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Dear Aramex

There is one thing I find very frustrating with Aramex Shop & Ship and that’s their formula for which package ships out first and which package stays behind until their next flight. It doesn’t look they have a formula but more like it’s completely random. I could have 5 packages in my mailbox and they would ship one, the third package that arrived, something random like that. So I sent them the following email today:

Dear Aramex,
I have 4 packages that arrived in my mailbox in the following order

1) Private Mail 08/29/2009
2) Amazon 4255 Anson Blvd 08/31/2009
3) HONGKONG SERVICES PO 09/01/2009
4) Mail & Magazines 09/02/2009

They all weigh less than 0.5lb which qualifies them for the daily flight from New York to Kuwait.

This is the order that the packages were shipped:

1) Private Mail 09/02/2009 (early morning Kuwait time)
4) Mail & Magazines 09/02/2009 (evening Kuwait time)
2) Amazon 4255 Anson Blvd 09/02/2009 (late evening Kuwait time)
3) HONGKONG SERVICES PO 09/02/2009 (late evening Kuwait time)

All four packages were shipped on the same day but on three different flights!
Package (1) got shipped in your regular slow shipping
Package (4) the least important because its a magazine got shipped with overnight shipping and I am expecting it this morning
Packages (2) and (3) got shipped regular slow shipping

What I would like know is what is your formula for deciding which shipment goes out and when? Why weren’t ALL my packages placed on the same flight as my magazines since they all weigh less than 0.50lb which I was told was the requirement to be on that flight and they would have ALL arrive today? Why wasn’t package #2 shipped before my magazines since it arrived before?

This complete random and unorganized (at least to us consumers it looks like that) is very frustrating. For example shipment #3 has an item which I could have used while traveling later tonight so its very frustrating for me to see a magazine arrive before something I really wanted to get here first.

thanks
mark

Now while looking through my previous Aramex posts I found one dating back to January 2008 when Aramex said it was going to introduce online payments. What happened to that?

50 replies on “Dear Aramex”

I guess their formula is based on categories not on weight, like documents r shipped regularely then the rest comes after, being queued or so, it’s a stupid formula though!
I would recommend if they introduce a priority factor to their formula!!

i have 6 packages in my inbox they all reached my US box two days ago, had only one of them shipped first yesterday in the early morning flight (which is a t-shirt) and other more important shipments (electronics&cables) got shipped latter on! so i don’t know why they didn’t get shipped together or something… strange..they still suck like ever, they don’t have online payments which would be cool, also they sent me 982928928928 emails and text messages regarding their crappy new service (track your shipment using your mobile which is useless as i c it) and also they have crappy wrong descriptions of items which is confusing!! for example i have a blu-ray player and in the description it says shoes!! i usually prefer to ship stuff directly via Fedex or UPS much less headache and much much faster, sometimes they also offer lower rates than Aramex Shop&Ship no kidding! also i have to put in mind every shipment which is like 15 or 20LBS HAS to get cleared and wait for like at least another full week to get it if not two, strange thing is that I only paid clearance fees for Fedex once (40kd for iMac) and i even got my 4 Jeep rims (around 100KG) without clearance fees!

I’ve been having a similar problem! I paid for overnight shipping from FedEx or UPS yet when Aramex receive my packages they keep them at their facilities for up to 5 or 6 days! Why would I expedite my US shipping just so Aramex can slow the whole process down! 🙂

Same happens to me, it’s so they can make more money off of you…

If combined together, the total amount of packages may cost you 5 KD, because of the combining of weight…

But shipped separately, u have to pay 3 KD for each package, so 12 in total…

Doing this with everyone gets them a huge profit margin

I would agree on that but mark 😛 it seems after Quality net incident you going to start bashing all companies in order for them to improve their quality of service 😛 way to go man

Its hit and miss, and by the time you get the package its *steaming hot* from being in the van all day (at the risk of your software, goods etc) – dont they turn on the AC in the vans?

I called a lady there to point this out and you know what her answer is: “You can choose not to have stuff delivered to you – send your own driver in the morning – if you feel the goods arrive in the hot condition.”

And it takes them 5 days to clear something from customs if your stuff does get stuck there…Let’s not go there…

good that you got them all! my packages used to stay in in-box for ages and shipping was 100% random! something like the closets box to the van!

no not that much .. they charge per 1kg not like aramex :

1/2 kg in aramex = 3 kd
add 2.5 kd for additional half kg = 5.5 kd

DHL charge per 1 kg :

1kg in dhl = 6.53 kd

if you considered the services that they provide from paying online and shiping ur items at time they arrive in mailbox .. i wont mind it .

Just remember there are many mail forwarding companies based in the UK and USA that are priced competitively, and most of them will hold onto your items and ship them as one big shipment (saving you money).

