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Customer service at DHL Express (Guyana) needs to be improved
Dear Editor,
Online shopping has become more mainstream for Guyanese. One can order a pair of shoes or dress from a US company and have that item shipped to Guyana through freight forwarders and local shipping companies for a price that many Guyanese find affordable given the popularity of this pastime.
Online shopping is not only convenient for the shopper but one is exposed to a greater variety of merchandise, better quality products, competitive prices and better customer service (US standard) for those with this pet peeve.
While many overseas vendors do not ship small personal purchases to Guyana, a few popular vendors from Asia do. For instance, Shein offers ‘Free Express Shipping’ directly to Guyana if one spends a minimum of approximately 130 USD. While DHL Express – the shipper that Shein utilises – does not provide free delivery of items when they arrive in Guyana, it did allow customers to uplift their packages at Ogle Airport which is apparently where cargo from Shein arrives at. Customers just had to pay custom duty at the airport and interestingly, a fee to DHL Express for the paperwork to clear their package.
Since December 2024, DHL Express is not allowing customers to do self-clearance at Ogle Airport. Now, customers are forced to uplift their packages at the DHL office in traffic-congested Alberttown, Georgetown. Also, the cost to uplift one’s package(s) although ‘Free Express Shipping’ to Guyana is given has increased exorbitantly. Before, when uplifting at the airport, it was just a small fee for custom duty and the ‘unethical’ paperwork charge to DHL now, one has to pay custom duty which is suddenly more than what one would have paid at the airport for a package of similar value, custom brokerage, miscellaneous VAT and (another) VAT!
Why is the customer now required to pay three different taxes but at the airport would only have to pay one, custom duty? Also, if one were to use a local shipping company, the only tax on the receipt would be custom duty. And if one enters a US address instead of a Guyana one for their Shein order, the package is delivered directly to the customer’s residence at no additional charge from the shipping company.
By removing the option to do self-clearance at the airport, customers are now forced to pay a brokerage fee of thousands of dollars to uplift small packages for personal use, not to mention the additional taxes. I believe that this company is operating unethically to increase its profit margin, in addition to offering poor customer service. Its interaction with customers, needs to be more professional and cordial; and fees charged should be more transparent and ethical. For instance, it should allow customers to do self-clearance of their package if this is more convenient and it should provide a more detailed explanation regarding the different charges. On the other hand, if the financial arrangement with the vendor is not sustainable DHL Express should drop the vendor instead of exploiting the customer.
Yours sincerely,
Narissa Deokarran
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