DHL: Disasterously Haphazard Liars?
When it absolutely, positively might not have to be there anytime soon, which package delivery company do you not rely on? Let me rephrase that for the sake of sounding slightly less confusing. Which package delivery company sucks the least?
UPS, FedEx, DHL, the Postal Service… they’re all perfectly imperfect. Despite having given our station the proper address, UPS didn’t deliver it on time and claimed it had the wrong information (even though the label was 100% accurate). FedEx isn’t available from the UPS Store anymore, which further complicates my life when it comes time to ship something back through anything other than UPS. The Postal Service? Dude, don’t even get me started on our local office.
So, I had a 72-pound PC coming to the house last week - courtesy of DHL. I was given the tracking number on Monday, and was told that it would arrive on Wednesday (according to DHL and the selected shipping service (2nd day). In DHL’s world, “2nd day” apparently means “whenever the hell we feel like it.”
I knew that we’d be leaving home for the weekend, and didn’t anticipate any scheduling snags. Wednesday came, and it was still stuck in “Transit through sort facility” nowhere near Seattle, WA. I figured it was a tracking error. Thursday morning came, and (again) I expected something a bit more than a “transit” message, but the package was again in transit. I waited three days for the two-day service, and found my package still “in transit” at 10:30pm (albeit, finally in Washington state).
Friday morning came, and I had hope - seeing that the package was actually in Seattle (on the truck, to be delivered). We were leaving at 1:30pm, but I was certain that… nevermind. The PC remained “on the truck” until 6:42pm - when DHL delivered a computer worth over US$5,000 to our doorstep. Yes, they left it there without asking for any kind of signature.
It was given to DHL on the 12th, departed its origin on the morning of the 13th, and ultimately delivered on the evening of the 17th - that’s DHL’s 2nd Day service. Moreover, they left the package sitting on our doorstep (which Stan graciously picked up for us on Saturday morning). Thank goodness nobody saw it beforehand, and thank goodness it didn’t rain during the time it was out on our fully-exposed stoop.
Word to the wise: if you’re going to be shipping items to friends and family this Holiday season, don’t wait ’til the last minute and/or “2nd day” service. My situation could have ended up far worse than it did - and it’s not the first time I’ve had massive problems with DHL. I’ll likely stick with UPS for the time being, if only because it’s convenient and relatively affordable (and the least sucky out of all the package delivery agents).
Our UPS guy and postal carrier are awesome people - like, we might give ‘em Christmas cards this year or something. I wish I could take ‘em both with me when we move at the end of the month. It’s kinda too bad their respective employers might be a bit out of whack.
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19 Comments
joanna
November 20th, 2006
at 10:12pm
I agree. What is with this dropping packages at the door and leaving them there?
This happened to me with UPS (in Portland, OR) … it rained and the package was floating by my door when I got home.
Of course, UPS gave the usual excuses - they used to be great and polite; now, at the rate they are going, they might as well just toss the d*** package at my door and let me hope that it all stays intact and is usable…
Enjoy your holiday weekend,
joanna
-gary
November 21st, 2006
at 9:50am
I’m still waiting on a package that Amazon said left their facility on Oct 26th. That’s almost four weeks if you’re counting. USPS tracking says “Electronic Shipping Info Received”. That’s helpful.
I used to like UPS, then I started having packages not show up at all and they would tell me they were delivered. “Check with a neighbor” would be their answer for everything. I found two CD’s delivered by them six months after they arrived when the snow melted off the front yard and revealed them.
TheGiant
November 21st, 2006
at 11:26am
That’s really odd, because I had something shipped to me via DHL earlier this year using the normal ground shipping, and it was delivered two days early!
Derek K. Miller
November 22nd, 2006
at 1:37am
UPS is fine within a country, but as soon as you ship across border your recipient could be dinged with insane “brokerage” charges. Or not. It seems to be random. Cross-border seems to work most reliably by FedEx or the regular mail.
Welcome
November 22nd, 2006
at 11:54am
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Matthew
November 22nd, 2006
at 9:05pm
I live in Australia and our local postal service (Australia Post) is fine.
Also, I get large boxes of boardgames (quite heavy) shipped from the US Postal Service very frequently. Always arrive, never damaged…
Jay
November 23rd, 2006
at 3:03am
DHL - Don’t hold…
Dana
November 23rd, 2006
at 3:50am
Ain’t using DHL no more
Dave
November 23rd, 2006
at 4:31am
Only Fedex
DHL Update: 75 days and Still 12 Laptop Computers Remain Undelivered « For Sale By Locals: A New Real Estate Approach
November 26th, 2006
at 10:02am
[...] http://chris.pirillo.com/2006/11/20/dhl-disasterously-haphazard-liars/ [...]
Kirby
December 29th, 2006
at 6:32pm
I think I’m gonna have the save problem. In my case I am still waiting for a macbook to arrive via DHL (the seller chose DHL 2nd Day express). And today was the supposed date that it is “guaranteed to arrive” yet according to the tracking service it is still on the other side of the country.
