spacecowboy

TBF DHL go out of their way to promote this service to online businesses, but in practice it's really not working at all. https://www.dhl.com/gb-en/home/our-divisions/parcel/business-users/business-services/returns.html

Well yes and no. They're both at fault. Thomann are using DHL's bottom tier of services for returns, for you to become a DHL UK Parcels vendor you need a click to pay card system installed in your premises that's it, you then scan the parcel, an email is then sent to DHL to come and pick the parcel up, you pop a sticker on the parcel box... you get 20p if and when DHL turn up. Now if you're DHL you're not going to drop everything and go and pick up 1 parcel, so you're bottom of the queue, forever it seems, when I went back to the shop to collect my parcel they showed me the room where they keep all the return parcels dropped off with them and there were hundreds, no word of lie, hundreds, no one from DHL had been there for weeks. Imagine DHL's system, I doubt they have a record of all 3500 return points and how many parcels each one has... and how long until the emails telling them to come and get the parcels are archived and forgotten about. Now this is when I think it is Thomanns responsibility to do more, I spent £500, got a shoddy product, I want that money back, Thomann want their stock back, Thomann are happy to wait an indefinite amount of time to have the parcel picked up at one of these DHL Parcel UK points, even when it is picked up, it then goes to a UK Thomann HUB and then forwarded back to Germany, they state at the hub "please expect up to 3 weeks for the parcel to leave and arrive in Germany", so at this point with doing the absolute bare minimum they're happy to wait possibly 8 weeks to get the bass back and only then issue a refund... I'm without a bass and the funds to buy a bass for 8 weeks, all for their inability to QC an outgoing product properly. After kicking off and refusing another DHL Parcels UK label (what on earth was that going to achieve) full fat proper DHL are coming to me this Wednesday... it's still possibly going to sit at the UK hub for 3 weeks mind... I'm going to stick to UK vendors moving forward, such a shame as I always had good things to say about them!

Yeah it's a little worrying isn't it, I've bought many things from Thomann all visible on my account still and I've also bought a 5 String Sire in the past too without any problems! But this one got through the net! I'd really like to know the percentage of returns they get from the UK though, it's always a risk buying without playing etc, but as this has come direct from a manufacturer to distributor I'd have liked to have seen at least some of the problems addressed before it got to me... Maybe they tried... maybe they broke the neck screw

Yeah on debit card, let’s see how this new pickup option works out! Never again though mate!

@BigRedX My apologies for that really curt reply, I was going 10 rounds with Thomann at the same time, you didn't need that. So after not accepting any solution other than them coming to me they have given in and will be sending a courier to me next week, another one on the good pile, but I've had to fight over 2 hours for this!!

Thanks for reading the above, DHL Parcel UK labels are not accepted by DHL or DHL Service points so no I can't drop it off or would have done it by now. I think you miss the point on the Brexit tax, I know they're baked in to the cost, but to get the bass to my door from the EU, cheaper and quicker than the UK with no hidden nasties is in my opinion a win.

Around the middle of October I bought one of Sires new Alder / Rosewood / Roasted Maple 5 string P basses from Thomann, it was in stock a month before the UK stores, cheaper, and, available in my favourite colour way of white body with a tort guard, perfect! A week later the bass arrives, the outer shipper is water damaged and whatever is inside is banging around in what feels like thin air... open it up and there is a tiny inner wedge shaped bass box inside a huge outer shipper and 4 lengths of that crinkle paper attempting to keep everything happy... inner box isn't taped, but looks like nothing has fallen out during transit. But that hasn't stopped Sire / Thomman sending out a bass rife with QC issues... Neck pocket fit is awful, there is a wedged 2mm exposed gap on one side and you can't tighten it up cause one of the neck screws just spins (uh oh someone drilled the hole too big and it isn't biting on the neck wood) Body paint / lacquer is swirled Pickguard has deep scratches definitely look like they were done by a knife scratches and marks on the fingerboard including an absolute mess of scratches on the 12th fret Headstock had whoops I've hit it off a wall marks on front and back Action higher than a high thing (4mm) yes I can set it up... but that's way out of any respectable standard and after all the rest why would I go near this truss rod? Within 10 minutes of my return request email Thomann accept the return, no apology, no "oh wow that's bad lol" just, heres a label go and drop it off at one of these "DHL UK Parcel" places (all newsagents) now this is where my frustrations begin... These DHL Parcel UK places are not DHL or DHL Service points, they're a service by convenience stores who stock pile returns and take 20p per parcel for their trouble. I went to 2 local ones to me, both refused to take the parcel, "it's too big" (their stores are tiny) "DHL don't come" "I've had parcels here for months"... not a good start. I tell Thomann, they don't listen to a word, just recommending I try taking it back to one of the stores i had tried previously, it was seriously like talking to a robot, what's hard to understand about, "I've gone to store A, they won't take it, they say DHL don't pick them up, they don't wan't a parcel half the size of their store sitting gathering dust..." "I'm sorry to hear that, have you tried taking it to store A?" ... repeat. On my third attempt I find a convenience store who VERY reluctantly take it in, same story, DHL haven't been for weeks, no guarantees, want me to call back today to check in with them... I do, and, after a week, it's still in their shop, no sign of DHL and they're quite rightly sick of it, they want me to come and pick it up today and make it someone else's problem... better still Thomann have stopped replying to me... I can't send the parcel via DHL or a DHL Service point as the label from Thomann only covers DHL UK Parcels... which as of right now is a Mickey Mouse, cheap way of Thomann to deflect parcel returns and hope people just give up trying to send stuff back, this is a £500 bass, so nothing major, but imagine it was a 2k bass. I'm most likely going to have to go and get the parcel back from the store today, apologise, and then out of my pocket pay for a proper courier, complain, and hope Thomann do the right thing and reimburse everything. All I wanted was a new 5er for practice! I got a headache! Oh and the good? No Brexit taxes on anything... but thats it!

Wow! What a beast!

Bought an Aguilar DB112 from Mr Ting, great all round experience, very well packaged and allowed me to organise my own courier for shipping, this was all facilitated by his friend who allowed us to use his house as a pickup point. Great stuff all round. Thanks again!

Sold Bobby my Squier FSR late 50’s P Bass, he came round en route to a gig exactly when he said he would, a pleasure to have round and as he said on my feedback I would have been happy to have had him over for longer to chat bass. Top bloke and an asset to the forum!