Here’s a lovely coincidence: DHL keeps “losing” brand new shiny laptops from Dell. How mysterious!
I am a first semester graduate student who needs a computer. In mid-September (2007) I placed an order for a laptop with Dell. The laptop finally shipped in early October, and it arrived at the DHL warehouse in Las Vegas (where I live) on Thursday, October 4. On Friday, October 5, I called DHL to see when my order would arrive at my apartment. I had to call the national 800 number as I could not find the local DHL number. They let me know that my order would arrive by the end of business that day. My order had 3 parts: a printer, software and my actual laptop. The printer and software arrived fine, but my laptop did not. I called DHL again and they gave me the first of many apologies. They said that for whatever reason, the laptop “didn’t make it onto the truck.” They assured me that my laptop would arrive at my apartment by the end of business on Monday (they don’t deliver on the weekends). This didn’t make me happy as I had many papers due the following week.
Monday, October 8 rolled around and still no computer. I tracked it online and called DHL at 200pm to find out where my laptop was. I talked to someone (who apologized) and he said that he would contact the local Las Vegas DHL office and ask them to call me back within an hour. They would not give me the local number. At 320pm, I called DHL again and let them know that no one had called me back. The customer service rep apologized (of course) and told me that he would send another message to the local Las Vegas office and “hopefully they would contact me before they closed for the day at 500pm.” I didn’t like that answer, so I asked to speak with a supervisor. I explained what was going on to the supervisor and she apologized. She put me on hold while she contacted the local office. After about 10 minutes, she came back on the line, apologized, and let me know that they could not find my package, that it was “missing”. I then asked her if DHL would be paying for a new computer and she told me I needed to file a claim with Dell. She said this like it was no big deal. She also let me know that DHL would not be searching for my package any more.
I wasn’t too happy, but I contacted Dell (via email, since the customer service queue was closed). The next morning Dell contacted me and told me that they had talked to DHL and my laptop was indeed “missing.” The Dell rep told me that they would be creating a new laptop for me (the exact same as the old one) and that it would ship on or before October 15.
I waited and on Saturday, October 13, my Dell account showed that my replacement laptop had been shipped. I tracked it to the local DHL office and by that day, it had arrived at the Las Vegas warehouse.
On Monday, October 15, I called DHL because I noticed in the shipping info online, they did not have my apartment number, they just had the street address. The DHL rep apologized and let me know that my laptop would arrive at my apartment by 300pm that day. At 310pm, I called my apartment office (they would be signing for my computer). They let me know that nothing had been delivered for me. I then called DHL and asked to speak with a supervisor. I got one on the line and asked where my laptop was. The supervisor apologized and let me know that the delivery driver for my laptop had to be pulled in (she never told me why), but there would be a PM delivery and my laptop would arrive that night. At 630pm on Monday, I still didn’t have my computer. I called DHL, and asked to speak with a supervisor. The supervisor apologized and let me know that the delivery drivers would not deliver that late at night and that I would not be getting my laptop that night. She also let me know that the Las Vegas warehouse had closed so she couldn’t even find out what was going on. She suggested I call at 800am the next day when the center opened to see what was going on.
At 820am today (Tuesday, October 16), I called DHL and asked to talk to a supervisor. I got one and she apologized, and let me know that the Vegas warehouse didn’t open until 830am. She said she would send them a priority message and have them call me back within an hour of them opening. At 1000am, I still hadn’t heard back from DHL. I called them, got a supervisor (who apologized) and then she transfered me to a supervisor at the Las Vegas office. The supervisor at the Las Vegas office did not give me her name and she was rude to begin with. She said “I am going to be honest with you, we cannot locate your package.” At that point I was not happy and I yelled “What?” She then yelled back “I am being honest with you, so don’t yell at me.” I was dumbfounded. She said she would look further for the package and get back to me. I then told her that maybe she should be looking for security cameras and trainers for her warehouse since there were obviously a bunch of thieves working there. She snapped back at me “We’re working on that!” and she hung up.
I never did hear back from the Vegas office. I heard back from the “executive customer service” department who talked to me for about 2 minutes and said they would look at providing further Loss Prevention training for the Vegas office. I then called DHL back at 300pm and got a supervisor. I told him I just wanted the update I was promised. He said the computer had been updated at 1130am and it said my laptop was officially “missing.” I vented to him for awhile and he said that Dell is very experienced in taking claims from DHL and that this type of thing was all too common. He was the only decent customer service person I dealt with. He seemed generally sorry for my inconvenience.
So that’s where I’m at. I have filed another claim with Dell and am waiting to hear back from them. I still don’t know what was with the Vegas supervisor and the whole “I’m being honest” thing. It was like she thought she deserved a medal for telling me the truth.
I will be telling Dell that my next computer needs to be shipped by FedEx, UPS, USPS or courier pigeon for all I care, just not DHL
Sue sent us an update today and say she’s now getting the runaround from Dell as well. Time to launch an EECB.
