I purchased a RE-Amemiya Dry Carbon Fiber Hood AD 9 from RHDJapan last June with an eta of 2/21/25. When that day came they told me that it's behind and quoted me 5/21/25. I was ok with that, all I asked was to keep me updated on the order.

So on 4/14 RHDjapan sent me an email telling me that I have until 4/17 to get into contact with DHL or else they will send my hood back to Japan. No notice prior or anything, the order was shipped out on the 4/4/25. I didn't see the email until the 15th @ 9pm and have no idea that anything has been done because the last I heard it was being delivered 5/21. I work a graveyard shift so I stay up till 8am on the 16th because DHL does not have an actual person until then to take care of the customs issue. DHL says they place the order on a temporary hold... cool. The 17th comes around and RHDJapan emails me telling me that the order has been returned to shipper and that I either pay for shipping it back or get a refund with a 35% restocking fee. Shipping was more expensive than the hood itself at 1900+ usd. I call DHL and they say there's nothing they can do even though the hood is still in Cincinnati. I am lost at this point on what to do, has anyone come across this situation? Any suggestions?

 

What's a plane ticket to Cinncinati these days?

 

Wow....feel your pain!
Never dealt with DHL just know that FD hoods are too large to ship UPS and have sold many hoods but all have been picked-up.
You have spent big money and got nothing yet....surely DHL can get it delivered from Cincy.

 

Has DHL had a record of problems like this. What does social media say.

 

Not sure, I haven't used DHL before. But they're pretty solid on telling me that they can't help me. I talked to three different people. One said that she couldn't help me, maybe customs department may. She " transferred" me to the customs department but all it did was hang up on me. Next person said she couldn't help me and that she will get a supervisor to give me a call in 90 minutes. That didn't happen. And the last guy said there's nothing we can do as it's already been sent back. This was at 8 am in the morning, it shows that it was sent back at 11pm yesterday night. I doubt flying to Cinncinati would have been a good idea after seeing how helpful they were.

 

That's a DHL issue.

I used to import Apple juice concentrate from the UK for cider makers in the USA. DHL was our first choice to get samples delivered (USA to USA) to our customers, using food grade 5 gallon sealed buckets. DHL managed to break 80% of them by dropping them, naturally most of my customers refused delivery of a soaking wet box with a broken bucket inside. I talked to DHL, and they said I still owed them for delivery and weren't responsible for the damage. I told them no thanks, let's cut our losses and part ways, then they had their legal team send a demand letter. I hate DHL with a passion, lost a few contracts directly from that.

RHDJapan might be able to help a bit more, they are my go-to for parts.

 

But DHL is the official logistics for Formula 1. Surely they can deliver 1 hood..

in all seriousness, that does blow. How could they drop the ball like this. I think this is mainly RHD problem. How could they not tell you the item was shipped. After patiently waiting for the thing for so long..

I hope it gets worked out. You paid so much and have nothing to show for it…

 

Bummer, I'm in a very similar boat as you. RHD order from last year, RE parts delayed multiple months. My family and I had to move unexpectedly so I contacted RHD preemptively to help smooth out the process. Still waiting for parts btw.

+1 fly out or find a friend

Be patient and I'm sure you'll figure something out

 

Rhdjapan never reached out that the package has been shipped?
DHL did not send you texts about the status/delivery day etc?
DHL never reached out to give you the option to do the signature release the package?
and DHL did not attempt to deliver?

It feels like there’s something missing from the story. I have been using DHL with for my RHDJAPAN shipments and all the 4 things i mentioned above happen every time

 

Check out jessestreeter.com as an intermediary for buying and shipping stuff from Japan. He will not help bail out others problems, but such problems can be avoided by starting with him. He will be up to date of issues with suppliers in Japan. Such a which couriers are dropping the ball. I have literally bought tons of stuff (wheels, engine plate, etc.) through him without any issues.

For even bigger and awkward stuff (such as complete engines) we luckily have a local guy consolidating stuff into container shipments for the local tuner community. He ships about eight containers a year. He works closely with a wrecking yard in Japan. I have diverted large items to that yard when Buyee wants too much for shipping or rejects items for being "oily".

 

No, RHDJapan never told me my item was shipped.
DHL never sent me an email or text letting me know that I had an item and that I needed customs paperwork done on it. They tried telling me that over the phone that a text was sent to the registered phone number, but when I looked back on 4/6. That day I received no text at all. When I search my email "DHL" nothing recent pops up. At this point I don't believe DHL for **** because they've lied to me all 3 times that I have tried to take care of this situation. I'm telling you I didn't find anything out until RHDJapan sent me an update on 4/14 and I didn't see the email until 4/15 at night when I was at work.

 

That is odd. What does the timeline look like in your order? It will usually have the updates in there and not the ticket section. The tickets are usually just used for communications with questions or problems from my past experiences. I've ordered a ton from them over the years and have had DHL delivered as well and have not had these issues. They have always been good with updating the order page and I get an email any time something changes with the status.

 

You might have better luck if you could investigate this with DHL through someone that has a business account with them. I have found FedEx support to be a rough as a regular customer but they will lift heaven & earth when it's our business account. Any vendors on here with a DHL account seeing this could earn a customer for life with a little phone call on his behalf.

 

Check you spam email box?

Sometimes important emails get diverted.

I have found this with troubleshooting emails coming in from Buyee.

 

So I did double check today and found an email on the 3rd of Apr that says it was shipped out in the title, but all it says is to check the account. No tracking number. When I check the tickets the only thing that I saw at that time was Apr 2 and it got closed.

 

Well guys I am wrong. This whole time I thought dhl did not send a text but they did on the 6th. I originally scrolled down in my messages to the 6th and it doesn't show anything from dhl. I then searched for dhl and it doesn't really show anything for the 6th as well until I clicked on the past messages and it showed it there for some reason. I didn't see that message spot up top. In the red circle.... I guess I am screwed.

 

It is scary for all of us, and a reminder to keep close track of things (which I seldom do).

So what are you going to do? Have it re-shipped?

(Watch out for tariffs!)

 

Ohhh.. wait, you’re running droid??

In all honesty, we trust tech way too much. You never know what these things hang up on some things for no reason..
another friend of mine went radio silent for almost 1/2yr. All of a sudden I get a message from them appologizing for all the missed messages. For whatever reason the program stayed hung and couldn’t update properly. It’s not until they checked their phone manually that they realized they missed a ton of messages from a variety of people.
Coincidently, they were running droid too…

I hope they work out the confusion and you receive the hood as you expected.

 

I don't even know at this point, DHL is doing that thing on the 22nd over 800 bucks no shipment thing. I guess I'll see what we can work out.

Dang I guess a point goes to apple. Never thought I'd say that... lol. Thanks though I guess we see what happens.

 

In the future if you decide to still order from RHDJapan, don't rely on the messages or tickets. Those are not typically used unless you have a question or a problem. All the shipping status information will be under "my orders" and will say if they are waiting for it, packing it, if it was shipped etc. They will also have a link to the shipping/tracking number. When you get the email from them, it will usually only say there was a change to the status of your order and you have to log in to see what the status change was. They won't email you the shipping information, you need to log in and check on the site.

 

I am sure you guys are aware of the current situation of things