My DHhell nightmare
I ordered moo cards and stickers a while ago and picked express shipping so that I'd get them in time for the CS4 launch. Big mistake. Moo uses DHL for their express shipping. DHL tried to deliver on the first day and I was out. So I arranged a redelivery and left a note asking them to leave the package at the Solutions Apple Store next door and came back to another note saying "ALL NOTES MUST BE SIGNED". Oh, you just have to love huge corporations and their policies. Heck, anyone could have signed the note while it was hanging on the door — they don't know what my signature looks like — but oh, no, "no signature, no delivery".
It's like all those store alarms that go off at all hours of the night in the middle of town. The cops won't even take a look if you report them unless you can actually see a burglary in progress. They're not linked to anything. So why have them? Lowers the insurance, apparently.
Fair enough, so I didn't get my moo cards or stickers in time for the CS4 launch events in Amsterdam and Belgium.
I called back yesterday to reschedule a delivery and the automated service told me that it was scheduled and that I should expect delivery today unless I heard back from them.
I didn't hear back from them.
I didn't get the parcel today.
So I called their 0870 number again. And lied to the automated service in order to speak to a human being. And then got connected to a different department. And then got told that it was the wrong department. And then called their 0870 number again and had to lie again because that's the only way you can speak to a human being. And got redirected to a different department. And then had a brainless automaton tell me that they couldn't redeliver because they had already tried twice and it was their policy not to try again. Could they at least send it to the Hove branch? No, they wouldn't move it. I had to go to Gatwick to pick it up.
I could order new ones for less money.
Just as I was telling the pathetic excuse for a human being on the other end of the line that he was a pathetic excuse for a human being, Stephanie found the number for the Gatwick depot. I called it.
And, can you believe it, I actually got a human being. Her name was Karen.
And she said, "sure" they could send it to the Hove depot on Monday. When I sounded dismayed, she checked if they could send it sooner and found that they could send it tonight so I could pick it up tomorrow. Oh-my-goodness A Real Human Being with feelings that understands and is trying to be helpful.
Thank you, Karen. Thank you for being a human being in a corporate culture that apparently rewards blind adherence to corporate policy and doesn't care about customers one bit.
In case you find yourself in a similar nightmare, here is the number of the Gatwick depot: 01293511815. Ask for Karen, she's human.
Stephanie found the number through Say No to 0870 which has actual phone numbers instead of the premium, non-geographical phone numbers that companies who don't care about their customers use. You have no idea how riled up I was after having to call an 0870 number five times today and pay for the privilege of being told that they didn't want to help me.
That's what gets me. It's not that they "couldn't" help me like they kept saying -- of course they could -- they didn't want to. They didn't give a damn.
So next time, there's no way in hell that I'm going to pay extra for express shipping from moo. Every other order that I've put in, through regular shipping with Royal Mail, has come it without an issue. Our postman is awesome. If you're not in, he'll ring every other bell until he can get in and leave you your package. I don't know your name, man, but thank you for being human and understanding that I care about receiving my parcels not corporate policies.
If we keep putting up with these huge corporations and their automatic answering services and their total failure to relate to the needs of human beings we may just find ourselves turning into the same sorts of robots that we keep talking to.
Personally, I will never use DHL again and I will never buy from anywhere that ships exclusively via DHL. It's a drop in the bucket, but hey, you know what they say about what happens when you have enough of those drops.
And, finally, I would strongly urge moo not to use DHL. Your corporate cultures could not be more different. Moo is a company that cares and goes out of its way to make its customers happy. DHL couldn't care less.
The My DHhell nightmare article by Aral Balkan, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 2.0 UK: England License.
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Sandip Saini
Melatonina Melatonine
Ken Simpson
Gabriela Portilla
Clark Wilkins
Martin
thanks for the DHL update, I was reading alot of twitter updates from you wit this subject. Too bad the Dutch -including myself- didn’t get a Moo card/sticker, well better luck next time
September 26th, 2008 at 1:14 pmOlly
See also: All other big courier companies
September 26th, 2008 at 1:17 pmShane Conder
Hi Aral,
Your DHL story is like SOO many me, and other folks I know, have. I have never had a good experience with DHL. In fact, just this week I’ve been having a bad experience with DHL. I really wish Dell and Amazon would not use DHL. Every time they do I have problems. This time, a box shipped out via DHL last Friday for Monday delivery came yesterday. And now I have an 8am to 6pm window for them to pick it up “outside of their ordinary route.”
I seriously dislike DHL.
