DHL - Whats it about?

VR3

I keep seeing these comercials about em....

And I saw them all over the place in DC....

Are they going to be head to head competitors with UPS and Fed Ex???

Thoughts?

Either way, we have already given them a nickname -

Domestic Highway Lickers JK to all DHL workers! No Harm intended!

brettw22

Thoughts on a new company?

**** Sid......go play outside.........

nadams

Someone on the DaLANTech forums just had a bit of a rant on these guys.... it's interesting, to say the least. I'm def. sticking with FedEx...

Rant mode ON

I needed to buy some replacement/backup ECS K7S5A motherboards from one of the few companies I could locate that still have them in stock. OK, I find a supplier in Skokie, IL that has new boards in stock. Great, they're only $27.42 each, I'll take three.

The only shipping option was DHL from this supplier. OK, I've been seeing the new DHL commercials on TV, extolling how they are so wonderful and going head to head with UPS and Fedex and beating them at their own game.

Usually, when you are trying to break into an existing and well developed market segment, you just gotta totally outperform the market leader by a wide margin to gain any form of marketshare in that space.

The shipping charge was $13.81. Cool, the supplier sent me a DHL tracking number in email. I look it up and the first thing I notice is that there is NO scheduled delivery date!

That's info I need when it comes time to plan future appointments and installations with customers. I'll always pad a day or two but at least I can give a customer a date when something will be ready to deliver or install.

Telling a customer that your replacement part is on it's way and I have no idea when it'll arrive is simply not acceptable to me. That's totally mickey mouse and unprofessional. It makes me look bad and that does not sit well with me.

The second thing I notice on the page is DHL@home standard (a link, not an email address) and DHL/USPS Alliance.

"Standard delivery within 2 - 4 business days, Deferred delivery within 2 - 7 business days"

Oh, that's real good for planning when you have a customer who want's their eMachines "server" fixed pronto!

As it turns out, DHL hands over the package to the USPS for final delivery!

Well, that's not exactly what happened. The package left Franklin Park, IL. on the 15th, on the 16th, it was processed at the DHL sort facility in Wilmington, OH.

So far, everything looks OK. It arrived at the DHL sort facility in Tucson on the 19th at 6:28AM. At 10:48AM, it arrived at a post office two zip codes away.

Since there is no scheduled delivery date for this package, I've been checking the the DHL site for updates at least once a day. I come home late from a full day of slaying the latest virii and worms and check their site, they state it was delivered yesterday.

On the 20th, the USPS delivered the package at 2:35 PM.

Now, in Tucson, we are right in the middle of the Monsoon season and *everybody* knows in the afternoon, we have some wicked torrential downpours. Streets and washes can flood out in a matter of minutes because the rain comes in so quick. The post office left the package by the front gate, totally exposed to the elements. A large covered porch which could have kept the package dry if it rained was only another 15 feet to walk.

Lucky for me, we have a high pressure system hovering over town and it didn't rain yesterday.

OK, I take the package in and notice somthing strange, it's not from DHL but from Airborne Express!

The return address label is Airborne Express in Skokie, the delivery address is to a post office here in town and Airborne Express paid the postage on the package.

Beneath the intermediate delivery address was my address for the post office to deliver it to.

I'm amazed that it even got here. If the package went astray somehow, imagine the fun I'd have backtracking it thru it's path without tracking numbers for AE or USPS!

The box did have some DHL info on the label but it was in the smallest type and sideways as compared to all the other info on the label. It could be easily overlooked when everything else looks like a headline from the NY Post.

What a fustercluck!

There was some DHL padded pouches used as packing material inside but this convoluted path is nuts!

I'm striking DHL off my list of approved shippers! DHL has figured out that they can strike bulk rate deals with their competitors and still make a profit.

So, that's telling me that I didn't get the best shipping rate that I could have gotten if I was given more choices when purchasing. No more purchases from GearXS.

If something had gone wrong, it would have been a nightmare to deal with three carriers and figure it all out.

Well, so much for any serious accountability should something go wrong!

The final leg of the trek was not handled properly by the person who dropped off the package. They live here too and know darn well, it rains hard nearly every day during the monsoon season. Leaving a package exposed out in the elements is just stupid in an effort to save an extra 15 seconds of time.

If the package were to be ruined, who would I file the claim with? From the USPS's perspective, I'm not the customer, AE was. AE didn't do any business with me, they were paid by DHL. Nightmare in the making.... Call Stephen King, here's his next book idea.

I don't recommend DHL if they are going to do stuff like this. Use UPS and Fedex for your needs.

/Rant mode OFF

dlew308

DHL & Airborne Express combined/merged or cross breeded. As I use fedex more and more, I'm liking their home delivery service over big brown. It's usually delivered faster as well.
And it's cheaper, that makes for happy customers

steveinaz

We use DHL quite a bit for shipments into Afghanistan and Iraq. Not cheap, but seem to get around the customs hassels better than Fedex.

organ

DHL is not a new company. They've been around for a very long time. I used to have a little DHL toy airplane when I was a kid. Never used DHL before but no matter which company you go for, there will always be people who had a bad experience with them.

Maurice

Demiurge

Originally posted by steveinaz
We use DHL quite a bit for shipments into Afghanistan and Iraq. Not cheap, but seem to get around the customs hassels better than Fedex.

We shipped a ton of stuff to Malaysia at my business just this past week. They do a great job for international shipments either by sea or air.