Retrieving Packages from the Clutches of DHL

[kevin_standlee]

It really is almost embarrassing that DHL -- which is my company's preferred small-package delivery company, as those of you to whom I've had to send overnight shipments may know -- cannot find my apartment. Online maps send them to the wrong gate. They ignore the "special instructions" field (if it's even present on the shipment). As it's a gated complex, sometimes they can't be bothered to go look me up on the directory and will just claim "unable to deliver," or, most recently, "business closed." (It's an apartment, for Ghu's sake!)

As I think I've mentioned, the "other" Dell Inspiron laptop (actually #3, but #2 was damaged beyond repair and after stripping all salvageable parts from it like memory chips and batteries, we threw it away) had something go wrong with the screen. I don't think it was actually the screen, but the piece that goes between the screen and the rest of the computer. Anyway, Dell agreed that the service contract I bought should cover this. (Hooray! A service contract that actually works!) After over a week of fussing over getting me the shipping box with the return airbill label (again, they couldn't find my apartment; eventually I had them deliver it to my office), I sent the thing off for repair, in the hope that it would be back in my hands before Christmas, as I intended to take it to Oregon with me, for Lisa's use.

Dell informed me that they shipped it (by DHL again) using next-afternoon-3 PM service on December 19. Their web site confirmed that it had arrived at the Fremont terminal a bit after 8 AM on the 20th. But Wednesday evening at 6 PM, there was no package and no indication that they'd even tried to deliver it. I called DHL and asked them to hold it at the terminal for pickup. This morning, I trudged down there to collect it. It's in Warm Springs, almost as far from me as you can be and still be in the same city. The folks in the terminal were nice. It took them about ten minutes to find the box, but they did give it to me. I haven't examined it inside, as I need to reinstall the parts I removed before sending it off for repair anyway.

The folks in the terminal know my company (not surprisingly, given how much stuff we ship through them, including out of facilities we manage in Fremont). They're almost as embarrassed as I am that they can't find me, but they also can't seem to come up with a solution. If I were a business getting daily deliveries, the drivers would learn where I am, but because I'm a residence only getting deliveries a few times a year, I'm sort of out of luck. It's enough to make me want to go rent a private mailbox at the coffee house across the street -- they'd probably be able to find that, at least.

Comments

[debgeisler.livejournal.com]

It's enough to make me want to go rent a private mailbox at the coffee house across the street -- they'd probably be able to find that, at least.

And yet, shipping by DHL can be a true adventure. As evidence, I present a link to my saga of the hideous barrettes.

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

Indeed! We even still have some old pre-merger Airborne Express waybills hanging around the shipping room, I think.

[(Anonymous)]

Last month I had a book from Amazon and they chose DHL. DHL listed it as "out for delivery" on their website for three days (it was shipped "next day"). It finally arrived on the fourth day (after several complaint emals--they don't have a live person on the phone at the Oakland office). My house is on the street and has a mailbox on the porch. We've been here for 54 years, in fact before most of the rest of the neighborhood was built up, before the freeway went through. The house number is easily visible from the street.

I wouldn't ship anything DHL.

[garyomaha.livejournal.com]

I think I'll share these stories with a good friend who used to work for Airborne in Seattle before it was gobbled up by DHL. He will enjoy these escapades. He likes to call DHL the "clowns" -- note the color of their trucks and uniforms. (Now try not to giggle next time you see one.)

[redneckotaku.livejournal.com]

I live at a house, so this isn't as much of an issue. I do choose Postal service or Fedex for my shipments. UPS eats packages for lunch. I deal with at least one roller a week eaten by UPS.

[tkunsman.livejournal.com]

I've only had two or three packages delivered to my apartment via DHL, and in fact what they did do was deliver it to the post office, then my postal person would deliver it.

I have had problems with FedEx leaving $300 digital cameras at the FRONT door of my building (no signature mind you). Keep in mind the the front door of my building is NOT SECURE by any means. When I got home to see this site, I called FedEx to complain about this.

The operator told me something along the lines of that that particular carrier in Cleveland is on contract, and thus the main FedEx couldn't direct the regional office on how packages where left or delivered. My complex does have a main office, which will accept packages for me and keep them secure.

One minor thing, its maybe not totally obvious where the main office is, or that it is the main office for my complex of apartments. (Hope that makes sense).

[lisa-marli.livejournal.com]

The Mythopoeic Society just has the USPS eat two packages. Both were secure but apparently completely mangled by the system. One broken box, empty, came back to the sender. The second box all she got was the torn off lable. They were both being sent book rate - One had books and back issues being sent back to our Orders Manager after Mythcon, the other had the left overs of our current run of Mythlore again being sent to our Orders person. So nothing of real value, just annoying as h*ll.
I'm thinking of telling her to just used FedEx,we have the account, they might not be as rough.
I really no longer trust Book Rate though. I sent a bunch of stuff back from Scotland book rate, and it was just the fact that I taped the boxes to death that they made it to me at all. Every seam was pulled apart, the boxes looked like they had gone through a trash masher. I was lucky the books survived.