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DHL issues


cteno4

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Over the last year or so of covid my use of DHL has of course shot up. Mostly been fast and not any major issues, but recently it sort of went off the rails. They have always been spotty about collecting a signature, but a since Covid started they have stopped asking for signatures all together. When I asked about this DHL would not say they have stopped asking for signatures, a bit of a concern with their pretty much no insurance, but our front door is pretty safe just odd they will not say if it’s the delivery person deciding this or DHL policy.

 

the real issue started when they then started putting DHL packages in the mail box, big no no here as only USPS allowed in there and it pisses off the mailman as DHL box end up filling the mailbox and he can’t get in his delivery. Emailed DHL and then the next package was left on the ground next to the mailbox post put on the street! Emailed and next couple came to the front poarch then back in the mailbox… So emailed DHL about this and they responded but it kept happening so emailed again and something must have gotten to the carrier as they stopped that but decided to leave the box 1’ behind our car in the driveway, out of sight of the front door and in plain view of the street! Better yet if I would go to get in the car and not walk around the back of the car, like I normally do, I would have backed over the package! So another email and then yesterday the DHL box with my galaxy express was left behind the car in in the rain to boot! Box soaked decently but luckily the train was well wrapped in plastic so no damage, but if it had been out there a few hours it could have been completely water logged. Funny thing was the photo attached as proof of delivery was of our front door with no package there, not of the package sitting out in the driveway in the rain! 
 

So another email to DHL and finally today the local supervisor called about the issue. Hopefully the next one will be back to being left on the front doorstep! Hopefully doesn’t piss the driver off too much to have them rhen punt the package to the front door.

 

but who leaves a package out in the rain in the middle of a driveway right behind a car!

 

we shall see!

 

jeff

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bill937ca

The delivery partner here has changed from Loomis, a long established courier company somewhat equivalent to UPS or Purolator to a ow level delivery service.  This could still be part of TFI International.

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gavino200
1 hour ago, cteno4 said:

Over the last year or so of covid my use of DHL has of course shot up. Mostly been fast and not any major issues, but recently it sort of went off the rails. They have always been spotty about collecting a signature, but a since Covid started they have stopped asking for signatures all together. When I asked about this DHL would not say they have stopped asking for signatures, a bit of a concern with their pretty much no insurance, but our front door is pretty safe just odd they will not say if it’s the delivery person deciding this or DHL policy.

 

the real issue started when they then started putting DHL packages in the mail box, big no no here as only USPS allowed in there and it pisses off the mailman as DHL box end up filling the mailbox and he can’t get in his delivery. Emailed DHL and then the next package was left on the ground next to the mailbox post put on the street! Emailed and next couple came to the front poarch then back in the mailbox… So emailed DHL about this and they responded but it kept happening so emailed again and something must have gotten to the carrier as they stopped that but decided to leave the box 1’ behind our car in the driveway, out of sight of the front door and in plain view of the street! Better yet if I would go to get in the car and not walk around the back of the car, like I normally do, I would have backed over the package! So another email and then yesterday the DHL box with my galaxy express was left behind the car in in the rain to boot! Box soaked decently but luckily the train was well wrapped in plastic so no damage, but if it had been out there a few hours it could have been completely water logged. Funny thing was the photo attached as proof of delivery was of our front door with no package there, not of the package sitting out in the driveway in the rain! 
 

So another email to DHL and finally today the local supervisor called about the issue. Hopefully the next one will be back to being left on the front doorstep! Hopefully doesn’t piss the driver off too much to have them rhen punt the package to the front door.

 

but who leaves a package out in the rain in the middle of a driveway right behind a car!

 

we shall see!

 

jeff

 

I always do the signature release, and they consistently leave the package on my doorstep, so it's no company-wide. You might want to talk to the delivery guy. Or obnoxiously video him as he does a delivery. Or perhaps show up in person at the depot to tell the above story. I had similar issues with the USPS and that (minus the video) was how it went away. 

 

I wouldn't worry about pissing him off. He couldn't really do worse. He won't dare to disappear your packages. My two cents. 

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Its the kind of thing that I would take them to small claims court for if a package was damaged or goes missing -- especially if you don't do their "signature release" thing.  With your history of contacting them you'd have something to stand on.  Especially if they dont show up, which is likely.

