PLESAE DON'T USE DHL: PART II

[TD Wood]

This is obviously not a complaint against RED (couldn't be happier with my Scarlet), but just needed to use this forum to complain against DHL and to ask RED to stop using their services (at least in my region). I don't want to bore people with my story, but I've finally lost my patience with DHL and I just don't kow what to do. Here's my story:

1. I sent my DSMC sidehandle for repair (just 3 months old/under warranty) on June 12th. It arrived in Irvine on June 15th and was repaired and sent back to me by RED on June 19th. Everything looking great so far.
2. The reapired item arrived to my local DHL office on June 21 st.
3. Today, July 9th, my item is still being held at customs. This coming thursday, 3 weeks will have gone by since my item arrived at my local DHL office. I have probably spoken with the entire DHL customer service staff these past weeks and they still are not giving me clear answers. All paperwork and shipments have been handled by RED, so I am 100% sure that DHL has always had the necessary documents to release the item from customs. In any case, I have sent them the documents twice myself just in case. But the situation hasn't changed one bit.
4. Worst of all, 3 weeks have passed and I have lost one job already and I may probably lose another one if this unfortunate situation is not solved pronto (next week I have a 3 day shoot!!!). I need my sidehandle to operate my camera as I only have Redvolts. And I cannot rent one becasue the clossest renting facility is 4 hours driving time and, worst of all, they do not rent RED accesories, just full equipments.
5. To make things just a little worse, DHL has had the nerve to inform me that they are going to charge me 50 euros for their services. I explained to them that this was a warranty service handled solely by RED, and that they couldn't charge me for a merchandise that does not require any tax payments. Apparently, they will ignore me and if I ever get my sidehandle back, I will have to pay 50 euros for my pretty face.

Summary: 3 weeks have gone by without being able to use my Scarlet thanks to DHL. If somebody at RED could give those DHL guys a call, I would really appreciate it. After that, please stop using DHL.

BTW, if I had known DHL handled things this way, I would never had sent my sidehandle back to RED. It actually had a minor manufacturing flaw(hot swapping issue) which was not a big issue for me, but since it was under warranty and only 3 months old, I decided to send it for repair.



Warm regards, everybody.

TD Wood
Spain

[Ruff]

Exactly the same thing happened with DHL in New Zealand. They had the documents all along. It cost me a lot of time and money.

I will not be using DHL again. They obviously have bad systems in place.

I hope you resolve it soon.

[Matt Gerard]

My suggestion is that I wouldn't let 50 EU get between you and a 3 day gig! You can file a formal complaint with DHL and see if they reimburse you, or call RED directly (do you ahve a bomb squad rep you should be venting to?) and see if that's the way to get it resolved. I know you "shouldn't" have to pay 50 to DHL for their "services", but you've already lost more than that on the last job you lost because of it. When you talk to DHL as well, just keep going up the chain of command, don't even talk to the first 3 people you get on the phone, just keep asking for a manager or supervisor. In the end, a $20 under the table has loosed many pelican cases from customs.

Unfortunate, but that's the way it works sometimes.

[Mike 'Fireman' Ross]

Mr. Wood, the 50 euros thing is *nonsense*. You have NO contract with DHL; you didn't even choose them - in fact, if given the choice, you would not have used them. DHL have a contract with RDC. YOU have a contract with RDC. If it were me in that position, I would be threatening (and it would NOT be a bluff) to sic lawyers on both RDC and DHL unless my property was returned forthwith. This is a serious matter; you've already sustained losses from their incompetent and illegal detention of your property. Once they've had to pay lawyer costs and damages a few times they might finally get their act together.

Mike

[Brent@RED]

TD Wood, please contact our product support manager, nick-dot-grow-at-red-dot-com if you have not already. He can have our logistics team look into this.

BC

[TD Wood]

Thanks Brent, I will do just that.

Matt Gerard
My suggestion is that I wouldn't let 50 EU get between you and a 3 day gig!

Agree 100% and that's actually what I did. I complained obviously, but just decided to accept the charges as I feared that a refusal to accpet charges would delay the delivery.

Mike 'Fireman' Ross
Mr. Wood, the 50 euros thing is *nonsense*. You have NO contract with DHL; you didn't even choose them - in fact, if given the choice, you would not have used them. DHL have a contract with RDC...

I know. I actually learned later on that I have the right to deal directly with customs myself or use another agent. However, DHL never gave me the option to do this (FEDEX does) and now I'm stuck with them. I told them I did not want them to handle my package with customs anymore - that I wanted to handle it myself-, but apparently I cannot do such thing at this point, once they have been (self) assigned as my agents. So I'm stuck with them. Of course, if this thing does not get resolved soon, I definitely will have no other option but to sue DHL. And I probably I should have done that already, but I just want to have my sidehandle back, shoot with my Scarlet (ah, I miss those days!) and never use DHL again.

Ruff
Exactly the same thing happened with DHL in New Zealand (...) I hope you resolve it soon.

Thanks Ruff and sorry to hear you had the same problem.

[Joshua Burke]

I don't know how it is in Spain, but DHL tried to pull the same thing on me a couple of years ago by hitting me with a $75 "customs inspection fee" on a $50 item.

It turns out that DHL "hire" inspectors to look at their stuff on-site at their depot and then pass these costs onto you.

However, I called them up and told them that I wasn't going to pay the charge because they never asked me beforehand (their documentation said "we completed this action on your behalf")

It may be a different situation because I received the item first.

Although I think you should just take the extra charge and pay it via Credit Card.
That way you will not lose more jobs -- I imagine the charge will be covered by the first 30 minutes on your job!

Then you can take all the time to contest the charge - you may even be able to get your bank involved via a chargeback if you find that DHL are simply trying to dig you for money that they have no actual right to.

As they say, "con paciencia y saliva, un elefante se tiro a una hormiga".

[TD Wood]

As they say, "con paciencia y saliva, un elefante se tiro a una hormiga".

LOL... I have ran out of saliva speaking with those DHL people.

Although I think you should just take the extra charge and pay it via Credit Card.
That way you will not lose more jobs -- I imagine the charge will be covered by the first 30 minutes on your job!

I agree. That's exactly what I did, that is, I have always accepted the charge (despite not agreeing with it). The only difference is that here you pay the delivery guy directly once he delivers the package. But that hasn't happened yet, sadly.

[Ben Graham]

DHL is a nightmare. It seams every thing I ship with them globally gets stuck in customs due to their inability to properly broker shipments. Fedex is great. DHL is shit.

[KETCH ROSSi]

I will NEVER use DHL in Italy either, 4 packages NOT DELIVERED while I was staying at my brother's in a small town in the province of Florence, they said they could not find me, while FEDEX and UPS found me just fine, had to drive 30 mils all 4 times to fetch my packages!!