DHL - Shipment on hold

[Leo&Farah 0]

Hi,

I just sent my fiance my G325a, color copies of hotel receipts, letter of intent, labeled photos, passport photo and other copies of proof of relationship from my side in duplicate via DHL.

Picked up on Monday. Its Friday and now it says 'Clearance Delay' and 'Shipment on Hold' at Wilmington, Ohio??? Its a document, not a package, why is there clearance for documents? The only other thing included was paper clips to hold the documents together and an envelope for pictures, duplicate copies. 5 days when it was supposed to be delivered in 2.

Has anyone had this experience with DHL for sending their documents and can give some insight? I'm freaking out now cause that shipment was expensive and I will have to spend alot to make 2 more duplicates of it if they don't clear or get lost.

Arghggh.

Sorry if in the wrong forum, not sure where to post this.

[Fred N Emilia 0]

I've had nothing but good experiences with DHL. But ofcourse this differes by country.

[R & S 0]

That happened to me as well when I was sending my pkg 3 stuff to my fiance in Iran. They held it OH for a couple of days, then was on its way again. So, not to worry, but give them a call if still sitting there by Monday. Good luck.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Hi,

I just sent my fiance my G325a, color copies of hotel receipts, letter of intent, labeled photos, passport photo and other copies of proof of relationship from my side in duplicate via DHL.

Picked up on Monday. Its Friday and now it says 'Clearance Delay' and 'Shipment on Hold' at Wilmington, Ohio??? Its a document, not a package, why is there clearance for documents? The only other thing included was paper clips to hold the documents together and an envelope for pictures, duplicate copies. 5 days when it was supposed to be delivered in 2.

Has anyone had this experience with DHL for sending their documents and can give some insight? I'm freaking out now cause that shipment was expensive and I will have to spend alot to make 2 more duplicates of it if they don't clear or get lost.

Arghggh.

Sorry if in the wrong forum, not sure where to post this.

ALL packages, letters, ANYTHING coming into the USA is inspected by customs. I am sure the "clearence delay" is not because of the contents of YOUR package. It is most likely some sort of delay affecting all packages going through that entry point. They have your package, they didn't lose it, it will be delivered.

[Victor&Cory 1]

It's true. Last February I sent my fiancee a Valentine's gift and it was hold for clearance for 2 days. It's all normal procedure.

PEACE............

[Leo&Farah 0]

Well I had a call with DHL here who contacted DHL in US and apparently the customs had picked out my documents and set it aside to be inspected. I dont get it at all. I asked if the holdup was because they were inspecting a bunch of packages all at the same time and mine just happened to be among them but no, they had separated mine from the rest.

So now DHL here is telling me that they will ask DHL there on Monday to contact the customs on the contents of the package. By Monday, it would have been a full week.

I'm worried they might misplace some documents while going through my stuff, mess up the order or simply take out some documents that are needed. Basically worried they will #### up and I have to resend everything AGAIN.

Had the same experience with USPS when he tried sending me a letter of support for my tourist visa last year. USPS lost it the first time with international express. They lost it the second time with priority mail. The tracking numbers they gave were invalid and his pay stubs and letter of support scattered to the winds. It finally got to me when he spent 80 bucks sending it via DHL. Right now, I'm afraid we'll have the same shitty bad luck and they will lose, misplace, send back, deny my documents simply because well snail mail HATES us.

There is NOTHING there they can deny. G325A, letter of intent, photos of me and him, passport photo of me, copy of my BC, copy of my passport, copy of receipts, copies of skype call records, verizon and us cellular and some personal wallet pics I made for him. There's a few small paperclips and two big black office paper clips. So what is the problem arggggggggggh? It shouldn't take them TWO days to figure out the contents of everything.

