Shipping - "An extra one for the road" - to Germany

And another week gone.
Who is Vigo Logistics Management? They created the DHL label online. Is it a fullfilment company for Philips?

Is it so difficult to get an official answer within 8 days? :slightly_frowning_face:

As far as I know, Yes.
They also managed the previous deliveries in Germany. At least the DHL Tracking number for my first PPM was also created by Vigo Logistics Management.

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I wrote them an email last week. They answered,.but doesn’t have a clue. LOL

For the first PPM, it took a good while since they registered the DHL Tracking number till the tracking data actually started showing something.
This was also explained by @IvoGrijt a lot of times and if I’m not mistaken there’s also some post somewhere with common issues and feedback related to shipments and tracking numbers.

The tracking number will start updating first when the batch of PPM arrives in Germany and is scanned by DHL Germany.

I don’t think this time will be any faster than the previous times.

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Please see our [FAQ] Tracking and Shipping #4 for an explanation for the shipping route to EU.

Vigo Logistics is a German partner of our forwarder in China. We don’t have any direct contact with them.

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Thanks! But for sure you know if the PPM is in stock in Germany or still in China.

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And another week is passing without info if the PPM is in Germany, Asia or not produced at all. :pensive:

Yeah, some more info would be nice.
The Tracking Number even shows the electronically submitted information has been cancelled (however this only shows when using the DHL App/German version, not on the english one) - which makes me slightly more concerned.

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I personally would actually not be THAT concerned about that message (but in the same time I don’t tell you to not be concerned)

For me, a software developer living in Germany and having had worked with several APIs from all kinds of big companies in Germany, this message only tells me that DHL implemented a time out waiting for a package to be handed over after the tracking number was generated electronically (another API call).

This theory is based on what the users in this forum are reporting about tracking numbers with such a status (Tracking number was cancelled because package was not delivered) being yet updated a while later when the packages did arrive in Germany and were scanned by DHL.

DHL has a well known (in Germany at least) history of confusing statuses shown on their apps/websites.
I think I still have a print screen from the trackig of one of my packages a few years ago, saying “Package could not be delivered, the receipent was not home” although the package was supposed to be delivered (and it was delivered the next day) in one of DHL’s post boxes (Packstation)

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@dragos Thank you for that input. Yes I can confirm that status from DHL is from time to time inconsistent. But anyway I don’t want to discuss app technologies or how DHL is working. I’m asking Philips (with who we have a “contract”) about the status. At least they should know if the units are produced or not, on the way from Asia, somewhere in Europe or already in Germany. I’m ordering stuff online every week. None of the sellers has that lack of information. Very disappointing!

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Lieber Andreas,

Indeed! This is also one piece of information I am expecting (if the batch has left China already)
As far as I have seen on this forum, the devices are already produced, currently there are only logistic problems delaying the deliveries.
But I’ll let @IvoGrijt and his colleagues give us a more precise feedback on this issue :slight_smile:

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On Monday the forwarder told my colleague PhilipsNono that:

The delivery time is Wednesday, and the scanning time is expected to be Friday or Saturday

This was supposedly referring to both EU and ROW shipments. So they would be delivered to DHL in DE and in HK today, and scanning by DHL would happen Friday or Saturday.

Regarding the shipments being cancelled by DHL: we’ve seen this happen in the last 2 batches that came to the EU, but previous batches have sat for over a month before being scanned and were not cancelled. Then again, lots of those were duplicate numbers, so perhaps that’s why they weren’t cancelled.
In any case, the previous EU batch to have shipments that were cancelled by DHL were still shipped properly once DHL did get the packages and scanned them in, so nothing to worry about it seems.

I agree with you, it’s disappointing that our forwarder doesn’t (proactively or upon request) keep us up to date so we can keep you up to date also. Due to how they ship the units in bulk to DE and HK, we don’t know where our shipments are until DHL scans them in.

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@IvoGrijt Thanks a lot! That’s an answer I can live with. :pray::+1: Let’s keep all fingers crossed! :crossed_fingers::crossed_fingers::crossed_fingers: Maybe it’s then not to late for an outdoor cinema evening.

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Well Ivo, that is not completely accurate as there are quite a lot of those projectors that have not been yet shipped. I am still waiting for an update on where mine is after I gave you my address again. I did not yet receive a new tracking ID nor I know anything about when I can expect to receive my projector that apparently was stuck for 3 months in the warehouse and was sent back to the forwarder.
Thanks a lot for your support!

Every unit in the shipment I was talking about, where the DHL scanning took so long that DHL cancelled the shipments electronically, was scanned in successfully and shipped, with almost all having been delivered since. So my statement regarding Cancelled Tracking Numbers is correct.

This is also true, as your shipment was an earlier one, where the tracking label was not cancelled but where due to duplicates being used, a lot of the shipments failed. Some are still in DHL limbo, whereas others have been returned to the warehouse in Germany.
The reason why you don’t have an update is because I don’t have one to give. The forwarder has the list of shipments they have to resend and where to do so for a while now, but no word on the new tracking numbers yet, we keep chasing them on this, and also on those that haven’t been returned yet by DHL.

We even asked them to return a bunch of them to our offices in Switzerland instead so that we could then handle the reshipment ourselves, despite of the extra costs involved, but even on that front there’s no movement.

I want to thank you from my side for your support and patience. Know that as soon as I have these new tracking numbers I’ll be updating your tickets, even if I have to work through the night like so many nights lately.

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Thanks for the update. Ivo, just to be clear, I don’t expect or want you to be working long hours in the night. I think that the whole process is broken and should be fixed. I trust you and I am convinced that you are doing all your best but the only reason I backed up this project was because it was supported by Philips. Now, I am starting to lose any hope that I will ever receive the projector so I would appreciate if you could either provide any estimate of by when I will receive it or guidance on how to get a full refund.

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There’s no need to lose hope. And I’m not working long hours for the pay but to fix the situation we are all in due to many reasons.
We are chasing the forwarder and they seem some days to run really hard for us, and on other days we can’t get anything out of them. But we are moving forward. Once you have the projector you’ll enjoy it and all will be soon forgiven.
The forwarder is dependent on their partner in Germany to actually print out the new labels, stick them on the packages, and schedule the pickup by DHL. They might be backlogged at the warehouse also, but they eventually did ship the previous list of 54 shipments I sent to them, most arriving within 3-6 days.

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Good morning @IvoGrijt! Just to let you know: You wrote that the parcels would be scanned Friday or Saturday by DHL Germany. But till today there is no update, the old tracking number is still cancelled and no new number is sent. :man_shrugging:

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…and @IvoGrijt if you need some PPM …there are still 16 in stock by Amazon, sold directly by Philips Projectors. :wink: