DHL Reviews 244

The driver did not even attempt to approach our door and just labeled the address as not being what he expected and drove away. Then after calling DHL support just 5 minutes after they updated the tracking info we were told we would need to wait 3 days for re-delivery and they would not let us intercept the delivery or pick up from the depot the same day and the depo is closed over weekends. The phone support was extremely useless and unhelpful, they were not willing to find a solution, even through we were willing to drive to any other point along the delivery route of the driver.

Very efficient ....good customer service of Sonam at the counter here in Hamilton...

Shambles … ‘Estimated’ delivery said end of business, today, signature required, so I was available all day to sign. Nothing. When I rang I was told the item was only ‘estimated’ … but was in fact … still in the air from Hong Kong. It hadn’t even cleared customs! In this age of Ai tracking ? Was twice the price of EMS who are faultless but not available in this instance. In addition, a previous package was significantly damaged whilst with DHL so I would not have used them had I any choice. Awful, expensive and indifferent to customer experience.

Ok so I sent some personal effects which were somewhat valuable from Sydney to Auckalnd. Not only was the shipping cost ridiculous $1000NZD for three guitars and 2 books and 6 pairs of shoes, having them insured gave customs cause to hold the shipment and have dhl charge me a fee that was 30% $300NZD of the cost of shipping the goods. The final amount was the cost for DHL storing the goods with 1/3 of the total being claimed by customs for stopping and checking the package. The goods were personal effects the packages were obviously what they were stated to be because of the packaging, and the final invoice from both the sender and dhl were inaccurate and it was not stated anywhere on any paperwork that the goods are used personal effects.
This is unacceptable. If the process is so safe why was the paper work so important, all customs would have needed to do was check the contents of the packages. Incorrect paperwork is not a reasonable excuse to hold a package and then charge such an exorbitant fee.

I'm amazed at these reviews.
I have used DHL for 30 plus years and never once have I had a bad experience.

Once again I have ordered a part from USA and it's in New Zealand in 3 Days and on my doorstep in 5 Days which includes the weekend.
And I'm in a small country town.

The courier was very polite and kind. Although I forgotten to write the flat number of my house, he was eager to collect the parcel and search for our house. He did contact me and good thing he was very patient to look for our house.
Thanks Bro!

The delivery driver falsely claimed to have attempted to deliver my package three times. I contacted the helpline she said she called the driver and they would deliver again in 30 mins and told me to txt driver. I txt driver over an hour passes and no one has come back. 3pm arrives another notification to say unsuccessful delivery Attempt even though I was home and no one even attempted to deliver (ps they also had my number)…..Now, my parcel is missing, and I have to wait until Monday for any updates. I paid for the delivery, yet they expect me to travel 25 minutes to pick it up myself. The person I spoke to on the phone was unhelpful as well. I strongly recommend avoiding DHL!

Poor services. Package has been on hold for over a week now. Contacted them a few times. Only get a response "We will look into this" I highly recommend never using DHL unless you want to pay extra fees. Having too pay a "Storage fee" when they wont even release my package...

I feel I have to add to the extremely poor reviews that DHL receive from customers. I purchase many items from UK and EU suppliers. My address in Auckland New Zealand is a Rural , RD , address and DHL continues to insist on doubling the delivery charges. HOWEVER, DHL never deliver to my address, parcels are just transferred to NZ Post on arrival in New Zealand so their delivery service becomes laughable at best. This company really needs to get its act together and provide a better customer delivery service.

This is by far one of the best courier companies.
They keep me updated about deliveres and are very accurate with timings.

I am extremely disappointed with my recent experience receiving an international package through DHL. Before I could even receive my shipment, I was required to pay additional taxes, which I understand is a standard procedure. However, what is completely unacceptable is that upon receiving my package, I discovered that it had been opened by customs.

There was no proper explanation or notification regarding why my package was opened, and the way it was resealed was careless and unprofessional. This raises serious concerns about privacy, security, and the integrity of my shipment. As a paying customer, I expect my packages to arrive in the same condition they were sent, without unnecessary tampering.

I urge DHL and customs authorities to take accountability for this and improve their handling procedures. Customers deserve transparency and respect when using international shipping services. DO NOT USE DHL IT’S A BIG SCAM!

Outlying the full procedure to someone upfront would be incredibly helpful! Would have been extremely beneficial to be provided with a list of items that may require inspection upon delivery to its destination, and additional costs incurred, as well as advising of tax costs. Rather than being drip-feed this information AFTER the items are in transit. Paid an exorbitant amount to have items shipped, to only then be bombarded with emails about inspections and then tax fees! Would not recommend!!

rubbish company has 5 branches and none of them want to help they all tell me to go to the other branch then that branch tells me to go back to the other one then i get put through and they hang up on me after waiting 30 mins

