posted on March 2, 2006 12:27:11 PM new
A customer has emailed me stating that she hasn't received her item. It was send Priority on 2/25 to Florida from Ohio and the DC shows it was delivered on the 27th. I told her she needs to take the tracking number to her post office and have them investigate, but I think she wants me to refund her money. It's a small amount, but why should I refund when the DC shows it as being delivered? Either they delivered it to the wrong address or someone at the PO has sticky fingers, but should I have to pay for that? Opinions needed! I'm thinking I'm not going to refund.
Cheryl
"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." - Martin Luther King, Jr.
posted on March 2, 2006 12:31:08 PM new
I myself would not refund. I would however call the 1800 USPS phone number and get the phone number for the post office that it was sent to. Ask to speak with the postmaster and tell him your problem and see if he can investigate it the package further for you. He can ask the route carrier if they remember delivering the package and if someone has "sticky fingers".
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. - Albert Einstein
posted on March 2, 2006 12:35:07 PM new
Personally I wouldn't refund as the item shows as delivered. However from a customer service angle I'd want to appear supportive and willing to work with them to resolve the issue. Point them (as you have) in the direction of their local Post Office to make further inquiries.
A key point with any outgoing mail is to make sure you have a legible water-proof return address on all items. Makes it much easier for the 1 in 500 or 1000 items that can't be delivered and which is 'RTS'...
posted on March 2, 2006 12:46:51 PM new
I gave her the DC number and advised her to take it to her PO. It may have been delivered to the wrong address and someone is not being honest. I do have a good lable on it and put clear packing tape over the addresses so there is no way you can miss the return address.
Cheryl
"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." - Martin Luther King, Jr.
posted on March 2, 2006 01:07:55 PM new
If I understand correctly what I have been told, the scan on DC packages is done when the package reaches the station, not when it is delivered to your house.
The package may very well still be at the station.
posted on March 2, 2006 03:37:19 PM new
fLuff - I'm not sure how it works out west but my post office does not operate like this. My rural route carrier carries a hand scanner with her(like the UPS, DHL or FedEx man has). When she delivers packages to me she scan's the DC barcode just before handing them to me. At the end of her route she downloads her hand held scanner at the post office and it is updated to the USPS database. This is one reason it usually takes a day for DC info to be updated to the website. My 2 local post offices that I deal with are both small with only 1 or 2 counter people, 1 or 2 in the back, the postmaster and a couple of route carriers so these are rather small post offices. I would think this is how it is done in most places.
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. - Albert Einstein
posted on March 2, 2006 03:51:13 PM new
I think most of us here have heard that DC means delivered to your post office. I guess maybe there are exceptions to that.
Agitprop: I always cover the address on a package or envelope with clear tape and probably will never stop doing that. Even on a 1st-class envelope to a buyer.
______________________________
posted on March 2, 2006 03:54:23 PM new
My postman scans at my house.
And No Cheryl, I would not even be considering refunding at this point. Since the package was scanned as delivered, someone on that end needs to account for it.
If the PO can not find it with the first inquiy, an official investigation needs to be requested.
posted on March 2, 2006 03:56:12 PM new
About 3 weeks ago, I sent an item to my brother in law via priority mail with DC. I shipped it on a Friday to his office which is a USFS Ranger station. The PO site shows the item as being delivered on Saturday morning at 10:30 A.M. The problem is, the office was closed for the weekend and it actually got delivered by the letter carrier at 3:30 PM the following Monday. It had been scanned when it reached the post office, not when it delivered. The delivery information you gather from the P.O. Web site when you type in the DC number is less than worthless. It does not show that the item was delivered to the customer. DC is NOT tracking, and is not even remotely related to legitimate tracking. It serves only two useful purposes. 1) If you have the hand stamped green retail receipt, you can prove that you handed the package to a clerk at the Post Office to mail it on a certain date. 2) If it is scanned at any time in or near the destination city, it gives the Postal Service a perfect excuse to deny any insurance claim for a missing item.
If Murphy's law is correct, everything East of the San Andreas Fault will slide into the Atlantic
posted on March 2, 2006 04:05:16 PM new
sparkz - I think your situation with your brother might be a little different than with normal postal delivery. I myself served in the military and was stationed at Ft. Bragg, NC in 7th Special Forces Group (A). In the military there is the post office and there is "the guy" that hands out the mail. At least when I was in 13 or so years ago a soilder from each unit handled the actual final delivery of mail, not a postal employee. The base post office sorts the mail into lots to different units and either delivers the lots to the unit HQ company or as on Bragg a soilder from the Group HQ G4 section made a trip daily to the post post office and picked up the units mail. He then would actually make the final delivery at the unit end.
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. - Albert Einstein
posted on March 2, 2006 04:07:13 PM new
Here in Long Island New York my postman scans the package when he hands them to me, he once gave me a few at a time and came back later to say He forgot to scan one of the packages, so he checked them all and scanned the one he forgot, That's how they do it here in New York.
I had a buyer who said he didn't receive his package and it showed that it was delivered to his street address. I told him to check with his post office to see what they can tell him. Well instead of checking with them he gave me a NEG, saying I never delivered his package..........lol
[ edited by tonimar1 on Mar 2, 2006 04:10 PM ]
posted on March 2, 2006 05:28:26 PM new
I saw an email someone had written with the same problem on this board a long time ago and saved it, just in case:
Dear Buyer,
Thank you for your inquiry. Your item was shipped on.. with delivery confirmation #Xxxxxxxxxx, if you go to the postal website and insert that number into Track & Confirm you will see the time and date it was delivered.
