DHL and Interparcel London

ype business location and detailed complaint

This is regarding DHL and Interparcel in London UK

Here is a copy of a review I wrote on Ciao in June of Last year: at the bottom is the lastest update.

I am moving from my home in the UK to the far east. I did not want to take all my sentimental items with me, and as I dont come from this country my husband and I decided we would ship these things to a little house we have in Sweden-just big enough to hold around twenty boxes of memories.

I looked around for different ways to ship. I thought about renting a truck myself and driving there -but we have too many children to fit both kids and boxes in a truck. So, I came across Interparcel on the internet. I heard a couple of good reviews and they used big named companies like DHL to transport goods. Also when I called and emailed before booking someone actually answered I thought that was a good sign-well it was to be the last good sign of the whole ordeal.

I booked the pick up of the boxes with the idea that I would ship them to my husbands mother in Sweden and we would fly there collect the boxes, as she is too old for the task, and take them out to our cottage in the countryside for safekeeping-what could be easier? We would arrive in Sweden two days after the pick up at our london address and be in Sweden for two weeks plenty of time according to the 2-5 day guarantee.

First the pick up fiasco. I booked for thursday to give friday in case any mishap took place. I waited all day by my securely wrapped boxes. Finally at about 3;00 the man showed up, great. WHen he arrived he looked confused. Boxes apparently were not things he was used to. He claimed to have expected only one box-and did not have enough labels to put on all the boxes. He muttered about coming back the next day, and went back to his truck- I was not sure whether he meant to get something and come back to talk to me, but he just drove off. The next morning I was unsure if he even meant to come back so I called dhl. They told me -we cant deal with it you have to call interparcel so I called interparcel. I told them that I was leaving to collect the boxes in Sweden and needed them picked up. There was some more calling back and forth apparently my 20 boxes had totally freaked out their driver to the point he turned off his mobile and was not contactable. Fine, they would find someone else to pick up the boxes. At about 5;00 I got a call saying the driver was outside my house. He was friendly, he worked in a different area but was sent over specially. we but the labels on the boxes together he gave me the paper with the corresponding labells and went off. I breathed a sigh of relief, that was short lived.

I am in Sweden for some days. We get a note that says a package has arrived for us at the local depot great! All the boxes cannot be far behind lets wait. Seven working days later, no boxes we call the depot in Sweden that has this one box. It cannot find the numbers that I have on my sheet-in fact none of them match the number on the box they have there-call DhL directly, they say as they are just a regional depot for different shipping companies. We call dhl in sweden-they dont used the codes that I have on my sheet -the use a 10 digit number to identify boxes. Nevertheless they put these codes in to the DHL search and the codes say that the boxes are still in london. I freak. The days are running out, if they have not shipped them they will never arrive in time for me to collect them. I call Dhl long distance to the UK. DHL UK says that the boxes are in the london depot still. Perhaps they claim, they will up grade them to get them shipped by air,to get them to me faster. Any way they say they will check it out and get back to me. They dont call back so I call them back again long distance to the UK. They say they dont know if the boxes are london they have to search the warehouse-one operator asks me the contents of the boxes in case they have to open them up to find them. By this time I am livid -but not yelling . 19 boxes they dont know where they are. I am told there is a 4 hour turn around and that they will try to have information for me in that time. FOur hours later -does some one call me? No. Another long distance call, this time they are checking the depot it will take all day. ALL the while I am getting more alarmed. They are polite on the surface -but mainly looking for ways to fob me off and go back to their other easier calls. End of the day does anyone call me to say the result of the search? NO. I call long distance- the search has revealed, they claim, that the boxes were shipped out the monday after they were collected. So they claim it must be Swedish DHL that messed up. They will make Swedish dhl do a check of its depot the next day. Which I infer will take all day again conveniently keeping me from calling and bothering them. I call interparcel, the company I booked the shipment with. The women is polite and helpful, she will intervine and get something done, s he claims. We discuss the box numbers and she claims that the international shipping number is different it is a 10 digit code which the Swedes would recognise. I say great they were asking for a 10 digit code. She said she would call DHL UK, and get it for me. She calls back. She gives me a 15 digit number which DHL UK says is the shipping number of the whole lot. Great, I am off the phone with her at 4:55 pm for a quick call to Swedish DHl --they dont know what that number is. I leave a paninicky message on Interparcel message machine. Next day do I hear from INterparcel? NO. I call interparcel, can I talked to K who helped me yesterday. Shes out now she will call you back. Does she call me back? NO. I go to a internet cafe to check out the box numbers myself. The supposed "tracking" numbers say the boxes are still in london. I send a email to DHL to say that I have not forgotten about the boxes , even if they have. The next day DHL UK calls me they are still checking, D claims. The boxes have gone out he says variously. But the tracking numbers dont mean anything-although he cant explain why not. They are checking will Sweden-doing a search. But I am in sweden and I already know the Swedes dont know anything about the boxes. AN interesting twist is that the one box that has arrived, arrived with a new labelled placed over the top of the old label. Also a code on the box corresponds to the 15 digit code that DHL london gave interparcel to give to me to give to Swedish DHL. ALL of this is a mystery to D at LOndon interparcel who can at the end of the day do very little -because he can't leave his computer screen. FInally, he admitts that he does not know where my boxes are -if they are in london or sweden or in between. Long before this conversation I had stopped worrying about the boxes arriving in time and start to worry if they would ever be found. D said I can put in a claim -that is the hope he held out of finding them. I said please call me back to at least let me know you are still working on finding them. He said he would do that. Have I heard anything? No. I am back now-in London. Tomorrow I will start my calling again and go down to the london depot if need be. All the time they treated me as if I was unreasonable-expecting them to deliver boxes-DHL who ever heard of such a thing. Friends are telling me not to be too sad despite the fact that all my children's drawings and photos were in those boxes, along with things from my grandmother. Because they say that some people lose everything running away from war torn countries.I know they are right-but I expected a little more from DHl then the ability to compare them favourably to tyrants and dictators-silly me.

The latest on this sorry tale is that 18 boxes showed up, and had to be collected by mother in law, one never arrived. Since my plans were already set and tickets book and no further answers were forth coming from DHL or INterparcel as to where this last box had gone, I will have to wait till this summer to see if this box was one containing precious irreplaceable items, or if I got lucky and it is just a box of books. If you like an experience which loosens your reliance on material objects perhaps this is a good company to choose. It seem that most people that I have related this tale to, and have used DHL have had to let go of their attachment to those material possessions which they intrusted to the care of DHL. And Interparcel you should do better, and treat your customers better we are not stupid we know when you are trying to just get us off the line. In my case nothing more can be done, but I hope to save some other people this soul expanding experience. Dlunch

Comment On This