DHL fail!

It would appear that the DHL are telling me this afternoon that they are unable, in the home of the Olympics, Greece, to get my small parcel from Athens to Rhodes in less than 2 days. It is perhaps just as well they are not the logistics sponsor for the Olympics this year.

We took a small parcel to a DHL depot in London and asked for it to be delivered to Rhodes next day. They confirmed they could. They completed all of the paperwork and took the money.

Now they say it was not shipped "next day", and they will, maybe, delivery on Monday.

The receipt says it was shipped "globalmail" which they describe as "International non-sorted, non-franked business correspondence". This is around 3Kg of camera and lens, and not in any way "business correspondence". So that makes no sense. Oddly their tracking site states "DHL Express Shipments", so yet another inconsistency.

They also stated that it is now with a local courier that has 24 hours to deliver it, so will be Monday. Well, in my book, 24 hours from 14:09 Friday is 14:09 on SATURDAY, and not Monday, so that is clearly a lie from them of one sort or another.

Asked to actually ship to arrive today (i.e. "next day" as originally requested) they say they cannot. Asked to do Saturday morning. They say they cannot.

They seem to be indicating that they are unable to move my small parcel from Athens to Rhodes in less than two days. Some logistics company this? We have asked them to state this formally - yes or no - can they move a small parcel from Athens to Rhodes in under 2 days? Not had a clear reply yet, but actions speak louder than words.

What they have stated is they cannot guarantee next day delivery. That their "express" service is not "next day" (we have a call recording of this). This is odd as their web site states that it is. It says you can pick by 9am, 10:30 or 12:00 or next day. Someone is lying to me, and that is criminal fraud.

I am very cross right now. I'll update this post if we get any more news. I'd be delighted with any official comment from DHL, and happy to follow up.

Update from Lee at my office is: We paid for Express delivery, I got her to confirm that on phone that. I said that globalmail business was ticked. They said that did not matter as it was on a express. Well done Lee for confirming. Now we need them to fix this (and refund us).

Update: Now saying that "express" is not "next day" and so they have not screwed up and will arrive Monday. Seems to me the web site tells lies then... What can I say?

Update: Apparently we have the call recording where they confirmed it would be "next day" before we went there with the parcel (by the cut off time they said), so we should be able to issue a county court claim for a refund at the very least. Maybe I can add some compensation for messing up my holiday. In fact, they only got the business because other couriers could not do one of the islands next day. It seems that they lied to us for commercial gain - now that would be criminal fraud. I'll be able to confirm when I hear the call recording myself.

[Yes, I got my sponsors mixed up in first draft, sorry]

I'll add more next week. This was something of an experiment. I wanted the new camera (as per earlier post) to try out while on holiday before we did any more serious work at the office. I decided to try DHL for something silly like this because it was cheap, and we would learn about these things. Knowing how couriers work, and which are good or bad is useful for business. Clearly DHL will never ever get any of our business ever, national or international.

On a personal note I am surprised how very very cross this made me. On a normal business day this would have been annoying. When on holiday, where basically the only thing I did all day was either going to be nothing (reading, etc) or "waiting for my new camera", I did the latter. Somehow, psychologically, being let down like this is huge. My blood pressure is up, I am fuming. Now if the camera was not on its way, or was expected Monday in the first place (i.e. not lied to), that would not be any issue. Being lied to so I "get my hopes up" and then being let down like this is quite simply not on, disproportionately so. As a result, DHL have so ruined any chance of any business from us to such an extent you would not believe. These people need to realise how important every single promise that they make is.

Update: I got excited for 20 seconds - a knock at the door this morning. I thought that maybe they had done Saturday delivery... No such luck. Just the maid for the villa. Humph.