After working with DHL India for our inbound and outbound international shipments for two years now, we have switched our forwarder and I can only warn you to stay away from DHL in India.
While I never had issues with DHL in Europe (I am from Germany), their indian subsidiary puts shame on DHL's good name. If they would just put their money not into fancy advertisement but into responsible management and education of their staff, they could maybe make it work. But instead of caring about their quality of service, they seem complacent with ever new nice color brochures being mailed to their customer base.
The worst experience of all was a shipment of semiconductors we brought into India with DHL. Although they had somehow managed several imports before and customs had all our registration paperwork in place, that time it took a rediculous four (4) weeks for the shipment to arrive and a lot of hassle with totally incompetent DHL agents.
The shipment was dead on arrival. The parts were highly moisture sensitive and therefore factory sealed with big warning stickers on the package not to open the inner vacuum sealed layer or at least re-seal it right away. The shipment arrived opened and unsealed, rendering its content useless. We rejected the delivery, took proof of the damage and made a claim because the shipment (value of a few lakhs) was insured.
We heard nothing for weeks. Round about 20 emails and phone calls later, hearing nothing but empty promises, almost three months have passed and DHL keeps pointing at TATA AIG for not processing the claim. However, the shipment was insured with DHL and we have no clue why TATA should play any role here. DHL sells insurances but when it comes to a case (any ours is really obvious, as even DHL admits), they sneak out and blame it on some other company.
Communication with DHL is hopeless, noone seems responsible and the case keeps shifting around. We will now sue DHL not just for the insured amount, but also our legal cost and issue a complaint for fraud, as they do not seem in any way prepared to pay out insurance although they are actively promoting and selling these insurances. A business which is not prepared or willing to deliver on their contractual duties is a fraud and deserves prosecution in the interest of the unsuspecting customer.
Avoid DHL India whenever you can!
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