 

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gavino200
13 minutes ago, chadbag said:

Its the kind of thing that I would take them to small claims court for if a package was damaged or goes missing -- especially if you don't do their "signature release" thing.  With your history of contacting them you'd have something to stand on.  Especially if they dont show up, which is likely.

 

 

Interesting. I can't imagine ever having the time to go to small claims court. But I'm curious, what's it like? How does the process go? 

 

I only do the sig release because I live in the boons and I haven't heard of any porch bandits here. I probably wouldn't do that in a real city. 

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50 minutes ago, gavino200 said:

 

Interesting. I can't imagine ever having the time to go to small claims court. But I'm curious, what's it like? How does the process go? 

 

(This is US based experience)

 

I've filed 3 times for small claims court.  Twice against Compaq (first was settled before appearing -- second came from their badly written agreement on the first and that one went to court but ended up being settled).  Once against Amazon (I sold on Amazon and they cancelled my account [unjustly in my opinion] and wanted to hold any funds I had from sales for like 180 or 240 days or something stupid (they settled without going to court).

 

When going against a large company, most of the time they won't appear if the value of the claim is relatively low, and you will win or they will just try and settle, usually agreeing to your basic demands.  It is not worth it to them to show up vs what you are wanting from them.

 

The one I actually had to show up at was the second one vs Compaq.  I lived in NH and Compaq had recently bought DEC, which was Mass based, and so it was relatively easy for them to send a lawyer up to S NH from Mass (probably 45 min).   The complaint was based on their poorly written agreement from the first case that made it sound like they were going to pay me and give me a computer (instead of one or the other).  As the cash payment on the original settlement was based on what I had sued them for, which was repair costs of the computer, but they made me relinquish the computer in order to get the cash (so I had nothing to repair), and I was not happy with that and they had left themselves open, I asked them for the computer that was written in the agreement, they said no, it was one or the other, and I said -- read the agreement.  We ended up in court, the judge read the agreement, and said "I don't know what this was supposed to mean -- who wrote this?"  The answer was some lawyer at the corp HQ in Texas.  The judge said they wanted that person himself to show up and postponed the court small claims "trial" for 30 days.  Now, that made it not worth while for then to show up as the costs for that lawyer in just travel alone was more than the amount in question, let alone lost time, etc.  So they agreed to a settlement.   I am pretty sure the judge knew that would happen and so ruled the 30 day postponement and demand that the original author of the agreement show up when he couldn't understand the agreement himself.

 

My experience, and the experience of many others I have spoken to about this, is that large companies generally will settle instead of having to appear.  If they do appear, make sure you can give a good explanation in normal English of your case and why you are justified.  You don't need a lawyer in a small claims court.  The standard in small claims is "what the common man/woman would expect".

 

In this case, DHL has a responsibility to deliver a package safely.  If they have a way for you to do a signature release, and you don't, and they don't get a signature, they have not followed through with what the common man would expect.  If you do "sign" the signature release, but they leave it out on the side of the street, behind a car tire, out in the weather, at the wrong address, etc. they have not done what the common man would expect -- they have not safely delivered the package.  If they can prove they rang the doorbell, and left it on the porch, out of site as much as possible of the street, and out of the weather, they might be able to claim they "safely" delivered the package, as you had "signed" their release.  But leaving it on the side of the road, or out in weather, or behind a car tire, or at the wrong address, does not fulfill their responsibility to fulfill their side of the delivery "contract."

 

In the US, there is a thing called the Universal Commercial Code (UCC), which is a sample set of laws for commerce that most states adapt in some form or another as their commercial code.  If you ever need to go against a big company -- read the UCC in fine detail.  This commercial code lays out the rights and obligations for each party in a transaction, regardless of any written warranty or other claims the party may make.   Things like (paraphrasing) "a product will do what the common man would expect it does based on its description, images, etc."  If a product says that it has the capability to accept XYZ in memory, it better accept XYZ in memory.

