Be Excellent To Each Other

I've ordered something (A GP2X which I talk about here) and it's being sent from America via DHL.

I received a call this afternoon from someone claiming to be from DHL saying that I need to pay £16.79 import duty. I expected this to be honest and I asked if I could pay online. He gave me the website http://www.dhl.co.uk/epayments and told me my shipping number which is correct according to the shipping email I had from where I ordered the GP2X.

Anyway... I've gone to the website and... well... take a look yourselves. Does it look legit to you? It doesn't to me. Am I about to be scammed if I put my card details into it?

When I track the item on the DHL website it says it's been in Birmingham since 7 this morning but makes no mention of an import charge. I would have thought it would?

What do you reckon?

Seems like crappy design, but I googled the phone number and would suggest you do the same with the other details provided.

Yeah, it's not the most elegant of designs, but it's on the dhl domain at least, so unless they've been hacked themselves, you should be fine.

Not from what I can see - it's on suth.com, who are a business process outsourcing company. They do appear to be perfectly legit though.

Sorry, I meant the initial URL is a dhl one. I like the 'Click here to PAY!!' flashing text... that's classy.

Yes, it's legit. Most parcel couriers epayments websites are shite.

Surprising really given how much profit they make on these fucking import charges

On that note, in theory, you can pay only the customs charge -- not any handling fee -- and demand the parcel be released (it's illegal for them to keep it at that point). You can then ignore invoices about the fee.

All of this is just something I read once. I've not yet had chance to test it.