Sue has the patience of Job. We’d have just canceled or done a chargeback. There are plenty of laptops out there to choose from.
(Photo:zyphbear)
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I work for a technology solutions provider that ships millions of dollars a day in laptops, servers, destops – we ship literally tons a day…
I won’t use DHL as a ship method, even if it means covering the difference myself to ship via UPS or FEDEX.
Why?
I sold 12 17″ lcd displays to a customer in California. Due to the business being closed for a few days while they completed a renovation, the customer asked me to ship to their home. I shipped via DHL. 5 days later, my customer called to complain. It turns out DHL delivered 10 of the monitors to her home by leaving them on her front porch. No one was home and instead of leaving a delivery attempt notice and rescheduling, they just left them. Well, most of them. 2 mysteriously dissapeared. Our company had to file a LDI claim (lost, damaged or incomplete) with DHL, who paid for replacement. I contacted DHL to compain about their lax security and poor delivery policy to find out that since there was no signature request filed, the delivery person decided to just leave them there.
I informed them that I felt the decision was stupid since we were talking about close to $2000 in monitors that the driver decided to leave in plain sight of anyone who wanted to take one….
DHL is a joke. DO NOT SHIP WITH THEM. Spend the extra money and ship via UPS or FedEx. If you are ordering from a reseller or an OEM, request they not ship DHL.
Avoid DHL, period. At my job we used to use them as our carrier, but their delivery is unreliable and their customer service nonexistent. We’ve switched to FedEx.
The problem is DHL contracts out to a third party to do your local delivery. If you notice on the side of the trucks it should say “operated by:” The drivers and most of the folks at the local station are NOT DHL employees, merely employees of the contractor. The only DHL employee at the facility is generally the station services manager.
It’s kind of a crap-shoot. The DHL operator where I live has professional drivers who are well dressed and are pleasant to deal with. Which is less than I can say for my local UPS driver whom I’ve somehow pissed off and repeatedly smashes my shipments.
@Kat: Guess what? DHL *is* Airborne. Surprise! That’s how they got so big and suddenly appeared on the world shipping scene, they bought out Airborne.
@jurijuri: They seem to like Penske when their trucks break down. Our driver here at GE Appliance Park has done the same.
@ab3i: We had a worker fired here last Friday. Lo and behold, Monday this week, DHL delivered to that tech’s team. What was odd was that they checked the status of that shipment, and found it had been “signed for” six minutes prior by the employee who was terminated three days prior.
I recently ordered some products from Dell that were all shipped DHL. I wasn’t happy with the service on any of them. The kicker was when I paid extra for overnight delivery on a package which went out on time and then didn’t leave the warehouse in California for an extra day. Why? DHL representatives had no explanation: ‘Yes, I see that this WAS shipped via overnight service, and we did receive it on Thursday, but for some reason it’s still in California.’ To rub it in, the online tracking program kept telling me the ‘estimated delivery date’ was the day they had failed to deliver the package. There’s simply no excuse for that.
“Also, remember to backup, especialy if it is possible before sending in for repair.”
When I sent my hp laptop in for repair (3 times!!) I removed the hd each time. If it’s a hd related problem let them troubleshoot using one of their own. If it’s not, then they didn’t need it in the first place.
I am going through the same thing with DHL and Dell right now. My shipment was supposed to come in 3 pieces. Two were delievered and the other was listed as in their warehouse. Several days later, I inquired, and they said they would look into it. The never returned my call, and I called back after they changed the tracking information to say they delievered my package days before I inquired!
DHL said I had to call Dell, and now Dell is dragging their feet because the DHL records say it was delivered.
Mercy
I had a desktop computer mysteriously delivered in an opened box. The FedEx driver dropped off the package at my front door, rang the doorbell, and by the time I opened the door, the driver was pulling away. Needless to say, I called HP/Compaq and explain the situation. They hesitantly apologized and did a quick exchange. Nothing was missing, but all the contents in the box looked pilfered through. I’m wasn’t going to take a chance.
There’s always a few bad apples in every courier service. I’m friendly with my regular route driver, so I think that helps.
Btw, maybe computer manufactures should take a page from the adult industry and advertise that they send the merchandise “discretely” and in a “plain, unmarked box.”
@endless: Dude, you do not want to give a laptop to someone who’s interested in those.
DHL “lost” two DVD players a couple of years ago, but not before they lied and said they delivered them and that the “Hispanic woman with the kids” took delivery.
I’m not Hispanic & there were no kids in the house at the time & no one fitting that description lives here or in the neighborhood.
After spending an afternoon on the phone playing tag with them, they accused me of “probably stealing the DVD players – because they *know* they were delivered”.
I contacted the shipper who contacted DHL from their end, then called one more time to tell them that I was preparing to call the police since they were accusing me of theft and I planned to file a report.
