DHL Express
reviews and complaints

I booked for a parcel to be delivered from South Africa to Qatar. The cost of that was R655.50. The courier came when my husband (with a broken foot) was all alone at home. Even though the security guard at the gate told him that he is home and he must just wait the courier services just decided to leave. This without phoning the telephone number that was provided. It is three hours later and I am still waiting even though I was told that they will send someone immediately. Believe me even if I pay double next time DHL will not be my courier service.

One of my parcels was left with a neighbour despite the fact I never agreed to that and the second one went missing. Both the seller and I tried contacting DHL both via phone and e-mail. DHL said there is no record of any kind of delivery (even the parcel that was delivered) and both tracking numbers were not recognised. No reply to both my complaints despite being told 'Your comments have been sent to the appropriate DHL Express department who will respond to you within 1 working day.'
Do not use them because once your staff goes missing they will not help you.

Terrible delivery service!

My 3 week experience of a DHL delivery and I still haven't got it!

1. Tracked as incomplete address

2. Don't respond when I ask to clarify what incomplete address means

3. Is returned to sender

4. No new tracking number when asked to redeliver

5. Ring PC World to find out tracked as incomplete address again

6. Give details of very obvious central London landmark I live near

7. Returned to sender again

8. No phone call to rearrange request to delivery to close store instead

9. Recieve two tried to deliver notices (one dated the day before despite no mail that day)

I have called DHL office probably more than 20 times to inquire as to why my package has not been delivered since I tracked it to their facility on 17th Dec 2010. I have complained severally, yet nothing has been done. Their call centre puts me on a merry go round with empty promises!
First they said they had so many goods to deliver, they were overwhelmed!
Then they said they cannot find my address which HAPPENS TO BE ON ONE of TWO major streets in my locality - which is a business district with well labeled streets and numbered! I described it again countless times, and funny enough, its so straightforward with the GPS!
Then they said I should come pick it up myself as they cannot get a hold of their courier through the operations department to get him to deliver it!
Why would I pay for door to door express service if they had no intention of delivering it?!
I know at their convenience, it will definitely be delivered but their nonchalant attitude to personal cash paying customers is not only disappointing, it is the height of irresponsibility!

hello i think this dhl becoming a joke ; im waiting for my 3 boxes from hk to brussels and i been waitng for more then 3 WEEKS . in the end they say they only find one box and they dont know where is the other boxes are .THEN THEY LOST THE INVOICE and keep saying Clearance delay ; till now they dont call me any more and they will just say we are busy please wait, i want to go and find their manager or someone and show him what it means to let someone wait and wait
Waybill: [protected]

DHL Easyshop Egypt is rubbish. I was shipped a business sample that is worth practically 10$, and it was valued at 8500 le Egyptian pounds, and taxes of over 1700 le + 130 shipping.
It was a custom mistake, and borderlinx rubbish placed a value (BY MISTAKE) of 1490$ USD instead ot 14$ USD!
Everyone their is of no use, they don't help, and they only want to take your money (300 le pounds are just for THEIR SERVICES OF CUSTOMS FINISHING).
Same items with Aramex Shop & Ship Egypt went for FREE, nothing, at all; I will never use DHL AGAIN IN MY LIFE.
DHL Egypt Easy Shop is RUBBISH, RUBBISH, RUBBISH.

I sent a gift parcel via DHL Express from Mexico to Chile on the 30.10.2010, it arrived a few days later, 03.11.2010 in Santiago, and customs clearance began. I had previously had generally positive experiences in using DHL in Mexico and the USA, so I didn't expect any particular problems, though I'd never used them to ship to Chile before. The parcel had a total value of USD 200, and I included receipts of purchase with the parcel.

I contacted Chilean customs to check the duty payable... it took some patience, but after some misdirection I was able to determine that for the parcel with a total value of USD 200, the total payable should be USD 43... not a small amount, considering that several countries don't bother to levy duty on parcels of a clearly non-commercial nature, but I indicated that I would accept to pay customs charges, and waited for customs clearance and notification of the exact amount to pay.

Days went by, supposedly "Clearance delay" according to the DHL tracking page, until finally on 16.11.2010 I received a demand by telephone from DHL for USD 120! I asked for a breakdown of this demand, and I received an obviously invented breakdown by email. Among other mistakes, DHL didn't quote the percentages used to calculate the positions (that would have been much too convenient I suppose... they must have assumed I didn't do my research), and seem to have taken the rather unusual position that I should pay the "incrementables" for shipping and insurance that go towards calculating the FOB value, so having already paid DHL to ship the parcel to Chile, I should apparently pay for this a second time... nice one...

At this point I was already very suspicious... but not entirely clear on who might be pocketing the difference in the two duty calculations. I suspected Customs, who have a poor reputation, so I contacted them a second time with the specifics of the case. They insist that their total charges come to approximately 29% of the FOB value, which is broadly in line with their original estimate, so I am forced to conclude that the difference is going into someone's pocket at DHL in Santiago. As I said, a nice little scam.

