DHL Shipping woes...

lawcox · 08-27-04, 10:32 AM

Here is a sad saga so far...
I originally ordered an X30M, a 128 SD card, and a Rhinoskin from Dell. I'm not going to put the order date, because it will depress me. Upon first notification of delayed shipment, I got to looking around, and found a 15% off coupon code for the X30H. I got on Dell Customer Support Chat, and cancelled the order for the X30M, but supposedly left the orders for the SD card and Rhinoskin intact. They also ended up cancelling the Rhinoskin order, but the SD card order continued on as I wanted. I ordered the X30H, and reordered the Rhinoskin, and continued to track the SD card. Last night, the DHL tracking site stated that they delivered the card to my apartment, but I never received it. I got on the phone with DHL, and they said they would put a trace on the order. My apartment building is numbered by 911 address, and no longer numbered by apartment number, but my address reads "xxx Douglas Street y1", with xxx being the number over my apartment door. At 7:30 am this morning, the driver calls me and says that she looked at the building, and counted the number of apartments from the bottom of the building to the top to figure out the right apartment number, guessing they were numbered from the bottom to the top. All she had to do was look at the number over my door! Anyway, with her method, she had a 50% chance of getting the right apartment. Needless to say, she got it wrong. The funny thing is, I'm a police officer, and the apartment she delivered it to belongs to someone I've arrested within the past couple of months

. Of course, the people now aren't coming to the front door for me, but the driver did say that she would come and try to retrieve the order around noon. At 9:00am, her supervisor called, and he said they would be sure to watch for my coming orders (I told him there was a higher valued order on the way) and flag them down, call to let me know they're coming, and hand deliver them to me. I said that was great. Well, check my tracking, and the second package with the Rhinoskin case is supposed to be with the delivery driver today!

So now, I'm left hoping to possibly get what was already delivered, and seriously happy that Dell hasn't shipped the X30H yet.

valdarin · 08-27-04, 12:47 PM

They have to be liable for stuff like that. Otherwise they could just hand it to someone on the street and pronounce it delivered. I wonder, did the people in the other apartment sign for your package? I hear thats against the law. :) Good luck ... love those axim's. :approve:

lawcox · 08-27-04, 03:24 PM

For some reason, Dell did not send that package "signature required", so it was left on their front door step. I guess because it was $40.00. The driver did deliver the Rhinoskin case today, and told my fiancee that they have an arrangement with Dell to cover the cost of lost or wrongly delivered packages. The people still are not home yet, but I'll be watching tonight.

ccalfee · 08-27-04, 03:42 PM

Originally Posted by lawcox

For some reason, Dell did not send that package "signature required", so it was left on their front door step. I guess because it was $40.00. The driver did deliver the Rhinoskin case today, and told my fiancee that they have an arrangement with Dell to cover the cost of lost or wrongly delivered packages. The people still are not home yet, but I'll be watching tonight.

DHL does not offer signature service for residential deliveries and I've never understood why. They left a 30 pound 3'x2'box on my doorstep and put my "welcome" mat on top of it like no one would notice. My Axim was delivered via FedEx who left a note on my door saying that they left it with a neighbor I have poor relations with but, scratched that out and said they took it back to the hub. When I went to the hub, which I can see from my house, they said it was at the neighbors. I had to jump through many hoops to get it from her.

zdtv820 · 08-27-04, 11:42 PM

DSL delivered a replacement Axim 5, left between the storm door and my front door. No signature... no note...nothing. But when ordering my Axim 30H, UPS driver, requring a signature...on first attempt no one home so no Dell.... Second attempt delivered at the specified time and would not hand it over until I signed. GO UPS!

