Totally off topic:
Buy great chair on Ebay. Shipped Monday on DHL. Thanks to massive storage and distributed networks, I knew it was in Phoenix – a two hour drive from where I live – Tuesday morning. Fantastic!
Tuesday morning: “Delivery arranged, no details expected.”
Oh, boy! Tuesday comes and goes, no chair. Scheduled delivery: Wednesday. Hm-m-m.
Wednesday morning: “Shipment arrived at incorrect facility. Sent to correct destination.”
They sent it to Lake Havasu City. But they caught the error. OK, stuff happens.
Thursday evening: “In transit”
Friday morning, on the phone: “absolutely will be delivered today”
Friday evening, on the phone: “will be delivered tonight, late, due to Mother’s Day”
Saturday morning: “In transit. Wilmington – Clinton Field, OH”
Aar-r-r-gh! Not only did they NOT deliver it, they air-freighted it to Ohio, about 1400 air miles away.
The StorageMojo take
To err is human. To really screw things up takes automation. I suspect a combination of management problems in the Phoenix Regional Hub, DHL process problems – shipping back to their Ohio hub is probably equivalent to hitting “reset” – and some Mother’s Day craziness.
Needless to say, DHL is off StorageMojo’s preferred vendor list. And the shipper’s.
Update: after arriving in Phoenix on Tuesday morning, just as it had the previous week, DHhell delivered it to the rock-bound splendor of Chez Mojo in the early afternoon. I almost didn’t believe it.
And the chair, a Freedom chair – with gel seat and headrest – from Humanscale is wonderful. Forget the Aeron’s dozen or so adjustments that I, for one, would certainly get wrong. Freedom has four, and once adjusted, you’re sitting the lap of ergonomic comfort. Yum!
Got any shipping horror stories? Go ahead, share the pain. Say what you will about storage networks, they will never ship your data to Wilmington, Ohio.
I’ve been seeing FedEx tracking numbers lately that have tracking information right out of the chute… except they refer to packages that were delivered over two years ago! I wonder if their “int” has rolled over in the database… 🙂
It wouldn’t be surprising if FedEx’ tracking numbers have rolled over after two years. They can’t keep increasing their length without limit, since it would require increasing the lenght of bar codes on the labels and probably replacing the scanning equipment and software as well. Someone made a rational decision some time ago at FedEx that if an item wasn’t delivered within a year or two, it probably would never get delivered, so it’s alright to reassign its tracking number to a new shipment. Phone companies, too, recycle numbers after about two years of inactivity.
I’ve avoided DHL like poison for years now. I had a similar experience with them. Other people I’ve known have also. I don’t know how they stay in business. Total, complete incompetence.
I feel like I have to stick up for DHL here, just this once. When my iPod unexpectedly kicked the bucket a few years ago they handled the service trip and its return (on Apple’s dollar, thankfully).
That little box went from VA to CA, was fixed, and back in three days flat (at least that’s what I remember).
I once also shipped some frozen stew with them and it arrived at its destination on time and fully edible.
DHL is terrible. Dell used them for a little bit and they screwed up on just about every shipment. I work at a university and they routinely shipped our stuff to wrong buildings. The last straw was a 120 node cluster that got delivered to 3 different buildings. We had to rent a van and go the stuff up from the buildings, it was terrible. We were still on time with setting it up since it shipped to us 6 days after we ordered. We told Dell, if you ever want us to buy from you again, don’t use them.
I am awaiting a package sent express DHL from Texas. @ days and efore 5PM it states. Well they also sent mine from Texas to Ohio (I live in Phoenix, Az.), where it was held on the account of weather for 2 1/2 days before heaing on to Phoenix. Why would the send it over 1100 miles in the other direction just to get it trapped in a storm. I arrived in Ohio the morning after being shipped and Phoenix is also 1100 miles from Houston. If they had sent it to Phoenix instead, it would have arived a day early and not been stuck in bad weather (storms are not very common in Phoenix). I hope to see it soon because they finally shipped it out of Ohio last night, already 4 days into the shipping.
pre ordered something from the states to be delivered to Australia, shipped 17th, 22nd not here yet >.< hopefully the 23rd..
I work for DHL as a courier and all I can say is the end is near for DHL .
the company is downsizing meaning couriers are being laid off or fired , the remaining couriers are expected to service an area that once had three couriers , it’s too much for one to handle effectively but the management just keeps cutting the workforce . All I got to say is DON’T use DHL and if you do don’t shoot the messenger it’s not our fault that we have no say , the management is to blame and eventually they will succeed in running the company into the ground
DHL’s ‘Next Day Express Worldwide’ has so far taken 11 days to get to my country, Australia, from the US, albeit to the wrong side, and is it worth nothing the parcel is less than a kilogram?