DHL — shipment

Wrt AWB [protected], I would like to present the following points to better establish my case:
1) The Consignor personally booked a shipment from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, through DHL Worldwide Express (Dubai) LLC, P.O. Box 6252, Meydan Road, Nad Al Sheba 1, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, VAT Registration No. [protected], henceforth referred to as DHL Dubai, to be delivered to the consignee in Goa, India on Saturday, 10 March 2018.
Prior to this, the consignee had duly uploaded his passport pages as a valid KYC document around Thursday, 8 March 2018, via https://www.dhlindia-kyc.com, upon the consignor submitting the latter’s details and email id to DHL Dubai.
The shipment’s dimensional weight being 8.50 kgs and total chargeable weight being 15.00 kgs, the consignor was charged a total of 226 AED by DHL Dubai for the shipment. The destination duties and taxes were recorded as ‘paid by receiver’ and estimated delivery date was promised to be Tuesday, 13 March 2018, by end of day. The consignor was assured by DHL Dubai that the shipment would be delivered literally to the consignee’s doorstep by DHL without any extra fees or charges to either parties.
2) Contents of the shipment were declared to be whole Cinnamon and Cloves spices according to the copy of the tax invoice submitted to DHL Dubai by the consignor.
3) The contents were entered as Bayara Cinnamon Whole by DHL Dubai under ‘description of contents’ in their system, valued at 390 AED and for personal use.
4) For his own peace of mind, since he was sending an international courier for the first time, the consignor thoroughly went through the ‘DHL EXPRESS TERM AND CONDITIONS OF CARRIAGE “Terms and Conditions” / IMPORTANT NOTICE’ printed on the DHL Dubai Tax Invoice ( See Attachment # 1) and even checked the following link given in Section 2: http://www.dhl.com/express_import_guidelines
India not being mentioned in the drop down list, he clarified the same with DHL Dubai and was assured once again that there is no cause for concern regarding this particular shipment and that it would be delivered directly to the consignee’s address without any hassles whatsoever.
Reassured, the consignor gave his go ahead for the shipment.
5) On Tuesday, 13 March 2018, the consignee received an email from Mr. Shakti Singh Bayas, henceforth referred to as DHL Mumbai, via email id: Bom.[protected]@dhl.com, stating that the shipment had reached ‘BOM in courier mode’ and to scan and submit the following documents through the same email id:
- Clear shipper invoice copy
- Item clarification and end use letter, mentioning the HAWB number in the subject line, signed by the authorized person and addressed to “The Assistant Commissioner of Customs, Courier Cell, Mumbai”.
Original copies of the documents were advised to be sent to the below address in attention of:
Mr. Shakti Bayas,
DHL EXPRESS (INDIA) PVT LTD.,
Plot no – 66, Road –13,
MIDC, Andheri (E),
Mumbai – 400093
(Hereafter also referred to as DHL Mumbai)
6) The consignee duly complied and sent the documents mentioned above in point # 5 via the email id: Bom.[protected]@dhl.com, as well as by courier to DHL Mumbai on Wednesday, 14 March 2018.
7) The consignee received 1st Reminder from DHL Mumbai through courier, dated 15/03/2018 and delivered on 19/03/2018, stating that the ‘shipment is detained by customs for filing regular Bill of entry and can be cleared on the submission of the clearance documents from you’.
It also stated that Demurrage charges would be applicable on the shipment from 15/03/2018 till the date of clearance of the shipment.
It mentioned that in the event of the shipment not being cleared on or before the mentioned date, the shipment abandonment process would be initiated according to Section 48 of Indian Customs Act 1962.
A DHL helpline number, [protected], was included to address any queries that the consignee might have.
Upon calling the above helpline number, in addition to the above, the consignee was told that Demurrage charges of INR Rs.4.45p per day kg per day or INR Rs.500/-, whichever was higher, were already being levied on the shipment from 15/03/2018 onwards and would have to be paid at the time of shipment clearance.
Point to be noted, Demurrage charges were against what was promised by DHL Dubai in points 1 and 4.
I would also like to point out here, that no specific date for clearing the shipment was mentioned either in the 1st Reminder or by the helpline executive.
