DHL shipping.

[Jim]

Over the years there have been several posts about how bad DHL shipping is. I always use FedEx ground and am VERY satisfied with them. UPS, even though they are a little expensive, isn't too bad. My first experience with DHL was last Thursday.

A person in Florida need a small part immediatlely because his brakes were out and he had a rental car. He had a DHL account so he sent me an envelope over night marked "urgent" 'deliver by 10:30 AM'. I had the parts ready and waited all day for the DHL driver to show up so I could put the parts in the envelope and give it right back to the driver. He never did show up. At 4 PM I was leaving home and there at the end of my driveway hanging on my mail box was the "urgent" envelope. The lazy uncaring driver didn't even drive up my driveway. I called DHL to register my complaint and I was told their only requirement was to get it to the address. They picked up his return envelope on Friday and he probably won't get his part until Monday causing him to have to rent a car an extra 3-4 days.

The bottom line is if you want good service use an American company, FedEx ground, UPS or the USPS, not DHL.

[padgett]

Have had similar experiences with all of them. UPS once showed a package as delivered in the tracking, then not in the system, and a few hours later "on truck for delivery" (received a day late).

When expecting a package I often leave a note on the door "Am at home but hard of hearing. Please be loud or call 407.xxx" and still find a "missed" tag on the doorknob.

So I think it is more the delivery person than the company itself. If the same person has your rout for years and you get to know them they will usually help (in the case of UPS I know the lady who delivers and the first day she searched her truck, package was just not there.

Since Fed-X now has an agreement with the Post Office, they are often the most convenient since I do not send much, but they are all really the same from where I am standing.

What did frost me recently was a vendor whose web site says "All orders placed by 3 pm shipped the same day !" What they didn't say was "except USPS" which I found out after ordering online on a Friday before noon and paying extra for priority (2-3 days) when it had not arrived by Wednesday for a weekend show. Turned out they had not even processed the order until Monday.

[Guest kennyw]

I have watched from my door the usps person write a [not] at home note and put it in my mail box instead of knocking on my door. It all depends on the delivery person......ken

[charlie1]

ZZZ

Edited August 2, 2009 by CHAS1 (see edit history)

[Howard]

I'm a comptroller for a furniture store. Many small items are sent to our store by other means other than freight direct, such as FedX, UPS, DHL, and USPS. We find UPS to be the best, followed by FedX. One of the pluses of USPS, they may be a little slow, but it gets there. We too have had issues with DHL. We had problems with tracking. DHL advises our shipper that we have the package when in fact, we don't. They have never lost anything coming our way yet, but the firm and/or the drivers don't seem to be very reliable. I know the drivers in my area don't work for DHL directly, they are independent contractors which work for the local DHL distrib. That maybe part of the problem.

[charlie1]

ZZZ

Edited August 2, 2009 by CHAS1 (see edit history)

[Guest F14CRAZY]

I've had only had to use DHL like twice (buying internet stuff). One time it arrived as it should, and the other time the package actually arrived a day before online tracking said it was supposed to.

I haven't used it myself though because of the bad things I've heard about them. When I sell something online or something I use Priority Mail. A lot cheaper than UPS or Fedex ground, faster when going long distances, and just how bad can our government be?

[Guest HessLakeGuy]

What does DHL stand for? They seemed to come out of nowhere in west Michigan.

[Guest F14CRAZY]

check Wikipedia. I think it's dutch

[matthewlawe]

In 1969, Adrian Dalsey, Larry Hillblom and Robert Lynn (D, H, and L) founded DHL as a service shuttling bills of lading between San Francisco and Honolulu. The company grew rapidly and in a few years initiated service to the Philippines, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia, creating an entirely new industry of international door-to-door express service in the Pacific Basin. Steady expansion continued in the 1970's as DHL initiated service to Europe (1974), Latin America (1977), the Middle East (1978) and Africa (1978). The international delivery company was the first to bring air express to the Eastern Bloc countries in 1983 and to the People's Republic of China in 1986.

[Guest DTerry]

Used to be that folks in the industry referred to them as "Dewey, Huey, and Louie".

[jonlabree]

DHL is owned by the German Postal Service.

They just finished buying several othe air frieght forwarders.

[Machiner 55]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> , and just how bad can our government be? </div></div>

You're eighteen and draftable.

I pray that you don't have to find out.

[Guest HessLakeGuy]

Amazing what you can learn on this forum.............

[RivieraDriver]

Dhl blows! They deliver stuff that requires a signature but they never have anyone sign for them (no I don't have a waiver on file). Plus they don't seem to know how to knock on the door. Oh ya, I had a missing package with them. Only one that I've ever had come up missing. Read below for my story:

One time they were suppose to deliver 2 packages but only delivered one. No knock on the door, just dropped it at the front of the garage and ran off like it was a ticking bomb. The dog barked but thats it. I got pretty mad when I saw only one outside and the other still on the truck (according to the tracking). BUT then maybe 10min later or so, that second one now also showed as delivered. Um, I sure would like to know where to because the dog never barked a 2nd time, no knock on the door, no signing anything, etc. Point is, dhl was never here a 2nd time.