All of a sudden, they escalated my complaint and lo and behold, the DVD players were miraculously found and delivered late that evening. DHL sucks. They suck and they lie.
If I see that DHL is delivering something I am considering online, I try to find another way to get the item. I do not want to deal with them again.
I can’t really say anything bad about DHL. I ordered my Dell laptop, it was finished and shipped and I had it fairly quickly. Of course I live right outside of Nashville and since that is where it was assembled the quickness is not surprising. The only thing I think was stupid was that it was shipped to the hub in Memphis and then back here to be delivered to me, but that’s the process I guess.
I worked for them for a little while. When you work for DHL you don’t really work for them, its all sub contracting. I really worked for some company called synergy. I was not stupid though, when I went through training they told me the only things that required signatures was IBM and Dell laptops, the person training me told me that if I was in a rush, I could just leave them on door steps. Lucky for me, I always required signature on anything that looked expensive. Dell boxes were easy to determine what was in them as there was a picture of the item on side of box
I always got signatures to cover my @$$ 
Letme tell you guys about some losers there though…There was always people “Losing” packages off of the conveyor belt during truck loading…The security system in DHL main station is a old PANASONIC CAMCORDER on a tripod that goes down the entire belt… LOL… theres no way that camcorder has resolution to determine bar codes on box as people loaded 200 boxes into their trucks on a daily basis… DHL did deliver a package that was through the postal service for me rather quickly…Instead of delivering the package to the post office (like they are supposed to do for DHL@home delivery) they left it on my doorstep … it was a box of checks! …. o well… just venting a little bit
The problem IS with DHL – it’s their SYSTEM…
I expected a 2-day package Monday. Monday AM – it didn’t go out on the truck for delivery. I don’t know if they have more than one truck, etc. but the fact is that that package should have been assigned to a truck, a manifest drawn up and the tracking updated when put onto the truck.
THAT’S WHEN THE SYSTEM FAILED. There should have been bells ringing and light flashing and doors locking – WHERE’S THAT PACKAGE? “It’s scheduled for TODAY? Hold that truck until we can find the package!” “But boss, we can’t find the package!”….
Ok, AT THAT POINT their *SYSTEM* should have been updated – “PACKAGE DELAY – CAN’T LOCATE IN FACILITY.” So, instead of me staying in ear-shot of the door all day (and then another for the false promise of it being delivered the next day) the main office can know WHEN there’s a problem, they can start taking some action.
THEIR *SYSTEM* IS FLAWED. Their system doesn’t have any such “package missing” option. The result is that main office says, “we give it 4 days to turn up before we mark it as lost”. If their system didn’t have this GAPING HOLE in it, they would have known MONDAY AM that there was a problem. As it was, it was TWO DAYS after that, and only because I created such a stink, which is more than enough time for any tracks to be covered.
As another noted, the problem ultimately is with people. But even bad people can be controlled by a good system. As the people there KNOW that missing packages won’t be accounted for DAYS after they ACTUALLY go missing, it’s an INVITATION to those with dishonest tendencies. You wouldn’t need that many people “in” on it, unlike more elaborate schemes. No one’s getting caught.
I find it AMAZING that this situation remains in place. This problem with the system was probably known the FIRST WEEK as I’m sure this happens a lot. I am FORCED to conclude that this problem lies with MANAGEMENT (whoever has decided not to fix the system) and if such poor decision makers are in such high places, this WHOLE COMPANY should be AVOIDED.
Truthfully, I have had bad experiences with DHL almost every single time I have used them. They consistently and constantly “misplace” packages. Some arrives two months later; however, most never arrive at all.
I personally prefer FedEx for all of my packaging and shipping needs. Some co-workers swear by UPS due to problems with FedEx, but from what I have experienced firsthand — well, FedEx is the way to go.
I work around the Charlotte Douglas airport in North Carolina. I am not sure what it takes to get a job at DHL but driving skills is not high on the list. They wreck into each other or hit other cars all the time in their mad rush to get out first from their terminal. They also just busted a few employees stilling weapons intended for the government not a good call. The moral of most of the drivers I talked to is very low. Top of the list of complaints is the salary of $500 a week while working 10-12 hour days.
I agree. I have used DHL in the past.. I have ordered parts from Dell requesting FedEx shipping and they send it via DHL. I have had 3 packages thus far with computer equipment turn up “lost” or saying delivered when it didn’t arrive. Dell has been a headache to get the replacements but they did send replacements and always through DHL. Everytime there is always a different driver with wore out clothes or looks like he just wokeup from a 3 day drunk. DHL is horrible – we use FedEx for everything and have never had a bad experience.
@DOIREALLYNEEDAUSERNAME: If you received a package that had been opened with all items inside then it could have been knocked open during the sorting process.
Best of luck but I recommend if you want your package and want it in one piece, go with FedEx.