Avoid using DHL to ship items.............
 

This is a heads up and a warning to you guys and gals who ship and buy stuff.

AVOID DHL...........a few months ago I bought a complete 4-speed manual changeover from the flywheel to and including the driveshaft from a 240D pedals and all. Paid $372 with shipping to a Dan Holden who sells on Ebay ander oryx_world_hq. The seller has a good feedback of over 1387 and 99.6% positive.

Shipment was lost by DHL at their Ohio center......poof vanished....well after making me jump through a lot of hoops including getting a copy of the Waybill from the seller, the dragged this out 2 months...........and then only refund me the cost of the items......$199 not a dime of the shipping which was the balance of the $372. They refuse to refund me that even though they lost an entire pallet of parts. Of course now too much time has passed and the credit card company can't do anything...........Seller is not retuning emails for the last week and this is all I can do.

Moral of the story............AVOID DHL.

Avoid DHL

Us FedEx folks love these kinds of endorsements! ;)

But seriously, we follow competitors and their practices...what we hear most is that DHL is price competitive, but their service levels are poor.

Don't know if they will ever turn that around, but if you need a critical item shipped to you, trust the company with the track record of delivering it FAST and on time! FedEx! :sun_smile

Okay, commercial over...back to OD tinfoil hat mode!

Hmm.
DHL delivered a shipment to my door from NEPAL in four days. That's the only experience I've had with them. We ship UPS (atlanta thing...)

sucks about the lost stuff, and the crappy service...

DHL is not of the same ilk as UPS or FedEx in terms of quality -- that's a fact. But I don't agree with your conclusion here. The fact that DHL refunded you anything strikes me as remarkable. The refund should have gone to the vendor, the vendor should refund you. Moral of the story: avoid the vendor, unless he responds and credits you the difference which you are entitled to.

Avoid Ohio while you're at it, too

I was UPS driver while in college. I picked up shipments for overnight delivery from local businiesses, including Mobil, which was UPS' biggest overnight shipper worldwide at that point (just a little pride there!).

From experience, I'd wholeheartedly endorse UPS or FedEx. But stay away from Airborne Express!! They're just not up to the standards of UPS and FedEx by a longshot. I remember on more than one occasion laughing one of their drivers because he'd forget the key he needed to open and empty a drop box of overnight letters. He'd have to physically turn the thing upside down and shake out its contents!

Just stay with UPS or Fed Ex and you'll be alright.

Airborne is DHL (DHL bought them out).

Huh. Maybe that's why I can't remember seeing any of their trucks for a while now!!

Hey G-Benz -- I have a question for you. Is it common for FedEx to show a package as "out for delivery" on their web tracking page but not see the item that day? I was expecting an alternator this week, and it showed as on the truck for delivery on Saturday morning (~3:30am). I waited and waited for the damned thing, and it never came. No footprints in the fresh snow to indicate an attempt either. So hopefully they'll leave it on the porch today (???), as I'm stuck at work all week. Frustrating, but hey... stuff happens! Maybe the weather fouled up their routes that day or something.

Tks,

Chris

I've used DHL for parcels and letterpaks . . . never a single problem.

It kinda depends on where you ship to. DHL does pretty well in most large urban areas (although it isn't uncommon for 2nd day packages to arrive a day late). They really struggle when the destination is too rural for them. I could tell you a couple stories that would make your jaw drop.

Well these idiots expect to keep the money you paid them to lose your shipment.....I mean its a pallet of parts..........not like a letter that you can easily loose.

Tonight some people are getting called......managers........I get my money or I will sue them in small claims court.

They lost it in one of their distribution centers.....they better pay me back for all of it.

A similar thing happened recently with an item I had shipped, except that it showed as "On FedEx vehicle for delivery" for several days. A call to FedEx brought no information that I hadn't already seen on their web site. An e-mail to the recipient confirmed that he hadn't received it.

