Lost in the post-advice required!

Ferrum

Ferrum

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2,367
Location
Silly Suffolk
I, and at least one other forum member, ordered Plissoft brushes from Italian Barber. These were sent via tracked USPS, and got as far as Heathrow on or about 25th November. They have now "disappeared".
There is no further tracking info from Royal Mail or USPS, and enquiries made of Royal Mail, who are as helpful as a bad dose of 'flu, results in "we don't know where it is, perhaps Customs".
From posts under the Brushes section of the forum, it seems that other brushes, ordered later than ours, have been received by the purchasers in the UK. This is not a good sign for our goods.

I have not encountered this problem before, but I imagine other members have. I would therefore ask for some specific advice from members on what to do if my brush doesn't show up; namely:-
  1. what is a reasonable time to allow for it to show before further action?
  2. is there any other way of chasing it in the UK?
  3. what is the drill for reporting the item as lost to the sender, Italian Barber and/or USPS?
  4. who actions a refund or how is a refund for lost goods claimed?
There are probably other things I should ask or know, so I'd welcome any relevant advice.

Thanks.
 
I ordered one of these brushes on the 18th November and only got it at the end of last week. Hopefully yours will take the same journey time and show up and the end of this week/start of next.

It didn't get stopped by customs either :)

The USPS tracking type code that their site links to doesn't really help too much as it showed mine at Heathrow for about a week. I rang USPS for advice and they said it wasn't a tracking code, that service costs more. She also explained that the Heathrow entries could be ghost entries.

Anyways fingers crossed for you, and I hope this puts your mind at rest.

P.S. This is my first post since my move so I'm glad it was a meaningful one. Now where's Buy, Sell, Trade ;)
 
Scowley said:
I ordered one of these brushes on the 18th November and only got it at the end of last week. Hopefully yours will take the same journey time and show up and the end of this week/start of next.

It didn't get stopped by customs either :)

The USPS tracking type code that their site links to doesn't really help too much as it showed mine at Heathrow for about a week. I rang USPS for advice and they said it wasn't a tracking code, that service costs more. She also explained that the Heathrow entries could be ghost entries.

Anyways fingers crossed for you, and I hope this puts your mind at rest.

P.S. This is my first post since my move so I'm glad it was a meaningful one. Now where's Buy, Sell, Trade ;)
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Thanks for the reassurance. By my calculation, I've got about 4 more days before mine reaches your elapsed time.
Nothing really seems to make sense with the tracking arrangements for things, and the time varies wildly.
Mine showed that it was in and out of Heathrow on 25th November. Usually, there is a brief hiatus before the thing hits the Royal Mail tracking system, which I guess is down to the scrutiny by HMRC. The total cost of my brush, including delivery, was £15.57, which I think puts it below the VAT level.Of course, there is bound to be a volume problem at this time of the year, which can't help.
On the other hand, I've had other things from the States which took a while to get to me, and one of which appeared to go to several airports in the US, across to Paris, back to the States and then back to London.
 
Not much help I appreciate - but at that price you don't get a tracked service. Hold tight for a few days and then contact the seller - no point in you trying to get anywhere with carrier or Royal Mail.
 
UKRob said:
Not much help I appreciate - but at that price you don't get a tracked service. Hold tight for a few days and then contact the seller - no point in you trying to get anywhere with carrier or Royal Mail.
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I guess it is indeed a question of waiting.
The USPS service is a tracked service, at $10, which compares with the brush cost of $13. Tracking with USPS works OK as long as it's with them (sort of), but the moment things enter the UK Royal Mail/HMRC system, the wheels fall off the wagon. Personally, I think that's because of the consolidation of all inbound stuff into Heathrow WDC aka The Black Hole at the End of the Universe.
The same problem arises with other postal services from within the EU, and also from UK outwards. Point of origin tracking ceases once the item hits the receiving country, when that country's postal system takes over; if you're lucky.
When I buy anything from European countries e.g. from Figaro or Gifts & Care in Holland and Spain respectively, I try to get the order to a reasonable value to justify extra cost in having it sent by a courier company which has a cross-border presence. In this case, the extra cost (even if it were available) involved for something which costs less than £10 isn't really justified.
I have bought razors from ATT, Mongoose and others in the States, where the cost was in the £100-£200+ bracket and, although by nature a stingy Suffolk chap, I've forked out for the deluxe carrier services because neither my temper nor my nerves can stand the uncertainty.
 
There seems to be no rhyme or reason to how long goods get stuck in customs. Many times I've lost hope of ever receiving items I assumed were lost, that then miraculously appeared.
 