To force the matter (which in my opinion is essentially blackmail, and most probably does not correspond with the actual state of affairs), DHL emailed me on 19.11.2010 to say that the parcel would be transferred to a government warehouse for abandoned shipments.

DHL has not responded to my complaint submitted 1 week ago, or the follow-ups I made since then. I will file a report of theft and extortion with the Chilean police when I am in Chile at Christmas.

I have the feeling someone at DHL thinks they're getting lucky this spring... I strongly suggest anyone shipping items to Chile take precautions.

On the 1st October 2009 at 12.45pm I caaled DHL offices for a parcel to be collected for courier right thru to Botswana. The lady serving me on the phone announced herself as Tisina. When asked to give the name of my physical address, i tried my best to pronounce the name of street and address which obviously i have difficulty with because the name is Afrikaans. The lady made fun of me and asked me that how on earth can someone be living in a farm and claim the place is in Polokwane. For starters i am not South African and cannot be good at pronouncing names like she can.

The second part was when she asked me if i knew the dimensions of the parcel i wanted to send. I asked her if i could call later and give her those, and at this juncture again Tisina told me there was no way i could send the parcel without dimensions. i then asked if i could go get a ruler to do this but was abruptly told off. Upon realising i was not amused with her filthy attitude she rushed to give me a reference number of 013729 and a price of R569.00 to pay if i was still interested in using their services and she hung up the line on my ear. This gal thinks she owned the company the way she talked.

I had booked a gift for my Cousin for the eve of Ganesha Festival, the gift shipment was givent to the Great DHL Global Express, waybill no is [protected].

From USA to Reach India it took two and half days, it reached Bangalore at 5:30 September 10' 2010. From Bangalore to the Residence it takes more than three days! I bet no one will have this fast service!

When enquired the customer care, they say it will be delivered only on Monday, September 13'2010. Resaon is they are having Holiday on Friday and Saturday. What is the use of the Gift after the Festival?

Called couple of times to the call center and requested them, I myself will collect the gift from the Service Center, Nobody is there to open the Door! thats the answer I have Got!

Atleast on the special occasion they should have deployed some delivery boys to deliver.

They left a card saying I had to organise re-delivery, but the delivery number and service centre code were not recognised online. The only other option they give on their website is to phone the service centre which I did and was on the phone waiting for someone to answer for 20 minutes. So I have no way of arranging re-delivery of my parcel. Terrible website, terrible customer service and an automated system that simply doesn't work. I will never use DHL again. Home Network are far superior in terms of price, efficiency and service. USE DHL AT YOUR PERIL!

just wondering why DHL, when the package was sent to me in Argentina, didn't handle getting my item out of customs. Isn't that part of what I paid DHL for? I Wound up paying DHL I guess for processing some paperwork with customs, but I still had to go to the airport to pick it up and then I was charged for storage by customs. If DHL was really doing their job and expediting my package through customs then I would not have had to pay for storage by customs. I don't see why what was pay for shipping to DHL does not pay for expediting paperwork through customs. THis entire routine took nearly a day and I felt like a ping-pong ball at customs going from one window to the next to the next to the next. This is really pathetic service on behalf of DHL.

I wrote a similar complaint yesterday and I tried to update it but for some reason I couldn't.

I recently paid to have a package shipped via DHL to Argentina. I paid all of the shipping fees at the moment that the item was shipped. I am outraged that DHL wanted to charge an exorbitant amount for paperwork or processing fees when the item arrived in Argentina. below are the amounts, in Argentinian dollars, paid to customs and DHL. I can understand paying DHL another 30 or 40 Argentinian pesos but this is completely absurd and mirrors similar experiences I have experienced over the years which have left me completely outraged at having to pay exorbitant fees for processing by DHL in other Latin American countries.

DHL fees $225
Customs $275
Storage at customs (payable to customs) $125

I have sent a crate from Beijing to Berlin 3 weeks ago. I called DHL in China to make sure that they would deliver the crate to my office that is the back house second floor (and not only to the front door of the building) since I had a car accident and cannot carry anything. I also called DHL Berlin to ask the same information and both confirmed that I would receive the package directly at my office on the second floor.
They called to say that the package would arrive between 9 am and 12 am on Friday and again I made sure that it was going to be brought up since the only person in the office on that day was a small woman. I was told yes, it will be brought up.
The DHL man came and said he could not bring the crate up since it is too heavy and that she would have to find a solution herself. He left the crate outside in the back house. I called DHL and they said someone was going to come back and bring it up. At 12 the first woman had to leave so I paid someone else to come and wait. Every 2h I would call them to ask when they are coming. I was always told they would come but it might not be right away. I even said that two men should come since it real heavy but I was then told that if the driver managed to bring it to the front door alone that he will manage to bring it up 2 floors alone.
At 18 h the other woman had to go so I had to come in the office and wait. I called DHL to say I have dinner plans if the driver can arrive soon and I was told to wait and someone would come soon.
At 20h I called again and a very rude man said no one will come because the working day for the drivers ended at 18h and I have to find a solution myself.
To make an even longer story short I had to wait outside (at night) until I finally found 2 guys big enough to pay to bring the crate up. (I waited long since it was raining hard and bringing two strangers to my back office when I am alone is not smart). I was done with the hole thing it was 23h.
Since then I have called DHL 14 times and I always get the same answer someone will call you back today or tomorrow. It has now been 2 weeks. I also wrote 4 emails and not one single email reply. I guess they are waiting until I forget about it. Plus it cost money to complain by DHL. I have just calculated my Skype cost calling DHL and I am now at 30 euros. Here is another great way for them to make money.
Today is the first time in my life that I put something up in a forum as a complaint.
I am so tired of being ignored and I will not stop until I get fully reimbursed.

My name is Aparna and I was expecting a parcel from Italy through DHL (my birthday present) consisting of a mobile phone and 2 artificial jewellery. I was supposed to recieve my parcel on 04-08-10 and when i called the DHL customer care to enquire regarding the delivery time the customer care excecutive told me that i will have to pay a sum of Rs.10, 987/- as the duty charge for the parcel. on further enquiry he said that DHL has already paid the amount and i cannot collect my parcel until i repay them the full amount.

When i asked him why i wasn't told about this charge before DHL decided to pay it, he simply said that its not his department and i need to inform customer care ( which was him).
If i was informed about this huge duty before DHL decided to pay it on behalf of me, i would have asked them to sent it back to italy.
And my friend in italy was charged a bomb and was assured that i wouldnt have to pay nothing in India.
I feel that DHl is trying to exploit their clients by charging this absurd amount in the name of duty without even consulting the client.

And one more thing, on 03-08-10 (previous day) when i got a call from DHL to inform me that i will get my parcel the next day he mentioned that customs clearence is over and no duty has been charged.
Kindly help me
Thank you
Aparna
airway bill number - [protected]

I have sent a parcel of weight 4.9 kgs from china yiwu to USA New Jersey. Dhl guys took the parcel on 20th july and till today the parcel is not reached to the destination and no status on the net for tracking number. My tracking number is [protected]. Kindly see to it. To contact me my e-mail id is [protected]@rediffmail.com.

I (From Fischer Measurement Technologies (India) Pvt. Ltd. have sent one export consignment form Pune to Dubai in January 2008 by DHL Express, Pune vide AWB No. [protected]. but after one & half year we came to know that the DHL has been not cleared the resp. N-Form (In Mumbai - BMC) of this shipment. from last 6-7 months I am follow up DHL Customer service in Mumbai via Emails, Phones but they are not giving me any response on this, we are regular importer & due to this non cleared N-form we are facing lot problem in transportaion the material from Mumbai to Pune.
We have given them all details i.e. N-Form No., AWB No., Invoice copy but still I have not received any positive feedback from them.
THis is very versed service, we are very disappointed with DHL...

The driver never visited my home yet he entered the false data into tracking that I was not at home.
I found out that I am not at home from my home computer moments he entered this scam.
10 days has passed and no second attempt from DHL...
DHL=TOTAL RUBBISH.

I have ordered medicines from Amazon and subscribed in DHL Easy Shop. They provided me with an address in the US where my parcels should be shipped.
1- When it arrives to Egypt if invoices are provided they should pay its customs & sales taxes the value of the item although invoices provided sales taxes and customs dutees were multiplied by 5 and they forced me to pay they claimed that they made an attempt but failed.
2- they use either volumatic weight or real weight whichever higher, although the higher weight was considered the correct weight was 2.5 kg and they wanted to let me pay for 3 kg & paid then weigh it at home & got my refund with a quarrel from them.
3- & warest of all, they were 3 bottles one of them containg 500 tablets, seal was removed cover was broken and tables were scattered in their bag. see photos

Vary poor team managent, Poor or laxity amongest staff to perfprm their duties.
We requested our suppliers to use Dhls for some spares that we required very urgently, as our machines where stand still we thought that DHL would be the best, It all started with theta they can not send some to collect payment For IDF as in the past one of their BIKES had got stollen when they went to collect some payment who's office was in first floor, then we where told that they required more documents as the invoice which was sent didn't have the full details, thus we requested our suppliers to send us a commercial invoice with the full details. this was on friday. The next thing on monday we send one of our staff members to deliver their payment for the IDF with the required commercial invoice which had all the details i, e. item wise price wise, which i had also emailed to them, after two weeks when we noticed that the goods had still not been cleared because of non Doc. (the itemized commercial Invoice.) we made a very good follow up from day to day that is when they got seriouse started to follow it up. By this time we had already lost three weeks of production, plus the dead lines to meet. In the future I can never ever request any body to use DHL for services in kenya.