DHL - delivered to wrong address

To cut a long story short, I ordered a printer from Pixmania last week and had it delivered by DHL (no choice in the matter). Checked the tracking system today to see it was delivered and signed for on Monday....not by me. Rang them to tell them, to be told a blonde girl came out of my house to sign for it. Simply couldn't have happened, only person there was my mother (who wouldn't be called a 'girl' - sorry Mam!). There's no one by the name they gave even on my street. Obviously they delivered it to the wrong address. Surely their policy that anyone can sign for deliveries isn't secure/safe? Anyone could walk passed a house, see DHL about to deliver, pretend they live there, sign and walk off again when the courier is gone.

DHL say I must claim from Pixmania, Pixmania say there must be an investigation which can take weeks. All the while, I'm left printer-free ....and livid!

call DHL and get a copy of the POD (Proof of Delivery) - that should have the signature and printed name of whoever signed for it . if nothing else it should speed up your claim with Pixmania*

Never never use DHL Express if I can help it - Their freight service is pretty good but unlike FEDEX and UPS They appear to subcontract out a lot more of their small parcels service here and the result in my opinion is chaos - I was awaiting a delivery from them last week at the firm - 4 different DHl couriers turned up , a van , small van , car and bike before I got my "express morning delivery " at 3pm in the afternoon.

* if they dont have a proper pod then the ball is firmly back in their court

Find out the name of the person who signed for it from DHL/Pixmania. This also happened to me before. It turned out that when they called no one was home so they called in to the house next door and let a guy doing some work there sign for it! I knew none of my neighbours went by that name so I checked with them anyway. Was sitting in my neighbours garage and he had forgotten to let me or my neighbour know!

Hopefully you get it resolved

A lot of couriers will make a not of the colour of your front door - its a test to prove they were there.

Also like ciara says ask your neighbours if they signed for a package.

I have some bad experience with DHL and will never use them again.

It wouldn't be the first time that an opportunist saw a delivery van and an undeliverable item, and conned the driver into handing it over. Usually this happens where someone goes into a store with false ID and credit cards and orders a fancy TV to be delivered next day. When the driver arrives at the house the "owner" tels them that he is locked out, waiting for the wife to come back, and just to drop it on the driveway. As soon as the driver has departed, the TV is loaded into a van and disappears.

However this is unlikey in your case, probably delivered to the same number in a similar sounding street, or as other posters said, it might be with a neighbour.

auto320 said:

It wouldn't be the first time that an opportunist saw a delivery van and an undeliverable item, and conned the driver into handing it over. Usually this happens where someone goes into a store with false ID and credit cards and orders a fancy TV to be delivered next day. When the driver arrives at the house the "owner" tels them that he is locked out, waiting for the wife to come back, and just to drop it on the driveway. As soon as the driver has departed, the TV is loaded into a van and disappears.

However this is unlikey in your case, probably delivered to the same number in a similar sounding street, or as other posters said, it might be with a neighbour.

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That reminds me of a story told by a secondary school teacher in Dublin inner city a number of years ago. One day during her English class a student came in with a large birthday cake and started singing Happy Birthday to one of the other students. They cut the cake up with a ruler and all had a feast. At lunch time the teacher heard the principal talking about a bread delivery driver asking him if he saw any body at his van outside the school and only then the penny dropped. The birthday cake was stolen from the van. I think that is having your cake and eaten it.

If DHL delivered to the neighbours they should leave a note saying it's with the neighbour.

dontaskme said:

If DHL delivered to the neighbours they should leave a note saying it's with the neighbour.

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I know this happens all the time, but it seems a very loose system! Do we all trust our neighbours?

RainyDay said:

I know this happens all the time, but it seems a very loose system! Do we all trust our neighbours?

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They should leave a note at your door saying "it's with the guys at no. 28" or whatever.

But you're right, the guy at no 28 could be standing in the driveway, it is open to abuse.

DHL is a German company and it probably works better in Germany where people share an apartment building.