This updates my last post.

DHL, after I sent 2 emails and made a phone call as well, finally delivered that package to Seattle, WA.

All I can say is, “it’s about time.” It was supposed to be delivered on the 21st, and they literally drove it back and forth every day (according to their tracking report), until actually delivering it TODAY!

It wasn’t until my second email, when I told them to either give it to a competent driver or “just mail it” that they actually DID give it to another driver, who did his/her freakin’ job. Or maybe they actually mailed it…I’d love to ask the customer, but I’m afraid she’d think that was unprofessional. I’d also love to ask her if she hollered at DHL, too…I had emailed her with what was going on along with a link to the tracking, so maybe she voiced her displeasure to them as well.

DHL says I should be getting a refund for the cost of this shipment. While that’s good, and I definitely deserve it, I would have rather had the shipment handled correctly and not gotten another cluster of gray hairs!!

While DHL’s other locations have been fine, I will repeat, I’ll never send something to Washington State via DHL again. Next time I get an order like this, I’ll use 2 USPS Flat Rate Boxes even though it costs more.

Current Mood: Angry

A few days ago, I made a post praising DHL’s honesty. And, while they haven’t turned into crooks, they have seemingly forgotten how to deliver packages!!

For the last week, the idiots over at their Seattle, Washington facility have been taking a package out “for delivery” and then bringing it back to the facility every night! WTF?!? I’m ready to start wishing I could fire machine-gun bullets through the Internet!

Needless to say, I’ve written to Customer Service and they obviously just looked at the same “Track” screen I did, and said it was with the courier today and would be delivered. Well DUH, the problem is, the jerk courier isn’t DELIVERING THE THING!

Granted, they did say I’d get a refund on the shipping costs. But that doesn’t change the fact that there’s $97 worth of stuff out there on the truck of some guy who seems to think his job is to drive around Seattle singing “la la la” without actually delivering anything!

So I wrote back (when it didn’t get delivered, AGAIN) and told them that if that guy can’t do it, they need to send someone who can. Or mail it. The USPS would be a lot more competent at delivering than DHL has been with this package. I’m so aggravated I could scream. If I had any idea that this would be the result of using DHL to ship to Seattle, I would have mailed it to begin with. Or even used that ubergyp, UPS.

I wouldn’t be surprised if I end up with that package back here. If I do, it’s going back out Priority Mail!

While I won’t fire DHL completely–most of the deliveries do happen–I will NOT send one more thing to Seattle with them. That facility has shown its incompetence “beyond a reasonable doubt.”

*Bangs head on desk*

It seems rare that a large company deserves kudos, but I have some to hand out to DHL.

DHL, like UPS, has a surcharge for residential delivery. At DHL it’s $2.20. Often, I actually check Google Maps to see if a delivery’s going to be residential, but sometimes I’m pretty darned sure one way or the other, and skip that step.

So, when I got an order from someone with their own domain, I had checked that web address and found it was for a business–a business at a different address than the delivery address. So, I figured, the customer wanted it delivered to his house and checked off “residential delivery.”

To my surprise, it was NOT a residence, but another business address! And here’s where the kudos come in: DHL was honest and DID NOT charge the residential fee–that’s how I found out it wasn’t his house!

I think this is worth kudos because all too often, a company will catch it when something does cost more, but not-see it when something could cost less. DHL hasn’t been like that. They charge based on the actual destination–even when it’s obvious that I had no idea what kind of destination it is!

So even though I am sometimes bemused and baffled by their routings of certain packages, I have to applaud. And even when they do send something on a Michigan–>Wisconsin–>Michigan circuit, they’ve always managed to get the stuff where it’s going, so no real complaints there either (although when that happens, it’s irresistable blog fodder…).

Current Mood: Cool

“Shepherd to Lost Sheep, Shepherd to Lost Sheep…”

This line from the Dukes of Hazzard always comes to mind in situations like this.

A few days ago, I sent out a package to California via DHL. By now, I know the normal tracking pattern for their shipments. It’s “In Transit” from Southfield, MI (where there must be a minihub) to the first stop (a few hours), then it gets checked in that night at Niles MI or maybe across the border in IN. Then it reappears at Fresno Hub (for most of CA) a day or 2 later. After that is the delivery.

Just like I like to watch my site log files, I love to watch the package tracking of everything I ship. It’s like a little pastime.

So, I noticed right away when something didn’t come up right. That package I sent a few days ago had disappeared off the radar, with “In Transit, Southfield MI” being the last entry. And it had been that way for daayyysss. Where was the entry for Niles? UH OH… Also, it was supposed to be delivered Friday, but not only was it still undelivered, it hadn’t appeared in California at all! UH OH…

We began to make jokes. Had they shipped it to Florida or Maine hub by accident, and not checked it in so there wouldn’t be any record of the goof? Maybe they’d sent it to Alaska! Maybe they thought CA meant Canada?

Fortunately, just after midnight Friday night, it miraculously popped up at the Fresno Hub in California. The only big giveaway that it has been on an extra journey is the missed delivery date and missed tracking entries. It’ll be delivered Monday (hopefully ).

Kind of like when a pet gets out of the house without authorization, there is a curiousity as to just where it went and what it went through while it was unseen. And, like a pet, it cannot talk and tell me the story. Maybe someday there’ll be cheap, throwaway GPS trackers I can include in my boxes. Until then, I guess I just have to wonder what happened between “In Transit, Southfield, MI (Oct 1st)” and “Arrival at Facility, Fresno Hub, CA (Oct 5th).”