Date and time Status Location Service Area

4/17/2009 5:24 am Shipment on Hold. Wilmington, OH

4:57 am Clearance Delay Wilmington, OH

4/16/2009 5:32 am Shipment on Hold. Wilmington, OH

4:57 am Clearance Delay Wilmington, OH

2:42 am Transit through DHL facility Wilmington, OH

4/15/2009 7:22 pm Depart Facility Hong Kong - Hub, Hong Kong

7:17 pm Processed at DHL Location. Hong Kong - Hub, Hong Kong

1:14 am Transit through DHL facility Hong Kong - Hub, Hong Kong

4/14/2009 8:50 pm Depart Facility Subang - Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah, Malaysia

8:50 pm Processed at DHL Location. Subang - Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah, Malaysia

3:58 am Transit through DHL facility Subang - Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah, Malaysia

3:10 am Depart Facility Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

3:09 am Processed at DHL Location. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

4/13/2009 8:24 pm Depart Facility Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia

8:07 pm Processed at DHL Location. Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia

5:28 pm Shipment picked up Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia

[Kwagga 0]

I had the same problem with DHL when I sent my paperwork from SA to my finace in the US. It also got 'stuck' in Ohio then after that it was sent to incorrect final destination and had to go back to Ohio. I tracked it daily watching it going backwards and forwards across the US...most frustrating. It eventually took an additional 6 days to get there, 10 days in total, but it got there.

Next shipment will be with UPS or FedEx

[Neonred 3,562]

I had a similar experience a few years back using DHL to send documents to Russia. They took the LONG route with a few days layover in Belgium and Italy if I remember correctly. I checked the DHL web site and they guaranteed delivery back then to Russia in 5 days. This document package took at least 10 days. I called and complained and asked what was up with the guarantee. They checked on it and sent me a refund for the full cost of the shipment! Ended up being free, but a little slow.

[JeremyR 8]

There is NOTHING there they can deny. G325A, letter of intent, photos of me and him, passport photo of me, copy of my BC, copy of my passport, copy of receipts, copies of skype call records, verizon and us cellular and some personal wallet pics I made for him. There's a few small paperclips and two big black office paper clips. So what is the problem arggggggggggh? It shouldn't take them TWO days to figure out the contents of everything.

It's nothing personal and nothing against the contents of your package - it's just like travelling through an airport - some people are always randomly selected for the 'extra attention'. Likewise, some packages are always going to be randomly picked out for checking that the customs declaration is honest and accurate. If it contains just documents of little or no monetary value (in their eyes, the value will be the cost of the papers, not whatever it cost you to gather them) then it'll be fine. Any delay is annoying but it'll be cleared soon and on it's way...

[Leo&Farah 0]

The shipment was cleared at OH but we just got a confirmation via tracking airway bill online and through customer service hotline that they delivered it to the wrong address. I had printed his address, my address and both our contact numbers neatly and in caps on the airway bill. Somewhere along the way from here to there, my address changed to an incorrect one and they retained most of his address but changed MD to Ronald Reagen National AIRPORT (DCA). Some guy signed for it and that's that for now.

We have contacted customer service hotline and emailed the executive head office. They claim they will contact the delivery guy to go back and get the package but if they're idiots enough to not be able to read the airway bill and somehow change the address and not have the sense to call the receiver and give it to someone else other than the receiver, I don't know how efficient they will be in getting it back.

Does anyone who has any experience in this know how to get the package back? And how easy is it to have identity theft when they have access to a copy of your birth cert, passport, passport pictures and biographical information as well as phone records?

Think I am going to lose my mind. Not even sent the petition yet and this happens.

[Nik+Heather 121]

I think you're doing all you can.

How frustrating! Continue to keep up with their customer service, and insist on being escalated to higher-up managers until you get to someone who you feel can implement a solution and be accountable, and make sure you know when their solutions will be implemented. Also, I would have your fiance in the US follow up with the US side, since it was over here that things got messed up. Cut out as many middle men as possible between you (or your fiance) and the person with the answer to what's going on with your package. The whole "I called the guys here and they called the guys there who called the guys here who told me X" seems like an unreliable method to get information.

Get their names and keep a log of your interactions, requests, and their responses.

I understand that that packet had basically all of your personal information, and having it in the wrong hands can be very disconcerting. The random chances that it ended up in the hands of someone with no-good intentions is small. Don't whip yourself into a frenzy over that, there's nothing you can do about it now. I would think that most people who receive a package like that would immediately see that it wasn't addressed to them and call DHL back. If they got so far as opening it, they probably said "WTH is this??" and then called DHL back. Or if they were lazy they threw it away...but still, not very high chances for identity theft to my mind.

