Bill Leisner

I work for DHL as a courier and was just browsing the "DHL" blog search results. Please keep in mind that this is the Christmas season. The couriers are extremely busy and errors will be made especially if a casual is in your area. Please have patience during this busy time of year and when your courier does arrive please thank him/her for doing a good job this busy Christmas season.

Here's my DHL story.

I return to my desk following a meeting, and there's a message on my voicemail from a DHL courier that they attempted to deliver a package (my office is access-controlled, with a phone out front for deliveries/pickups/etc.), and since I didn't answer the phone, they'll try again tomorrow. No number to call, no tracking number, no estimated time of attempted redelivery, etc. It's also important to know that I have no frikkin' idea who's trying to send me something at my work address, or what it might be.

Next day comes and -- sure enough -- guy apparently shows up while I'm away from my desk. I get another message, this time laced with an annoyed air, that the driver attempted delivery, I wasn't there, and if I wanted this package, I'd have to call to schedule another attempt at delivery. Of course, he leaves no phone number, tracking number, etc.

When I finally track down a DHL phone number, I'm still up Shit's Creek because I have no tracking number, which - if I'm to believe the moron on the phone - is my fault ("Well, you're supposed to have a tracking number, sir. We can't track your package without a tracking number."). Doesn't matter that I've explained twice during the conversation that I wasn't given a tracking number and that I was not aware I should be expecting a package from DHL. There are apparently NO OTHER OPTIONS for searching the database to determine the status of this mystery package.

I ponder aloud that I surely can't be the first person to be the unwitting recipient of a package handled by their company, and suggest that maybe, just maybe, the database might be open to the idea of searching on some other parameter...you know, like a delivery location and date, or maybe even -- if the operator was feeling particularly froggy -- the recipient name. God damn those pesky computers...wouldn't just know it popped right up. I'm asked when a good time might be for delivery. I offer two alternatives, neither of which "works for the courier." We finally arrive at a time that's convenient for the lad, bless his tired, overwrought soul. No apologies, no explanations, nothing.

Oh, and this was back in September, so all I can figure is that the busy Labor Day shipping season must have done them in.

First thing I did once I got the package was contact the sender and let them know that the priority/rush shipping they paid for never happened, and to pursue getting some kind of refund. It's not that there might be a problem with deliveries from time to time -- that kind of thing happens. That said, the driver was a dick who acted like I was causing him problems, and the moron on the phone shouldn't be allowed within a mile of a phone or a computer. If you can't be bothered to learn or employ the most rudimentary customer service skills, then you're not getting my money, and you're not getting any of my friends' money if I can help it.

I just posted the comment below to Kradical's LJ. It bears repeating here:

We had it happen this year that DHL misdelivered a package to us. The tracking report tells which company they delivered to (a company that doesn't exist), and who signed for the package (someone who is not listed in the phonebook). Several calls to what they call their customer service callcenter produced contradictory information (which made me ask them "which of the two people lied to me?). After I was told to write to the service center that processed the package, I did. Several times. My letters remain unanswered.

Bascially, their attitude can be summed up as, "We screwed up, you found us out, why should we care?"