Initial hopes

On May 10th I was called by a representative of Dolfi1920 to arrange a pickup of the damaged suitcase. It appeared the company has its headquarters in Poland and we swiftly moved from speaking Dutch, via English (my Dutch is still quite poor unfortunately) to Polish. The agent was pleasant, friendly and very communicative. For legal reasons I will not name any of the employees I encountered. Suffice to write that there were in total three agents from Dolfi1920 and a single one from Lufthansa involved over the entire course of the matter. 

Immediately my trouble started as employed by Dolfi1920 courier services only worked on weekdays between 9 and 17 and would not schedule a visit for a specific hour. I thought it was really strange and resisted such arrangement, typically being at work during the day, as a regular productive member of the society. The agent was relentless, and after a long conversation I gave in and decided to schedule the pickup in two days and to work from home then, which was possible but a bit inconvenient for me. Specifically asking to relay my mobile number to the courier and to inform me of any developments, I was eager to have the case closed in a short time. I was told that it would take two weeks for the transportation both ways and repair in between, and considered it a fair deal.

On Thursday, May 12th I stayed home working and awaiting the courier. Except, he never came. Nor I received any contact from any of the involved parties. Today, since I am very suspicious of Dolfi1920, which I describe in details further, I even allow myself to think that the courier service might have never been organised at all. Of course I have no proof of anything, except for a statement from Dolfi's agent over a telephone. No written confirmation was sent, and I know now it was a mistake not to demand one. In the evening I sent an email to Dolfi1920 to inform about the failed pickup. 

The following day in the morning I received a call from the same agent expressing his surprise about the lack of pickup. With no apologies about the circumstances he suggested that the courier would appear that day and I should give it to him then. Of course that was not possible as I was busy at work, and the suitcase was home. Then, the biggest concern for him was not to find a solution to suit my needs but to call of the courier service. After a while, he started pushing again to set a new date and repeat the arrangement. I strongly refused and demanded that the pickup is scheduled for a specific hour of my convenience. That was apparently not possible and we went through a list of proposed solutions, none of which really suited me. These were:

• Having somebody else meet the courier,
• Leave the suitcase in front of the house and let the courier pick it from there!;
• Ask a neighbour to do it,
• Bring the suitcase to work and schedule the pickup from there.

Could I have gone to extra trouble and arrange any of them? Of course I could have, but none of the options was really convenient for me. People I live with have other things to do during the day, option 2 was hilarious in the centre of a town, and I could not see myself packing a large suitcase on my bike and cycle for almost 8 km with it (a typical way of commuting to work in the Netherlands). Asking a colleague for a pickup, or using public transport was also an option, but I just did not want to go this extra mile to suit their capabilities while they were supposed to adjust to my needs. 

It is possible that there would not be any case nor this blog should I gave in and did any of the above-mentioned. However, with the current experience in dealing with Dolfi1920, I do not believe that pickup would have been the end of my misery. Let's call it an informed speculation. 

Yet, being unhappy about the lack of pickup to previous day I rejected to do more than the minimum, demanding the pickup is scheduled for the time convenient for me. I actually offered a weekend or almost any weekday morning till 10ish, as long as the courier comes. That was not good enough for Dolfi1920, who certainly did not offer anything more than the bare minimum required. A bit puzzled agent ended the conversation with a promise to speak to his supervisor, find a suitable solution, and then call me back later that day. But of course, he never did.