First timer ordering online and out of stock kits

[jrw52]

Ben, sent you a PM thanks, Thanks every one! Will add the 2 I have received took about 2 maybe 2.5 weeks Not bad

[Kevin WS]

Thanks Ben.

I will PM the details - this was now a couple of years back, but nevertheless my comments may be of use - especially in relation to the carrier (whom I know from work remains dismal in performance).

[Benjamin Fentens]

Hi Kevin,

DHL usually works fine and almost everywhere. But for some reason for deliveries out of Germany and in certain countries they pass on the parcels to a local carrier - and sometimes not a good one. This roots in old contract with the previous Deutsche Paketpost which is part of DHL today. It's difficult for which countries that is true and also if the local carrier is a good one or not. Here in Australia DHL parcels from Germany are delivered by Australia Post instead of DHL which often comes on the same day. But that's not a problem as Australia Post is very reliable.

What we'll do now is gather information and find another carrier that works better. If you have suggestions for your countries in that regard, please let us know.

Cheers
Ben

[jrw52]

In regards to DHL. I have an order coming from JSC, They said the USPS and Canada does not track orders while it is in Poland. 2 days later, yesterday. Got an email that said DHL ship notification with a number Thought it might be the Poland one clicked on it and it was a Canadian Pharmacy website. Orders shipped from overseas are handled here by the USPS

[Kevin WS]

Clarify from JSC if they used DHL and if so get the tracking number.

Enter it here and you can see what is going on...

https://www.logistics.dhl/za-en/home.html

[jrw52]

DHL Security told me that the email I received was a phishing scam So, be careful

[Kevin WS]

Hi Ben,

Thank you for your input here.

"But for some reason for deliveries out of Germany and in certain countries they pass on the parcels to a local carrier"

That is exactly the issue I had. In South Africa, DHL passed it on to the South African (National) Post Office. And in both cases, there were the same problems.

1. Knowing the delivery was via courier (DHL) in both cases I supplied my physical address - normally used for courier deliveries. But in my case, there is no physical Post Office Delivery to the physical address. For a Post Office delivery, I use a Post Office Box.

2. DHL was the problem. In both cases when the shipment arrived DHL handed it to the Post Office. However they firstly did not advise me this was done, but still showed the parcel on the tracking - transit status. Secondly, they were not responsive to telephonic queries. and were extremely arrogant in their attitude.

It was clear that since this had a (non-deliverable) physical address I was going to have to contact the Post Office myself to try and track them. Why DHL who bill themselves as the "Worlds Leading Logistic Company" do not know or understand that the Post Office here does not deliver to all physical addresses in large areas of the country is beyond me. They could simply have phoned me and asked for address confirmation before handing this over.

However, in both cases worse was to come as DHL could not tell me, or perhaps could not be bothered to, or perhaps did not know, to which of the 100+ plus Post Offices in the Gauteng area they handed the parcels over to. Strange but true!

In both instances, I went to my local Post Office and explained the situation to them. They were bemused by what I said but made an effort through their system to trace the parcels and managed to come up with one - to their credit.

DHL would not entertain a claim on the other one, as they had handed it the Post Office, even though they could not say where or when.

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Why they handed them to the local Post Office remains unclear to me. I have Ben, read and understood your explanation as to why they do this, yet they also maintain a fleet of vehicles here for deliveries which they do, including documents form our German office which in the past (when we still used them) were delivered door to door!

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The above occurred a few years back, but I can confirm that from our work experience (a global corporate and a large importer of goods from distribution centres globally) that DHL's performance and record locally remain poor.

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For deliveries here, the simplest most effective method, in my opinion, is normal air freight parcel post tracked or registered depending on the country of origin. I receive parcels from the USA, Netherlands, Poland and Uk via this method, and while sometimes may be slow, I have not yet (touch wood) lost a single parcel.

Courier delivery is extremely expensive in comparison, and again works fine, but must be made to a physical address.

Lastly, Ben, thank you for follow-up on this.

I will send you a separate PM on other issues that were encountered.

[herky]

Originally Posted by jrw52

In regards to DHL. I have an order coming from JSC, They said the USPS and Canada does not track orders while it is in Poland. 2 days later, yesterday. Got an email that said DHL ship notification with a number Thought it might be the Poland one clicked on it and it was a Canadian Pharmacy website. Orders shipped from overseas are handled here by the USPS

i deal with jsc,schreiber scaldis and others often and have used fentens australian operation also .never had any issues with any of them,my last order from poland took 6 days from pick up th arriving at couriers in new zealand and tracked all the way.i only have issues with couriers in new zealand as onece parcel leaves auckland airport they dont bother to scan it so it can turn up anytime

[herky]

Originally Posted by jrw52

In regards to DHL. I have an order coming from JSC, They said the USPS and Canada does not track orders while it is in Poland. 2 days later, yesterday. Got an email that said DHL ship notification with a number Thought it might be the Poland one clicked on it and it was a Canadian Pharmacy website. Orders shipped from overseas are handled here by the USPS

my orders are tracked from pick up at supllier in poland .again when they reach warsaw airport,again when they are sent from warsaw.on arrival at auckland airport .when collected from auckland airport by courier then the whole thing fall apart as nz courier companies dont bother to track and the next notification you get is when parcel turns up at your house.i think most of these problems ocour once parcel reaches country of destination in my experience

[jaffro]

Originally Posted by herky

most of these problems ocour once parcel reaches country of destination in my experience

I've found the opposite, just across the ditch in Australia, Like Ben mentioned, Australia post are really good. I've had more problems with communication from the Polish sellers I've bought from, but so far everything I've ordered has eventually arrived. Currently awaiting my first order from GPM.

Speaking of first orders, until I read this thread I had no idea there was a paper model seller based in Australia. I was glad to find there's nothing on the Fentens AU store that I've already ordered and stressed over through a lack of tracking info or communication from the seller, so I have celebrated by ordering the Dragon Wagon which has always been high on my wish list. I really don't need any new models right now but I couldn't help myself.