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.

I recently got two dresses from DOI that came to over £200 - no extra charges applied for me at all. Yes I have kept them and am not sending back so no postal charges obviously, but also didn't get any customs charges applied by the carrier.

I love the dresses, super flattering and very cool in the heat. I had been warned that extra costs may applied - it did say when I ordered and my friend also told me.

I've never had a problem with them. It does state at checkout custom duties may be applied.

Also - think it's a fair point that selling it on eBay or similar might be better particularly if it's a bigger size - I always keep an eye on DOI on eBay and there isn't tons of it on there. Then you would avoid postage costs for return and possibly make back some of the customs charges!

If I was ordering from a foreign supplier I would expect to face some customs/other charges but not at £180 level! That would be a shock and I wouldn't have ordered had I known that was the level of potential additional charges.

Maybe I'm just out of date or have been lucky that things have been slipping through unnoticed.

I've just used a customs calculator for a order of AU$200 and it came out at £137. Which seems bonkers! And I don't even know why as it didn't have a breakdown.

See photo for details!

The value of the item is in Aus dollars whereas the costs are calculated in GBP. Muddies the waters - put it all in the same currency.

I put in the cost of my dresses in GBP (which I was charged in when buying). It came to £331 which is the total cost with purchase price plus extra duties.

So taking the cost of my dresses out of the £331 (-£247) the tax would have been just under £85 for import costs - luckily I seem to have avoided them - a friend of mine did say if you bought over a certain amount you avoid import charges so she may be right.

I totally agree, they have £238 of my money, won’t refund even though the size was wrong and item stunk of paraffin, they are a shame