Is DHL the Worst Int’l Shipping Service? I Think So
As an inveterate gadget-lover I am used to buying stuff from overseas sellers and paying to have it shipped. This is often the only way to get rare devices like the Kyobo Mirasol eReader, so I really don’t mind the often weeks long shipping delay. China in particular can take up to 3 weeks, so naturally I have had to learn a little patience.
But then there are the services which seem to just sit there with a thumb up their ass, and that is when my patience wears thin. To wit, DHL.
I’m now waiting on a package which was shipped via DHL. It’s an ereader which I bought from Europe, and since I don’t want to embarrass the seller I won’t say who sold it to me.
But I will say this. I’ve been tracking the package, and according to DHL it has spent the past week just sitting in some distribution center somewhere in the US. Why? I don’t know. It’s just sitting there, gathering dust.
On a related note, DHL’s tracking service sucks. I cannot track the shipment I am getting on DHL’s international website, DHL’s US website, or on any site other than DHL.de. Having multiple websites and systems which do not communicate is a design decision on par with DHL’s inability to process a shipment.
What’s more, this is not the first time that DHL ignored a package for a week. Earlier this year I bought a different ereader from that same seller, and with that shipment DHL decided to let the package sit in Germany for a week. There was no explanation for that, either.
Some might choose to defend DHL and claim that a week’s delay (even unexplained) is not bad. That would be true if not for the fact that DHL is slower than the post office. A package shipped USPS Priority Mail will make it to Germany in 9 days. I know this because I just shipped an ereader to Germany a few weeks back.
And speaking of tracking, I can use the USPS website to track shipments sent to me from Korea, China, and Europe (and probably elsewhere). So not only is the USPS faster, it also has a better website.
Given that DHL costs more than the post office and takes longer to deliver, I have to wonder why people still use it.
Can someone explain that, please?
No Comments