DHL Express - Megafail.....

[El Pinguino]

I've shipped a bit of stuff hither and yon over the years including anchors, calorifiers, and mainsails into South America.

So it came to pass that I found myself shipping an item from Oz to NZ a few weeks ago. Nothing fancy, $Aus 1100 worth, 14kg.

Contacted local freight forwarder up near the campo.... 'no probs, we'll send it DHL Express'... Ping sucks teeth and frowns... in Chile they have a bad reputation... stuff gets stuck in Santiago and you have to pay $$$$ to an agent to have it cleared and sent on. Fedex on the other hand send it with LanCargo to wherever you are and its just a rather full day - what with siestas and all - shuffling between the LanCargo office, the Aduana, and the bonded store down at the wharf...

Anyways... off goes my box on the Thursday afternoon complete with all the paperwork requested plus my TIE, copies of ship's paper, passport...ETA Monday.... consigned to me c/o a crew member.

It reachs Auckland on Saturday.....so far so good.
Monday... email.. I need to download a form, print ,sign, scan email to Unzud customs.
Tuesday... nice shiny 'Client number'.... phone this through to DHL Auckland
Wednesday ... crew phones DHL to see when it will be dropped off, told they need a client number cos it is consigned to them.... bollocks... its consigned to me.
Thursday ... repeat of Tuesday
Friday... phone NZ... things will happen 'within 48 hours'... 'Oh' sez I ' Delivered Monday then?'... 'No... weekend doesn't count'
Monday.. nothing... phone NZ... put on hold again... 'we are looking into it....'
Tuesday.... midday.... cleared customs.... will be delivered tomorrow morning...... oh .. and by the way $50 duty to pay.... FMTT... they are ship's stores in transit!!

I'm rather glad all this was going on before the All Blacks got a thrashing in the Bledisloe Cup...

DHL Express ? ... AVOID!!

I feel better now.....

[El Pinguino]

Just received the invoice..... its not duty... looked like 5% so guilty of a 'bold assumption'..
Is an 'import transaction fee', credit card fee, and 'payment deferment' fee....

And there was silly me thinking that I had paid all costs up front.....

[Wotname]

Legal corruption

[GILow]

SVTotem sent my sails to me via TNT. I assume he must have known something because it was very smooth from my end. Can't speak for his end of the process of course.


Matt

[El Pinguino]

Phoned DHL Express this AM.... no idea when it would be delivered..today or tomorrow...now with third party courier... no they probably wont phone to say when they are turning up....

Nice man appeared at the door at 1300....

Now all I have to do is try and get my $50 back...

I won't be using them again....

[RainDog]

We just had DHL deliver us mail in Bahamas from Florida. Just an envelope with a few pieces of paper. Source to destination was about 400 miles. $179 up front, 6 days, and $35 tacked on at the end. Plus they wanted me to come pick it up. I was certainly put off.

[Jim Cate]

DHL stuffing things up?? How could that be???

Well, back in 2003 when we had just purchased Insatiable II we were in Tasmania with a dud Gori prop. Ordered a Flex-O-Fold from their American vendor in Massachusetts, who duly sent it on to us via "4 day expedited delivery" (sounds of stifled laughter). I will spare you of all the details, but they lost the shipment three separate times in three separate airports. During the 21 days that elapsed before delivery, they simply did not seem to care that they had not fulfilled their contract, nor that I had lost my place in the queue at the slipway or that I was stuck in place. The final straw was when it finally arrived in Hobart (not at the address specified) they informed me that it would be an additional 200 AUD to get it out of their custody and into mine... "airport and customs fees".

I will never willingly use their services again.

Jim

[zeehag]

my bankcard was sent from phoenix to manzanillo via dhl.. promised for aug 14 delivery by end of day.
ok seemed too smooth......

and so the package was re routed when it got to guadalajara and sent thru kuwait, then bahrain, then heathrow then east midlands uk, then cincinnatti hub, where it sits gathering dust. i am not able to file a report until after i receive the package, according to dhl contact us.. holy sheets, i wish the defrauder of my account had allowed be to withdraw more than a few pesos before i had to shut down my own card.
hay, is it the 14th yet????

