DHL - lost watches are scary. Long post, sorry
I won't be using DHL again anytime soon. I'm living in Germany right now and I've been in touch with Bremont to have my Globemaster serviced. As always, their customer service is incredible...more on that in a minute.
I shipped the watch from my home village (just south of Frankfurt) to Henley on Thames. Quick trip, right? Well, I put the PO Box address on the label. You'd think the DHL office would have said something but no...they just let it go. Apparently DHL won't deliver to a PO Box. Delivery was supposed to be Monday, then Tuesday, then Wednesday...I was following the tracking very carefully. After all, it's my watch, man!
When Thursday came around I called Bremont. The tracking said it was postponed by the recipient. What?! Bremont (Jo May - she's awesome) said it was the PO Box issue and gave me the physical mailing address. She couldn't change the delivery address as a recipient, but as the sender, I could do it. I did, they confirmed a Friday delivery. Woohoo, it'll be there tomorrow! Until it wasn't...
Friday - no change.
Saturday - no change
Sunday - it's Europe, everything is closed so...no change
Monday it still shows a Friday delivery?? So back to the chatroom I go (no phone number - thanks DHL).
DHL says they initiated a return to sender on Thursday. What happened to a Friday delivery? They never attempted delivery and decided to return it. Okay, fine...is it going back to my house or to the DHL from where I mailed it? They confirm it's going to my house. How long? They don't know - it has to go back through customs. Fun...
Now I wait. It finally clears customs and hits German soil. Wednesday (the 23rd...this is 3 weeks in now - I mailed it on the 2nd) I see it's on the delivery truck. I'm home for lunch...nothing yet. After work...nothing. At 8pm I get a notification that it was successfully delivered. What?! I look outside, under bushes, behind cars...everywhere. No package. Now i'm worried that some random German person has my watch and it was delivered to the wrong person. Sleepless night ensues...
Thursday - I can't get to DHL first thing in the morning. I have meetings all morning so I try calling, chatting, posting on facebook, emailing (3x)...nada. I finally get there at lunch to ask the salespeople where is my package (Wo ist mein packet?!). "They can only see what I see, call this number." I'm about to pop. They only speak German at that number so in my horrible, broken German I ask again, "Wo ist mein packet?" I think she asked for my tracking number so I do my best to give it to her in German numbers. I guessed right when I heard, "Es ist in Grossen Britania"
Wait...in Great Britain? "Nicht Deutschland?!" "Nein, Grossen Britainia"
Ok, let's get Bremont on the horn again. Nope, they don't have it. Grrrrr…..instead of a random German, it's a random Brit with my watch. However, the excellent customer service came through to save the day. They asked for my tracking and return numbers and with their business accounts they can help to track this bad boy down. Let's hope...
Ten minutes later I get an email. It's at the factory and will be ready for pickup as originally scheduled. How it happened, i don't know but WOO HOO! What a nightmare.
UPS and FedEx will be getting my business from here on out. Now I can sleep easy, after three weeks of craziness!
