Post office shipping problems

[shep]

I bought some parts from a member that lives in Canada. He shipped the parts and sent me the tracking number. They shipped on 10/28, I still don't have the parts. The Canada post says the package is in the US. The USPS says the package in still in Canada. I called USPS today they were zero help, the lady was quite rude and basically refused to help because their web site says the package is still in Canada. I tried to call the Canada post when I got off work but they were closed for the day. I suspect that I will get the same run around from them. I don't know if there was any insurance on the package, but I don't think so. Any thing I can do?

[Restomod]

Wait and hope.....Seriously that is the biggest prob with USPS ...they dont have real time tracking! Was it sent Parcil Post?? If so it WILL take longer than expected! But I think you can have the PO put a tracer on it for a nominal fee of course.

[Jim Nilsen]

A tip I just learned about shipping from Canada and to Canada with the US.

This is the info that I recieved about returning an item back to Canada and I would assume it somewhat applies some of the rules for packages moving from Canada to the US also.

My info read as follows :All items being returned to us from outside of Canada"MUST" use Federal Express Air. If this is not done,taxes and other duties may be charged by Customs Canada.These cost will be invoiced back to you.

NOTE: You may feel you can save money by shipping items through other means. IE: UPS,Fedex Ground,Postal Services etc. However, you should know there are duties,taxes and brokerage fees that you will be required to pay. This could cost you more than if you sent it FedEX Air.

So I would suspect that your item may be going thru some scrutiny that is slowing it up and it may make it so that when it arrives there will be more money required to get it. I am not positive about this but the above info implies that it may be possible.

You also have to understand that it can now take at least 30 days to get items across the border the old ways because of security. It took me 29 days to recieve a flywheel back in 2003 from Canada and it has been like this since 2001.

Be patient and don't stir things up in a bad way as to let them make it more difficult.

I hope this insight will help others save time and money when shipping back and forth through customs.

[neki67]

I'm ordering parts from the USA, Australia, Asia and all over Europe for years now, but I recently ordered something from Canada for the first time and ran into the same problem. Shipping is expensive and sloooooowwwwww. All orders from the other countries to the Netherlands take at most a week by air (the economy airfreight version) and about a month when I do oceanfreight and is far less expensive.

Like Jim said, whatever you do, don't try to stir things up and be patient cause that will only make things worse.

[shep]

Had I known it was being sent in the mail (I should have asked) I would have requested UPS or FedEx. Maybe Canada's postal service works great but ours is less than stellar when it comes to tracking packages and getting reimbursed for losses.

[protour_chevelle]

Hey guys, I am the one that he bought the parts from. I really have no idea what the **** is up. It is getting to me. I shipped out the rear brakes to another member 2 days after, going twice the distance with the same method of shipment, expidited. His arrived in 5-7 work days. I have no idea why, and Canada Post nor USPS are not helping matters. The package has 100US insurance on it.

[GetMore]

I remember shipping something to Canada and it sat in Customs for a while. We used USPS, because UPS charges the duties and fees to the recipient and those costs can be more than the part.
Next time I'll look into FexEx Air and see what those costs run. Thanks for the tip.

[neki67]

To be quite honest; I've had nothing but good experiences with USPS (no I'm not mistaken!), when shipping parts from the USA to the Netherlands. Every step traceable, not very expensive and reasonably quick.

That said; I guess the problem is with the Canadians or otherwise there might be a trust issue between the neighbours . . . . . .

[Jim Nilsen]

To be quite honest; I've had nothing but good experiences with USPS (no I'm not mistaken!), when shipping parts from the USA to the Netherlands. Every step traceable, not very expensive and reasonably quick.

That said; I guess the problem is with the Canadians or otherwise there might be a trust issue between the neighbours . . . . . .

It's all about NAFTA /National Security and making money. The postal service is great 99% of the time but the 1% is random and inconceivable as to what causes it other than the people involved in the moment.

P.S. : You don't even want to go to the thought where the damaged packages end up and how long that takes to resolve and the decisions about what to do.

[protour_chevelle]

I agree. I use Canada post because it turns into USPS in the US. then no one on either end shipper or reciever going into Canada or into the US pay NO duty or GST. UPS rapes you royally.

[shep]

Just thought I would give an update. I received the parts today apparently they were damaged in shipping and repackaged in Kansas City. I inspected the parts both adjusters have a thread buggered up. Nothing a few Min with a thread files can't fix. The USPS site still says the package is in the country of origin. What a great tracking system they have

[Jim Nilsen]

Just thought I would give an update. I received the parts today apparently they were damaged in shipping and repackaged in Kansas City. I inspected the parts both adjusters have a thread buggered up. Nothing a few Min with a thread files can't fix. The USPS site still says the package is in the country of origin. What a great tracking system they have

You are lucky that the shipping address label still stayed intact. The wife had a package from an ebay sale that the label had only a partial address and it took forever to get that mess straightened out.

I am soooo glad that you got your parts and you can fix the damage. I had a laptop that i bought off of ebay that got damaged and I almost let the post office have it and was going to get the insurance claim on it going when the clerk said I would naver see it again. I stopped right then and took it back into my hands and cancelled the claim through them. I then got a hold of the seller and found out that since it was a Dell laptop, he was able to tranfer all of the warranty to me and he had paid for insurance that covered shipping damages. I got the laptop fixed for free. Dell paid to have it picked up [ they came in less than 1hr] and it was repaired and returned like new in 2 days. Dell was so good/ post office would have given me $650 for my $1,250 laptop.

So let us all learn some lessons in this thread and the most important being that the sender isn't always the bad guy and the shipper can cause problems that even they have trouble dealing with and most of all it akes action and patience on our part to get it resolved.

[shep]

I never wanted to portray Matt as being the problem if I did that was not my intention and I apologize. The shipper in this case USPS is where the issue was. I spent about 15 Min with a file and the adjusters are working fine. Now if I can just find the time to get them installed.