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DHL has now gone beyond "SUCKS"...

S

Scott Nellis

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Ok, I know that everyone here has their own horror stories on shipping with all three major carriers (UPS, DHL, and FedEx), but DHL takes the cake in my neck of the woods. I bought a 1.1 pair of Bismark ringed pythons from a breeder in Kansas City, KS who shipped them out (through a third party with a DHL account) on Wednesday afternoon Oct 4th to be delivered before 10:30am Thursday Oct 5th. Well, Thursday morning 10:30 comes and goes with NO snakes!! I e-mailed the breeder for a tracking number, but he was offline and I didn't have his phone number. So, I spend all night worrying if my snakes are still alive or even if I got scammed! Around 9:15 Friday morning I check my e-mail and finally got a tracking number from the breeder for my shipment (he was sick all day Thursday). I call DHL and they say that it was delayed in Ohio because of bad weather! In October???? Come on!! It didn't make the flight out and SAT in Ohio a full day!! They said it would be delivered before 10:30am that morning (Friday). That's the SECOND time DHL took two days to deliver an overnight package to me!! Well, 10:30 comes and goes...NO package!! I call again, and they said it was left on the doorstep at 10:08am. Um, NO!! There is NOTHING on my doorstep! They insisted that it must be there because the driver says so!! Yeah, right!! After THREE more calls to their 1-800 number (they refused to give me the number to the local distribution center....hmmmm, I wonder why?)...they tell me that the driver was sent back out to pick up the package that MUST be on my doorstep and redeliver it to me. At about 12:10PM, the driver shows up with my package :angry: !! When I ask him WHERE he picked it up from, he vaguely motioned over to the next block!! :angry: **##%$# IDIOTS!!! They can't even LOOK at the CORRECT address on the box and drive down the CORRECT street to deliver a package!! F***ing idiots!! So, not only is it a FULL day late, but I have to call them FOUR times to correct THEIR mistake to find my package!! This really p*ssed me off as I wanted to leave by 9:30am to drive to the NARBC in Chicago. I ended up leaving three hours later...Thank you very much DHL!! I have come to the conclusion that I will NEVER, NEVER, EVER use DHL in the future!! Even if someone has a snake that I really want...if they use DHL, I'll have to pass on that purchase!! BTW, the ringed pythons made it alive!! Tough little guys!!

Scott Nellis
 
I had a similiar situation with FedEx.

the package came from Utah and got delayed a whole day because of bad weather..it was on my step the next day at 9:00am with no knock or call or anything. Luckily he made it alive! oh and i got refunded 40$ ;)

glad your rings made it there OK Scott!!


Shawn
 
At least they found your house...

Glad to hear your guys made it too. I've never had a problem with FedEx. I guess different areas of the country have different levels of service. Here in Minneapolis, MN it seems that DHL just doesn't care whether they make service or not.

Scott Nellis
 
" BAD WEATHER IN OCTOBER ? "

.......yes this is the time of year many flights are delayed because of fog.when checking weather before shipping it's a good idea to inquire about fog.glad your rings made it ok. TWH
 
Thats not cool I got a het for axantic thats being shipped dhl. Now I'm worried. Hey Scott whatever happened with that male milksnake did he ever show up.

David
 
Just curious, but I have seen several people mention here on the forum about shipping snakes thru DHL... When did DHL start accepting snakes for shipping again?
 
homegrownherps said:
Just curious, but I have seen several people mention here on the forum about shipping snakes thru DHL... When did DHL start accepting snakes for shipping again?
Click to expand...


pretty positive its still the same rules that apply to fed ex and UPS. You have to get the paperwork to become legit. All carriers DONT ship snakes legally without this paperwork. So im assuming thats all it is.
 
Mooing Tricycle said:
pretty positive its still the same rules that apply to fed ex and UPS. You have to get the paperwork to become legit. All carriers DONT ship snakes legally without this paperwork. So im assuming thats all it is.
Click to expand...