INVNo1 · 08-28-04, 12:30 AM

Oh man, that's crazy. I thought I was the only one with shipping/delivery problems. I ordered an X30 High and a RhinoSkin case on August 12th. On August 19th the packages were shipped(supposedly). Date of arrival was supposed to be August 23 at my front door. Well on August 23 the case was delivered(by DHL). I waited all night but no Axim. Called Dell(in India) and they gave me a FedEx tracking number for the Axim. Called Fedex and they said that that tracking number didn't even exist. Called Dell(in India) back to tell them the news, they put me on hold while they called FedEx. Turns out, Dell transmitted the info about the package to FedEx but LOST the parcel itself. I wasn't too mad yet. I got really really mad when the Indian guy(who I could barely understand already) told me "Don't worry about it, you'll get your product!". WTF!!! I screamed at him and had some choice words. He told me that I'd have another one in 2 days. Called back later to check the status just because I didn't trust him. Asked about it and "Joe", an Indian female said that there was no such order. I was boiling at this point and told her that I wanted my money back now and if she couldn't do it I wanted her boss. Called yesterday about the refund status and to my surprise "Cindy" answered the phone. Thank goodness. I told her the whole situation about how I really wanted that Axim and Cindy understood and fixed everything for me. I had her cancel the refund and replace the missing one. Now I'm just waiting for my Axim. Hope I'm not made to look like an idiot.

lawcox · 08-28-04, 01:24 AM

Originally Posted by ccalfee

DHL does not offer signature service for residential deliveries and I've never understood why. They left a 30 pound 3'x2'box on my doorstep and put my "welcome" mat on top of it like no one would notice. My Axim was delivered via FedEx who left a note on my door saying that they left it with a neighbor I have poor relations with but, scratched that out and said they took it back to the hub. When I went to the hub, which I can see from my house, they said it was at the neighbors. I had to jump through many hoops to get it from her.

I think they CAN, but they DON'T. A supervisor told me they will when Dell requests it. When the driver delivered the Rhinoskin this afternoon, my fiancee signed for it. I checked the status of the order on DHL's site, and it showed that it was signed for by my fiancee. It even had her name on the site.

After I got off work tonight, I drove by the apartment. The driver had left a letter tucked in the door earlier today, but not one had removed the letter. Odd how a package didn't last a couple of hours, but a letter stayed there all day.

I'm confident that I will receive a replacement for the mis-delivered item, but I hope I receive the SD card before or at the same time as the Axim.

lawcox · 08-30-04, 04:48 PM

Surprise, surprise...
After receiving the letter from the delivery person today (they were gone all weekend), the wife of the guy I arrested brought the package down to the apartment. It had been opened, the card had been opened, and I'm not sure if there had been an invoice in the package or not (if I get any charges on my Dell account, I know who to investigate), but the care appeared to be unmolested. I checked it out in a thumbdrive, and it held about 117 megs worth of pictures. I've sent emails to Dell and DHL, and the supervisor at DHL called me back to verify that I had received it, and to set up signature only delivery for the X30 (when it gets shipped, but that's in a whole other thread). Now, I have a Rhinoskin and SD card gathering dust until the X30 arrives. :iconbangh

INVNo1 · 08-31-04, 07:10 PM

Originally Posted by lawcox

Now, I have a Rhinoskin and SD card gathering dust until the X30 arrives. :iconbangh

The same goes for me. New ship date is September 7th with delivery date of the 8th. This thing better be worth a month-long wait and a Dell screw up.

PtarThanes · 09-16-04, 04:49 PM

Copied from the "Trouble with Dell/DHL" thread:

Man, I thought I was the only person with DHL problems.

I had a signature only package (blue label, couldn't miss it) left on my door too. I was home. I had the main door open, and the screen door shut. No knock, no doorbell. He just left it. Not only that, but this was a next day shipment as well. Checking DHL's website, it appears that next day deliveries are guaranteed by 10:30. AM!! I received this package somewhere between 4 and 6:30 PM.

I called DHL, explained them my problem, and they promised to create a trouble ticket to send to the local DHL distribution center. To me, this was like making your waitress send your uncooked eggs back to the kitchen only to find they've been spit in this time by the cook.

I don't know what the problem is, but if there's a whole thread of "DHL woes," I intend to check that out too.

----
Now that I've checked this out, it makes me wonder: Is DHL's relatively young age in the Domestic/Global shipping class affecting its service? I mean, DHL the company has been around for a rather long time, but has not been delivering outside of California for very long. Now that they're completely national, and even international, are they still just trying to find out how to do it? They've acquired Airborne Express and a number of other small companies, and I think that each different carrier (even though they're all DHL now) still has its own culture and kinks to work out.

Hopefully, as the new DHL becomes older, it becomes wiser as well and will do no more harm that the other established shipping institutions.