DHL- Dalsey, Hillblom and Lynn

East Midlands Airport where my CDs will leave tonight (hopefully)

A company which I have worked for which I have a lot of respect for, but has unfortunately become to big for itself and lost the plot a little since setting up so many country self-administrated branches.

Last week I spent 100- Euros for a next day shipment to the UK from Holland. The next day I had a call from a sales guy asking me why I don't use their services so much and how could they change that.

I told him if he wanted to get me as a loyal customer make sure that when the shipment I sent to the UK (a single CD), is transformed into 3,000 CD's; Make sure the 3,000 CD's can be shipped to me in NL and I am a happy customer.

The reply.....No that can't be done. There is forms to be signed. No way around it. You need an International account. It will take a week to set it up.

So I ring DHL UK and ask if they can organise the 3,000 Cd's to be shipped to me. The answer was yes. I went through the procedure to be told at the final point that no we can't do this because your credit card is not a UK credit card. Rang my sister who tried to help as she had a UK bank credit card, but again the same result so ended up having to ask my father to ask to use his credit card to solve the situation. So after the call to my Father I managed to pay for the overnight service and tomorrow (before 12 AM ) I should have the package.

The next step is to use DHL again for an express service to Alexandria, Virginia. This wil take two days. It has to be there latest Friday this week. So tomorrow I will put my 'living' in DHL's hands and order a pick up from my Dutch location to arrive in USA 2 days later before 12 midday latest.

They are administratively screwed up DHL but you can 100% guarantee they do what they say.
If you can manage to pay them for it. Which I tried 3 times today with 3 different credit cards.

I am shocked that a company can be so reluctent to receive payment for it's servcies. In such a way that they would prefer to turn customers away. The only reason that I kept on trying is that I knew that they will do what they say they do. Deliver next day before 12 AM.

So at the end of the day me working my arse off to get around their rules gave them the business. Not them doing the same to help me.

Plus as a side comment, their red/yellow colour scheme sucks.

I think the Red symbolises the colours you see in your eyes when you try to arrange an unusual shipment.
The Yellow? Maybe what you see almost coming into your pants when you realise that their new administrative rules might screw up your plans!

Rebirth of the Eyldergaard Tree

The Eyldergaard Tree Returns

Followers of this blog may remember in May 2007 the local 'Gemeente' decided to brutally savage an ancient tree that stands in the middle of my district of Maastricht, "Eyldergaard".
http://smogsblog70.blogspot.com/2007/05/denise-if-tree.html

It turned out the tree was actually diseased and was about to die anyway. Finally the Gemeente have decided to replace it. It has a long way to go to catch up in size. But it has a very nice birdbox attached. Bonus!

Cheeky little number

I bought a bottle of red wine tonight with a cheeky title "Fat Bastard".

A Marketing ploy?. Most definitely. But one I fell for. The lable on the back of the bottle reads something like....

Thierry Boudinaud, a renowned winemaker who had crafted wines from California to France, from Chile to South Africa was sitting in a cold damp wine cellar one winter day when the door burst open. It was Guy Anderson his dear friend from London who had just arrived to sample the recent vintage. “It’s cold enough to freeze the balls of a brass monkey” Guy bellowed with a big smile on his face. “Now Thierry let’s find out what gems we have this year.”
Guy was a rebel in the wine industry believing that quality was paramount in a wine but that the average consumer hated the traditional intimidation heaped on them by most of the wine industry. The two had collaborated before and this was yet another chance to drink wine, catch up on family and enjoy a few days together. After tasting hundreds of barrel samples both were pleased with the quality, but not blown away.

The next day after sleeping in past noon due to the late night before, Thierry thought he would have Guy try an experimental wine he had in a few barrels in the back of the cellar. “Dis is a experiment wine we left it on de lees. We try it no?” “Sure Thierry, you know how hard it is to get me to try a new wine.” Both friends had no idea that leaving the wine in barrel on the lees (yeast cells) would result is such a dramatic difference from the wine they tried the day before. It had a wonderful color and rich, round palate. Both men stood and stared at each other for what seemed like five minutes until Thierry exclaimed “now zat iz what you call eh phet bast-ard”

So a cheeky marketing ploy, web-site set up with tee-shirts to buy on-line etc. surely a good wine. I would guess so but hang on I forgot how it tasted after reading the web-site bumph.

No hang on it's coming back to me now it tasted like 3.99 bottle of red wine. You Daft Bastards!