Did it change in the last 2 months? I contacted DHL about 2 months ago and spoke with the area sale rep. She took all my info and called me back several hours later and they said under no circumstances will they allow "snakes" to be shipped. (this was direct from their legal dept.)
 
I believe DHL will accept snakes through a third party shipper type of agreement.
 
Same thing happened to me when I bought a male leopard gecko from a breeder, the breder uses DHL and my package was suppose to be here before 1030, I didn't get it until 530 and they said it was because of bad weather, it was August. They suck and i will never use them for anything!
 
I have never had a problem with DHL here in Tucson. I have received many packages through them and they have never been late. It was because of the high quality of service I received that I chose to use them as my shipping agent as well. I know the quality of service varies location to location but you'll find that will all shipping companies. UPS absolutely blows here and seems to "loose" packages regularly. FedEx, who I used to ship with, has a problem showing up to pick up packages causing them to miss flights. Having to contact a customer and tell them, "oops, sorry you took off work but your package missed the plane and it won't make it tomorrow", is not something I want to deal with.

When it comes down to shipping companies you just have to find what works for you in your location and hope for the best. None of them are perfect 100% of the time.
 
In reply...

As for bad weather in August...that's BS! These planes have state of the art radar, electronics, and whatnot so the pilots can fly them practically blindfolded! The only thing that will keep these big planes grounded is heavy snow or ice storms (too much risk of wing icing) or severe thunderstorms (high winds and sudden downdrafts)...but in the case of severe thunderstorms, they blow though in an hour. So why did my package sit in Ohio for 24 hours???

To David...yes, we finally did find that milksnake...after eight days in temps as low as 39 degrees over night! The little sucker was up under my dash and decided to come out and explore on my way back from the Omaha, NE show. It literally almost dropped in my lap. It was dark...I was driving on Interstate 35 North almost to the MN border when he dropped on my knee and then to the floorboards. I pulled off at the next exit (4 miles further) and we found him cowarding under my back seat! Well, now the little escapee is in lockdown under observation. He looks good, but we want to be sure that his 8 days of semi-freedom with the low temps didn't do him any harm.

I have no idea why DHL and UPS still deliver snakes when it's against their TOS. I guess money talks. I just know that DHL is out of MY picture!

Scott Nellis
 
I personally have had great luck with receiving snakes through DHL. Rebel Dragons is right...you can have horrible luck with any of the big three. It may vary from location to location.
 
im not sure, as ive never gone through the steps to ship a snake personally yet. Ive only used one friends UPS account to ship. and that was my first, and only time so far. this is just from what ive learned over the past few months, so you very well could be right in them not accepting snakes.

I shipped frogs through USPS one time, but that was back when they allowed it through my P.O. They got there safe and sound, but i dunno, with all the horror stories ive heard lately, id never do it again! :p
 
Rebel Dragons said:
I have never had a problem with DHL here in Tucson. I have received many packages through them and they have never been late. It was because of the high quality of service I received that I chose to use them as my shipping agent as well. I know the quality of service varies location to location but you'll find that will all shipping companies. UPS absolutely blows here and seems to "loose" packages regularly. FedEx, who I used to ship with, has a problem showing up to pick up packages causing them to miss flights. Having to contact a customer and tell them, "oops, sorry you took off work but your package missed the plane and it won't make it tomorrow", is not something I want to deal with.

When it comes down to shipping companies you just have to find what works for you in your location and hope for the best. None of them are perfect 100% of the time.
Click to expand...

Hehe or they forget them in the terminal.... :p :p we dont have to go over that one though hahah ( just poking harald! you know im cool! <3)
:D :D
 
I use Fed Ex and rarely have a problem. The last DHL package I received was scanned in a little after 10am and not delivered until after 1pm. Now, I am sitting and waiting for a package that was supposed to be delivered by 10am. Customer service says it hasn't even made it to the state yet (CA) and won't be delivered until tomorrow. According to the tracking on website, it hasn't even made it out of Ohio, it's origins. ARRRGGHHH Very expensive item too.

That's it, I will never purchase/trade etc... anything that will be shipped DHL. Never never never never.....
 
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