will WE play in Peoria?

Nearly 4 weeks after Patrick (my brother) sent me two boxes for Christmas, they arrived.  I then wrote this letter to DHL which I share with anyone who wants to know what company to avoid:

Given the way my most recent shipping experience went with your company, I don’t expect this letter to be given any attention or care. Because that is, in my experience, the way in which your customers are handled.

It takes a great deal of marketing nerve to make the following claim on your website:

We transport shipments rapidly, safely and on time all over the world. The basis for this is our comprehensive network, combining air and ground transport for optimal delivery performance.

The shipment sent to me was neither rapid nor on time.

The two boxes left California on December 18. One arrived in Lyon on December 20. The other was a day behind. As of December 22, both packages were classified as “address information needed.” It was then apparently left in the hands of the customer to contact DHL to verify an address that was correct. But as the customer, it is not my job to keep track of your business. That is what we pay you far too much money to do for us. ($150 for two small boxes) A simple check of a map or virtually any map program on the internet would have shown the location of my home. Delivery companies of all kinds (UPS, movers, appliance companies, fuel companies) have all found my home using the exact same address you had with no problem, likely because the address was complete and correct. Had I been given a tracking number, perhaps I’d have found the problem weeks ago. But, again, it is not my job to handle your deliveries.

January 9, the shipper was finally contacted. He was then told that no attempt was made to reach me because the number he’d listed for me was a United States number. It is my correct number. When he shipped the boxes originally, he was not told that he had to have a French phone number for me. Your website then claims delivery attempts were made on January 11, 12, and 15. I was not notified of any delivery attempt. I was phoned on the 11^th at which time I arranged for delivery today because if I’d wanted delivery sooner I was told I would have to rearrange my schedule.

My husband and I plan to live in France for the next several years; we are part of a sizable ex-pat community here. We tell everyone we know in the United States and here in the Grenoble area not to use DHL… EVER… whether they are shipping across the globe or across the street.

I had difficulty shipping across the United States with DHL in the past, so much so that it became a running joke with the person attempting to send me items. It has now gone from ludicrous to abominable. Given what you charge (again, $150 for two boxes) your company should be embarrassed.

If it absolutely, positively has to get there…. try the post office.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 16th, 2007 at 9:49 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.