# Which one? DHL or UPS? (Now that FedEx is banned)



## Pallykin (Mar 30, 2014)

What has been your experience dealing with DHL and/or UPS? Cost?

I've been reviewing the UPS website, and they seem to be all over the idea that documents *don't* need a commercial invoice. That seems like a good thing.


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## ashkevron (May 1, 2012)

DHL I think, they are very pricey but I thought their customer service was incredible. I also liked the fact that they take full responsibility for whatever is sent through them because they do not use subcontractors.


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## MaxSchau (Aug 29, 2014)

I've used both DHL and UPS and looking back I would definitely choose DHL. (I had some bad experience with UPS)


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## v15ben (Feb 19, 2014)

Does anyone have any experience with how to change couriers once Sheffield have your documents? I have sent docs with a Fedex return waybill (on October 14th) so guess I'll need to change to UPS or DHL now.

I'm going to ring Sheffield this morning, but was wondering if anyone has experience of what Sheffield need to return your docs once you've changed couriers?


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## GA2Wales (Sep 6, 2014)

v15ben said:


> Does anyone have any experience with how to change couriers once Sheffield have your documents? I have sent docs with a Fedex return waybill (on October 14th) so guess I'll need to change to UPS or DHL now.
> 
> I'm going to ring Sheffield this morning, but was wondering if anyone has experience of what Sheffield need to return your docs once you've changed couriers?


I think in your case, you can open an account with ups.com and provide your account number to UKVI. They will charge it to your online account when your package is ready for return shipping. 
I'm sure they will contact you via email to ask for it, but if it eases your mind to call, do so.


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## hightensionwire (Jun 23, 2014)

Pallykin said:


> What has been your experience dealing with DHL and/or UPS? Cost?
> 
> I've been reviewing the UPS website, and they seem to be all over the idea that documents *don't* need a commercial invoice. That seems like a good thing.


I tried to make an account with DHL, but they didn't get back to me until well after I needed it. UPS worked just fine, but I think it cost like $130 to send my documents back; granted it was next day shipping.


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## hightensionwire (Jun 23, 2014)

v15ben said:


> Does anyone have any experience with how to change couriers once Sheffield have your documents? I have sent docs with a Fedex return waybill (on October 14th) so guess I'll need to change to UPS or DHL now.
> 
> I'm going to ring Sheffield this morning, but was wondering if anyone has experience of what Sheffield need to return your docs once you've changed couriers?


I didn't change couriers, but I forgot to include my account number in my documents. I simply emailed Sheffield with my application number and gave them my UPS account number. Its pretty simple.


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## Aphrodite_1 (Jul 23, 2014)

Pallykin said:


> What has been your experience dealing with DHL and/or UPS? Cost?
> 
> I've been reviewing the UPS website, and they seem to be all over the idea that documents *don't* need a commercial invoice. That seems like a good thing.


Cannot recommend UPS enough, I did UPS Express with Next Day Air. Expensive, but it was the one thing I didn't have to worry about.

Also another idea- if you know someone who can ship from their work office or something w/ a corporate account, it might be worth asking if they can print shipping/return labels for you (at no or low cost). Assuming of course, it was ok with their superiors etc. etc.


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## Pallykin (Mar 30, 2014)

The label needs to have your account number on it.

My research suggested that DHL might be better for international shipments. They have better market penetration in the rest of the world than their presence in the US might suggest. My impression is that UPS is the most expensive.

In all cases, it seems like a good idea to work out the return waybill well ahead of time, as it can take some time.


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## hightensionwire (Jun 23, 2014)

Pallykin said:


> The label needs to have your account number on it.
> 
> My research suggested that DHL might be better for international shipments. They have better market penetration in the rest of the world than their presence in the US might suggest. My impression is that UPS is the most expensive.
> 
> In all cases, it seems like a good idea to work out the return waybill well ahead of time, as it can take some time.


Absolutely! Give yourself plenty of time to work everything out. I left mine till the last minute thinking it would be much simpler than it was, and it ended up giving me quite a few headaches.
I tried to go the DHL route at first, but ended up not hearing from them for weeks, which kind of turned me off of them, but it seems like plenty of people here have had better customer service experiences with them than I did.


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## v15ben (Feb 19, 2014)

Thanks for the advice everyone.
Have been on the UPS website and it seems fairly straightforward.
The ironic thing is I gave myself more than a month to work all the kinks out with Fedex and had everything perfectly, then they changed the rules a few days before my wife posted the application documents!


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## v15ben (Feb 19, 2014)

I spent the last 45 minutes on the phone to various departments in Sheffield and basically found them to be inept, rude and basically refusing to even try and answer my questions!

Oh well.

