Instructions for receiving parcels

Dear customers!

Since summer 2024, we have been sending 2 (or 3) additional emails relating to your order:

• Immediately after you place your order, we send an ‘Order Confirmation’. This became necessary because customers would often enquire as early as the next day about when their parcel would be dispatched, even when the delivery time stated in the offer was 5 days. And even though they can view the tracking details in their customer account at any time.
• A few weeks after the order is completed, we check whether the parcel has actually arrived by retrieving the receipt data from DHL. If this is the case, the order is given the status “Received” and the customer receives an email informing them of this.
• For customers who have a customer account: You can checkthe current status of your order at any time on our website under ‘My Account’ – ‘My Orders’ . Customers without an account unfortunately do not have this option, but can ask us for their DHL tracking number so that they can then check the status themselves.

This may initially be perceived as an annoying flood of emails, but it has tangible benefits:

• Customers are kept informed of the status of their order at all times, from the moment they place it right through to receipt. Furthermore, issues such as a neighbour accepting a parcel and failing to notify the customer can be resolved quickly.
• This means it is no longer possible for customers to claim, a year later, that they have not received their parcel and demand compensation!
  In such cases, we would then have to compensate for the ‘loss’, as DHL deletes all shipment records after 3 months: https://www.it-recht-kanzlei.de/nichtzustellung-spaete-reklamation-beweislast.html
  From now on, we will ensure that every customer has access to the full DHL shipment details just a few weeks after completing their purchase. We will therefore no longer accept complaints that are raised weeks or months later.

For customers who have declined to have their customer data stored or to create a customer account:
If you have not received your parcel, please contact us immediately upon receipt of this email; we have the tracking details.
Should you not contact us within one week of receiving this email at the latest, we shall decline any further liability or refund for lost parcels.

Please note that we have thereby fully fulfilled our delivery obligation.

Unfortunately, DHL’s tracking service is only available for up to 3 months after dispatch; after that, DHL deletes this data.
After that, proof of delivery is no longer possible. However, according to current case law, we would be required to refund parcels up to 2 years after receipt!
We have already had cases where customers, 6–12 months after placing their order, sought compensation for parcels they claimed not to have received !
We ourselves can no longer make a claim with DHL regarding parcels after 3 weeks have elapsed and, after that, we no longer receive any compensation from DHL, even if the fault lay with DHL, which is usually the case.
We therefore only accept claims for non-delivery, after you have received this email, up to a maximum of 1 week after this email was sent. After this point, we decline any further liability!

Have you not yet received the parcel because it is at the post office but have still received this email?
That is indeed correct. Unfortunately, it often happens that the DHL courier forgets to leave a delivery notice; after 7 days, the parcel is then returned to us.
That’s another reason why we’ve introduced this special notification and the ‘Received’ dispatch status from 2024 onwards!
Even if you didn’t have a notification card in your letterbox, this email lets you know that the parcel is at your local post office or at a Packstation, and you now have the opportunity to ensure that the parcel is delivered to you before the storage period expires.
Parcels that are returned to us marked ‘uncollected’ will be cancelled by us, and we will invoice you for any additional costs, including any delivery charges, as we too have to pay for every parcel that is returned.
Even if no notification card was left, with this email regarding the dispatch status “Received”, the location of the parcel is deemed to be known.
Therefore, storage at a post office or Packstation is already considered ‘Received’ by us.
Incidentally, refusing to accept a parcel, which would also result in it being returned, does not constitute a valid cancellation.

Another important note for all customers who grant authorisation for parcels to be left, e.g. on a terrace, in a garage, etc.:
Please be aware that, in this case, you are voluntarily waiving any liability on the part of DHL or ourselves!
Should a parcel go missing in this way, we accept no liability. Please do not submit a claim for a refund to us or DHL if you are missing your parcel, as this would be futile.
For future reference, we strongly recommend that you refrain from issuing authorisations for parcels to be left!

A copy of this email, confirming that it has been sent to you, will be stored by us for at least 2 years.

Example page for DHL parcel tracking: