DHL - Again!

They do all seem very expensive now. I look back to 15 years ago when I would order from UK on Monday and it would be in NZ on Thursday . And an book sized package cost about NZ $15 to send.

I thought I had all my UK suppliers to stop using DHL to the US by default.

My last Amal order came by UPS so no trouble.

My current Amal order is coming by DHL and was supposed to be delivered two days ago (Monday) but is hung up between DHL and Customs. Since DHL does not work weekends and is super slow when they do work, there's no telling when or if it will arrive. I was informed late Friday that they needed info that has never been needed before. It was sent right away. I was just notified at 10:30 today (Wednesday) that they received the info and would let me know if they need anything else. Since the info is uploaded to their system, they've had it for about 113 hours! No doubt next they will want customs duties which I do not owe so I'll have to dispute that which will take 7-10 days. Then they will want a fee for "helping me" which I will refuse to pay so another 7-10 days - all while threatening to send it back if I don't pay within 48 hours.

I feel sure the home office of DHL would be mortified at DHL Express in the US if they understand what's going on! The time and energy they spend trying to rip me off probably costs more than they would get if I rolled over.

marshg246 said:

I feel sure the home office of DHL would be mortified at DHL Express in the US if they understand what's going on! The time and energy they spend trying to rip me off probably costs more than they would get if I rolled over.

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I'd carefully document all of your DHL travails and send a stern letter / e-mail to DHL HQ demanding some sort of recompense and assurance of fixing future screws up in a MUCH more timely manner...

You can steal more money with a briefcase than you can with a gun. DHL knows that.

As expected, just after they closed for the day, I got a notificaiton email that I have to pay $134.10 in Duties. So, I sent the dispute email to Duty_Disputes@dhl.com. In a few hours I'll start getting the threat emails and texts that they will send the shipment back if I don't pay within 48 hours.

I immediately got the auto-response: Thank you for contacting the DHL Advance Duty Collections Department. Our hours of operation are Monday-Friday, 8:00am-5:00pm (CST). We will reply to your request within 3 business days.

Never once have they responded within 3 business days. They will respond sometime next week with some nonsense but at least I'll have a ticket number and then they'll respond in 1-2 days each time I correct them (actually her - the emails are always signed by the same woman's name).

So, those waiting for carbs - expect 7-30 days before I have them.

I swore off selling Amal for a while but gave in since most places charge 50% to 100% more than me.

Why don't I just pay? Well, this order has eight carb sets so my cost would be raised $16.76 each. And, I pay monstrous taxes already, I am adverse to paying more that I don't owe, and I'm really adverse to paying DHL $17 to "handle it for me". This is NOT a US Customs issue, it's a DHL Express issue.

In record time, they removed the duties but then have now tried to charge a mystery fee and their $17.00 for handing the mystery fee so now they want $48.67 . I replied immediately and of course they are now closed until Monday morning. Of course, I'm not paying it. I already paid AMAL $99.56 - if they haven't paid DHL enough then DHL needs to contact their customer (AMAL), not me!

Same problem here in Europe. Since the Brexit not only DHL but UPS, DPD, etc will charge about 18€ on top of custom fees.
Now I ask my supplier to send the goods through Royal Mail only. It's cheaper, as fast if not faster, no extra charge and it's easier to collect the parcel from the post around the corner.

ericg said:

Same problem here in Europe. Since the Brexit not only DHL but UPS, DPD, etc will charge about 18€ on top of custom fees.
Now I ask my supplier to send the goods through Royal Mail only. It's cheaper, as fast if not faster, no extra charge and it's easier to collect the parcel from the post around the corner.

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Lately, I've been choosing Royal Mail from AN and have been very happy. It generally takes 2-3 days longer, but I really don't need to get things in 2 days anyway, 4-5 days is just fine. My last AN order was smaller than usual money wise but heavy, cost a couple of dollars less in shipping, and got here in 5 days including the time it took AN to pack and ship it.

marshg246 said:

Lately, I've been choosing Royal Mail from AN and have been very happy. It generally takes 2-3 days longer, but I really don't need to get things in 2 days anyway, 4-5 days is just fine. My last AN order was smaller than usual money wise but heavy, cost a couple of dollars less in shipping, and got here in 5 days including the time it took AN to pack and ship it.

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"Well there you go"

I've been buying from Waldridge in the Toronto area and he ships Royal Mail, or is it now Post Canada?, only. Works well; never a problem. I let him deal with the Canada import issues.

I realize that's not an option for resellers like Greg Marsh but I just pass the extra on to my repair customers and so far nobody's complained. I have ordered a few items from UK directly but thankfully no DHL shipments so far. I've only made a couple of orders in the last year so maybe things have changed for the worse. I wonder what will happen with the new Labor government.

Update:
1) I wrote to DHL Public Affairs in Bonn - not response so far.
2) Of course, I won - and it was one of the quickest DHL shipments - only took 8 days when 2 was promised.

Today I received an AN order via Royal Mail. Placed with AN 8/5, shipped 8/6, delivered 8/11 without any drama and costs less than all other methods.
Wassell ships via UPS. Costs more, takes 3 days rather than 5, and there never is any drama. Royal Mail is plenty fast enough especially since it costs less, but UPS is acceptable.

I have fought DHL over 20 times in the past three years. I will no longer buy from any company that insists on shipping using DHL. I hope I can get AMAL to provide another option because I don't want to stop using/selling Premier Carbs. However, even if I consider my time at 1/10 of my normal rate, I take a beating selling AMAL due to DHL. And at 74, fighting with companies is not how I want to spend my time, especailly when I'm not even their customer! My AMAL order just before this on was sent via UPS and there was no drama.

marshg246 said:

My AMAL order just before this on was sent via UPS and there was no drama.

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Why not just request UPS when ordering. Pay a bit of a premium and your net STILL improves.

grandpaul said:

Why not just request UPS when ordering. Pay a bit of a premium and your net STILL improves.

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Trust me, "request" it much lighter than I will use. I already requested that they not use DHL, but apparently, they forgot that or switched to DHL exclusively. From now on I will demand that they use Royal Mail or UPS if they want the sale.

Although I'm a small fry to AMAL, in the case of Norton I am important to them especially for 850s. There is a small market for 32mm MK1 carbs and even smaller for Norton-specific 850 carbs. I can easily see them dropping all 32mm carbs. I am respected enough by them that they changed to #19 pilot jets for 850 due to my instance. I haven't been successful for 750s but all I buy today are built with #19 at no additional cost - I was already supplying #19 for them at no cost even though they cost me around $16/each which meant a net loss on every set I sold (people simply would not buy without them.)

I've sold/used 54 Norton 850-specific carb sets and have 8 Norton 850-specific sets in stock.
I've sold/used 49 Norton 750-specific carb sets and have 10 Norton 750-specific sets in stock. Many of these were for Combat and 73 750 so also 32 mm bodies.

All of them to Access Norton members or people referred by Access Norton members.

Since I sell WAY below retail, it's much more about providing the community a service than my net. From a business standpoint, the time I spend for the pittance I make is simply stupid even without the DHL nonsense. The free technical support I provide after the sale makes it doubly stupid for a business standpoint, but I am happy to do it.