Waybill: xxxxxxxxxxxx
Processed at CINCINNATI HUB - USA
Sign up for shipment notifications
Sunday, August 16, 2015 at 14:35
Origin Service Area:
PHOENIX, AZ - GOODYEAR - USA
Destination Service Area:
MANZANILLO - ISLA NAVIDAD - MEXICO
The Estimated Delivery Date is currently unavailable. Please try again later.
1 Piece
Sunday, August 16, 2015 Location Time Piece
25 Processed at CINCINNATI HUB - USA CINCINNATI HUB, OH - USA 14:35
1 Piece
24 Arrived at Sort Facility CINCINNATI HUB - USA CINCINNATI HUB, OH - USA 11:19
1 Piece
23 Customs status updated CINCINNATI HUB, OH - USA 09:21
22 Departed Facility in EAST MIDLANDS - UK EAST MIDLANDS - UK 02:34
1 Piece
21 Transferred through EAST MIDLANDS - UK EAST MIDLANDS - UK 02:29
1 Piece
Friday, August 14, 2015 Location Time Piece
20 Arrived at Sort Facility EAST MIDLANDS - UK EAST MIDLANDS - UK 20:03
1 Piece
19 Departed Facility in LONDON-HEATHROW - UK LONDON-HEATHROW - UK 17:48
1 Piece
18 Processed at LONDON-HEATHROW - UK LONDON-HEATHROW - UK 11:07
1 Piece
17 Arrived at Sort Facility LONDON-HEATHROW - UK LONDON-HEATHROW - UK 10:13
1 Piece
16 Departed Facility in BAHRAIN - BAHRAIN BAHRAIN - BAHRAIN 01:32
1 Piece
15 Processed at BAHRAIN - BAHRAIN BAHRAIN - BAHRAIN 01:09
1 Piece
Thursday, August 13, 2015 Location Time Piece
14 Arrived at Sort Facility BAHRAIN - BAHRAIN BAHRAIN - BAHRAIN 23:24
1 Piece
13 Departed Facility in KUWAIT - KUWAIT KUWAIT - KUWAIT 22:00
1 Piece
12 Arrived at Sort Facility KUWAIT - KUWAIT KUWAIT - KUWAIT 21:18
1 Piece
11 Processed at KUWAIT - KUWAIT KUWAIT - KUWAIT 20:11
1 Piece
10 Shipment arrived at incorrect facility. Sent to correct destination KUWAIT - KUWAIT 08:08
9 Arrived at Delivery Facility in KUWAIT - KUWAIT KUWAIT - KUWAIT 07:18
1 Piece
8 Departed Facility in KUWAIT - KUWAIT KUWAIT - KUWAIT 06:54
1 Piece
7 Processed at KUWAIT - KUWAIT KUWAIT - KUWAIT 06:54
1 Piece
Wednesday, August 12, 2015 Location Time Piece
6 Arrived at Sort Facility GUADALAJARA - MEXICO GUADALAJARA - MEXICO 09:19
1 Piece
5 Departed Facility in CINCINNATI HUB - USA CINCINNATI HUB, OH - USA 05:46
1 Piece
4 Processed at CINCINNATI HUB - USA CINCINNATI HUB, OH - USA 05:23
1 Piece
Tuesday, August 11, 2015 Location Time Piece
3 Departed Facility in PHOENIX - USA PHOENIX, AZ - USA 20:38
1 Piece
2 Processed at PHOENIX - USA PHOENIX, AZ - USA 19:56
1 Piece
Monday, August 10, 2015 Location Time Piece
1 Shipment picked up PHOENIX, AZ - USA 16:02
1 Piece

[Shooze]

Back when I was in the freight game, DHL was short for


Drop it, Hide it, Lose it


or Damage it, Hide it, Lose it.




Thought they would have become more efficient now they are owned by the Germans :-))

[travellerw]

I own an import company and ship 1000s of items per year. We avoid DHL like the plague. Sometimes we are forced to ship with the on a customers account. We have never had a single smooth transaction with them.

Frankly, I have no idea how they are still in business.

[Factor]

Must agree, DHL are my least preferred carrier. However they do get a good run for their money from Australia post at times. Bought a HMG backpack from the states. US Post had it to Australia in there days, Aus Post had no idea where it was for three weeks. To be fair that is rare though usually they are good, indeed usually all the companies surprise me with their efficiency, but DHL has yet to surprise me.

[Sailmonkey]

Great......I've got a starter motor shipping from Hong Kong via DHL. Let's see how this goes.


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[donradcliffe]

I had a 3 box shipment sent to Pago Pago from the mainland. Two of the three boxes showed up on time, the other went to Africa.

[El Pinguino]

All's well etc.

Used the contact details on their NZ site to email the head banana/South Pacific region.

Received this back :
'On behalf of DHL New Zealand I would like to offer my sincere apologies for the problems you have experienced and for the personal frustrations you encountered in trying to resolve the matter.

As a Quality Endorsed Company, your complaint has been taken very seriously and as such it has been recorded for reporting purposes. A copy of your concerns which have also been forwarded to the relevant Managers for follow up in order to take the necessary corrective actions to avoid this unfortunate situation occurring again. Please be assured this is in no way indicative of the normally high level of service provided by DHL.

Your concerns which you raised have been addressed and treated with seriousness.

I have attached a claims form, please complete and we will organise a credit of the customs fee you were charged.

Again I apologise and I will ensure this is dealt with and sorted in the quickest possible time frame.
If you have any furthur questions or enquiries, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Kind Regards'

$A55 turned up in my bank a/c yesterday.