I'm going to look into both UPS and DHL options now to compare prices and set up an account with one of them ready for when Sheffield ask for an alternative way to return the documents


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## hightensionwire (Jun 23, 2014)

v15ben said:


> I spent the last 45 minutes on the phone to various departments in Sheffield and basically found them to be inept, rude and basically refusing to even try and answer my questions!
> 
> Oh well.
> 
> I'm going to look into both UPS and DHL options now to compare prices and set up an account with one of them ready for when Sheffield ask for an alternative way to return the documents


Sounds like Sheffield!
Don't expect to get much info out of them, its a bureaucratic system after all. Its basically designed to make you jump through more hoops than a show dog.


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## v15ben (Feb 19, 2014)

Yep, not the highlight of my day for sure.

Random question, but the account with DHL or UPS must be in my wife's name and a US account right?


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## hightensionwire (Jun 23, 2014)

v15ben said:


> Yep, not the highlight of my day for sure.
> 
> Random question, but the account with DHL or UPS must be in my wife's name and a US account right?


Yes.
My spouse was able to pay it through my account, as I was unemployed while waiting for my visa, but the simplest thing to do will be to have your wife make the account herself and just give you the details. That's what we did, anyway.


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## v15ben (Feb 19, 2014)

Yep, that is what I thought.
Just going to set up an account online and give the account number to Sheffield when they ask for it.
Does that sound about right?


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## ashkevron (May 1, 2012)

I've just received the UPS card today for something posted to the address 100 metres away, I swear to god this is true. It is the same street, but completely different house number. I'll have to go maybe tomorrow and see if I can find the people to whom it was addressed.

Regarding DHL, you need to ring them and then they a)move very quickly, same day if required and b)if you complain a bit about the price (and they are quite expensive), offer to reduce it if you are a first time customer.


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## v15ben (Feb 19, 2014)

Good info about DHL.
Will ring them to sort things out


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## v15ben (Feb 19, 2014)

Is it possible to arrange the postage with a UK DHL account?
Just wondering as a.) I have one already and b.) I'll be paying for the docs to go from Sheffield to my wife in the USA.

Does it make a difference or must it be a US account?


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## ashkevron (May 1, 2012)

v15ben said:


> Is it possible to arrange the postage with a UK DHL account?
> Just wondering as a.) I have one already and b.) I'll be paying for the docs to go from Sheffield to my wife in the USA.
> 
> Does it make a difference or must it be a US account?


I don't think it makes much difference, it's probably best to arrange it from the UK if the documents are being sent from the UK.


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## v15ben (Feb 19, 2014)

Do you actually need an account with DHL or can it just be a one-off shipment?
Apparently DHL are telling me I can't set up a personal account and it needs to be in a business name!
I just want to make sure my wife's passport can get back to her.
Why is this stuff so hard!?!


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## GA2Wales (Sep 6, 2014)

v15ben said:


> Do you actually need an account with DHL or can it just be a one-off shipment?
> Apparently DHL are telling me I can't set up a personal account and it needs to be in a business name!
> I just want to make sure my wife's passport can get back to her.
> Why is this stuff so hard!?!



Never mind


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## StephUK_AndyUSA (Nov 19, 2014)

I feel your pain v15ben!! I am going through the same thing right now. How did you manage in the end?

DHL said no because we don't have a business, UPS UK and UPS USA seem like two completely different entities and keep giving us conflicting information so we decided to put a Royal Mail Special Delivery envelope in our application with a note saying that due to no more FedEx and problems with DHL and UPS we would like the documents shipped to the sponsor who will then ship them to the spouse. 

Today we received an email saying "we have been unable to locate your international courier account number with the documents you submitted" then at the bottom of the email, addressed to my American spouse: "Please note that your passport must be returned to you in the USA"

We thought we beat the system. But of course no-one can. Yet another hoop we have to jump through. Now they want us just to send them an account number for an international courier and finally UPS seem to be helping us but it will take them two days to issue us an account number.

Can anyone share some ideas or experiences?

Thanks.


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## Fishor (Jan 10, 2015)

Hi StephUK_AndyUSA 

How did you go about setting up a UPS account? My fiancee and I are in a similar situation, we thought it'd be easy enough for my fiancee in America to go into a UPS store today (Saturday) and get it sent along with a return label but the staff there had no idea what to do, although said they would call her on Monday hopefully with some more information. 

I've since been on the UPS website and registered, but I don't seem to actually have an "account number" yet. The website just doesn't seem that clear and it seems like setting up this type of account has only the option for business. Were there any costs associated with setting up the account?

Thanks


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## Fishor (Jan 10, 2015)

Update to my post above, I somehow managed to fumble my way through the UPS website and get an account set up and get a return label.


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## StephUK_AndyUSA (Nov 19, 2014)

Great! Glad you managed. Good luck!


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