Well I like to get my shipments asap and as cheap as possible. There is no major benefit for me to move from Aramex to DHL or to MyUS. If anything I will end up paying a lot more for the same service. My magazines shipped yesterday and I got them this morning. Thats pretty fast I just want everything else to arrive just as fast.

Aramex is cheaper than myUS. Anyways, Mark you could have called them up and ask. I called today and asked them if it was possible to ship my camera before my other 4 items. And they said they can.

So now your using your blog as a way to fix all your retailing and service problems?? This is really getting annoying Mark, in the past month you were bitching about jeep, qualitynet, and now aramex..enoughs enough dude chill.

Ramez u only have to pay NY Tax when the store that you actually purchase from is in NY. i usually order from other states and have them shipped to NY.

Dude, this morning I went to their office in Ardiya to check on 2 shipments that I ordered from amazon 4 weeks ago and didn’t get anything on… not an sms nor an email, I found out that they got them 2 weeks ago! and when I asked why didn’t I get any notifications on them, they told me it’s because I was a Wataniya user. I said “do you have a problem with Wataniya?” the guy said “no, they have a problem with us” … whatever that means… so yeah… but when I asked why didn’t get an email like I usually do, he gave me no answer…

Ramez anytime man! 😉

just double check the location of the store before ordering, it clearly states it especially on eBay.

Dear Mark,

I am sorry that you are facing this problem, and I am glad that you mentioned it as we need customer feedback to help serve you better.

According to US Transportation Regulations, although some packages arrive at the same day at our JFK facilities in New York, that doesn’t mean we can ship all of the packages on the same day. Different packages (according to their weight and source) require different sorting methods, export documentations and parcel delivery times; primarily because not all of these packages can be shipped on the same flight. This explains why lighter items (such as your magazines) arrived sooner than other heavier packages.

I hope that my message helped clear out this issue, as for the rest of the comments here, I will contact the designated personnel at Aramex to help you out as well.

Regards,

Feras Hilal
Marketing Team Member – Online Conversationalist
Aramex International, Global Support Office

Tel: +962 6 5515111 ext. 1329
Fax: +962 6 5527461
aramex.com

also, when you subscribe to aramex, ur first shipment comes in 2-3 days…a way to show you how fast they are…but then, back to the normal shipment speed…6-7 days..

Mr. Feras,

Sorry but that is not very accurate! on many occasions I got 3 or 5 packages all weighted less than 1 pound and they never ever were shipped together! they were shipped randomly as they were received from same vendor and most of the materials were the same and the weight was very light and almost the same!

We do some time put a lot of effort so our small packages arrive at the same time especially if they are all less than one pound trying to save on shipping. But thanks to you they never arrive together!

some more issues:

What about when a shipment is already delivered to Aramex NY as per the tracking# and does not show at inbox for 2 or 3 days?!

What about when a shipment arrives at your kuwait office and it doesn’t get delivered next day but sometimes after 2 or 3 days?

What about when a shipment get received at your office and we offer self pickup and you guys refuse to search for our items?

What about the constant lost items? packages delivered to someone else! on many occasions you always claim that the address or the inbox# was not clear when I personally showed you more than once the original sticker with correct in-box# on the box and under Aramex sticker!

What about your prices that were raised due to fuel price increase and never went down when prices decreased?

I am an old customer of yours with 3 digits in-box number and I am not replacing you, even though one of your support team advised me once to cancel my account if I was not happy as a written feedback when I was trying to explain to him the problems that I was facing!

One last thing: Do I need to have a famous blog to get your attention?

Their online tracking system’s updates are worthless; at least when the item is coming to Kuwait for S&S.

The status messages you will receive, in order:

Shipment Record Created – Full Record
Shipment Forwarded to – KWI,Kuwait

In one case, my shipment was forwarded to Dubai; that was a nice surprise. I guess flights are full this time of year.

Their SMS notification service stopped working during Ramadan, and I have my Zain line subscribed to it.

Still, its all we have until something better comes along.

Hey , Dont forget that DHL never skip any customes over 100% .. and guess what they deal with it as commercial buisiness and you gonna pay even more than half of ur shipment cost cuz you then gonna pay stamps and alot more things .. in aramex i never pay any tax and i also had this problem with shipping 1 item and leaving the rest in the box for more days even if they all were arrived in same day .. Delay better than paying tax with faster service .. i heared that ghazal express got the same srvice if anyone try it .. let me now

Thanks Feras for replying but the thing is the magazines were the heaviest of my four packages not the lightest. I had a watch strap in one package which weighs like what? 50grams?

Re: HeartBeat – you know that Aramex doesn’t box shipments? If you have 5 shipments, each less than 1lb, then you will get 5 different boxes to Kuwait.