He asked around a bit, and was informed that road closures due to mudslides had really put a kink in transportation between Ventura and Santa Barbara - talk about stuff happening! The package was delivered 4 business days after it first showed as being on the truck.

It's the first time that I've had even the slightest hitch with FedEx, and I ended up looking good anyway. The delay didn't bother the recipient, and I think he appreciated that I was looking out for him.

I have had things like this happen too. That's just TERRIBLE business. How they can look a customer in the eye and say they're not going to refund the $ you paid for them to ship an item, after they have LOST said item, is beyond me. Terrible business sense there. They ought to refund the $ and say " the next pallet's on us." Too bad those kind of principles are so rare in this day and age.

Maybe the snow we got delayed it... that's all I can figure. Oh well. Life goes on!

Exactly....it only took them 2 months to pay the paulty amount they did pay......Haven't cashed it yet.....becasue its not Full reimbursment....

THe seller did everything he should have....except insure it for the right amount...which should have included shipping costs.

I paid the bill they owe it to me.

Did you arrange for shipping or did the seller? If the seller did, which is the more common arrangement, the responsibility is entirely his. He should refund your money or reship the item, then worry about settling with the shipping company himself. If you arranged the shipping, then the responsibility falls to you.

hehehe, i'll second that... ;) :cool:

Well that requires that he answer my email...................But he did do his part promptly and did ship it all. before they lost it.

Right -- he's the source of your problem. I find it remarkable that DHL sent you any money. I don't believe that UPS or FedEx would have under those circumstances. They generally insist that the shipper, not the recipient, initiate damage or loss claims -- at least that's been my experience.

DHL worked with me.....and at no time did they ever tell me they wouldn't reimburse shipping....Until I got the check....But now its been too long to use credit card company as a recourse.

Well, next time you'll know. Contact the retailer first, your credit card company second.

Seller knew it was lost.....he provided the Waybill for the claim....my mistake was not calling the credit card company to flag that purchase......

I made the mistake of assuming that DHL would honor their responsibility. And fully reimburse my loss they incurred.

You're missing my point. I don't see that DHL had any responsibility to you whatsoever. Their responsibility was to their customer -- the person they were billing for the shipment.

This is true... if the seller arranged and paid for shipping, HE has to haggle with DHL for reimbursement. At least that's how UPS handles damage/loss claims.

BHD -- was this an Ebay transaction? If so, did you leave negative feedback? I sure would if the guy won't reply to you! If it was an Ebay-sanctioned sale, you can request contact info (incl. a phone #) for the seller. Call him and politely explain that you have yet to hear back from him regarding the loss of your pallet. He needs to resolve this; until you get your items OR all of your monmey back, the ball is in his court. That's how I would feel if I were the seller, anyway.

Good luck!

True....BUT DHL did work with me....they sent me the claim forms and all knowing I was the recipient. ANd they paid partial claim......

I am going to try...............I doubt Ebay will give me the contact info without it going through a lawyer.........I had a guy scam me about 2 years ago for $225 and it would cost more than that for my lawyer to draft that letter. ANd at that time thats the only way they would cough up that info.

If it was an Ebay sale, you can get the seller's phone # and address from Ebay by just requesting it. Easy-peasy! I have had to do it before.

Good luck!

Good info to know......they refused to give me that much 2 years ago even after I filed a fraud claim against the seller. Will give that a try........if I can find who to complain to to get it.

Here ya go:

http://cgi3.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?UserInformationRequest

Good luck!

Thanks for the link..........will look into that tonight.

Once packages come off the cargo truck to the station, it is scanned once...this will show up on the website as arriving at the destination (station). The courier then scans all of the items on the truck before leaving the station...those are the ones (like yours) that show as "out on delivery".

