Delivery option: Agreed Place

Agreed Place means consumers can give their permission for the DHL courier to leave a parcel at a specific location around their home. Customers can select this service online after we have sorted your shipment. It’s up to customers to decide whether they wish to use the service, and they are the ones who choose the safe, sheltered location around their home.

Because lots of recipients want it – it's that simple! Increasingly, our couriers find notes asking them to leave the parcel somewhere. And research (including a pilot in the Netherlands) shows that the option is a huge boost to customer satisfaction. In fact, recipients rate this service higher than all our other delivery options. That’s why we’ve turned it into an official, formal process. This means senders, couriers and recipients know exactly what they can and can’t expect from the service.

Once your parcel has been handed over to us, your customers can amend the delivery arrangements on the DHL track and trace page. They enter their shipment number and postal code, and in ‘make other arrangements’, they select ‘a safe place around the home’. They then enter their email address and indicate where they would like the courier to leave the parcel. This needs to be a safe, sheltered spot around the property. Recipients are therefore not allowed to select another address.

We keep your customer updated on the delivery status by email. Your customer can also use track and trace to see whether and when we delivered the parcel at the Agreed Place. This delivery option is of course also available in the My DHL app.

If your parcel needs to be delivered with a delivery receipt (signature or PIN code) or age check, customers will not be shown the Agreed Place option. If the parcel is on its way to a DHL ServicePoint, customers will no longer be able to amend the delivery appointment.

With help from you and recipients, we will keep this delivery option reliable:

• As a sender, you always have the option of not allowing the Agreed Spot service. We advise against offering Agreed Place option for suspicious or fraud-sensitive purchases, such as items purchased on credit or using Afterpay, or high-value items. In such cases, when arranging the parcel delivery, please select the option ‘Not in Agreed Place’. For more advice and information on the various options, please get in touch with your DHL contact.
• We tell your customers never to share their shipment number or postal code with anyone else. This reduces the risk of fraud.
• Although it’s your customers who decide what they consider to be a safe place, DHL couriers also assess the location. If they don’t believe it’s safe enough, we won’t leave the parcel there. The courier gives a reason, which is displayed for you and your customer on track and trace.
• Your customers decide which parcels they use the Agreed Place for. We recommend not arranging for high-value items to be left unattended outside their home.
• A courier will first ring the doorbell and try to hand over the parcel. If no one answers, he/she will check the Agreed Place and place the parcel there. We emphasise to our couriers that they must only leave the parcel if the place is sheltered and not visible from the street.
• As soon as DHL has reason to exclude specific postal code areas, then we will not offer the Agreed Place service.

When your customer contacts you, we recommend checking the following:

• Ask your customer to check the delivery status on track and trace. Maybe the courier hasn’t been along yet, or the parcel has been delayed.
• Track and trace lets you see the status of the Agreed Place delivery. If the courier decided not to leave the parcel there, the reason for doing so will be in the details section.
• If track and trace shows that the parcel couldn’t be delivered, the customer should have received a card in his/her mailbox with details of the next delivery attempt and/or an e-mail from DHL explaining the next step in the delivery process. Ask about this when you speak to the customer.
• If track and trace is showing that the parcel has been left in the Agreed Place but your customer says there isn’t a parcel there, please get in touch with the DHL customer service department. We log every delivery (including a photo) and can conduct further investigations into the delivery status.

• DHL is liable until the moment the parcel is left in the Agreed Place. We log every delivery, and our customer service department has access to all logging details.
• Just like when we deliver your parcel in person at the door, the customer is liable for damage to, loss of, or theft of your parcel after DHL has left it in the Agreed Place.
• Each time a customer opts for the Agreed Place service, we point out the rules of the game, tips and General Terms and Conditions. When customers change a delivery option, they first have to agree to these terms and conditions.
• There is an additional condition in our contracts with senders – view our additional terms and conditions here.