[JeremyR 8]

The shipment was cleared at OH but we just got a confirmation via tracking airway bill online and through customer service hotline that they delivered it to the wrong address. I had printed his address, my address and both our contact numbers neatly and in caps on the airway bill. Somewhere along the way from here to there, my address changed to an incorrect one and they retained most of his address but changed MD to Ronald Reagen National AIRPORT (DCA). Some guy signed for it and that's that for now.

<sigh> That's ridiculous

Have you made any attempt to contact anybody at the airport it was delivered to? Might be a good idea to try and get them to get hold of it before someone realises it's misdelivered mail and trashes it .

At the very least, you should insist that DHL refund your shipping fees.

[Nik+Heather 121]

At the very least, you should insist that DHL refund your shipping fees.

AND make them give you their FASTEST priority white glove delivery for the next set you have to send!!!!

If you want to be very difficult, you can tell them you're afraid your sensitive documents are in the wrong hands and see if they will also provide an identity protection service - I got a letter once saying some company had lost all my pertinent data, here's 3 free years with some credit watch agency. Luckily nothing ever came of THAT fiasco.

Most companies, when they screw up this bad will do whatever you say will make you feel like they've fixed it.

[SCFsnoopy 0]

Hey Leo&Farah,

I'm really sorry to hear you've had such trouble with DHL - they're usually a great company but I have also found they've been a bit screwy in the US lately. It's most likely due to the massive downsizing DHL has had in the States - DHL no longer offers domestic services within the US, only international services, which naturally has an effect on the way international shipments are handled domestically within the US. Ohio also happens to be a huge service centre which is why shipments get "stuck" there - it's just an issue of the huge amount of freight they have pass through there.

Documents, however, should not have been put on hold as they are not dutiable items and therefore do not pass through customs. The "On Hold" scan you saw most probably doesn't related to customs at all but is simply due to processing delays at the service centre.

As for the address change... it's rare, but every now and then something screws up with the data entry and the system will attach the wrong AWB to a customer's details or vice versa. So someone else's address wound up on your AWB number and package, therefore when the reweigh sticker was put on it redirected the shipment to the new address regardless of the original air waybill. (I hope that made sense, it's hard to explain). It's interesting that only part of the address changed though, I don't really have an explanation for that.

Like the others have said, keep pressuring customer service about it. Most of the time DHL can recover an incorrectly delivered shipment and if you keep at them they will often refund you or give you a free shipment.

[Leo&Farah 0]

Okay here's an update.

They had sent the documents to a neighbors house three doors down, left some receipt stating the address of the neighbor. My fiance had to meet the neighbor for the first time to retrieve it (he did not know them personally). Luckily it was an old, sweet couple who were just trying to be neighborly. But I have never heard of it being common practice to simply leave someone elses documents/shipments with some random neighbor you don't know. DHL over here would never have done that. They call you personally if you are not around when they deliver.

I walked him through the package and sure enough it had been torn open by customs. The main envelope was torn at the sides and halfway down the middle. They had gone through my original set of documents but left the backup copies alone. All smaller envelopes containing our pictures had been cut open crudely (even though they weren't sealed). Nothing seems to be missing but yeah, they did for some reason go through it. They were nice enough to put the original papers in bubble wrap after tearing the packaging though. I guess they're checking documents these days since I've been hearing from the replies that it should not be the case.

An officer from the HQ had replied to my email and explained that they had somehow screwed up the address while inputting the data into their system which explains both address changes online.

All is well then but I'm not going to use DHL ever again if they find it standard practice to leave things with random neighbours. My fiance didn't even know the guy!

And thank you for the great support guys. One hurdle to pass, on to the next one. At this rate, I'll be holding my breath every time we send something out via snail mail. At this rate, I'll probably have a stroke before the interview Maybe someone will learn from my experience here and decide to use another carrier to be on the safe side. So some good came out of this.

Customer support wise, DHL was very good. The executive office replied promptly, the CSR followed up with a phone call (just to say they will call again when the driver comes back to find out what happened. Not sure if he got another call with results) and a manager at DHL my side called me back twice to sort out the problem with customs and sent me a text on the phone to inform me it had been delivered. I DID have to inform the manager here on the contents of the package so she could relay it to US side to communicate it to customs.