So I called dhl to raise hell. After giving me the run around for a while about maybe its somewhere else in the garage or stolen, I finnally got them to check deeper into this matter. I think I spoke with a supervisor but who knows, since I spoke with them several times. I also contacted dell about this since it was coming from them. Spent a good deal of time on the phone.

The next day the driver came by. Mentioned she got chewed out by her boss. She said she got down the road and noticed that she only dropped 1 of the 2 off. So she said she came back and put the 2nd one beside the first. I'm sorry but there was only one package there and no signs that anyone came back to drop off the 2nd. She also thought maybe someone saw the delivery and took it. Nope sorry, didn't happen either. If so they would have took them both, dog would have alerted me, etc. This is country around here, crime just doesn't happen. Doors don't need to be locked, things can be left out in the open, etc. Nice place to live. I told her this has never happened with any other package that I was suppose to get and don't believe its happened this time. Something else was going on.

I told her that I no longer want anything delivered here unless its signed for. Dell was really nice about the matter and had another shipped out even before the time they were suppose to wait for a loss package problem. Again they used dhl. Dhl this time got it here, but AGAIN no signature, nothing. So I'm fed up with the way they do business and will go out of my way to make sure dhl isn't used for my deliveries.

[Reatta Man]

Agree with the negative comments. During the nine years I worked at the Air Force News Agency, DHL would consistently attempt to deliver late (after 5:00 p.m.) and on the wrong days.

I shipped every size package available, from 2 lb. books or tapes to the UK and Japan to hundreds of packages of various sizes on the same day, to 75 lb. display cases to hotels around the country. My experiences were consistently ranked this way:

1) Fedex

2) UPS (very close second to Fedex but Fedex offers Saturday delivery)

3) USPS 4) ANYONE else, including a kid on a bicycle

5) DHL.

By the way, I laugh outloud when I see their ridiculous DHL TV commercials claiming how customer service is back in the shipping business.

Joe

[cpu]

Howard,

I just sent you a personal message; please check your messages in your user area.

Thanks

[Guest F14CRAZY]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">By the way, I laugh outloud when I see their ridiculous DHL TV commercials claiming how customer service is back in the shipping business.

Joe </div></div>

false advertising. make a class action lawsuit!

[Howard]

I've answered your PM. Just wanted to let you know.

[TheBlackMoon]

Ah Jim, I just had to put my 2cents in on this one...

Remember our little fiasco with Fed-Ex Ground (formally the infamous "RPS") and the loss of the FENDER you sent to me here in Baltimore, that, by the way, really wasn't lost for 3days, but was on the truck, with a driver they, for whatever reason, had no way of reaching 'cause he refused to call back dispatch? Oh, and let's not forget the fact that I called them the very 1st day and asked them to hold the FENDER at Dispatch in Dundalk, Md. and I'd pick it up. Strange that he "couldn't find the package" when you so nicely packaged the CAR FENDER in a 6'x4-1/2'x2' box. Kind'a hard to miss, I would say!

But let's not just rag on Fed-Ex only (that WAS a few years ago and right after the RPS acquisition. Furthermore, to their credit, when Fed-EX Corporate was told, they immediately tore a new whole in RPS Dundalk's perverbial arses, aka, cleaned house!!). I haven't had too many probs from them afterwards, just one recently. The driver took it upon himself to deliver $800 in MicroDrives to some unknown person (assumably a client of one of the offices in the building) leaving the office building next door to the one I live in. When I called the local office to complain, I was told, "Our policy allows a driver to do that!". Well, the shipper wasn't too happy to have to replace $800 in MicroDrives, so neither was Fed-Ex's Corporate office when he threatened to stop shipping through them. That driver and his respective supervisor (who told me it was their policy) no longer work there (according to the letter of apology I received from Fed-Ex).

UPS? Well they seem to enjoy leaving packages outside of office's doorsteps in high crime areas, then blaming the customer for not picking them up. Now, I used to work for them so know many of the Senior Managers in the local office, so I may have had a different experience than the average Joe. Another letter of apology and a formal "inquiry" into the drivers activities (he was fired for unrelated issues - the "not at home" notes when people really are situations mentioned above, so yes, they absolutely DO tend to do it). Unfortunately, Carlton Sheets' employees didn't care that UPS stated it was their error, I never received the package, and refunded their money. They tried to charge (FRAUD) me for it anyway until Visa got involved and forced them to stop with threats of CC Fraud.

DHL? I've had few experiences and always on the receiving end. Every one of them, to date, good (except their ability to track their own packages STINKS!). I've gotten some packages earlier than expected / declared, some just on time, and one, from China, within 3days of ORDERING! So far, no complaints. I'm sorry y'all have had such bad experiences.

USPS, so far, are probably the least troublesome (though SLOW), second to UPS, I guess.