In my experience of stuff from the States, courier service is the worst way to go. You'll get hit by Customs for a certainty if value is high enough and you'll get problems such as you are having. Plain old, ordinary USPS hands over to RM and your parcel is delivered in good time. I'm also a fan of self-insurance and it hasn't cost me a penny thus far - fingers crossed for the future.
 
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My razor from Italian Razor ended up in the black hole of Heathrow on the 25th November - I finally got a "Royal Fail Excess & Customs Charge Due" card on Saturday, which I debated paying as it was half the cost again of the razor due to the Royal Mails fee - I coughed up and am now awaiting it to be delivered, supposedly tomorrow.
We will see.
 
@Father Ted. From the tracker it seems that RM processed on Dec 4th and after paying it's due for delivery tomorrow - how do you rate that as a 'failure'? They can't be blamed for Heathrow. In fact is it even RM or Parcelforce?
 
It's actually not that surprising ........... I've had many packages take just three days to move the distance from the likes of Erlanger, NY or Chicago, only to get stuck for a week or more the second it lands at Heathrow.

You should count yourself lucky that Parcel Farce didn't get hold of it at the Coventry hub ....... There you have a particularly special kind of muppet ....... one that doesn't know there's actually a different exchange rate between US and Canadian dollars......... and when you claim the difference back, just you try and charge them a 'handling' charge and see where that gets you ......
 
The amount of VAT is irrelevant - the cost of collecting it is the same.

Item needs to be manually separated at HWDC and logged. Sent onto the delivery office with the other mail. Needs to be set aside at the delivery office, charge card filled out and then charge card delivered. Then the redelivery has to be organised and performed or the customer served if they choose to collect. After that the payment of the VAT to Customs needs to be processed.

Does it cost RM £8? Probably not but I can't see that they make that much from it. And then there's all the times that people decide it's not worth paying for upon receipt of the charge card. I suppose that has to be subsidised.

That said though you shouldn't be getting hit for a Customs charge if the total cost including delivery was only just over £15 - the delivery cost should only be included if the value of goods is in itself over £15. So long as the sender hasn't wrongly declared the value on the paperwork then you can claim the full amount, including the £8, back. If it is wrongly declared though then the £8 charge stands though you can claim back the £4 VAT. Here's hoping it's a mistake by customs:)

Things do seem to crawl through the HWDC but given the amount of security work (X-Rays etc) for both outgoing and incoming mail I can see why. Drugs, weapons, chemicals, plantlife and all manner of stuff needs looking out for and the back end of November/ beginning of December has to be the busiest period.
There seems to be a similar trend going the other way. I often use tracked when sending stuff to the USA and it'll be collected from my local PO, through Heathrow, on a plane and on American soil within 48 hours. And then spend 5-6 days hanging round US Customs before heading towards it's eventual destination.
 
Not much help I know, but I bought some stuff from Microfasteners which vanished for ages. By the time it turned up I'd let them know and they had sent it to me again with no problem. Finally appeared with a customs sticker from Venezuela a month later. International post has no logic.
 
Well my brush is still departing Heathrow the same as it has been since 25/11/2015. Mine is the other RR Barbers Handle brush that Ferrum is talking about. No customs duty to pay as it was only $9.99 so I am at a loss as to why it is stuck.............so the wait is on !!

Just to show you how it could have been done, this is a brush I ordered 2 days earlier ....... :)

November 27, 2015 , 12:13 pm Delivered UNITED KINGDOM

Your item was delivered in UNITED KINGDOM at 12:13 pm on November 27, 2015.

November 26, 2015 , 5:35 pm Processed Through Sort Facility UNITED KINGDOM

November 22, 2015 , 3:15 pm Departed London, UNITED KINGDOM

November 21, 2015 , 11:47 pm Departed Chicago, UNITED STATES

November 21, 2015 , 3:11 pm Arrived Chicago, UNITED STATES

November 20, 2015 , 2:36 pm Processed Through Sort Facility ISC CHICAGO IL (USPS)

November 20, 2015 , 1:47 pm Arrived at USPS Facility CHICAGO, IL 60666

November 20, 2015 , 1:47 am Arrived at Sort Facility ISC CHICAGO IL (USPS)

November 18, 2015 Pre-Shipment Info Sent to USPS

November 17, 2015 , 11:02 am Shipping Label Created NIAGARA FALLS, NY 14305 .

And a fine brush it is as well !!
 
smithismund said:
Not much help I know, but I bought some stuff from Microfasteners which vanished for ages. By the time it turned up I'd let them know and they had sent it to me again with no problem. Finally appeared with a customs sticker from Venezuela a month later. International post has no logic.
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That's easily explained. Somewhere in the sorting chain, you parcel was aimed at the right bag but mis-thrown. Not all parcels find the right target from five to ten meters.
 
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