Recently, I visited a DHL representative at Skymart, located at 1816 West Broadway, Vancouver, BC. After waiting 15 minutes for her to finish a phone call, I asked about the cost of sending four PR cards to an Asian destination. She initially quoted $256, but after I hesitated, she recalculated and offered a discounted price of $192 due to her employee discount. However, she didn't mention that taxes would be added, which brought the total to around $218.
I then inquired whether FedEx or Purolator might offer a better rate. She told me that Purolator doesn't deliver to that country and that FedEx is unreliable, with a price likely similar to DHL's. Despite my reservations about the questionable service, I decided to proceed with DHL.
Later, out of curiosity, I visited another DHL location 11 blocks west at 2900 Broadway, where they quoted me $120 for the same shipment. I was shocked by the significant price difference.
I returned to the original store to request a refund, but the representative told me their policy does not allow returns. Even though my items were still on her desk (despite her efforts to hide them), she refused to return them, citing store policy. She also claimed to have sent me a tracking number, which was not true--I received the tracking number only about 20 minutes later.
I am perplexed by the large discrepancy in pricing for the same service from the same company. I contacted DHL to address this issue, and this is the response I received:
"Based on the response received from our retail management team, we would like to inform you that the cost structure for our services is established through confidential agreements with our retail partners and DHL. Unfortunately, we are unable to disclose specific details regarding this arrangement. The rates may vary between the DHL website, retail partner locations, and DHL-owned service centers.
Rest assured, we have shared your feedback with our retail partner and have emphasized the importance of staff training and maintaining the highest level of professionalism to prevent similar issues from occurring in the future. Your concerns have been taken into consideration, and we will ensure that Skymart adheres to the necessary regulations.
We deeply regret any inconvenience or frustration caused by this recent service lapse, and we are committed to learning from this experience to enhance the quality of our service in the future.
As all your concerns have been addressed with the relevant departments, we will be closing the complaint at our end with no further follow-ups. Please consider this matter resolved from our perspective.
Once again, I apologize for any delays or inconveniences you may have encountered during the handling of your shipment. Your satisfaction is important to us, and we appreciate your understanding.
If you have any further questions or require any additional assistance, please do not hesitate to reach out to me directly. I am here to assist you.
Thank you for your patience and cooperation throughout this process."
I was shocked by this response and will definitely avoid doing business with DHL or Skymart in the future. I might expect this kind of business practice in countries I associate with corruption, but not here in Canada. read more
