White Star Luggage Service: CAUTION

[Nobbi]

I used the DHL Service round trip. On the way to the ship from CA to NY I had one suitcase and no complaints. On the return from Southampton we decided to ship 2 additional suitcases back. An additional one to the SF bay area and one to central Wisconsin, to a high school in a town where everyone knows each other.

 

My big bag arrived with the main handle torn off. This was a bag 9 months old, used twice before on 2 cruises. My second bag arrived in good appearance but the button which you push to pull up the handle to roll it no longer worked. I just got a call from my nephew who accompanied me on the cruise. His suitcase was delivered to the post office in the town where he lives. It was covered in tape, totally destroyed. The contents were intact.

 

That's 3 out of 3 suitcases damaged. No contents were damaged or lost as far as we can determine. I don't think we'll bother putting in claims since the contents were ok.

 

But I just wanted to make people aware of potential problems with the DHL service. (It pains me to write this as I am a native German and DHL is actually part of the Deutsche Post AG, the German postal service which used to be a government agency but now is private.)

[travel-to-go]

I used the DHL Service round trip.

That's 3 out of 3 suitcases damaged. No contents were damaged or lost as far as we can determine. I don't think we'll bother putting in claims since the contents were ok.

 

But I just wanted to make people aware of potential problems with the DHL service. (It pains me to write this as I am a native German and DHL is actually part of the Deutsche Post AG, the German postal service which used to be a government agency but now is private.)

 

Nobbi,

I usually go to Key West every year. We do a balcony decorating contest at the hotel (It's a Parrothead convention. I'm skipping it this year in favor of the QM2 31 October) We usually send a couple of boxes home. Long stuff (we use shower curtain rods to put up the balcony decorations) and things that we won't need right awy, and would cost extra to take on the plane. Rather than throw them away, we ship them home!) and sometimes long lumber type items (one year we built a tiki bar which projected out from the balcony! bamboo poles, palm fronds, bamboo skirt for the front of the bar, etc-Big styrofoam tiki gods with eyes and lips that moved, belching smoke from a fog machine,- BTW, we won the contest that year!) Anyway, we shipped them from a regular shipping place in Key West. they chose which shipper to use. Well, I live on Clark Rd. DHL delivered it to a home on Clark La. Supposedly the house was vacant. The new people buying it claim they moved in the next day (though the took possession 10 days earlier), and never saw the two boxes. It wasn't really expenseive stuf- like a glue gun, paints, a couple of little statues I had bought down there, tie wraps, colored markers and such. It's just the idea. They left it inside a fenced in area, at a side door, in an older residential neighborhood (where people look out for each other, usually) I never saw any of my stuff again. And I never got reimbursed. DHL was impossible to deal with. Someone came and left a pencil-scrawled note on my window asking if *I* had received a package in error. At MY house! It looked like a child's scrawl! This woman must've been a real idiot! now when you are in the business of delivering things, don't you think it would be good to know Road from Lane? And we checked the papers, and what they recorded on line. It was SENT to the right address!

No. I will not use DHL in the future. We never got our money back, had to keep calling them, and they didnt seem to know what they were doing!

 

I'd still put in a claim for the suitacess. they are not cheap!

 

Karie,

 

who is glad she is leaving out of and returning to New York on her next three (B2B crossing plus 10 day caribbean) and can DRIVE down!

 

P.S. I went ot my father's funeral last year and ran into the local pharmacist. Her son, my sister's age, is the spokesman for UPS. She said, "Remember when that UPS truck went off a bridge in California?" Well, it was her son that had to go on nationwide TV on the news to explain this! Or when a truck gets into a bad accident and everyone's Chirstamas Presents are spread all over the interstate, as happened a few years back. I think kit was in Pennsyalvania - somehwere with snow and ice, I think.

[exlondoner]

Despite being English and, therefore, conditioned from birth against complaining, I think you should claim for the suitcases, so that, at the very least, DHL are made aware that they failed to do what they were suposed to do - deliver your stuff safely. If they cannot do that, what is the point in them?

[DocM3]

Now I am really nervous! I've made arrangements with White Star luggage to ship 2 items of luggage to and from the QM2. Up till now I hadn't heard any complaints, so thought it was pretty reliable. Oh dear!!!

