Just collected a package from DHL containing a couple of business suits and half a dozen shirts for work sent by my wife still in the UK.
When my wife checked into the simplest (and cheapest) way to do this, DHL seemed the right choice and she paid £127 for their 10kg or less service. We used their website to watched as the package travelled quickly across the UK and then across the world to arrive an Auckland airport.
I decided to phone them as the package status became stuck on "Clearance Delay" and they initially informed me that they couldn't process the package as the consignment details were missing / incomplete and they didn't know what the package contained.
They then asked me to contact my wife to confirm what was in the package and demanded an additional $250 before they would complete the original delivery.
After two half hour long phone calls they agreed that their agent (WHSmiths in the UK) had failed to scan the paperwork into the DHL system and that the additional $250 was to process the paperwork required for MAF & NZ Customs.
I then drove to the DHL collection point at Auckland Airport to see this "complex" paperwork that was going to double the delivery costs.
Is it complex? Only if you find transcribing details from one document to another confusing! I suggested that their staff do this as the problem was they on mine and it was done free of charge in less than ten minutes.
Taking the completed paperwork over to MAF & NZ Customs, they explained that DHL try this "complex" paperwork trick all the time.
My wife will contact DHL / WHSmiths for an apology and compensation for their failure to follow their own procedures and expecting the customer to fix they problems.