Randy
January 5th, 2007
at 11:50am
Just stopped using DHL this week. I posted on the top 3 reasons why I left but it could have been a top 10 list. The post is located at:
http://mymomshouse.typepad.com/my_moms_house_an_entrepre/2007/01/upon_further_re.html
UPS does it yet again - Iggy Uncensored
February 14th, 2007
at 7:18pm
[...] [...]
rob shulin
February 18th, 2007
at 3:41pm
I work for DHL. The reason they suck is they overburden their drivers. If I want to get home at a decent time in the evening I have to cut corners like dropping packages in the rain, not obtaining signatures, etc. It’s their corporate mentality, not the drivers fault.I own a small company and don’t even ship with DHL!!!! DHL stands for:Delivered Hours Late!!!
Interesting...................At Least To Us: DHL: Disasterously Haphazard Liars? ~ Chris Pirillo
March 4th, 2007
at 11:43pm
[...] It’s DHL. What do you expect?DHL: Disasterously Haphazard Liars? ~ Chris Pirillo [...]
Sephy's Platzish
March 17th, 2007
at 3:28am
it was spotted in Ohio, some 36 hours after it was shipped out from Alabama. Hopefully with any luck, it’ll actually show up here sometime tomorrow. And, if you think I’m the only one that this has happened to, I’m not alone. Check out these posts - DHL: Disasterously Haphazard Liars? (Chris Pirillo) and The Myth of DHL Customer Service - this person has been waiting since October to receive their shipment of laptop computers in Bolivia from here in the States
DHL
March 31st, 2007
at 8:49am
DHL is a terrible shipping company. In the U.S., they use a network of underpaid, overworked independent contractors, who for bargain basement wages, “deliver” your packages. The service is unreliable for many reasons, not the least of which is huge turnover at the IC barns. The hubs and some of the larger stations (NYC, Chicago, etc.) are corporate and Teamster, but the network as a whole is a mess. DHL tries to do everything on the cheap, and what you get is cheap. As a result, they have continued to lose hundreds of millions of dollars every year, and their market share has stayed relatively flat. Check out http://www.exdhl.com/forums/ which has a whole series of comments and legal documents regarding the struggle between the Teamsters, the ICs, and DHL. What a mess…
Toby
July 23rd, 2007
at 10:32pm
I used to work with Hewlett Packard in the printers division and I ve noticed that HP never uses DHL to ship printers or any other computer hardware. Instead, they use FedEx and UPS to deliver such fragile equipment. There must be a reason for HP not to use DHL services. Overall, I can tell you that DHL’s service is excellent when you compare their delivery service standards with that of their competitors in the Asia Pacific region. Having worked in the logistics industry, I can tell you that certain delivery services are specific to the area and subject to regional differences. DHL might be terrific in one area and it might suck in another. It depends on a lot of factors, such as availability of airports, flights, sorting centres, technology, trucks, drivers and personnel.
jack
September 28th, 2008
at 7:31am
- my DHL account is revoked as of 9 27 08
- on 3/11/08 I made 3 shipments and they charged my credit card
- I requested invoice and on 4/11/ they sent me the invoice
- The invoice was 30 dollars shorter
- I lost these 30 dollars as I paid them to DHL with my credit card but could not receive the money from my client as the invoice was shorter
- to make it up dhl started harassing me to pay the invoice a second time
they rep would call me while I am driving and tell me i have unpaid invoice and I should pay it.
- i would tell them that I am driving and cannot pay the invoice and would ask them to send the invoice by fax or email or ordinary mail, so I can review it and pay it
nothing came either way. six calls.
one rep gave me her fax # so I made copies of the credit card charges from my statement and send it to her.
no acknowledgement whatsoever and the calls continued.
then a collecting agency started calling. I resend info by fax and the calls stopped.
then resently they called me again and i asked them to read the 7 page fax I sendt to them
- yesterday my account was revoked , I understood that when i tried to ship an important package.
it was saturday morning and their customer service is not working on the weekends, …Call us on Monday..
guess who I am not calling on Monday or Tuesday or ever..(hopefully).
I have a fedex account now and DHL era is over. my business is small but I was payng them on avarage 600 bucks monthly for 5-10 international envelopes..
fedex will get my money now. Hope more people awake.
Strangely I think I have more chances to be understood if I start talking to my VCR rather than trying to explain my situation to these “bright” guys and girls employed by DHL customer service and their collection agencies.
I am sorry I have met a lot of nice people working for DHL, but I gave up. Will go in the future with Fedex or TNT or whoever is there .
- a collecting agency started to call me on behalf of dhl
- now you revoked my account when I needed it
- I have paid all my dhl bills before the due time…
- should I be a happy customer or should I go to some good lawyers?
- give me your precious feedback…