OT/PSA - DHL Express : Incompetence Personified

[eBAUMANN]

TLDR - If you have a DHL shipment on the way from overseas, CHECK THE ADDRESS INFO on the tracking...call if you cant easily access that info to verify its going to the right place...because (for me) it is 100% of the time, NOT going to the right place.

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I dont know if its just me or what but I have had 2 things shipped to me from overseas via DHL in the past few months and BOTH boxes had bogus "requests" placed on them for alternative delivery options.

Box 1 - from the UK - held at a DHL location for pickup for 3 days without them ever notifying me that it was there, or that they attempted delivery (because they didnt). I called and the person I spoked with was confused and surprised to hear this. They delivered it the next day...like they should have 4 days prior.

Box 2 - from Japan - straight off the bat, tracking/CS says I requested it to be held at a service point/locker IN PHILADELPHIA (im in Tucson). Glad I noticed this before the box even left Japan. Just got off the phone with them and its course has been corrected...but im still expecting them to hold it somewhere in Tucson until I call and ask them to actually deliver it to me like they were paid to.

So yea, just a word of warning/heads up for anyone with DHL stuff on the way!

[zambenini]

Eric, your particular situation may be particular to DHL, but as an aside everything is kinda herky jerky right now. I just sold a watch on ebay to someone in Australia and there was a lot of debate at my local shipping store as to whether USPS would even send anything down under at all! I took it to the post office and after a few minutes of research, they accepted it and said it should be fine. #onawingandaprayer

[thirdgenbird]

Funny, I sent a watch to AU and all of this craziness essentially broke completely loose while it was in flight. It made it, but sat at a facility for a bit.

[eBAUMANN]

Yea international shipments during COVID, fine, i get DELAYS. But just straight shipping something to Philly when its supposed to be in Tucson? What the hell is that about?!

I had a UPS box that was supposed to arrive monday...it was sitting in tucson all week and is out for delivery today.
There was a recent outbreak of 30+ cases of COVID in a tucson UPS facility this week though so they get a pass.

USPS and Fedex have been excellent, if not BETTER than usual for the past few months.
And im talking 200+ packages in 4 months here.

DHL though? They had 2, in 4 months, and they screwed the pooch both times.

[C40_guy]

I just ordered a pair of trail shoes from the UK, and got notification that I have a DHL On Demand Delivery due on Tuesday. Hope my experience is smoother than some of the above mentioned!

Address looks correct in the email, but who knows!

[eBAUMANN]

Originally Posted by C40_guy

I just ordered a pair of trail shoes from the UK, and got notification that I have a DHL On Demand Delivery due on Tuesday. Hope my experience is smoother than some of the above mentioned!

Address looks correct in the email, but who knows!

just keep watching that tracking...i would never have known they were holding it for pickup had i not finally checked to see where the hell my fancy new pump was...

[flying]

The best is to have a DHL On Demand Login

https://delivery.dhl.com/on-demand-d...ml?ctrycode=US

Simple to setup & once done you have great control of any DHL delivery headed to you

You can set prefs etc like no signature leave on porch etc.

I have had quite a few DHL deliveries during the last couple months from UK to USA all without a hitch all in a week or less too,

[Velocipede]

I haven't had any issues with DHL, but UPS is delivering a 2-Day Air package on Tuesday instead of Yesterday.

[eBAUMANN]

I was just going to let this thread die but wow, theyve really outdone themselves this time...

-- After being re-directed from Philadelphia to Tucson (where it was addressed...) it was held again "by request" (never requested anything other than for them to deliver to my house...) at the local Tucson facility for pick up.

-- I was never notified they did this...nor do I have any idea where that facility IS...nor do I have a phone number to call that facility to find out where the hell it is. It does not come up in a google search.

-- I was prepared for this to happen and called them yesterday to request they deliver the package today...they placed the request, i got email confirmation of scheduled delivery today.

-- Tracking never updates.

-- I call all morning today and get a BUSY SIGNAL on their CS hotline...a G-D BUSY SIGNAL

-- Finally got through. They have no idea whats going on. Agree it should have gone out for delivery.

-- They schedule a delivery for tomorrow and tell me to call the CS hotline at 9am so that they can then call the station to make sure the package goes out for delivery tomorrow.

Absolutely PATHETIC.

[Greatestalltime]

Great. I have a frame coming from UK via DHL

[eBAUMANN]

Originally Posted by Greatestalltime

Great. I have a frame coming from UK via DHL

I would preemptively call their CS line (1-800-225-5345 --- just say "AGENT" at your first chance and youll eventually get to a real person) just to verify the address its going to and that you want it DELIVERED not held for pickup.

Hopefully this is just a Tucson thing...because if not, im pretty sure I could run a delivery company better than these jamokes.

[thirdgenbird]

I’ve got a DHL package coming from Germany and the only way I can get the tracking number to work is to go to the German region DHL page.

[mdeth1313]

I've had several items delivered by DHL from Europe over the years. Only one got screwed up and it was the shipper's fault. They screwed up printing the label. That said, once it was fixed it took DHL forever to get from Florida to NY. It was like once it wasn't going to make it on time they let it sit in a warehouse for 5 days no matter who I spoke to.

That was 3 or 4 years ago. Recently, I've had 4 packages delivered from Italy and the UK over the past few weeks. All were on time and no issues. Today's package actually came a day early.

[glepore]

DHL does ok. Compare Greyhound, which recently shipped a pair of Porsche seats coming to me from the other coast back and forth between cville and Richmond for a week...

[Toddykins]

The overwhelming bulk of packages that ship via DHL arrive smoothly. I am guessing we are talking something on the order of 99.99999pct. Same goes for UPS, Fedex and USPS.

I haven’t used DHL much since i returned to the US, but abroad I actually think they are best in class in terms of flexibility in scheduling/adjusting deliveries.

I am sorry you had a bad experience and are frustrated, but if this keeps happening, I hate to say the problem is probably on your side. Is there something unusual about your address? Would it pop up as wanted on google maps if I searched? Did you call a local branch when you got a busy signal - none of the major carriers main customer service lines are going to give a busy signal to reach the automated menu in nearly all circumstances. Maybe lets cut their customer service a bit of slack amid the pandemic?

Package delivery as rule is a marvel of efficiency.