At this point, you need to contact your Postmaster so they can speak to the carrier to determine where they delivered the item.
If, after checking with your Post Office, you do not find your package, please contact me so that we can initiate a mail fraud investigation. Since delivery confirmation was used, the Post Office will investigate why you never received your package, because someone, somewhere, has it.
Mail fraud is a felony and the Post Office takes these types of complaints very seriously.
Kindest regards,
posted on March 2, 2006 05:28:29 PM new
Update - she has her package. For some reason, it was sitting at the post office. They got it on the 27th!! She paid on the evening of the 24th and I shipped the morning of the 25th. So, getting to Florida on the 27th was great. Too bad after paying for Priority, she got it today - the 2nd of March and only after going to the post office to inquire about it.
Cheryl
"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." - Martin Luther King, Jr.
posted on March 2, 2006 05:41:00 PM new
This has happened to Ralphie & me around 3-4 times -- we ALWAYS call the customer's LOCAL PO & try to track down the delivery person...
EACH TIME, the DP remembered the delivery!
I relay this info to my "customer" in Ralphie's usual diplomatic manner:
"Dear Putz:
I'm so sorry to hear that you've encountered a bogus problem with delivery!
As you can see, the USPS DELIVERY CONFIRMATION web-site indicates that the package was delivered to your hovel on...
Since Ralphie & I strive to provide the bestest service on eBay, we called your local PO and spoke with your delivery person who distinctly remembers delivering the smash video: "1001 Nights in the Arms of my Monkey-Love"
Please check with family membors (like yer PREVERT 13yo son) or neighbors -- perchance they accepted the package & it just slipped their mind to inform you?
If you cannot find it, please contact me ASAP so I can enlist the services of the USPS POSTAL INSPECTORS to investigate any potential criminal activity.
I've worked with the USPS POSTAL INSPECTORS in the past, and they are remarkable in their ability to solve instances of CRIME and FRAUD!
Again, THANK YOU for your purchase, and have a NICE DAY
Sincerely,
Tom & Ralphie"
Well, goshes & gollywompers, Chipper-Monkees, as ELO said: "It's a Miracle!"
The UNDELIVERED package ALWAYS magically becomes DELIVERED after I sent that tender missive!
"As you can possibly see, I have an injury myself—not here at the hospital, but in combat with a cedar. I eventually won. The cedar gave me a little scratch."
—After visiting with wounded veterans from the Amputee Care Center of Brooke Army Medical Center, San Antonio, Texas, Jan. 1, 2006
posted on March 2, 2006 07:40:00 PM new
Kudos on your shipping time. Much better than most sellers.
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Many misleading tricks in 2006. The new Demomoron slogan.
posted on March 2, 2006 08:34:42 PM new
agitprop - Hmm, some states? Here's the US Postal Code 601.12.5.4
12.5 Other Nonmailable Matter
12.5.4 Lewd or Filthy Matter
Obscene, lewd, lascivious, or filthy publications or writings, or mail containing information on where, how, or from whom such matter may be obtained, and matter that is otherwise mailable but that has on its wrapper or envelope any indecent, lewd, lascivious, or obscene writing or printing, and any mail containing any filthy, vile, or indecent thing is nonmailable (18 USC 1461, 1463) [C031.5.4]
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. - Albert Einstein
posted on March 2, 2006 08:53:29 PM new
When something shows it is delivered and the customer says that don't have it, I give them the dc number and tell them to talk to the post office, the delivery person, etc.
Most of the time, they come back and say they have the item. Perhaps they were fishing for a refund, perhaps they get so many packages they lost track - Whatever, I am just glad it got delivered.
For the rare occasion when it shows delivered and they still don't have it (and have talked to the post office who don't know) I then advise them that they may want to file a police report, that we might be dealing with a theft issue. I've actually never had anyone challenge that and demand a refund, they realize they are screwed (if they are telling the truth) - People do steal packages left on the porch.
posted on March 3, 2006 03:54:32 AM new"12.5.4 Lewd or Filthy Matter"
Yo! KeepOnTrucking:
Monkey-Porn ain't FILTH -- it's: ART!
"As you can possibly see, I have an injury myself—not here at the hospital, but in combat with a cedar. I eventually won. The cedar gave me a little scratch."
—After visiting with wounded veterans from the Amputee Care Center of Brooke Army Medical Center, San Antonio, Texas, Jan. 1, 2006
I ship all packages the next day. With being able to print postage and request a carrier pickup, there's really no reason not to. Besides, it gets it out of my house that much faster.
Cheryl
"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." - Martin Luther King, Jr.
posted on March 3, 2006 09:36:27 AM new
I couldn't agree more. I do pretty much the same other than I bring them with me to work and give them to the postal carrier there.
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Many misleading tricks in 2006. The new Demomoron slogan.
posted on March 3, 2006 09:53:17 AM new
if you do not receive your package,the post office will encourage you to file a report and they will forward it to a place in San Francisco where all undelivered mail end up.
I have yet to hear anyone recovering his package after filing that report,but I think there are a lot of undelivered mail there.
Mike,
where I live,they will come to the door and then scan the DC right in front of me,but with small packages,they just leave it in my mail box,when do they scan those small packages ,I dont know ,it could be right there standing in front of the mailbox or at the post office when they pick up their mail in the morning.
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. - Albert Einstein
"As you can possibly see, I have an injury myself—not here at the hospital, but in combat with a cedar. I eventually won. The cedar gave me a little scratch."