DHL

I F***ing Hate DHL. I have fought multiple times with their online shipping system, only to eventually give up because it is so archaically set up. I Have a DHL Export account number… and the F***ing website WONT EVER LET ME USE IT! I always end up giving up after about 45 wasted minutes, and writing the damm thing by hand, or shipping FedEx whenever possible. Get your Shit together DHL. You are not user friendly AT ALL!

I was expecting a package with important documents from overseas. They dropped it at Dell Computers campus instead of my single family residence in Austin. It took three extra days for them to find it.
I can assure you my name looks nothing like «Dell Computers».
Totally lame office in Austin and to make matters worse, they don’t communicate with one another. If they do it is by off brand sticky notes.
Laaaaaaaame.

I ordered from a big online retailer yesterday, needing it *immediately*. So I pay the extra moneys for overnight, 1 day delivery. They use DHL to ship all of their inventory. While I had never used DHL before, I figured that they’d be the same as UPS or the Postal Service, right? According to the whole concept of 1 day delivery, and the shipping conformation email that I received from the retailer, I assumed that I’d be getting the package sometime this afternoon. Since I was not at home (just in case I needed to sign for the package) I left a note for the delivery person, indicating that they should just leave it on the porch. I get home at 5:30 to find that there is no package. Hmm… I then check online since the retailer was kind enough to give me the tracking number in their email. What I see on the tracking details after entering the number is appalling– the package made it to Austin (so far, so good), and even went out with the delivery courier. And then it gets bad. The latest entry says «Address information needed; contact DHL Customer Service». I don’t even know what this means!!! Do they not have any address information other than Austin, TX? Did they just send it out in the off chance that the courier would recognize me on the street? Is he a personal friend and wanted to surprise me with it? Anyway, I’m not quite sure what is going on at this point, so I go back and look at the shipping confirmation email from the retailer and make sure that the address is right. Check, all systems are good. So I call DHL Customer Service. The automated phone voice asks me a number of categorical questions, none of which particularly address the problem that I have. So I wait to talk with a customer service representative. I talk to this woman for approximately 5 minutes, during which she checks the shipping address that they have for me, which is correct. We then have the following conversation:
DHL Lady: «So, do you live in an apartment?»
Me: «Yes, I live in a duplex.»
DHL Lady: «So do you have a separate apartment number?»
Me (with increasing amazement): «Yes, that’s the ‘A’ in the address that you have.»
DHL Lady: «Oh. How does that work?»
Me (barely restraining from shrieking): «I live in a house that is separated. There are two doors with separate addresses. Mine is the ‘A’ door, the other one is the ‘B’ door.»
DHL Lady: «Oh. OK. Well, we’ll have it to you tomorrow.»
Me (I’ve given up at this point): «…Great…»
So all I can figure out is that the delivery person didn’t really bother to try and deliver my package and entered some BS about not having enough information about the delivery address. I’d really love to blame the retailer for this delivery failure, but it’s really not their fault, other than shipping with idiots. The upside is that I paid for the overnight shipping in case something like this happened so that I’d have an extra day ‘just in case’. I have never had a problem with any other shipping service delivering things to my house. While I have a limited amount of control over who a retailer ships with, after this experience, I will NEVER voluntarily ship anything with DHL.