Thursday, January 21, 2010

DHL sucks!

Me: "Dear DHL, Just before Christmas I received a package delivered from DHL. Today I received an invoice of 37.20 CHF. Since I never placed the order for this package, I will not pay the invoice. Please check your papers again, and send me a credit note for the equivalent amount. Thank you." DHL: "we acknowledge receipt of your mail and would like to inform you as follow: Each shipment imported in Switzerland has to be cleared, and the clearance is done according to the swiss law and the information indicated on the documents established by the shipper. In your case the delivery terms indicated on the commercial invoice is DDU this mean that the duties and taxes have to be paid by the receiver of the shipment. Therefore our clearance and our invoice are correct and we ask you to pay it as soon as possible." Me: "Dear DHL, I do not think that you understand. I did not send this package, I did not place an order with you. All I did was receive a package. If any further charges are to be paid you need to send the invoice to the person who placed the order, not to me the recipient. I did not ask for you to send me a package. I will not pay the invoice." DHL: "even if you didn’t place the order and send this package, if you have accepted it, according to the swiss law, you have to pay the VAT for." Me: "I suggest that you inform the person who does receive packages from you about this law, as well as the person who places the order. I shall never again accept a delivery from DHL, and I shall inform all my friends never to do so either." So NEVER EVER use the shit company DHL!!!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I agree this is a totally shitty situation but sadly as far as I know, DHL is basically right, its not actually them but the Swiss import laws that cause the problem. It wouldnt matter if you used another shipping company the import duty would still have to be paid. Whoever sends the package to you has to say that they will pay all the duties and taxes, otherwise the receiver gets stuck with them. but I agree it should be clearly indicated when you get a package that you will be liable for duties if you receive it. and i dont get why it takes them so long after delivery to send you the bill. The stupid thing is the customs people seem to decide what they will charge duties on and what not on a fairly random basis.
A canadian friend of mine once sent his skis to us in Zurich to save him carrying them around as he travelled, well after he'd come to pick them up we got a duty bill for 200 CHF, crazy!

Witchbitch said...

They may be legally right, but they are definitely morally wrong. I didn't order the package. And I will never accept a delivery from them again.