Do not order from Daughters of India if you are in UK / EU

[Bella2929]

I made the mistake of placing an order after being targeted with Instagram adverts, thinking their dresses could be great for a summer holiday whilst pregnant. Now I am subject to hidden Fedex custom costs of £120 and shipping costs of £60 which they are insisting I pay - even though I am returning the items! So I am £180 out of pocket for nothing! The company do not make it clear they are in Australia (I assumed they were in UK) and that you are liable for customs costs that are more than the cost of a dress itself. You get an email as it's being delivered with the fee you are liable to pay in addition.
I believe they are deliberately misleading hiding this information as who would purchase knowing this in advance. Wish I'd read other reviews before purchasing as this is happening to people all over the world too.

Wow that's terrible! Leave a review on Trust Pilot, other people should know about this before ordering.

It’s very clear on the website, in the About Us section and particularly in the shipping policy section. It says they ship from New South Wales and the customer is liable for taxes and duties outside Australia.

what a nasty shock.

fyi always best to look at the shipping policies. I see daughters of India has one here uk.daughtersofindia.net/policies/shipping-policy and I think it’s quite clear there would be charges, and that it’s not based in U.K./Europe. I know this doesn’t help you now though!

Their website is very clear about shipping costs, the fact they are based in Australia, their returns policy and that they are not liable for customs charges.

It's not clear if you are clicking through from Instagram on an iphone, it actually says orders over £200 qualify for free shipping, so I ordered 2 sizes to get this, then you're taken straight through to checkout.

Had I been made aware that extra fees of around £180(!) could potentially be applied after I'd purchased I would not have made the purchase.

It seems reasonable to me. They've explained the situation. It's up to you to take the time and research to decide if you want to order or not.

Why don't you keep them and try to sell them? Less hassle and probably cheaper.

It's a pity you didn't check their shipping policy but I don't think they can be accused of not being transparent

Exactly the same thing has happened to me this week. It’s a massive bummer, but it’s true that all the info is clearly on their site. Hopefully if we post about it here and elsewhere, it might help raise awareness for those who don’t necessarily examine everything in close detail before they impulse buy!!!

How frustrating! I ordered a dress from them a few weeks ago - it arrived and I don’t think I’ve been charged anything extra for Customs - worried now that I’ve missed something!

Must say that I’m really pleased with the dress - was thinking of getting another but I won’t after seeing this!

That sounds like a lot? Did it give any idea of the level of customs charges, because I occasionally buy clothes from American websites and the charges only come to around £20-40.

I live in a country where I have always had to pay shipping and customs to get items delivered. It is annoying when you want to return stuff as yes, you do end up spending money for nothing. I guess if pre-Brexit you could order stuff without paying for delivery and customs it takes a bit of getting used to, but in future, make a note to always check where the company is based and the charges you will have to pay on top of item purchase. I only ever buy stuff I am as sure as I can be that I definitely will want.

Surely if they allow you to check out from their IG page, they should either put a link to their T&C on their website, or flag their shipping policy on the IG page.

I had the same with Manebi, it was a bit of a wake up call to get a £96 fedex fee for 2 pairs of shoes - not that I can work out how to pay it now as links not working. I didn't realise they were not in UK although the high shipping fee should have alerted me. It's put me off online shopping TBH or certainly with companies I've not used before, too much risk.

I just went to their website and to be honest it’s not clear. I knew they weren’t UK based but each individual item says taxes included, so to me that suggests import duties. I guess they mean local taxes but I can see why you might be caught out.

It says 'orders over $200' at the top of the page. And it's really clear in the shipping pages that the clothes are coming from Australia and that there might be duty to pay in your own country.

The clothes look lovely!

I am in New Zealand.
I love the Daughters of India look.
Clicked and added something to my cart but when I went to pay had added $A20 to cost and it was the first time I was aware that I was paying in Australian dollars - I had also clicked to NZ site.
I am actually wondering how ethical they are in manufacturing process too or if all just smoke and mirrors.

Thanks for the heads up

We should make a thread about companies that are not to be dealt with if there isn't one already.
I nominate viagogo for a start

on a side note, I have three of the dresses and they are divine :)

Thanks for the warning

Is the £60 shipping for returning them?

Have you checked on .gov to make sure the £180 is right? It seems crazy.

I didn't even know you could buy things straight from Instagram but I agree with @IRememberXanadu that it should be clear that there might be extra charges.

I've just has a look on their Insta.

The dresses I saw had the price in AU$ when you look at their page. Then when you click or to go their 'shop' the prices change to £.

But when I looked, the shipping banner along the top of the page said 'free shipping for $200' and it said that at the checkout too. In dollars.

Also at checkout there was a button to press for shipping information and when you click on that it says straight away they are in Australia and the clothes will be despatched from there. And all the customs information is on that same page further down.

There is an option for Apple Pay or pay pal though so if people use that the location or shipping might not be clear.

I bought a beautiful dress from DofI and when it came, had to pay an extra 50€ in tax/shopping. I'm in France. I did know they were shopping from Australia though, so that's on me.
It's a shame because I love their dresses, but I can't afford an extra 50e every time.

Whilst I do genuinely sympathise with the financial hit I don't think the company is to blame for what is ultimately a lack of due diligence before ordering (and I'm sure we've all done it, just saying)

I clicked through from IG just now to have a look and didn't find it misleading and thought it was clear they're in AUS. All the t&c's are in situ and readable at the bottom of their webpage like on any other website (which you go through to if you add to basket) and say the below:

TAXES AND DUTIES
Please note that any duties and taxes payable in the countries outside of Australia are the responsibility of the recipient. Daughters of India, unfortunately, has no control over import fees and these will be the responsibility of the recipient prior to delivery. Orders returned due to refusal of payment of duties and taxes will be subject to a return shipping fee.

I also don't think there is any kind of 'con' going on with the altering currency as this is something you can adapt in settings on your own browser, usually the default is to adapt to GBP if your location settings are in the UK. Personally as it's an Australian based company I'd have expected any delivery offer or discount on the homepage to apply to domestic delivery.

Fair enough to warn others of the charges but I don't think they've breached anything in particular. The dresses are very pretty. I'd try and sell them to recoup some of the loss.

Buyers are normally liable for customs charges.

The website About Us begins by telling you exactly where they are.

Nobody conned you. You didn't read the clearly available information