DHL Pro-forma invoices Do I need to pay this?

[nellypope]

My father lives in Abu Dhabi and sent my daughter a present for Christmas (we live in UK). I have just received a letter (headed Pro-Forma Invoice) it is terribly unclear but it says TOTAL 100! Is this something I need to pay?

[dzug2]

If you want to get the package then yes - it sounds as though it's for customs duty and/or VAT plus a handling fee.

[daffy654]

Ring them up and ask. Make sure you use a number sourced from somewhere other than the letter though in case it is some sort of scam.

[VHG]

There have been DHL scams going round so as daffy says, be careful it is not a scam.

[HowardKennitby]

I would check this as Daffy suggests. Personally I think this looks a bit iffy. How likely is it that any additional charges and duties would come to exactly £100.

[joko]

the fact that its headed pro forma...screams scam to me...

sounds like some idiot with very poor english has tried to create a professional looking letterhead, and been told to write as though its just a formality... and as is so often the case with these things they have taken it literally

contact DHL directly, using a number found on their website, not on the letter

[chas2008]

all sound advice, i have lost count of the number of DHL/UPS/TNT parcels waiting for me to collect as long as i give my c/card details...there must be a warehouse full somewhere !!!

[BillyBB]

But knowing that a parcel has been sent from there via dhl then seems more likely to be a standard tax collection. The tariff may well include vat but also import duties apply to many products. You can look it up on HMRC but there are thousands and it is very hard to tell what category anything is.
It's why so many things are sent as 'samples' or free replacements or labelled slightly differently.

[gonan]

A proforma invoice isn"t asking for payment like a tax invoice . Isn't it just for valuation purposes?