DHL To End U.S. Domestic Service

[firstbassman]

Somehow this passed by me:



http://www.dhl-usa.com/restructuring/index.asp

[qwezirider]

And good riddance to them. I supported them for several years. Never once screwed me over regardless of all the valid horror stories I'd heard from other people. Good price, fabulous service (always picked up at my home promptly).

Then the week of their announcement I had the misfortune of having already shipped something with them. Who knew they would immediately start laying off location drivers? My package sat in their destination warehouse for a %$^&#*@#^ week, never getting delivered to the final destination. I was never allowed to talk with someone from the destination terminal until day six of that debacle. At that point I was chirpilly informed my recipient could come by and pick up the package, but that after a week on their dock there was still no guarantee when they could deliver it.

May the entire company go down in flames after that b.s.

[cjj]

I've never had much use for them, I guess I live too far out in the sticks since they didn't even deliver in this area. Back when I lived in Idaho (also way out in the sticks, but not quite as far from civilization), they used to call from the store in town and ask if they could leave the package there (it was a mere 12 miles away). I could usually convince them to bring it out, as they had been paid to deliver it, but once the guy said he'd leave it at the store or say he couldn't deliver it. We made sure never to use them after that.

[doctorwho]

The company I work for had a bad experience with Airborne Express just before it was taken over by DHL, so we stopped using them.

[jingle_jangle]

And my experiences with DHL here in the Bay area have been nightmarish...the last was about a year ago now, so I'm almost purged.

Their record, for the record, was something like two on-times in about 3 dozen separate tickets over an 18-month period. Once, a Setzer Gretsch sat in their hub here in SF for over a week past the delivery date given on their website tracking box. Another time, an order of materials that I paid lots of $$$ for overnight delivery, was delivered many days late. When I complained, they buried me in paperwork to fill out to claim a refund.

The exact numbers are getting fuzzy, and I'm glad for that, and for their loss.

If you want chapter and verse, just put "DHL" in the SEARCH box on this Forum.

[soundmasterg]

My brother lost his job with them in their "restructuring". The company and the union were so clueless they wasted a ton on money so its no surprise they did what they did.

Greg

[simer4001]

Never had a problem with them and they are faster than UPS.

[jingle_jangle]

...in Idaho.

But in SF (and Chicago, according to my folks), at least, they are useless.

Most recent delivery: A guitar prototype from a vendor in Hong Kong that took a day and a half to get from HK to the LA hub, a day in LA clearing customs, and another day to get to the Corte Madera hub. I got a call from the driver, at 8:30 a.m. last Wednesday, the delivery day given on the website, asking for delivery directions!

I filled him in. The package never arrived that day. That evening, the website said, "delivery delayed (at 9:43 a.m.); driver could not find address", which is #8 on the list of "driver excuses". It's only right on the building in foot-tall letters, only 20 feet from the driveway. I had them hold it at the CM hub, which is 5 minutes from my house, where I picked it up myself last Thursday morning.

This keeps up their perfect record of nondelivery here in SF. Oh, and BTW, international business will continue; it's just the domestic stuff that's been sold to UPS.

[simer4001]

I receive from all over the country via DHL SF, Chicago, Clifton Park New York, Pittsburgh, Kansas City, Minneapolis, Columbus. I've never had a problem. Sorry to burst the anti DHL bubble. But I have had no trouble with DHL. I receive and send various items from contracts to musical instruments and I'm just saying I have never had a problem. I'm not discounting the problems you folks have had. I know those problems are real. All I am saying is that I have had no problem. Irregardless of where I am located.

[cjj]

Well, I guess they do a good job in Boise. But when I lived a mere 40 miles north of Boise, I had the experience noted in my previous post.

I doubt they'd even be able to find the county I'm in here in Montana, of course they'd never try. UPS lands a jet here at the airport just about every day (in a town with 1800 people!). Fed-Ex is about the same, not sure where they pick up from, but deliveries are fast and almost always on time with both of those.

[simer4001]

You're missing my point. I have sent and received via DHL. So that means that the other end of the deal was somewhere else. Regardless...

[jingle_jangle]

You're missing my point. I have sent and received via DHL.

...in Idaho. That's my point.

Brian, I think we have two takes on the same point. You have had no problems in ID; I have had nothing but problems in SF.

When I stood around the hub last Christmas waiting to pick up the cabinet half of my NCM Royal Guardsman replica (which was sitting around not getting loaded onto a truck for about a week, while the head unit had been delivered already), it was plain that there was a serious HR problem, which translates up the ladder to very bad management, traceable to a dysfunctional corporate culture. I do remember when DHL was the NKB, and they tried harder, succeeded and were the nutz, at least for my company back then.

Oddly, I recall that the kind lady that helped me to track the package to the South SF hub here (since the South SF hub would not answer the phone for literally days on end) was in...Boise! No, I'm not kidding...

Surely we can't think that DHL was doing so well, they decided to cut their exhorbitant profits and leave the US market to UPS and Fed Ex?

[johnallg]

I think the point Brian was trying to reiterate was not only was he not having problems in Boise, ID, but also no problems from all those points packages originated from, all around the country.