8) The consignee received 2nd Reminder from DHL Mumbai through courier, dated 22/03/2018 and delivered on 23/03/2018, to further the first letter sent to the consignee with regards to clearance of the shipment ‘which has been detained by the Customs for filing regular Bill of entary’.
It stated that the advised paperwork was not received from the consignor and the shipment abandonment process would be initiated according to Section 48 of Indian Customs Act 1962 if the same was not received before the ‘date mentioned above’.
It also stated that additional paperwork might be required in case the Customs require any further clarifications.
A DHL helpline number, [protected], was included to address any queries that the consignee might have.
Upon calling the above helpline number and stating that the required paperwork was already sent, the DHL executive indirectly implied to the consignee that the paperwork was received. Once more, the consignee was assured that no other charges apart from Demurrage charges of INR Rs.4.45p per day kg per day or INR Rs.500/-, whichever was higher, would have to be paid at the time of shipment clearance.
Again, I would like to point out here, that no specific date for clearing the shipment was mentioned either in the 2nd Reminder or by the helpline executive.
9) During this time, the consignor spoke to one Ms. Aisha Khan at DHL Dubai, who reiterated the fact that as promised the shipment should have reached the consignee’s address directly on Tuesday, 13 March 2018, without any problems or additional expenses and that DHL Dubai were not aware if the rules were different for DHL Mumbai.
10) Concurrently, the consignee was in regular touch with DHL Mumbai and the DHL helpline number regarding the shipment. Apart from two emails from DHL Mumbai, dated 15 March 2018, stating that attachments were missing and the 2nd Reminder, both DHL Mumbai and the DHL helpline number executives positively failed to confirm whether the documents sent by courier to DHL Mumbai by the consignee were received or not. Many times, calls to the DHL helpline number and emails to DHL Mumbai were met with an IVR or an automated email reply.
11) The last 2 emails from DHL Mumbai to the consignee, dated 15 March 2018 and 16 March 2018, state that ‘DHL doesn’t have expertise to clear such type of shipments. You can appoint your CHA to clear the shipment. Please check and confirm the same so we can issue DO’.
12) From here on, calls to the DHL helpline number said that the shipment was stuck due to the Customs having a problem with the shipment contents and a CHA would absolutely have to be hired.
The consignee was shocked to find out from two-three sources that hiring a CHA would cost him INR Rs.10, 000/- at the minimum. Spending an additional INR Rs.10, 000/- plus for a shipment already costing AED 616.00 (AED 390 item expense + AED 226 shipping expense, equivalent to INR Rs.10, 897.04p at the time of writing this) made no viable sense at all to the consignee. Especially, since there was no valid reason being cited for it.
13) And now, I wish to reveal that I, the consignee, am at my wits end as to the status of this shipment as I am unable to fathom what exactly is going on with the same!! Why should I have to pay Demurrage charges and hire a CHA for a shipment that was promised to be delivered to my doorstep by DHL Dubai without any additional fees or charges?? Because DHL Mumbai is incompetent to clear such shipments?? Or, because there is no linkage and teamwork among the international branches of a reputed company like DHL?? In my efforts to understand this, I have come across similar cases on my social media and on https://www.consumercomplaints.in/dhl-express-india-b114233; frankly, my distrust in your company is only growing day by day.
14) At this point, I have resent the relevant documents via email as well as through Blue Dart courier with reference number [protected] to DHL Mumbai, just to rule out the possibility of them not having received the same. No thanks to them for providing any clarity, just my common sense guiding me.
15) In the event that there still is a problem with the Customs, I demand that DHL reimburses the consignor fully to the tune of AED 616.00 in lieu of the shipment, for it is due to the fault of DHL Dubai and DHL Mumbai and their inept handling of the shipment that matters have come to this.
16) If what is stated in point # 14 is not agreeable to you, I demand that DHL Mumbai bears all expenses, if any, for the shipment clearance and gets the same delivered to my address without any additional fees or charges being billed to me, not even Demurrage charges, seeing that it is your fault that I am incurring the same till date.
17) If both, point #’s 15 and 16, are not agreeable to you, I will be forced to resort to legal recourse against DHL. I have already posted my complaint at https://www.consumercomplaints.in/new_complaint/ after waiting for more than 2 business days for DHL customer care and DHL top management (http://www.dhl.co.in/en/contact_center/contact_express.html) to respond
18) I am expecting a prompt reply to my grievance.