Aramex won’t combine them together, I read that among the many documents that you have to sign to open the account. I’ll try to get the exact wording of the clause.

aramex services sometimes suck and sometimes rocks

i like the people working there but the Management sucks

personal opinion im still waiting for my shipment that they got on the 31st of August and until today its not here

update: Aramex recieved 4 shipments today and will be delivered to me tomorrow, but one shipment which is the 5th (a blu-ray player) got held in customs! :s not again!!

HeartBeat, I’m sorry to hear about the problems you have been facing, and I do appreciate your continued loyalty and support. I’m going to try to address each of the problems you have faced:

About the first issue, this all varies depending on the vendor’s fulfillment centers. For example, Amazon has several fulfillment centers from which we receive packages, and sometimes we get different packages for the same customer on different times, which contributes to the difference in shipping dates for the packages. I’m sorry for not being clearer, but when I said “source” in my first response, source refers to the fulfillment center which the package comes from, and the majority of online retailers have several of these centers.

Also, you need to check with the retailer’s terms of sale, as a lot of retailers send packages as soon as they are available and do not consolidate packages. You need to try your best to consolidate the packages from the source itself so that all of the packages enter a single airway bill upon leaving our facilities in JFK or LON.

We have two separate areas for pickup and delivery, you, the customer, can choose from either preference, which we store in our system. If you prefer having the packages delivered to your doorstep, then you can call your Aramex office, and ask for delivery. If not, you can request to pick up the items yourself, but please ask the Aramex office to update your delivery preferences (and address). If your preference is delivery, and you want to pick up the package, you need to notify your Aramex office by phone and give a time for pickup, otherwise we cannot give you the package and it will be sent out for delivery to your specified address.

We always provide our customers with compensation for lost or damaged shipments. We are committed to delivering on our promises to our customers, however, mistakes do happen, and we assume responsibility for such mishaps when Aramex is at fault, thus, we compensate our customers when such an issue arises.

Finally, you don’t have to be a famous blogger for us to respond; we always scour the majority of blogs out there and try our best to respond. We started two channels on Twitter and Watwet and a Facebook fanpage to collect feedback and help serve you better. We’re constantly trying to come up with ways to stay in touch with our customers. Please, feel free to contact me whenever you have any questions or need assistance! I apologize on behalf of the employee’s negligence, and confirm that it is a single, isolated incident, as we are dedicated to delivering a quality service to our customers.

Burhan, we have a unified online tracking system for all countries. The first message (Shipment Record Created – Full Record) means that the item entered our facilities at JFK, while the second message (Shipment Forwarded to – KWI, Kuwait) means that the package left our JFK facilities and is heading to Kuwait.

Regarding the SMS notification service, can you please send me an e-mail at Feras.Hilal[at]aramex.com with your contact details? I will look into this matter with KWI station.

Mark, apologies for not being clearer in my earlier comment; weight is not the sole factor here, as delivery dates also depend on the source of the shipment (the fulfillment center of the online retailer from which we receive the package. Our system for mail and magazine shipments is different than the one for regular packages. Basically, the data is entered while the magazines are in Kuwait, after sending the mail and magazines in bulk to Kuwait station; that explains why the transit time between the notification and delivery is very little.

I wish I could provide you with more helpful and relevant advice regarding this matter, but due to the many fulfillment centers belonging to retailers and strict US Regulations, we cannot consolidate packages that do not arrive together from the source. I will keep you posted once I receive any information on this, or once regulations change.

At the end of the day, we deal with thousands of packages on a daily basis, our employees are working around the clock to make sure that each package reaches its destination, and we are constantly updating our technology and the level of service we provide. Your input and business are both very valuable to us, and I hope that I have been able to help you, but we face several restrictions on our service, be it the fact that we only carry goods from retailers to consumers (and thus a lot of the retailers’ policies interfere), or the international policies that restrict our scope of work. Please don’t hesitate to contact me anytime for any questions or if you need any help.

Thanks,
Feras,

Feras Hilal
Marketing Team Member – Online Conversationalist
Aramex International, Global Support Office

Tel: +962 6 5515111 ext. 1329
Fax: +962 6 5527461
aramex.com

i think that we should find another courier cause i’ve just received an e-mail from aramex telling me that there is a new update in kuwait customs in the airport and all shipments will be delayed for 5 working days due to customs clearance,or if you are in a hurry you can pass by aramex office in (3ardia) and get your clearance papers and go to the airport so you can finish the clearance by your self (which is really hard if it’s a personal use not a company) that applies to all aramex shop and ship customers from now on.

I totally agree! Great post! I have tried and tested quite few many of these companies and have nothing but heartache. Myus and Aramex are expensiveeeee! They cost you an arm and a leg just to get a 2 lb parcel. I have worked with another forwarding co called Shipito and their rates seemed real. Not only do they consolidated parcels but they get you deep international discounts. Just the other day I sent a parcel to India; a little over 4 lbs costed me 38 bucks with shipito and the same parcel myus was gonna charge me 100 bucks..ridiculous!

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