So bad I thought I was being scammed by someone posing as DHL but it was actually them!!! I had a package from Australia and DHL incorrectly submitted it to customs as over 1000nzd and when I queried this they then said I would have to pay $103 for Customs to review it THIS IS A BOLDFACED LIE, Customs NZ do not request any fee to review things!! The fee then went up to $140 in the space of 7 days! And they told me I would begin to pay a holding fee on top on this (all while the business is closed on the days between Christmas and new years when everyone is basically closed) The company I purchased from had 2 phone calls with them and several emails with confirming the commercial invoice and the correct conversion rates and felt the issue had been resolved. However the people in my email chain with DHL (about 7 seperate people) said they have yet to be contacted or receive any paperwork from the shipper WHICH IS ANOTHER BOLD FACED LIE all so they can accumulate this holding fee I guess? Reading all these reviews below it appears they are literally just money grabbing. I certainly will never buy anything that has to be shipped by them I would rather wait for a pigeon to deliver it

Incredibly disappointed with DHL.
Depsite having an account with them for my online shipping business, I found that when importing a parcel which was inspected by customs, they charged a "holding fee" - a fee exceeding $300, over the cost of the parcel which was a christmas gift
I had been asking the seller for updates, and they were contacting DHL On my behalf, and was at no time informed that the parcel was accumulating charges, I was simply told that there were routine checks and my parcel would be on the way.
This was not the case, and a call to my account manager had her inform me that they had made no attempt to contact me despite having all my contact details - as I have a business account with them.
Why would they, after all, every day they were holding it was even more money in the bank for them, as they wouldn't release without payment.
Very disappointed as this left me without time to organise an alternative gift and made said gift way more expensive than I had wanted. It has, however, resulted in me discovering fedex, who is significantly cheaper than DHL to ship internationally with, and they have never charged me "holding fees" despite the occasional parcel being inspected.
Would never, ever use DHL again after this experience.

Janelle (i think) from the Auckland office got my package rushed and went through a massive effort to ensure we had it before flying overseas for Christmas. The team went above and beyond and showed such an amazing face for DHL. Congratulations all. You made our christmas!

Failed to notify me that there was a second parcel left in their Express locker in Whangarei. I ended up emailing HMO Passport Office UK to find out where my passport was. Called DHL and after the second call was told, sorry, we never gave you a code for the second locker, had to drive back down to the Locker Express in rush hour. Then had to call DHL again to tell them I had arrived so security could open the locker for me. Now I'm getting texts to say there is an item I haven't collected which I have via Security. Obviously no communication within this Company.

We use DHL to send our ecommerce orders overseas and we find them very good most of the time. They are quite expensive, but the service is good.
However things are very different when you need to have a parcel your have sent via DHL returned to NZ.
We needed to have 2 ecommerce orders going to China returned from Hong Kong to N Z.
The parcels cost to send from N Z to China $37.45 for 2 kg weight and $54.06 for 3 kilos.
However the bill for the return is
$215.73 for parcel 1 and for parcel 2 which has suddenly increased in weight from 3 kg to 4.5 kg! and the price to return to us $635.73.
Because the parcels were with DHL we didn't have the choice of using another company.

I’ve used DHL many times before and had great experiences, but recently, their service quality has completely plummeted!

In my recent interaction with DHL:

Their prices were nearly three times higher than other providers, and I had to negotiate with my account manager just to get a fair rate.

It’s become a nightmare to get their boxes—either the depot is closed, they’re out of stock, or delivery takes an unreasonable amount of time.

The box quality is terrible, and closing the lids properly is a real struggle.

After shipping my parcel, their DG specialist stopped it for no valid reason, even though I’ve sent the exact same products through DHL multiple times without issue.

It took forever for DHL to provide any clarity on what documentation they needed, despite the fact that I had provided the same documents in previous shipments and they already had them on file, yet they still requested them again.

After I provided the requested document, they claimed it was outdated and demanded IATA's name be mentioned, which is completely unreasonable for a small business like mine. I can’t just force my suppliers to rewrite documents to fit DHL’s arbitrary requirements.

I requested a parcel cancellation and expressed my disappointment, CCing my account manager in the email. Not a single person bothered to respond or even attempt to address the issue.

The DHL driver returning my cancelled parcel called early in the morning, mumbling incoherently. After confirming I'd be home at 9 AM, he bizarrely asked if anyone at home spoke English, and then demanded confirmation of my address. I cut the call, suspecting it was a scam, only for him to show up later questioning why I hung up, claiming he had asked "normal" questions.

Where is DHL heading with such atrocious service?

If I could leave a lower rating I would. I had no choice but to use DHL for a delivery from the U.S, I figured since it's one of the biggest delivery companies in NZ I there'd be no hassle. I was dead wrong. The day my package was supposed to be delivered I received a notification and a tracking number. Normal stuff. Then the next notification I got was to tell me that someone knocked on my door and left because no one answer. I had to do this twice because they gave me wildly different time frames. I've used multiple delivery services and each one of them sets up automated notifications that tell me my parcel is on the way. But DHL couldn't even get that right. Then I had to call because they're God awful website wasn't allowing me to reschedule my delivery. Only to find out ON THE CALL that I wasn't allowed to reschedule because I need to sign for it. So I had to waste an hour of my day to pick it up from their depot. Do everything in your power to avoid DHL for the love of God.