2. misc-audio
  3. 192641-171779

Package Has Disappeared in USPS System

I recently purchased a modestly expensive audio product over the Internet, paid for by credit card, to be shipped to me via the USPS Priority Mail system, with tracking and insurance.  The vendor, who will go unnamed at the moment out of respect for past good service, emailed me that the package shipped on 20 December, although the package did not show up in the USPS system until about 27 December.  Being a patient guy, I figured that the USPS is slow in keeping up with demand over Christmas.  On about 28 December, the USPS tracking system said the package had been received, had been sent to a regional distribution center, and had been shipped on from there.  However, and now it gets "interesting,"  on 31 December, the USPS tracking system said that the label had been created but that the package was not in the system.  In other words, the package had "disappeared" from the USPS system.  At several points in this saga, I contacted the vendor to express my concern, especially after the package disappeared from the USPS system; their response was that I should be patient and await further developments..

On 2 January,I contact the vendor, suggesting they initiate a missing package complaint, file an insurance claim, and requested that they send me a replacement product, assuring them that I would promptly return the first item if it ever showed up. (Coincidentally, on the same date I read a reputably-sourced news item about rampant theft by employees in the USPS system--hardly reassuring.)

The vendor's response again was that I should be patient--in spite of my pointing out that the USPS had obviously lost the package--and await further developments.

However, in spite of normally being a very patient guy, I think, with two weeks having passed and the USPS tracking system now saying they haven't received the package that they previously acknowledged having, it is time for the vendor to send me a replacement item.

I will never use the USPS system for product shipment if there is any other viable alternative.

Several questions come to mind:

1) How long is reasonable to wait for a package that should have been delivered in one to three days?

2)  At what point should a vendor realize that good customer service means providing the customer with a product they shipped with tracking and insurance?

3)  Would it unreasonable for me to tell the vendor that if they cannot provide a replacement product within a few days, I would like my money refunded?  (I am prepared to contest the charge on my credit card for non-performance.

4)  Am I being unreasonable?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 









































 

mike4597
2psyop's avatar
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2psyop
1,610 posts
 

Shipping, that’s usually what I dread the most. I don’t usually fret packages getting lost, but mostly not packed well enough by the seller/shipper or just mishandling by the carrier that causes damage. I have noticed if there is a wild range of prices for shipping between say….between USPS, UPS, FedEx or Freight…buyers will opt for the cheaper price. That complicates the process. I have never heard of anyone successfully getting insurance money from ANY carrier, if a package was lost or damaged???

yesiam_a_pirate's avatar
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yesiam_a_pirate
208 posts
 

Similarly to your story I once lost 5 1 oz US Liberty gold coins shipped USPS. The package arrived 45 or so days later mangled and torn but the gold was in tact and in my hot hand!  I was never so relieved to get something in the mail!

joshua43214
52 posts
 

I ordered coffee from a local store 10 days before Christmas. It made it to my local depot, disappeared and showed up about 1000 miles away in MO 2 days later.
It then made it about 200 miles closer before going back MO.
Nothing at all for a while, then showed up New Years Eve in perfect condition.

 

USPS very seldom loses a package, but they do let them wander around,

Do not think FedEx or UPS are any better.

I had a UPS package wander between Seattle and Los Angeles for 3 weeks before it finally headed east. FedEx did a similar thing with a package wandering between Chicago and Tulsa once.

mike4597 OP
103 posts
 

For Carlsbad2:  I come from serving nearly 41 years in a culture, the US Army, in which when you say you will do something, you do it.  Plain and simple.  I was not upset when the package did not get here in the advertised one to three days; I was not even upset when over a week had passed and still no package.  

I became concerned when the USPS, after acknowledging it had received the package, said it did NOT have the package.  My concern was further heightened when I read the article on the serious problem with employee theft in the USPS system.  I also had had a previous experience when a sensitive package disappeared from the system, the vendor saying they had turned it over to the USPS and the USPS denying they had received it.  Several calls to the USPS resulted in my being told to have the vendor send another package; due to the sensitive nature of the contents, in my final call to the USPS--after about ten days-- I stated that I wanted to initiate a Postal Inspection Service investigation.  The reactions was "Oh, you don't want to do that, do you?"  I stated that I did want to and that I surely would if the package did not show up in 48 hours.  The package showed up the next day.

One thing of which I was not aware was the frequency of problems with the USPS shipping packages, even tracked and insured packages.  That would explain to me the vendor's "wait and see" attitude--they've had plenty of experience with these problems, while I had only a single incident upon which to base my judgment.

As I stated previously, from now on it will be either UPS or FEDEX.

Finally and again, thanks to all for your comments and recommendations.

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