DHL

When I decided to use DHL, it was the first ever time that I had needed to use any such service, and decided to call them first because I heard they had an excellent reputation of delivering items domestically, usually very quickly and at a competitive price.

After dialing the telephone number I was greeted with a recorded message telling me press number 1 for this, number 2 for that. I was totally fine with this, as it is to be expected from an international company that carries out so much business. I was also very happy that after pressing the relevant button for a quotation I was waiting no longer than 3 seconds before speaking to an operator.

Those two points were the only good ones I experienced when dealing with DHL. I explained to the operator that I wanted a pair of car seats collected and then delivered to my address (they were bought very cheaply on ebay for a project car I am working on, and I didnt fancy the 300 mile drive as the seller specified local pick-up only). However after 12 minutes explaining the weight, dimensions of the seats and the fact that there are TWO of them, I was put on hold for another minute to be transferred to the domestic delivery department, even though the collection and delivery addresses were the very first details I gave!!

After giving the same addresses again, this operator claimed there were several areas on her computer after running a post code search ( some of which were at opposite ends of the U.K. ) and then claimed I hadnt given the full address, when the previous operator I spoke to had no problem finding the address. Eventually however this was resolved and I finally arranged for my items to be delivered. Sorted I thoght!

Apparently not. Instead of returning from work and bringing the banger on my driveway one step closer to completion, I had an e-mail from the seller saying the courier refused to collect as he was told to pick up one parcel, not two seats as I clearly explained twice when booking the collection. No phone call at all from DHL to let me know they hadnt collected the items, and if the seller hadnt e-mailed me I wouldnt have known for days.

I immediately called them again to ask why the driver refused to collect, and also to make sure my credit card wouldnt be charged for a service I never recieved. To make things worse, they had no record of the reference number they give me, so when arranging another collection date I had to go through all the same details again! This time however, the call lasted about half an hour as I was put on hold and passed around 4 different operators, not one of whom seemed to have a clue what they were doing, nor did they seem slightly bothered that I had a greivance with the company due to the dire service I was receiveng.

To cap it all off, when the collection was arranged my origanal quote of £21 something pence had leapt up to £122!!! When I stated that I had previously been quoted £21, (and trying to give that reference number that they dont recognise again, grrr!) I was given a similar response to the banker character from little britain, "computer says no"! I naturally told them to forget it.

I would like to point out however that DHL are very competitive price wise (the first price i wa sgiven anyway!) but I would strongly recommend people NOT to use them, on the grounds that the customer service is appaling and that the staff dont seem very well trained at all, not to forget that your item may not even be collected at all due to a lack of basic communication.

I have since contacted another well known national delivery service (not sure if I can give the name) and in three short minutes, they arranged to deliver my seats for £20.

P.S. Please disregard "speed of delivery" below as I never received my items and I cant seem to leave it blank.