A few things can cause your delivery to not show up. The point made by most here is that unusual weather-related circumstances or something that would prevent the courier to get to the destination could be one factor. This was probably the case, and your package should have been flagged as a "No Attempt". What SHOULD happen is that when the courier returned to the station, he would scan all of the packages that didn't get delivered. The website would show that your package was returned to the station (later in the evening). Couriers typically return to the station from 4:30PM on up to 8PM depending on volume.

If the package requires a signature and you aren't home, you'd see a doortag indicating an attempt, along with a reattempt date/time. After a couple of tries, if you still aren't home, they leave you a tag indicating where you can pick up your package (kinda like the US Postal Service).

FedEx also has 2-day and Express Saver services, so if your vendor sent your order and chose not to send it "Priority" or "Standard" Overnight, it may not have been slated to show up at your door yet.

Couriers are on a pretty tight crunch to get packages delivered, so they will get the priority packages delivered first, then lesser ones later.

Well I ain't happy with DHL either (FYI if you check their trucks "operated by AirBorne Express ...")

I had a shipment of worms (for my fish) perishible. The box stated OK to doorstep.

They listed attempted to deliver on their site, although (and why I'm noting this here) they did NOT leave any type of tag etc.

Unfortunately it was a Friday, and by the time they redelivered on Monday, Oh well.

The merchant did reship, I only had to pay shipping, and he doubled the amount. He get's an A+, DHL gets a D.

Fortunately the merchant is moving to Fedex soon.

Well the seller finally answered my email just as I was leaving the office to go home....he wasn't happy.........well tough I am the one out $175 not him.

Told him I paid $374 and I want the rest of it or the goods I paid for........either would make me happy.

Will have to wait till the AM to see what he answered.

FedEx screwed-up a delivery and gave me somebody else's item. They (FedEx) was so upset when I called them that the clerk got in her car and came to my house to exchange the items. Lost time for me: About 2 hrs. But they redeemed themselves by that effort. I'm bought for the next time knowing they'll go all-out to make something right when its their fault.

OK, semi good news...........I would rather have cash after all of this but the seller has calmed down and is trying to make a deal....

DHL is refunding the shipping to him.........he will refund that to me........there ends up being a $126 diference......he has offered me a store credit for that amount........towards any items their wrecking yard has on hand. Not perfect but better than nothing. Now to figure out if he has anything I need.

It did show up finally yesterday... but all weekend and all day yesterday, the tracking page said "out for delivery" as of 3:30am Saturday. No update whatsoever. Oh well! One day late isn't so bad (though it would have been installed had it come over the weekend as I'd have had daylight to work in).

Tks,

Chris

The DHL/Airborne warehouse is right down the street from us. The vans come out en force every morning at 7:45am. I need to have a talk with them about speeding around our neighborhood.

Am I mistaken, or is he keeping the profit on a deal that wasn't completed? :confused:

Hmmmm technically yes.....but he is out the items too, so he can't resell them again. I would be happier if he just refunded me the difference. Because there is nothing I really need right this minute.........from him anyway. I need to look at my parts car closer when the snow melts and its warm enough to go over it with a fine tooth comb.........to see how much rust it really has. If rust is limited to the front fenders adn rockers I may source out seats and new fenders and put it on the road as a daily driver.

And I do want to get the store credit cashed in and the shipping back to get this episode behind me ASAP.

Yeah, that's really messed up! I can see if the seller originally specified no shipping or something, and BHD said "I'll ship at my own risk." But if he willingly ships an item, it's his responsibility to see that it gets to the buyer, period. There are no two ways about it... it's not even really open to debate. That's just common sense!

I feel for ya, man. What a pain in the butt!

The idiot was supposed to insure it for full value.............if he had there would have been no issue.

But a store credit is still better than having to go to court..................

Sorry you had such a bad experience with FedEx...to tell you the truth, I find that many folks in Memphis (not just in FedEx) aren't very congenial...unfortunately, you hire from the pool you locate in. :(

"Acts of God" or customer-induced delays are the only ones not guaranteed under FedEx policy.