[Nobbi]

Now I am really nervous! I've made arrangements with White Star luggage to ship 2 items of luggage to and from the QM2. Up till now I hadn't heard any complaints, so thought it was pretty reliable. Oh dear!!!

 

 

It may have been a fluke. The shipment to NY from CA was fine. Just all 3 bags on the return from Southampton were damaged.

[stephen@stoneyard.co.uk]

I had a less serious experience with the White Star Luggage Service. My suitcase arrived home with the zip pull ripped off a small front compartment. I rang Cunard and then sent them a letter. The letter contained a photo of the damage and an estimate of the replacement cost of the suitcase (plus £20 for my trouble). Within a week I had a lovely apology and a cheque.

 

It is worth contacting Cunard. The White Star Luggage Service is expensive and you should expect care to be taken with your possessions. I must admit I still use the broken suitcase and I kept the £120.

 

Best wishes, Stephen.

 

PS Contact Cunard rather than DHL. Your contract is with Cunard, DHL will only talk to Cunard and Cunard are far more helpful.

[greatam]

As someone in the global logistics field, DHL has absolutely AWFUL service in the USA.

 

The service to/from the USA/Europe is not too bad. But internal USA-forget DHL for the most part. I'm surprised Nobbi got the suitcase in one piece from CA to NY.

 

Our company has had to forego DHL intra USA shipping entirely. Our customer's product would arrive unscathed from Europe. IF it was delivered in NYC, we were fine. But if it had to go any farther than NYC, it was almost ALWAYS damaged, lost or delayed. We pay extra to ship our customer's products on commercial airlines to ensure the product is not lost, damaged, or delayed.

 

Just last week-two personal shipments were sent via DHL-one from Maryland, one from California, both to Phoenix. The Maryland shipment left Friday, June 1 from Hagerstown, MD. 3 day service. Finally arrived Friday, June 8. No explanation for the delay.

 

The shipment from California made it overnight. However, the package was completely crushed and contents destroyed. If it would have been transported by my company, we wouldn't have even delivered it to the end customer. Would have been too embarrassed.

 

AND the really biggie with DHL-the agents will tell you DHL delivers just about every place in the USA. What they DON'T tell you is their own service areas are VERY limited (the yellow/red vans). For outlying areas, they pass the packages off to an interline courier. Some do their jobs diligently, most do not care. I am sure that is why Nobbi's suitcase was left at the Post Office and why some of my DHL deliveries arrive as much as 3 WEEKS after the package arrived at the Phoenix sort facility. Small towns outside a major city get very short shrift on DHL. Shippers use DHL because DHL has offered some VERY cheap rates in comparison to FedEx/UPS.

 

FILE the CLAIM. You deserve the money. Cunard will take it up with DHL. You will get the money you deserve. Maybe if enough claims are filed with Cunard, DHL will reassess their very shoddy intra USA service. Cunard is a BIG account with DHL, one I'm sure they don't want to loose to FedEx.

[songanddance]

I would agree about the assesment of DHL here in the states. Basically clueless in small town America. They simply can not find addresses. In additon I would sincerely worry about their ability to get luggage to a pier for a Sunday departure. As far as I am aware, shipments to piers can not arrive prior to the day of departure. That means the luggage has to be stored at a DHL facility somewhere in the New York City area and then must be loaded into a truck on a Sunday morning and moved to whatever pier is being used. For the world cruises in 2008, Cunard is using three different piers, two in Manhattan and one in Brooklyn. In my opinion, I would not trust DHL to be able to figure out which luggage goes to Brooklyn and which heads to Manhattan and then onto which ship. At least with the two Manhattan drops, the ships meet up in Ft. Lauderdale in two days so mix ups could be solved there but if your luggage goes to Brooklyn and you sail out of Manhattan, good luck.

[DocM3]

I wish all this negative talk about White Star Luggage had happened BEFOREI made arrangements with them. I've been on this board for about 7 years and never heard a word of beat up luggage etc.

 

I can only hope that all will be well for us.

