! But i will CURSE dhl for eternity!!!

[GrumpyOldGuy]

DHL is actually an excellent forwarder, but perhaps not that suited to once off users like many here. Their systems (much like all forwarders) are geared to clients who use them regularly, have legitimate customs numbers and have known systems in place with the forwarder.

 

Thats not to say there should be issues when used by the general public, but customs documentation and process's are a field of nightmares and a company like this simply cannot follow every package individually so if there is a lapse in paperwork there will usually be problems.

[YUMEYA]

Customs takes the full disbursement and adds an imaginary 10% THEN calculates the 14% Vat.

 

So lets say your disbursement is R100.00 under normal circumstances, locally you would pay R14.00 Vat.

 

However on imports customs takes the R100.00 adds 10% = R110.00 then calculates Vat R15.40. So you will pay R15.40 Vat not R14.00

 

Thanks Grumpy

[rock]

DHL changed some time back to a % of the duty/vat outlay with a minimum of R150

 

in reality is still dirt cheap to customs clear something a freight agent (like myself) can charge around R1000.00 for a similar procedure......there's more to it but to give you the idea.

 

you really cant beat the old post office for personal items.....

[Li Mu Bai]

Well the post office still isnt all that special either...

 

My latest Evans order in question. After waiting 3 weeks, I received a call from a Lady one evening, saying she had my parcel and would i like to collect it, or should she take it back to the PO. ?????

I collected it from her the next morning. Turns out my parcel was placed inside her opened parcel, and would have been forwarded to CT if she had not 'just done one last check' .

My items were all there, although the packet was ripped and no docs included, just the receipt inside.

The next day I got a call from the PO. She had gone to them to ask WTF, and they were now calling me to ask for the manifest and telling me to come in a nd pay for it....

Cheeky blerry incompetant muppets.

[GrumpyOldGuy]

DHL changed some time back to a % of the duty/vat outlay with a minimum of R150

 

in reality is still dirt cheap to customs clear something a freight agent (like myself) can charge around R1000.00 for a similar procedure......there's more to it but to give you the idea.

 

you really cant beat the old post office for personal items.....

 

Indeed it is.

 

Yah, if you include all the costs from a forwarder like agency fee, communication fee, documentation etc it could easily be 1 grand, so 150 bucks is still very cheap.

[kosmonooit]

Looks like my latest shipment from CRC has gone DHL way, I took the "express track and trace" option, no mention of DHL there.

 

So what happens if my address is a PO Box?