Sellers are not liable for carriers' actions. Besides, stuff arrives eventually. Is it frustrating? Yes. But honestly yall need to chill
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?
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I have seen some “interesting” things happen with shipments in my industry where items get stuck at a terminal for weeks, rerouted to other parts of the country more than once, get left off trucks when they were logged as being “on vehicle for delivery” and more. Sometimes it just happens. What’s more surprising for me, is the postures that some suggest here so soon to be taken out on the seller. I think the age of Amazon has really spoiled some people. Geez. |
@devinplombier sellers are responsible to get the stuff to your door. And NO, we don't need to chill. When my delivery is late to my client, they rip me a new one and I can just hope to keep the contract We should expect exactly what it says in the contract. 2 days or 20 days - should exactly be that. Don't be in the shipping business of you can't stick to what YOU THE SHIPPER promised We need to hold these corporations responsible if we don't want to turn into a third world country |
I have a small online business that routinely ships packages via USPS, and maybe one package has been lost over the past 10 years - this mind you after shipping about 2,500 packages in the "flat rate" boxes supplied by the USPS. Of course, my shipping receipts are always kept, and the first thing I do upon arriving home from the PO is to email the customer the tracking link copied from the USPS "tracking" page. It requires the tracking number be typed in by me. My paper receipts are meticulously filed. Whether or this "postal hygeine" has a beneficial effect on delivery I cannot say, but it appears to do so. Of course there are available more automated ways to do USPS shipping that don't require my typing much of anything, but I am old and in the way. If a shipper to me cannot supply a tracking link then I do not do business with them., If nobody has a tracking number including me then everybody is SOL. |
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- 86 posts total