I believe Fairphone assumes DHL Express does what it promises for the hunk of money they take.
Unfortunately they also belong among the ones being totally wrong about this assumption.
But anyway there are global operating alternatives available to choose of.
I think Fairphone cannot be held responsible for any troubles customers face with the unreliable DHL Express (service).
Actually they are trying to offer the best/quickest delivery service they can think of. But they cannot help it only being a way of having good or bad luck at the end.
I usually deny using any (service) sounding like DHL…I rather stick with contenders like Hermes, GLS, UPS, Trans-O-Flex. Also Amazon offers Hermes here in Germany meanwhile
If I want to have troubles to get my fingers on my sending I simply choose DHL…
No matter how I did it (even was registered for the delivery box “Packstation”, nothing helped at last. Lost sending where the service stated someone unknown has faked my signature…delivery box out of service and due to the delay the sending was returned again, delivery box full and my sending was rerouted to another across town or to some tiny little known service point with shorter opening times.
Also quite common meanwhile in my town is delivery to any neighbor in the building so I can run after it looking for Mr. nobody as there is no delivery statement card dropped or no name plate mounted at the door bell or the neighbor is on night shift or on vacation, maybe has moved away again and so on and so forth. I am fed up.
I think any contender can keep up with this quality of service.
I usually address everything to my girlfriend in another town where it works a bit better.
I can understand your anger, but please don’t mix “DHL” and “DHL express” in this thread. They don’t have much in common, apart from name and color of their cars.
The intention of my post was to point out, that DHL Express is not a good choice, not to held Fairphone responsible for that. Nevertheless, after knowing this, they should look for a different delivery partner.
Each of us can tell stories about blunders of delivey services, I personally had bad experiences with DPD and UPS.
But this is different: this is not a blunder in the system but made by design: DHL-Express is exclusievely working with courirs for pick up and delivery (and the courirs are obliged to deliver personally (!), not to use letterboxes), and this won’t fit in the daily workflow of private customers. And I think, Fairphone wanted to give best service and achieved the opposite.
My experience with DHL (without express) is quite good. Most of the online deliveries contains a retoure sticker, and I can drop the retoure in every post office, DLH service point (which is to be found in several shops or kiosks) or the Packstation. And the delivery can in the same way adressed or redirected to the same locations. In rare situations the Packstation is fully occupied, then it will be rederected to the post office in my town, so the delivery (or pick up by myself in this case) will be next saturday at the latest.
Hermes is offering a similar service, but no Packstation. As my wife is sometimes sending parcels, I know, that small and heavy parcels are cheaper with Hermes, and big and lightweight parcels are cheaper with DHL
And yes, both are working with subcontractors with working conditions, I don’t want to be in
I haven’t read the whole topic, but how about we gather alternatives to DHL express and then vote on the best one, so we can provide Fairphone with a concrete suggestion?
I’ll make this post a #wiki, please add your suggestions:
DHL (not express!!)
Hermes
DPD
GLS
UPS
FedEx
TNT
I’ll also keep this topic closed for 3 days, so this post is more visible. Every time a new suggestion is added to this post the topic will get bumped.
Edit (by @BertG): just an idea for the intended voting. In case there are some people here in this forum, that do have experience with the courier services as (business) senders, it might be a good idea to make it an additional different vote. Delivery service / business service.
Edit (by Roland768): This post is not in the list of wiki. I understand, that it should be possible to vote. And I never before saw such wiki here and learned by accident, how it works (at the wiki-page, there are explanations). And: how to get a reasonable number of votes?
Maybe some here only joined us here after the FP1, so in order to reiterate a past discussion (I hope my memory doesn’t cheat me): Back when the FP1 was first delivered, GLS was the sole shipping option in Germany. This made many Fairphoners in Germany point out the questionable business model of GLS (including pay and treatment of their fake self-employed staff). If I recall it correctly, DHL Express was later added as a shipment option explicitly for that reason – because while it’s certainly not a joy to work at DHL, it’s at least providing slightly better jobs than GLS.
P.S.: Sorry for the (original) lack of precision. Just looked up the old delivery email and it was DHL Express. Thanks @_Chris
By the way, has anyone noticed that DHLEconomySelect has been added as a shipping option (I just tried the shop with a bottom module) a few months ago? Just struggling to find when I first noticed it. Can anyone say if this helps with the original issues?
I had already chosen this option when I ordered my FP2 in July 2015. At this time, DHL EconomySelect and DHL Express had the same price. But DHL EconomySelect is also delivered via DHL Express, not the “normal” DHL.
Yes, I just got a new camera module, I choose DHL EconomySelect and it was delivered by DHL Express Courir. So first try was on Friday, no one at home, but my wife was able to send me the code from the information paper in my letterbox. So I could order a retry for saturday(!) and it worked (at 8 AM the courir tore me from sleep )
But I think, this is still an open issue. The poll could have been more votes, but the decision is clear.
Well DHL express today “delivered” my new camera module. As nobody was at h. one, they forced it into the letterbox. In a way that the main camera module is broken. You can see the contour of the innards of the parcel pressed through the wrapping carton. Additionally, they obviously falsified my signature, as the delivery status says signed by me, which is not possible as nobody was at home. Let’s see what they week day tomorrow. I also opened a support ticket with photos
Well, i hope so, too… And that it doesn’t take too long. Had already waited for the availability…
But then, we are used to have to wait for fp components (sorry, could not resist)
But at least, DHL acknowledged it, one of them was really touched by the pictures…
Well, thats definetely against their own delivery rules. So it seems to be less bad to wait for 14 days (as I did, causing my starting post) than to get broken device.
I can only suggest to stick with DHL. DHL delivers and if the recipient is not at home, there is always a station nearby where the item can be picked up the next day. And they treat the packages like you are supposed to treat other peoples’ property: With care.
With other delivery service, I had more or less serious issues:
Hermes: Drops the items off anywhere in the neighborhood, sometimes spams local businesses and abuses them as storage. Or they place them behind the fence, let the door “sign”, scribble some undecipherable message on the note and leave you with the detective work.
UPS: Abuses the items. Some look as if they had been walked all over, sometimes they are kinked, which sucks if you have a painting with imprints of corrugated cardboard structures. Or the driver wasn’t provided with a fricking working pen, leaving me with the detective work of making the inkless imprints on the note readable. That can be fun as part of a game but not if you are expecting something that you really need.
DPD: I was once waiting three weeks for effing documents in a letter. Not even a parcel. They happen to deliver the original letter and the requested substitute on the same day after four weeks.
GLS: No serious issue so far. Their drop-off station in my area is quite inconveniently located, but no drama. Still prefer the DHL station in the neighborhood supermarket with the convenient parking space.
It seems to be nessecary to point out again, that this thread belonges to DHL-Express, which is different to DHL. So if you say “stick to DHL” it might be missunderstanding. To “stick” to DHL is not possible, because up to now, its DHL-Express, not DHL.
My intention was to change to DHL, I had bad experinces with most of the other providers, including DHL-Express.
And as far as I know, there is still no change in the possible delivery.
No change up to now .
Just ordered a new battery and it was delivered by DHL-Express. Pure luck that I was at home at the day of delivery, because as a receiver, I would have hardly the chance to choose the date and place of delivery.
)
(sorry, could not resist)
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