 

(In my case against Compaq, I had purchased a Compaq laptop that supposedly supported 64mb or 128mb or RAM [this was a long time ago].  It had a 1 year warranty.  After owning it more than a year, I needed to upgrade the RAM for some new work I was doing, and purchased an upgrade board that was compatible with this model of computer. I installed it but the computer would not recognize it.  I called Compaq and they said:  "too bad, it is past warranty."  I tried to reason with them that I had never tried to upgrade it in the first year, so they  had no proof it every worked.  They basically told me "too bad."  I didn't have the money to buy a new laptop or anything so I took it to Computer City or CompUSA (the same building had housed both -- CompUSA buying Computer City at some point) and had their repair people give me an estimate on repair.  I then took that figure and went to Compaq but they still said "too bad" so I went to the city court house and filed for a small claim against Compaq.  The premise of my complaint was based on that UCC notion above and that they advertised the computer as being upgradeable to some high amount of RAM, but the one they sold me did not have such a capability.   Since this was my first time to try and upgrade it, and it didn't work, it was obvious this computer lacked that capability from the get go.   They agreed to settle before we got to court.)

 

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I’ve never done the signature release as usually one or both of us are here and days I know it’s coming I just try to make sure I’m here when they were requesting signatures. They topped ringing for a signature pre covid, but with every DHL shipment I still get the emails saying you don’t have to wait around and just use our signature release! I also checked to make sure there was not something they had in my record for his address to not request a signature and was told no.

 

our postman laughs as DHL here is seen as the bottom of the delivery staff. FedEx are the aggressive drivers and ups are rude doing things removing mail from USPS mailboxs to put a ups box I there illegally and Amazon worst double Parker’s. I guess there is a hierarchy in ever industry.

 

jeff

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Lets not get too worked up about this signature issue. There is this thing called covid19 going around and a lot of companies are doing contactless deliveries, even if the required signature option was selected . Pretty much the normal practice since March last year.

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5 minutes ago, katoftw said:

Lets not get too worked up about this signature issue. There is this thing called covid19 going around and a lot of companies are doing contactless deliveries, even if the required signature option was selected . Pretty much the normal practice since March last year.

 

They are being paid to do deliveries.  If they can't do the deliveries, they shouldn't take the job and the money to do it.  It is no excuse to be leaving packages by the street, in the weather etc.

 

Every other delivery service has no problem with deliveries including those needing signatures.   (And the science shows that the virus behind Covid does not transfer on items like packages).

 

 

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Actually my concern was not no signature issues during covid, it’s that the no signature started at least 6-12 months pre covid and maybe even longer than that. Really didn’t care that much until the last 4 or 5 months when things started going off the rails.

 

DHL has not said boo in any of their delivery emails during covid on any changes to contactless or not requiring signatures, but have always sent a signature release email in case I did not want to sign for them. I’m cool with contactless policy for covid if they would say that, but it’s been the opposite, they keep acting like I should and need to be signing for these.

 

im now only concerned about wanting to get a signature now that our local delivery person(s) seem to be doing just about everything they can wrong. DHL has next to nothing in insurance with the delivery, they want like $20 extra for that, which I can now see given where it’s gotten to. 

 

im hoping that talking to the local manager today will get things back to normal here, we shall see. It was just such a downward spiral lately I thought I would post. Luckily my wife went out to get the mail early and saw the galaxy express sitting in the rain behind the car before totally waterlogged and I didn’t back over it with the car. That would have been a picture — soaked crushed train…

 

jeff

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serotta1972

Sorry to hear about your DHL experience, Jeff.  That really sucks - so annoying hearing about their lack of pride in their work and even more annoying that it's not being addressed despite your attempts to contact them.  I've actually had really good experiences with my DHL packages as they won't deliver unless the package is handed to a person at least here - I've been using DHL even prior to Covid as it wasn't much more than EMS.  I've missed many delivery attempts and at times had to go pick it up from the processing center.  It has noting to do with Covid - it just sounds like you have a very inconsiderate driver.  I've lost 2 packages in the past year due to porch thieves through FedEx and just called the vendor that I never received the items despite the tracking saying that it has been delivered and either got a refund or they resend my items.  Glad to hear the train was packed well and withstood the elements.  Enjoy your Galaxy Express. 

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roadstar_na6
3 hours ago, katoftw said:

a lot of companies are doing contactless deliveries

 

Over here they usually ring the door and then ask if it's okay if they sign for you.