Say, where’d you find that image? I’d love to use it if it’s not a protected image. I have a post coming up about my current issues and it’d be perfect.
Cheers,
-Shane
September 26th, 2008 at 1:27 pmLee McColl Sylvester
You know why postmen like to make sure they deliver your package? Cus they think “F*** am I gonna lug this heavy thing around with me for the next few hours! Some bastards gonna take this off me, or I’m faking the signature myself!”
September 26th, 2008 at 1:28 pmTerence Eden
As Olly above says, all the courier companies are the same.
When I was a student, I would only order through sites that used DHL - like buy.com. DHL were so bad at fulfilling their “guaranteed” delivery dates, I would regularly get compensation vouchers from buy.com for the inconvenience.
Shittylink* and ParcelFarce** are just as bad. Royal Fail regular postage is just about tolerable.
I’ve noticed that Amazon.co.uk will now do evening deliveries - London and Birmingham only, though. I think that’s the way of the future. I need to work during the day - but I’m happy enough to pause a DVD to take delivery one evening.
Most of the online supermarkets have 1 - 2 hour delivery windows. But they have the advantage of having lots of distribution points AND their own delivery drivers. Can you imagine if Tesco used DHL?
So, in conclusion, if you need something at a specified time - pick it up in person.
T
September 26th, 2008 at 1:30 pm*What a clever punster, I am.
**Bet no one has thought of that…
David Hayward
DHL are particularly bad. Never had a bad experience with other shipping companies, but DHL made a “mistake” with customs fees earlier this year and attempted to overcharge me nearly £30.
After two months of them threatening debt collectors, I got through to a human who looked it over on their computer and said “Oh yes, there’s um, been some kind of oversight there. I’ll just correct it”.
They also send out invoices for customs fees 30 days after delivery, with no accompanying information or warning on delivery. As practices go, that’s a shitburger supreme IMO.
September 26th, 2008 at 1:39 pmRonny
Pretty sad story. Pretty sad for Moo too, as this is affecting their service as well.
“Ask for Karen, she’s human.”
September 26th, 2008 at 2:02 pmPriceless
Douglas Knudsen
I’ll add to the DHHell story line…ugh, can’t stand them. Ordered a printer from Dell, as in a ~$400 printer. Dell sends me shipping notices, I cringe as I see they have switched to using DHL. Delivery day comes; its raining. DHL drops the box off on my doorstep, as in, in front of the door so myself and others can’t open the door to get out of the house. There was no knock knock, no ringing of the door bell, just drop and run. The box was damaged and wide open, I could see the printer and all inside along with the top piece of packing foam already gone. The DHL truck was long gone already at this point. If you missed the part above about where I and my family were at the time of delivery, we were at home.
Crazy how they did this to me and will not even drop your package without a signature.
DK
September 26th, 2008 at 2:44 pmAral
@Shane: I made it, based on the original DHL logo. Feel free to use it under a Creative Commons Attribution license.
September 26th, 2008 at 3:53 pmPhillip Kerman
I love these stories Aral because it makes me realize I’m not the only one. I can’t say anything about DHL, but have plenty of other similar stories. I believe often certain transactions are simply doomed. They start off bad and then just get worse. When things work, all if fine. When they don’t, you have hell.
September 26th, 2008 at 4:12 pmJosh Russell
ok weird one here…
i made 2 orders to moo, one for 1xMinicards and 1xStickers, and the other for 2xMinicards. the stickers and minicards in the first order got split into 2 deliveries. both arrived, although i had to collect the minicards from the post office. which is weird because they normally just get post through my letter box. the 2xMinicards didn’t arrive, and there’s no red card from the post office. it’s all muddled, i’m not even sure if the red card i got for the first set was actually for the second, and maybe that one’s still sitting in the post office somewhere, or if they’re lost. who’s responsibility is it?
so i’m gonna email moo, they’re usually really good at sorting things out, they have humans working there
September 26th, 2008 at 4:16 pmSeb Lee-Delisle
I had a very similar experience with ParcelForce last week. Late arrival. No apology. Rude service. No refund.
Shit.
Seb
September 26th, 2008 at 6:19 pmJosh Tynjala
I’ve also had poor experiences with DHL. Once they refuse to deliver because I’m a normal person who isn’t home during the day, I can never seem to get my package and it gets returned to the sender. I never get a human when I call in, and last time I tried, I couldn’t figure out where I could physically go to pick it up. It was horribly frustrating, and I now avoid DHL at all costs. In the US, FedEx and UPS are much better, in my experience.
