"We've Had Trouble with DHL in Mexico
Also"
January 21 - La Paz, BCS
"In your January 2004 issue, following
a report from Richard Booker of the Winnipeg-based Mystery Cove
38 Crocodile Rock, who said he had to abandon his replacement
extrusion because DHL employees in Mexico City wanted such a
big bribe, you asked if anyone else has had similar problems
with DHL in Mexico. We have."
So writes Jon Doornik of Seadream
in Caleta San Juanico, Baja.
"When we returned home to Oregon to
spend Christmas of 2002 with our family, we sent a hearing aid
out for repair. When it wasn't repaired in time for our return
to Mexico, we had the agency send it to Marina Palmira in La
Paz via DHL, as we'd heard they were dependable. When the $2,500
hearing aid didn't arrive as scheduled, we went to the DHL agency
in La Paz, who phoned the DHL agency in Guadalajara where most
imports to Mexico are cleared. They told us as this was a medical
supply, we needed to offer proof it was really needed. As my
wife is deaf without hearing aids, we had our hearing specialists
in the States send certified information that my wife was under
their care and needed the hearing aid to hear.
"Guadalajara responded by telegram
saying that we needed to have a Mexican doctor certify that my
wife was deaf. So we went to a doctor in La Paz, who interviewed
her, and certified the hearing aid was absolutely necessary.
He wrote a letter which we faxed to DHL in Guadalajara.
"DHL responded by saying we needed
to see the Secretary of Health in La Paz to certify that the
hearing aid was legal, and that her hearing aid was an appropriate
import. After spending most of a day at the Secretary of Health,
we received the appropriate documents and faxed them to Guadalajara.
"After we received no response, we
asked the management of Marina Palmira to assist us - which they
did at great length.
"The next response we got from Guadalajara
- we still don't know if it was DHL or Aduana - was that we needed
to send them $70 U.S. to pay an agent to represent us before
Customs. At this point, other cruisers at Marina Palmira told
us the same thing had happened to them regarding boat replacement
parts, and that it would be a bottomless money pit which would
not result in our receiving our hearing aid.
"So we phoned DHL in Guadalajara and
told them to ship the hearing aid back to the sender in Oregon.
The next day they sent a letter saying they had done so.
"The hearing aid never arrived in
Oregon, and to this day remains 'lost'. We then applied for the
$2,000 insured value when we returned to Oregon in May. DHL responded
by saying that due to the Geneva Convention their loss was limited
to $150 U.S. After much faxing back and forth between our hearing
aid provider and DHL, DHL agreed their Oregon agent had made
a mistake in filling out forms, and finally sent us $2,000 insurance
coverage.
"The most disconcerting part of this
nine-month episode is that my wife's hearing was severely limited
while we were sailing in Mexico. And that despite jumping through
many Mexican 'hoops' and paying money, we got zero results.
"Our advice to cruisers in Mexico
is not to use any mail service in or out of that country. Other
cruisers and/or friends remain the reliable method of getting
goods not obtainable in Mexico into Mexico."
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