 

Reading this in general makes me wonder again what's wrong with some people and how they manage to survive daily.

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railsquid

This all helps reaffirm my life choice to reside in Japan.  My only complaint is that the Yamato delivery guy who usually brings my Yahoo Auction finds has started saying "itsumo arigatou", with a slight undertone of "WTF do you keep ordering and why are you always at home on weekday afternoons".

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2 hours ago, roadstar_na6 said:

 

Over here they usually ring the door and then ask if it's okay if they sign for you.

Isnt that contactless?

 

6 hours ago, chadbag said:

It is no excuse to be leaving packages by the street, in the weather etc.

Didnt mention that issue. If the premise of you response was due to this. Wasted keystrokes...

 

Commented just on lack of signature issue only. Nothing else peeps.

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disturbman
2 hours ago, roadstar_na6 said:

Over here they usually ring the door and then ask if it's okay if they sign for you.


That's not a question our DHL guys ever asked me. But they are so overworked that they usually ring a single door in the building and leave all the other packages there. It's quite normal for us to swing by our neighbors even if we were home at delivery time.

DHL is quite good here. Hermes a bit less. The worst by far is Amazon. They never ring the door and only write "package at neighbor's" without giving a name. Which sometime makes finding a package nearly an impossible mission. They also sometime leave the packages at a different building in the street.

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marknewton

My opinion of DHL gets lower each time I have a delivery. I recently bought a Tenshodo D51 from HobbySearch, which was posted on Monday May 17. It arrived in Sydney just after midnight on Wednesday 19th May. So far, so good. Since then it's been put on hold once for no apparent reason, sent to the wrong facility twice, and is currently on hold again, as according to the tracking website it was too late to be processed for the next delivery run. So who knows when I might finally receive it. I should also mention that I'm only 30km from the airport where the parcel entered the country, and 15km from DHL's local delivery centre. 

 

I don't know what pisses me off more - their apparent incompetence, or the fact that I'm paying good money for this. Because DHL is more expensive than EMS was, and their service is absolutely inferior. I'll be very glad when EMS is available again. 
 

Cheers,

 

Mark.

Edited by marknewton
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Sorry to hear that mark. It really seems their local operations vary so much. sounds like their in country routing just sucks.
 

Here things are really fast even in country here, it’s the last little bit of the delivery that’s been a disaster with not just being able to get it to the doorstep and get a signature or at least just push the doorbell! At least the last one wasn’t put behind the car to back over!

 

jeff

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maihama eki

Not to be gloating, but DHL from Japan to my house in Colorado is hard to beat in terms of speed. It is always less than a week - often 2 or 3 days from shipping in Japan to landing on my porch. They seem to deliver every day of the week - they dropped a package last Sunday. There was a time when they sometimes used what appeared to be contract deliverers - unmarked white vans or even cars with non-uniformed drivers. Lately, it is always a DHL van with a DHL driver. I've never had a package that looked abused, smashed, dented, ...

 

It's not cheap though. A couple of magazines from Amazon.jp or any small package from Hobby Search or similar is now around $21USD.

 

I miss the super cheap SAL shipping. It was usually ~3 weeks for < $5USD.

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roadstar_na6

I wish more sellers would offer FedEx, at least at ZenMarket it's half the price of DHL/UPS and is delivered in the same speed.

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DHL now, at least for me in Utah, is not quite as good as it was pre-Covid.  They used to send to Cincinnati from Japan, and directly to Salt Lake City, and then to me.  Now it goes to Cincinnati, then to Denver or some other place, often sits a day, and then comes to me.  Still fast, but not quite as fast as it was.  Never had anything damaged through them.

 

With covid/post covid they aren't as good about ringing the door bell or knocking as they used to be.  I always sign their signature release thing online so don't expect them to wait.  But it is aways by the front door for me.

 

DHL has a different meaning in Europe (or at least Germany) since the German Post Office was privatized and then later merged with DHL (not sure who ultimately is boss in the relationship) so, as I understand it, domestic postal package delivery is called DHL but is a separate thing from DHL Express around the rest of the world (same parent company etc but different level of service).  My point is someone in Germany may have a different experience because he is calling something DHL that the rest of us would think of as local domestic ground services (postal, or private, doesn't matter) where the rest of us, saying DHL, mean DHL Express.   I assume DHL Express from Japan to Germany runs more like it does elsewhere.  (I've had this confusion speaking to someone in Germany where they were going to send something to the US with "DHL" but it ended up really being sent by the postal service -- inside Germany it may have been routed through ground services of DHL but was dumped into the postal service in Frankfurt and took forever to get here).