September 26th, 2008 at 7:36 pmmonkeypox
I have never had a good experience with DHL. never.
and unfortunately for me, apple uses DHL for their repair service here in the states. one time not too long ago, I sent in my macbook to get the topcase replaced. first visit from DHL, I wasn’t home. signed the signature release, and left a note on their little hangtag that they could drop it off at the office of the condo complex, or hide it on my porch. next morning, new hangtag, note ignored saying they’d try again the next morning before sending it back to the depot. so I decided to take half a day off of work to make sure that didn’t happen. well, it ended up being an entire day off work, because they never showed up. called customer service, and dispatch informed me that the driver had supposedly stopped by at 1pm, rang the doorbell, and left when no one was home. which seemed strange, since I’d been sitting there on the couch with the front door open all day, and nothing larger than a van had gone by. not to mention there was no hangtag for the visit.
September 26th, 2008 at 8:27 pmLee McColl Sylvester
@Seb : I actually get a really good service with ParcelForce. In fact, I can’t remember ever having a bad service. I guess it’s different from depot to depot. I find FedEx to be the most impressive, though. My publishers use them, and they’re incredible. If you have a parcel to send, they’re at your door within two hours, and when they say they’ll deliver, they’re there within a six hour timeslot, even when they’re delivering from the States. I can have a parcel delivered straight to me from the backend of the US within four days… If only all couriers were as good!
September 26th, 2008 at 8:46 pmRichard Lord
It’s all about the humans - our local DHL delivery man is fantastic, so I love it when companies use DHL. On the other hand, I’ve only needed support from Moo once and the woman who provided that “support” was worse than useless.
September 27th, 2008 at 2:44 pmPeter Elst
I’m not a big fan of DHL myself, left author copies of my last book out in the rain last year — only ended up finding it round the back of the house the next day after I called them and they said it had already been delivered. So far for requiring a signature to deliver a package.
September 27th, 2008 at 5:30 pmsan
Aral, funny story, recognizable. Can you send met the url with the paralax scrolling example (http://blog.drwoohoo.com, the WOW effect
I am suing it for a review of the Adobe User Group in Amsterdam and ofcourse your session. I’ll send you the review on my blog when i’am finished.
thanx in advance,
September 27th, 2008 at 5:43 pmsan
Nir Hodara
I’ve had this experience with large corporations multiple times. It took three bad experiences with three corporations (AT&T, Rogers, and Amazon) to finally seal the deal with a final solution. My solution? Only do business with small to middle sized businesses, even if it costs more (because in reality, it costs less since I don’t waste hours dealing with customer support and corporate policies).
Overall, I get treated like a human being, it’s better for the economy by supporting competition, rewarding growth, and supporting good customer service. My theory is the larger the corporation the more corrupted it is, exceptions are hard to come by. I have canceled all my services from large corporations, from cell phones to ISPS, and my satisfaction has improved greatly using services from smaller businesses. Smaller businesses can’t afford to treat their customers poorly, and don’t want to deal with the legal system, or other hassles, whereas large corporations can afford it and profit from the legal system.
Life is too short to deal with lawsuits, policies, hours on customer support, and other hassles, and those that make that their business don’t get any of mine.
September 28th, 2008 at 2:35 amNir Hodara
I would like to add some examples of the rare exceptions to large corruptions being corrupted. Google and FedEx are the modern day exceptions, they are the good large corporations that are examples for all other corporations to follow. Hopefully they will not change and keep consumer responsibility at the top of their priorities.
I encourage everyone to blog about bad and good experiences with businesses. I’ve read Aral’s experiences with his iPhone and wireless service provider, and now with DHL and I think if there were more people communicating their experiences then corporations will feel the effects.
September 28th, 2008 at 3:12 amToon
DHL definitely sucks more than the other companies. Although, to be fair, a lot depends on the driver. Ironically, if (s)he is brave enough to flout company policy and drop your package at the neighbours’, you’ll get your package but (s)he might lose their job.
I usually pick standard delivery when I can help it. It’s cheaper and the service is better. And if the sender is within the EU, it’s usually not that much slower.
DPD is the courier service that delivers most packages to my place and they always drop it off at the neighbours’ if I’m not in. Excellent standard policy for packages delivered to private addresses imho. There is a risk of your neighbour stealing your expensive new printer, but hey. How hard could it be for these companies to add an ‘OK to deliver package to neighbours at nr. XX’ field to their database? Very hard, apparently. Probably needs to go through fifty management committees and thirty IT consultants.
October 2nd, 2008 at 11:53 am