[greatam]

I wish all this negative talk about White Star Luggage had happened BEFOREI made arrangements with them. I've been on this board for about 7 years and never heard a word of beat up luggage etc.

 

I can only hope that all will be well for us.

 

I have posted before that White Star luggage service is waaay overpriced. And as DHL is the only carrier with a Cunard contract, you are stuck with DHL service. I never mentioned SPECIFICALLY about damage, but I am a value shopper/value business owner-price for value and DHL does NOT fall into that category unless you have a shipping agreement with them and are willing to put up with their sloppy deliveries.. There are easier and better ways to ship luggage. Can't you cancel????

 

Email if you need additional help. greatam@earthlink.net

[Kindlychap]

It's not just DHL. In addition to losing Julia's (Juliecat) luggage in January - or at least sending it to the wrong continent - Virgin Atlantic broke my umbrella on the flight home yesterday.

 

Ok, it's only an umbrella - but you tell me where you can get a Wiener Staatoper umbrella in London and I'll treat you a bottle of Veuve Cliquot if we share a sailing........

 

I can't understand why it had to be in the hold. British Airways managed to carry it in the cabin.

 

:mad:

 

Matthew

[greatam]

I would agree about the assesment of DHL here in the states. Basically clueless in small town America. They simply can not find addresses. In additon I would sincerely worry about their ability to get luggage to a pier for a Sunday departure. As far as I am aware, shipments to piers can not arrive prior to the day of departure. That means the luggage has to be stored at a DHL facility somewhere in the New York City area and then must be loaded into a truck on a Sunday morning and moved to whatever pier is being used. For the world cruises in 2008, Cunard is using three different piers, two in Manhattan and one in Brooklyn. In my opinion, I would not trust DHL to be able to figure out which luggage goes to Brooklyn and which heads to Manhattan and then onto which ship. At least with the two Manhattan drops, the ships meet up in Ft. Lauderdale in two days so mix ups could be solved there but if your luggage goes to Brooklyn and you sail out of Manhattan, good luck.

 

IF the luggage makes it to NYC, competent delivery will most likely be made. Our stuff coming in from Europe has a pretty good delivery record in the NYC area. DHL has one of their main sort facilities at JFK. They really do a pretty good job IN the NYC area.

 

As I posted before, intra USA DHL service is shoddy at best.

[Nobbi]

I called Cunard to get an address and they said someone would contact me to get the claim going.

 

Thanks to all for the advice. :)

[Jimsgirl]

In my town DHL service is poor, I live in a condo complex, there is a push button panel at the main door which rings in my apartment.

 

DHL delivery person could not be bothered to even go to main door and ring.He/She just dumped my package at the kerbside beside the 40 mail boxes!. Everyone here complains that packages are always just left at the kerbside where anyone passing could steal them

 

Personally I prefere the "luggage Valet " system for inside the USA. You costs $15 per bag, you have special tags, put your luggage outside you cabin, it is taken direct to the air line and you only have to claim it at your final destination. No it does not take bags to the ship, but I think paying extra for a bag to the airline is probably cheaper and safer than DHL

[Nobbi]

I received a call back from a pleasant chap from Cunard from a blocked caller id number. He asked about my damages. I described the problems. He asked me to take the cases to a shoe repair shop (who allegedly repair suitcases) to get estimates on fixing the suitcase handles.

 

I let him know that I was calling mainly to let Cunard know of the problem with DHL, that I had mentioned it on CC and that others had complaints, and that the suitcases were all under $100. I told him that I did not have the time to seek out estimates from shoe places; my time was worth just as little more than the potential reimbursements. (I did apologize for sounding snobbish.)

 

Since nothing could be done without these estimates, I wished him a pleasant day, thanked him for calling me back, and ended the call.

 

I don't know if anything will become of this. Months ago I had a problem with a cruise "priceline type" site and a subsequent referral. As it was not allowed to post the names of companies involved on CC, I posted them on a little frequented forum of flyertalk, my favorite frequent flyer board. After 4 weeks, I received emails and phone calls from the CEOs of both companies involved! I did not receive any material compensation except for a chachki from one CEO sent in the mail. But it certainly got attention.

 

It would be nice if we could effect some change in the company Cunard uses for their luggage service. :)