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The Memotech MTX Series |
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SDX
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Original Memotech "flyer" for
the SDX |
SDX Controller from ebay.de |
I bought an SDX controller that was advertised on ebay.de in
March 2013, the seller dispatched the item very quickly and provided a
Deutsche Post DHL
tracking number, which, to me, sounded like it would be a pretty
fast shipping method, however, as I monitored the DHL tracking
system, it appeared that shipping was
going to be much longer than I expected. Admittedly, this
shipment spanned Easter Monday, but it looked like the shipment had stalled
in Cologne. I was a bit worried that it might have gotten
"lost", so I did a bit of surfing for feedback on Deutsche Post's
performance, and
shipping delays seemed to be pretty common.
DHL
Express is the brand of "DHL" that I was most
familiar with and past experience of DHL Express is what set my
expectations of delivery time for my SDX from Germany. What I
had not appreciated, was that DHL Express is actually a division
of Deutsche Post DHL which has four corporate divisions
including Mail and Express. Deutsche
Post's "Paket" service is a low cost, non-express parcel
service, built on the infrastructure created when Deutsche Post
was formed by the privatisation of the German mail authority,
Deutsche Bundespost. Based on some cursory "Googling", the
Deutsche Post "Paket" service seems to be a bit hit-and-miss, with
variable and often extended international delivery times. Unless you use the DHL Express delivery service,
if you are
in a hurry for something from Germany, there are almost
certainly faster, though more expensive, couriers than Deutsche Post DHL.
DHL Track & Trace Results
for my Parcel
| Date / Time |
City |
Status |
| Thu, 28.03.2013 09:15 h |
-- |
The instruction data for this
shipment have been provided by the sender to DHL
electronically |
| Thu, 28.03.2013 09:41 h |
Germany |
The shipment has been posted by the
sender at the retail outlet |
| Thu, 28.03.2013 20:25 h |
Rodgau, Germany |
The international shipment has been
processed in the parcel center of origin |
| Sat, 30.03.2013 06:25 h |
Köln, Germany |
The international shipment has been
processed in the export parcel center |
| Sat, 30.03.2013 06:27 h |
Köln, Germany |
The shipment will be transported to
the destination country and, from there, handed over
to the delivery organization. (Homepage / online
shipment tracking: ) |
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Over Easter Monday, but still,
not much action in Cologne! |
| Wed, 03.04.2013 18:18 h |
United Kingdom |
The shipment has arrived in the
destination country |
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(This was the last status update
posted on the "DHL Track & Trace" system) |
| Fri, 05.04.2013 11:30 h |
Delivered |
By Parcelforce UK |
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| The package was not delivered by DHL
- it was handed off to
Parcelforce, the courier service of
Royal Mail, although the package had an
international tracking reference in the same format
as used by Parcelforce, because it was
not a "signed for" shipment, it was not entered into
the Parcelforce tracking system and
was not traceable after arriving in the UK.
At the end of the day, the item took just over a
week to arrive in the UK, this it not unreasonable,
but only being able to partially track its progress
is a bit disappointing. |
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If you have read this far, you are probably
thinking that I was being very
impatient (which is probably true) and may have had unrealistic
expectations (which may also be true), but as I said, I was
worried about the parcel's apparent "freeze" in Cologne.
Various
threads on the internet which reported Deutsche Post delivery times running
into weeks did not inspire me with any confidence that I would
receive the SDX any time soon. However, once the system had been
updated to show that the parcel had arrived in the UK, I did
feel more confident that it would be here in a few days.
With hindsight, it is obvious that I was
being unduly concerned, the rarity of this item probably had
something to do with it and I should maybe have specified
and paid for a more expensive shipping option.
I have
shown the full tracking data to show how my shipment progressed,
but also to point out the difference between the
Deutsche Post DHL and DHL Express
shipping options - I was unaware of the difference and this
information might be useful to others.
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