DHelL's new low and an unwelcome CW CS response

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DHelL's new low and an unwelcome CW CS response

Post by albionphoto »

Living in the US and buying CW's means that DHL is part of the watch buying experience. I've loosely been keeping track of how well DHL are doing. Their long term average for a perfect transaction is 50%. Half of their attempts to deliver a watch have been perfect. Half of them have involved the customer (Me) having to get involved either with CW Customer Service or with DHL directly.

A perfect transaction looks like this (overview): I buy a watch from CW's website. It is sent to the US and enters the customs clearing process. DHL ask me to pay duties and fees. I pay and the watch is delivered to my home. Ta Da. Everyone is happy. The US govt earns some revenue, DHL earns fees and I get a watch. It's not difficult.

DHelL seem to differ. For my new C63 I received the dreaded "Please fill out the watch details" email. This time DHL sent me pictures of the packaging and customs information. Guess what, all the information they need is clearly visible in the information they have. Talk about adding insult to injury.

As a repeat victim of DHL I know that I should contact CW CS. And now we have the second new low. CW CS sent me the customs information I need to fill out the form (watch breakdown) despite me asking for their logistics team to get involved as they have been able to do in previous instances. Not good CW. Your vendor messes up and now you want your customer to fix the mess. What's up with that?

This really isn't good enough. I don't normally complain publicly about DHL although my private complaints are well known to some on here. Today I feel angrier and more "insulted" than ususal. DHL needs to be more competent and CW need to bring the DHL and US customs fees into their website/payment system at point of purchase. Other companies can do it, why can't CW? They've been working on this approach for years now and it's about time we saw a fix that doesn't involve the customer printing a form, filling out a form, scanning a form, emailing a form all to deal with information that the carrier already has twice. Not good enough. Not good enough at all.
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Re: DHelL's new low and an unwelcome CW CS response

Post by missF »

I thought you’d made a typo in the heading, but I understand now. As I’ve seen it, CW have usually/always just sorted this out. You’ve been double whammied this time and that’s no good. :thumbdown:
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Re: DHelL's new low and an unwelcome CW CS response

Post by Kip »

albionphoto wrote: Wed Jul 20, 2022 12:47 pm
This really isn't good enough. I don't normally complain publicly about DHL although my private complaints are well known to some on here. Today I feel angrier and more "insulted" than ususal. DHL needs to be more competent and CW need to bring the DHL and US customs fees into their website/payment system at point of purchase. Other companies can do it, why can't CW? They've been working on this approach for years now and it's about time we saw a fix that doesn't involve the customer printing a form, filling out a form, scanning a form, emailing a form all to deal with information that the carrier already has twice. Not good enough. Not good enough at all.
From Mike France response on the What would make CW Great? topic on June 23.
On customs duty, I share the pain. We have invested in software to allow duties to be shown at the point-of -purchase just as we now do with taxes. Unfortunately, the (very large) company doing this for us (we will, by the way be one of the first brands in the world to do it) has a software glitch which has prevented us from going live as yet. It hopefully won’t be too long.
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Re: DHelL's new low and an unwelcome CW CS response

Post by suicidal_orange »

I'd be forwarding the pics to DHL complaints department before contacting CW, though now you have their response is indeed not good.
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Re: DHelL's new low and an unwelcome CW CS response

Post by Lawrence »

DHL to Canada is flawless. The US market seems to be a real problem child... I'm sorry for your pain.
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Re: DHelL's new low and an unwelcome CW CS response

Post by JAFO »

Maybe the problem is in the US

If you buy a product for an amount of dollars, how can anyone be expected to split that cost into assorted headings.

It would seem sensible that the US should classify the product as a single entity, and assess Taxes and duty accordingly.

If necessary split out the strap from the watch, but nothing beyond that.

How on earth do they deal with motor cars?
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Re: DHelL's new low and an unwelcome CW CS response

Post by NationOfLaws »

I’d tend to agree if other sellers hadn’t solved for this already. Formex, for instance, includes all taxes and duty in the selling price.

Working in enterprise software, however, I do understand timelines change based on bugs. Hopefully it’s not my software they’re using causing the issues.
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Re: DHelL's new low and an unwelcome CW CS response

Post by albionphoto »

NationOfLaws wrote: Wed Jul 20, 2022 3:07 pm I’d tend to agree if other sellers hadn’t solved for this already. Formex, for instance, includes all taxes and duty in the selling price.

Working in enterprise software, however, I do understand timelines change based on bugs. Hopefully it’s not my software they’re using causing the issues.
I was thinking about Formex in particular.
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Re: DHelL's new low and an unwelcome CW CS response

Post by albionphoto »

missF wrote: Wed Jul 20, 2022 12:51 pm I thought you’d made a typo in the heading, but I understand now. As I’ve seen it, CW have usually/always just sorted this out. You’ve been double whammied this time and that’s no good. :thumbdown:
That's correct Lindsey. CW's normal response has been to pass this on to their logistics team who fix this within a couple of hours. Being sent a poorly copied pdf of the information and being told to fill out the form and send it to DHL was not the response I expected and way below their usual standard. The double whammy was what prompted the post. Other customers in the US who might be used to having CW fix this issue might appreciate learning that this is no longer guaranteed.
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Re: DHelL's new low and an unwelcome CW CS response

Post by Alex r »

Would be easier for CW to ship packages
DDP ( Delivery duty paid ) adding a standard customs charge to the price of international shipments.
rather than shipping
DAP (Delivery at point) where CW are only liable for cost of freight

Any customs issues could then be dealt with easily by the logistics team dealing direct with DHL.
And customs entry would be quicker as duties and taxes would be billed directly to Their deferment Account.

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Re: DHelL's new low and an unwelcome CW CS response

Post by albionphoto »

Kip wrote: Wed Jul 20, 2022 1:01 pm
From Mike France response on the What would make CW Great? topic on June 23.
On customs duty, I share the pain. We have invested in software to allow duties to be shown at the point-of -purchase just as we now do with taxes. Unfortunately, the (very large) company doing this for us (we will, by the way be one of the first brands in the world to do it) has a software glitch which has prevented us from going live as yet. It hopefully won’t be too long.
I appreciate that CW are making the effort, Kip and thanks for the reminder. Personally, I would want the software to both show and allow the customer to pay the duties and fees at checkout. This may be what CW intend to do and Mike F's comment may not reflect what CW are actually trying to do. Otherwise they are only removing the extent of the surprise in dollars and not removing the failure mode of DHL.
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Re: DHelL's new low and an unwelcome CW CS response

Post by rkovars »

albionphoto wrote: Wed Jul 20, 2022 3:10 pm
NationOfLaws wrote: Wed Jul 20, 2022 3:07 pm I’d tend to agree if other sellers hadn’t solved for this already. Formex, for instance, includes all taxes and duty in the selling price.

Working in enterprise software, however, I do understand timelines change based on bugs. Hopefully it’s not my software they’re using causing the issues.
I was thinking about Formex in particular.
I think Farer does too.
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Re: DHelL's new low and an unwelcome CW CS response

Post by ajax87 »

Lawrence wrote: Wed Jul 20, 2022 2:52 pm The US market seems to be a real problem child…
This is accurate without the word “market” :lol:
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Re: DHelL's new low and an unwelcome CW CS response

Post by NationOfLaws »

American exceptionalism at its best
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Re: DHelL's new low and an unwelcome CW CS response

Post by albionphoto »

rkovars wrote: Wed Jul 20, 2022 3:56 pm
I think Farer does too.
Farer were the other company I was thinking of. There may well be more but Farer and Formex come to mind most easily.
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