 

Too bad about Oz having terrible DHL service.  I prefer it when shipping from Japan myself as it is usually less expensive and faster than other services (not just from Amazon either -- had a shipment from Ami Ami recently, on a wife-approved moratorium exemption, and it was inexpensive, comparatively speaking, and fast).

 

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DHL farms out their in country delivery in most places in the world, so everyone will have different experiences. Amazon.co.jp packages seem to get good attention I guess due to volume, and usually still route directly to dc from the Cincinnati hub. In the las few months they are usually a day or two ahead of original schedule. I’ve not been asked a signature for DHL in like 5 years now, they just stopped asking. I never do the waiver, they just never ask even if I’m outside and they hand me the package so it was not a Covid change here, they just don’t do it. Iv asked DHL directly three times on this and no response on why signatures are not being taken.
 

FedEx was a bit cheaper than DHL to the us with hobby link japan, but usually took a couple days longer, on par with EMS in the last few years. Much better local delivery by FedEx though. DHL seems to use the lowest bidder for their in country couriers for delivery.

 

jeff

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roadstar_na6
41 minutes ago, chadbag said:

DHL has a different meaning in Europe (or at least Germany) since the German Post Office was privatized and then later merged with DHL (not sure who ultimately is boss in the relationship) so, as I understand it, domestic postal package delivery is called DHL but is a separate thing from DHL Express around the rest of the world (same parent company etc but different level of service).  My point is someone in Germany may have a different experience because he is calling something DHL that the rest of us would think of as local domestic ground services (postal, or private, doesn't matter) where the rest of us, saying DHL, mean DHL Express.   I assume DHL Express from Japan to Germany runs more like it does elsewhere.  (I've had this confusion speaking to someone in Germany where they were going to send something to the US with "DHL" but it ended up really being sent by the postal service -- inside Germany it may have been routed through ground services of DHL but was dumped into the postal service in Frankfurt and took forever to get here).

 

Yeah, basically the Deutsche Post takes care of letters and the like whereas DHL takes care of parcels. DHL Express is however completely separated from the national DHL network in Germany as well, so if you want to complain about DHL Express but do it with the regular DHL customer service they just tell you it's none of their business. Once you know this it's pretty easy to tell the difference tho, especially considering the prices of their services 😄 A regular 5kg parcel to the US of A is 36,99€ (via UPU) whereas the express one is around 95€.

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1 hour ago, maihama eki said:

Not to be gloating, but DHL from Japan to my house in Colorado is hard to beat in terms of speed. It is always less than a week - often 2 or 3 days from shipping in Japan to landing on my porch. They seem to deliver every day of the week - they dropped a package last Sunday. There was a time when they sometimes used what appeared to be contract deliverers - unmarked white vans or even cars with non-uniformed drivers. Lately, it is always a DHL van with a DHL driver. I've never had a package that looked abused, smashed, dented, ...

 

It's not cheap though. A couple of magazines from Amazon.jp or any small package from Hobby Search or similar is now around $21USD.

 

I miss the super cheap SAL shipping. It was usually ~3 weeks for < $5USD.

I’m a little worried about using DHL in my corner of Colorado (La Junta area). I’ve never seen any of their delivery trucks in the area. UPS is pretty good and delivering to us, but FEDEX can’t figure out where we live. They’ve delivered several packages to the neighbor, who is kinda nuts and never passes the packages on to us. I’d hate to lose something from Japan like that.

Edited by Szdfan
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roadstar_na6
2 minutes ago, Szdfan said:

I’d hate to lose something from Japan like that.

Well if FedEx can't proove they delivered it to you I bet you can get some compensation from them?

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1 minute ago, roadstar_na6 said:

Well if FedEx can't proove they delivered it to you I bet you can get some compensation from them?

FedEx wasn’t helpful, we had to deal with the vendor to replace or refund what we purchased.

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