Customs Duties excluded

I purchased 2 rings for my girlfriend and I. After I placed the order I got a call from DHL stating that i needed top pay R625 (total cost incl shipping was R1,243.50) in order for the ring to be released from customs. I was quite surpirsed by this as the website is SA based www.jeulia.co.za, so i thought i was purchasing locally. In actual fact all the jewellery comes from China! DHL told me that the importer was me and that I was liable for the customs charge. Nowhere on the site does it state that I would have to pay duties on top of the cost of the items, nor does it state this in the order or the invoice. I enquired from Jeulia about this and they stated that they were also unware of this. After some lenghty correspondence they offered me R350 back as compensation, hwoever now I read on HelloPeter that this appears to be quite common practice. This is gross misreprestation and very poor business practice. Last time I will ever buy from these ************. Its unfair on other sellers who offer items at higher prices but include ALL costs.