Andertons yes, DHL not so much

[upsidedown]

There are a few threads here about ordering to the US and/or Canada from Andertons Music in London. Wanted to share my (ongoing) experience.

Andertons gets a 10. Ordered a Hiscox case on 11/22. They got the package to London Heathrow the following day. From there it progressed nicely and I felt pretty good about its chances of arriving by the schedule delivery date of 11/28: Arrived at LAX on the 24th, SFO on the 25th.

And that's when the wheels fell off. I'm not going to bore you with the details. But in five days, if the DHL tracking page can be trusted, the package has gone around in circles somewhere between leaving their SF Gateway and arriving there again two hours later. "Radio silence" since then. DHL gets a 0.

Not saying everyone will have the exact same result or that delays, etc don't happen with other carriers. But if you are planning to order from Andertons, maybe see if they give you shipping options other than DHL.

[aK_bAsh7]

Originally Posted by upsidedown

There are a few threads here about ordering to the US and/or Canada from Andertons Music in London. Wanted to share my (ongoing) experience.

Andertons gets a 10. Ordered a Hiscox case on 11/22. They got the package to London Heathrow the following day. From there it progressed nicely and I felt pretty good about its chances of arriving by the schedule delivery date of 11/28: Arrived at LAX on the 24th, SFO on the 25th.

And that's when the wheels fell off. I'm not going to bore you with the details. But in five days, if the DHL tracking page can be trusted, the package has gone around in circles somewhere between leaving their SF Gateway and arriving there again two hours later. "Radio silence" since then. DHL gets a 0.

Not saying everyone will have the exact same result or that delays, etc don't happen with other carriers. But if you are planning to order from Andertons, maybe see if they give you shipping options other than DHL.

Unfortunately, DHL is not the only shipping outfit with such issues.

[Gordon Currie]

Sorry to hear that. Modern shipping works so well so often that when glitches happen, NO ONE in the system is prepared to deal with it.

And that can cause a 3-5 day forecast to balloon quickly to 30 days and 'where is my package!??!!?'.

I did the Andertons route with 2 Hiscox cases in October, and I think it was 5 days from order and DHL had it on my porch in Seattle WA area.

I was surprised at how smoothly it went. Clearly I had great luck.

Can you get Anderton's on the case? Often I find carriers refuse to spend any time with package RECEIVERS, claiming that they can only respond to the actual SHIPPER.

[upsidedown]

Originally Posted by Gordon Currie

Can you get Anderton's on the case? Often I find carriers refuse to spend any time with package RECEIVERS, claiming that they can only respond to the actual SHIPPER.

Funny you should mention that. When I spoke to a DHL customer service agent, he noted that Andertons had also checked in on the package's whereabouts. That's another point for them.

[boombox]

I bought my Taylor 712e from them - great to deal with over the phone when I called them before ordering. Fortunately, I had no problems with DHL.

[PeterM]

Back when I was still employed until 2 years ago, we usually had several shipments a month that required international shipping. DHL had essentially no tracking. So no change there.
They never lost anything and all the shipments were timely.

[Aspiring]

I have better luck most of the time with DHL across the world for packages than FedEx or UPS across the country .... And don't even start about USPS.
This includes one guitar that DHL sent that made it from Singapore to Seattle in about 5 days and that an employee delivered to me at 10pm because I had called about it as I was leaving town the next day.

But that may be just me. Sorry to hear about your experience

[Zissou Intern]

I hope your case arrives soon!

[upsidedown]

Originally Posted by Zissou Intern

I hope your case arrives soon!

Me too. But if I were a betting man, I'd put money on next week sometime.

Really wanted this thread to be more a plug for Andertons than a knock on DHL. But I'll wallow in the displeasure a bit longer; as many have stated, SNAFUs happen with every carrier, and I know that first hand.

But the fact that DHL seems to have practiced strategies for deflecting responsibility is a little irksome. In my FIRST "chat" with an agent, I was told the package would be delivered later that day. When I protested that the tracking site didn't say that, he said "the site will update when the driver leaves the warehouse," which -- what?? Anyway, THAT didn't happen.

The next day I was told it would be delivered "tomorrow" then I received an email saying that I had requested a change in the delivery date, pushing it to the next day. Which, I hadn't.

Finally I got an email explaining that "due to a mechanical problem with the courier" it would be delivered today. Promises promises!

Instead of false promises and deflections, an acknowledgement that the package is misplaced would at least give me the sense that someone is on the case (no pun intended).

[JC.]

Somewhere there’s a very disappointed thief who has just opened a stolen guitar case …to find it empty.

[upsidedown]

Originally Posted by JC.

Somewhere there’s a very disappointed thief who has just opened a stolen guitar case …to find it empty.

Ha!!

Cold comfort though.

[upsidedown]

Much ado about nothing?

Maybe the thief threw the box back when he realized it was only a case.

I'll never know, but it arrived today (Sunday), just short of a week late.

[Fireside_Guitar]

Originally Posted by upsidedown

There are a few threads here about ordering to the US and/or Canada from Andertons Music in London. Wanted to share my (ongoing) experience.

Andertons gets a 10. Ordered a Hiscox case on 11/22. They got the package to London Heathrow the following day. From there it progressed nicely and I felt pretty good about its chances of arriving by the schedule delivery date of 11/28: Arrived at LAX on the 24th, SFO on the 25th.

And that's when the wheels fell off. I'm not going to bore you with the details. But in five days, if the DHL tracking page can be trusted, the package has gone around in circles somewhere between leaving their SF Gateway and arriving there again two hours later. "Radio silence" since then. DHL gets a 0.

Not saying everyone will have the exact same result or that delays, etc don't happen with other carriers. But if you are planning to order from Andertons, maybe see if they give you shipping options other than DHL.

I had good luck this year when Andertons shipped my case to the great white North using DHl.

To make you feel better I’ll tell you the abbreviated story of my bad shipping story this year. I was going do a thread at the time about it but opted out.
I ordered a brand new 1937 Martin D-28 Authentic custom shop from the only Expert Martin dealer on the other side of the country. The guitar was in stock and had free shipping so assumed it would be rush or expedited. If I had done my due diligence I would have paid myself for rush or expedited shipping.
The company shipped the guitar with the cheapest way possible with the worst possible tracking. Well wouldn’t you know it the guitar got lost SOMEWHERE along the way and because the tracking method was so crappy they couldn’t find it. I just wanted my money back but had to wait the given insurance time period or whatever BS story they came up with. I was furious at being held hostage but the store offered me some money off if and when the guitar showed up. Long story short they found it after two or three weeks. Worst time ever and still get mad at myself for not ordering the fastest shipping possible like I would normally do.

Hiscox cases are great

[MadCarrot]

i bought a microphone over reverb from Germany.. stucked in custom for over 2 months, not hearing a single word since. then one day it showed up at my door..
i have also bought two guitars over thomann one over UPS one over DHL.. i say they are on the better side