US > UK postal issues again?

I had an Asteroids PCB go missing. Sent in July (!) and I got an email from the seller about 2 weeks back saying it had been returned to him as 'not collected' - the postie hadn't left a collection card so I never went to the PO to collect it and they sent it back after a month. Quite why it took another 3 months to return to him I have no idea, but I was pretty pissed off.

Stone

 

Pre Christmas, and in a different postal zone I found seveal 'You were not in cards' dumped on the ground which I returned to the local post office, otherwise I suspect those deliveries might have ended up in the same sort of position. They were pre-filled so it confirmed to me that some post offices don't bother checking whether you are in, they assume you'll not be or can't carry all the parcels and just fire in cards to get you to shift your butt and collect the parcels etc.

If Sweden / USA can organise a system whereby you can have your own mail box and deliveries are handled effectively, why don't they have an automated system for those who sign up for it whereby instead of a card that can go missing, become damage, get dumped on the ground, chewed by a hungry dog (or weird cat) or simply not be posted at all, why don't they email? I mean it would be a straight forward thing if the barcode is scanned, the details fed-in and boom, they'd have fewer lost parcels imho! Thus costs would even out.

 

I had a shirt that PhantasyStar mailed on the 10th December that arrived Monday this week, quite slow, but was normal mail

 

With all of these EXTREMELY slow shipments, I wonder if my PS2 games will make it to France... Only time will tell, I guess.

I just don't understand why it would take MONTHS to deliver something...

 

I don't like post stuff overseas much but the last think i posted to an AG in finland was delivered in decent time by parcel force. I once had a Graphics card from ebay take longer than expected to be delivered by Royal Mail and after contacting the seller he gave me a tracking number although this item somehow was only trackable once i had received it which i was annoyed at.

I've found the few times when buying from online shops i will always go for the more expensive means of delivery city-link or whatever is used as city-link they have delivered on time even with large items and given me the best possible service with nothing going wrong

 

AKA ShittyLink... Its all a postcode lottery.

 

Probably returned by sea.

Paris, I would check with your local sorting station in case the same happened!

 

I ordered the Ultimate Blade Runner box set from Amazon US because it was more than half the retail price of Japan. So the item was posted on December 18th via DHL. The tracking states it was picked up from Amazon in Arizona and err, that's it. Amazon finally said last night that it's lost (more likely stolen) so they sent me out a full new set free of charge

Yakumo

 

My mom had the same problem with my brother's Christmas presents, the package supposedly disappeared. They re-sent, and one did arrive before christmas, but the other not till a bit after.

 

Okay, a little bit of information. Kev has sent me the tracking details for US Postal Service, which we have discovered 'stop' the moment the parcel / package / letter leaves the United States. There is no agreement between Parcel Farce & United States Postal Service to allow tracking to your door in the UK. Other postal services however DO offer this and I would suggest it is useful.

What happens is that Parcel Force collect all mail entering into the UK on behalf of Customs & Excise. PF allocate a NEW tracking number and then the customs process takes over (i.e. whether you are expected to pay VAT & Excess on the item in question) either releasing it for immediate delivery or holding it until you are contacted by Parcel Farce in order to pay / arrange delivery.

Anything that is NOT paid for is either returned to source (i.e. USA and sender (return to sender)) or sold off at auction... Nice!

Without a tracking number, Customs & Excise cannot trace the package, so your first point of call is Parcel Force: 02476 213811 or try your local sorting office.
Then you can call Customs on: 02476 212800 and have them locate the parcel and confirm it's status.

 

Just called Parcel Force. The item has been allocated a new tracking number and only entered the UK today (11th Jan) at 8:41am from Jersey, where according to PF it has sat in a backlog since 15th Dec, so in this particular instance it does actually appear to be a US Postal issue.

The operator confirmed that China, USA and certain European countries were experiencing the same issues.

 

Well i bought some games from a AG member which were shipped on the 12th December, and they arrived 2 days ago, after leaving the US on the 15th, and to add to insult they also delivered to the wrong address, and again yesterday i had a parcel come by parcel force, again delivered to the wrong address, fortunately my neighbor who received the parcel bought it round to me, but still does not make up for parcelfarces incompetency!

 

The solution is simple...move 2 doors down, then PF will get it right! ;-)

 

Every now and then the European systems tighten their restrictions a bit. It happened with Italy last summer and now it's happening in England, France, Spain, the UK, and Holland. Suddenly there will be a list of requirements that were mostly waived off before come into effect, and it usually happens at the beginning or middle of the year.

In Japan they's starting to check things like insurance limits per country and they now require special invoices to Italy, Canada, and Australia. They used to let you slide if you were 1-2 cm over the limit but now they won't. They're making you follow most of the rules for each country.

Just about every package I've sent to France got held in customs and I had to create a receipt and send it to the buyer. Now I include the receipt on top of every box going to France.

I'm assuming that the delay problems are because of some new laws that recently went into effect. It will take a month or two to sort out, maybe longer for less developed postal countries.

I guess you can say it's basically going to suck for a little while.

 

Strange how that seems to be so familiar? :crying:

 

FedEx FTW.

-hl718

 

Just as proof I was sent this by the US Postal service:

Delivered Abroad GREAT BRITAIN 01/14/08 9:12am

Out of Foreign Customs GREAT BRITAIN 01/11/08 8:43am

Arrived Abroad GREAT BRITAIN 01/11/08 8:41am

International Dispatch UNITED STATES 12/15/07 6:31pm

Acceptance CLIFTON NJ 07011 12/13/07 6:27pm

Electronic Shipping Info Received CLIFTON NJ 07011
12/13/07

That's AIRMAIL folks! OH:

 

Just gonna add to this by saying that i am also waiting for an item that is coming from the states which was sent on the 6th Dec. As it's a hard to find PCB i am a little worried

Damn postal system!

 

They are taking an age, however I can no confirm safe arrival of said item(s)