The Manager
DHL International (UK) Limited
Unit 5
214 Purley Way
Croydon
Surrey CR0 4XG

7th Dec 2000

Dear Sir,

Complaint about poor and unhelpful service: ref  AWB 9328 1654 53

The purpose of this letter is to bring to your attention an instance of appallingly poor service by your company. Your poor service has seriously inconvenienced me and my business, and has been extremely exasperating.

I would like you to reply, if this is not too much trouble. I would appreciate a written apology, the name and contact details of your superior within the DHL organisation, some information about what you are going to do to prevent the same thing happening again to me or other customers, and to offer some financial compensation to the sender.

What happened:

On Fri 1^st Dec one of your couriers pushed a ‘While you were out’ card through my front door. The time written on the card was 11.00am. I work from home, I was in at that time, and had he knocked I would have heard him.

On Tue 5^th Dec I phoned your office (020 8688 8203) and offered to drive out to your Purley Way depot to collect the package. The man I spoke to said not to do this, as the package was down for re-delivery that day, was on the van, and delivery was guaranteed some time before 6 or 6.30pm. On this basis, I stayed at home for the rest of the day. This was very inconvenient. The package was not delivered.

On Wed 6^th Dec I phoned in again. The man I spoke to said the package had been accidentally mis-sorted yesterday, but was definitely on the right van today and would definitely be delivered today. On this basis, I once again stayed at home for the rest of the day. The package was not delivered.

At around 6.30pm in the evening, I phoned in again to ask what was going on. The woman I spoke to, at my suggestion, called the courier on his phone and then called me back. She explained the package had been put on the right van, and had been scheduled for delivery today, but the courier had had a long, busy day and had decided to go home. I was absolutely furious to hear this. Wouldn’t you be, in my position? He decides he’s had a long day, so it’s his right to hold me and my business up for another 24 hours, and this AFTER two days of waiting for him? The woman at your depot said there was nothing more she could do as he 'was now on the motorway', whatever that means. (I have done the journey before, and it is a 30 minute drive from my house to your depot in Croydon).

I asked the woman if she knew who the package was from. She read out the name of what sounded like a software company. The urgent package I was expecting was some tapes from America, but I have also ordered some software, so this sounded plausible. She said she would put the package down for re-delivery tomorrow, and offered me a choice of morning or afternoon. I chose morning. She said the package would definitely arrive between 9am-1pm.

On Thu 7^th Dec at 12.45 I phoned in again, as the package had still not arrived. I spoke to a helpful-sounding man called Dave, who was unable to find out either where the courier was or to call him on his phone. He offered to call me back later. He rang a few minutes later, and said the courier was in my area, and would arrive within “half an hour to an hour”.

The package was actually delivered at about 2.10pm. It was the tapes from America that I had been desperately trying to get hold of. Confused by what I had been told the previous evening, I asked the courier. He said the woman at the depot wouldn’t know who it was from, as the only information on the system is the AWB number and the delivery address.

- - -

For your information, this delivery was very urgent and important to me for business reasons.

I need to use courier services frequently. Your depot is serving as a great advert for Fedex and UPS. Other businesses often ask me about which suppliers are good or not so good. You can imagine my comments about DHL. I may choose to publish this correspondence and any reply on the web.

Yours faithfully,

Ian Rowland

Consequences: a few weeks later I received a phone call from a DHL functionary saying that my letter was receiving attention and that one of 'our letter writers' (meaning?) would be in touch. A couple of weeks after that, I received a written apology and two free vouchers that let me send 0.5 kg of stuff to anywhere in the world free of charge.

Epilogue: On 2nd July 2001 I decided to use one of these free vouchers to send a packet to a friend in Rhode Island. I phoned DHL and a girl took the details. She didn't know which country Rhode Island was in, but I suppose nobody can know everything. She asked me when I would like collection. I explained the package was ready now, and asked what my options were. She said they can guarantee a 2 hour window for collection. I opted for collection between 2-4pm. Imagine my total lack of surprise when the courier arrived half an hour late, just after 4.30pm. He knocked on the door. I was tempted to keep him waiting half an hour, since he'd done the same to me, but I didn't. I opened the door, and (keen not to mis-report these facts) I checked my watch. The courier, whose demeanour suggested he had been unhappy and angry all his life, said, 'Was that meant to be snidey, that look at your watch?'.

I presume that either (a) someone at DHL imagines this is a satisfactory and professional level of courteous service, or (b) they don't know what this courier is like.

Incidentally, I've since opened an account with Federal Express. They seem fine. In fact, so far they've been perfect.