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What do you do when a package does not arrive?


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I have never had a package NOT arrive(in the 9yrs of purchasing used books) the only problem I have ever had was last year and the person did not package it very well and half of it was lost.

 

The lady has a delivery confirmation and it says it is at the city P.O. and has been there since the 11th.

 

I e-mailed her today, thinking she could call and ask them what's up with it.

 

She got really snappy with me, saying that she gave me the DC# which shows proof that she sent it. That's fine but still I would have offered to call them Monday morning to ask what's up and what to do.

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A couple of years ago, I mailed two really big boxes to someone on this board. One of them showed up, but the other never did (we had delivery confirmation). The post office told me they wouldn't do anything until we had reached 30 days with no delivery. I also had to document a ton of stuff.

 

I don't remember the exact timeline, but I do know I sent out all of my documentation on day 31, and if I remember correctly, on day 32 I received *the top of my box*, where I had written both addresses, back in the mail! Just the boxtop!

 

(By the way, if something gets lost, then it's the seller's responsibility, not the buyer's, to pursue it. My poor buyer was sitting there, helpless, halfway across the country.)

 

The post office eventually determined that the box had gotten torn up in a machine or something. The insurance eventually came through for the buyer, but because the cost had been divided between the two boxes and they had not been packaged exactly equally, value-wise, she lost money in the deal.

 

It was a horrible experience. The seller was wonderful about it and was very gracious (and she knows who she is and may or may not choose to pipe in), but I think it left a sour taste in both our mouths (not toward each other, at least not on my part, but toward the whole buying-and-selling-used-curriculum-over-the-internet issue).

 

I haven't mailed anything USPS since then. I know that UPS and FedEx can't guarantee that something like that won't happen, but I still feel better using them than by risking the USPS again.

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What do you do when a package doesn't arrive.....

 

Sometimes the PO keeps it in *your* local PO because they tried to deliver and were unable to do so. At least, that has happened to me. In that case, I would go get it from my PO, thinking it wasn't the seller's job to get my PO to deliver it.

 

However, I think that every seller should go for customer satisfaction. I always assume, even though I know I'm not always correct in doing so, that money toward buying books or curriculum is not easily spent and should not be treated friviously by the seller.

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I have no advice...I just wanted to say that your avatar cracks me up every time I see it! :lol: That it is a cute kitten is obvious, but out of the corner of my eye the kitty appears to be wearing a stiff shirt...like a proper Victorian portrait...with a cat head. :D

 

(Sorry, I'm just easily amused. And I need an eye exam.) ;)

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Because we're military we ship stuff back and forth with our families all the time. Plus, we're big internet shoppers (even hubby). There have only been a handful of times we had packages just vanish. Maybe 4 or 5 times. Out of those there was one time where my sister received back a *piece* of the box she had mailed, just the bit with our addresses. It absolutely does happen. Only once has it been worth it for us to pursue the insurance claim, when I sent my other sister an expensive piece of pottery and it was broken.

 

That said, if it was sent media mail it can take 4-6 weeks to arrive. I ordered something from Rainbow Resource that they sent media mail(my fault for not realizing that free shipping to HI would be media mail, first time I ordered since moving here), it's been 5 weeks and no package in sight.

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it sometimes means that the seller did not ship it in a secure package or reinforce it with tape?

 

I have posted about not receiving a package that was shipped back in February and still have not received it, as of today. I have called my P.O. to check on it.

 

I have only had 1 package delivered to me damaged which took a LONG time to receive, just like this one. The seller did not package it very well, the package was torn which caused half of the books to fall out and was never found.

 

If I ship a package using a grocery bag for wrapping or something that I feel that could possible get torn during shipping, then I secure it with packing tape.

That way I know nothing is getting threw, unless someone cuts it with scissors or a sharp knife.

I even tape a box very well and make sure it is secure.

 

 

What do you think??

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I don't know how your package was originally shipped but I bought a book from someone on the old board and it was shipped out right away by media mail. People were posting thank you notes to her all over the board after 4 weeks. My package took 9 weeks to arrive. I counted from the postmark date. It was entirely the fault of the post office. I had been thinking bad thoughts about the transaction up until then. Now I just think bad thoughts about the postal system!

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Is it Media Mail? Media Mail is subject to inspection. A couple of years ago, I bought books from the sale/swap board and they were shipped media mail. It took the package a few weeks to arrive. It was a large box, and obviously had been opened. Inside was a card from the Postal Service informing me the package had been opened for inspection, and all the looseleaf Sonlight papers had been removed from their binder and were missing. The P.O. of course, couldn't offer me any help or compensation.

 

Since then, I am very careful about using media mail. I will if I am buying/selling a $5 book, but not for $50 worth of curriculum.

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I just went to another homeschool board(not the board I purchased the missing curriculum from) and noticed someone by the same name was selling what I purchased! I clicked on their name and it is definitely the same person, same e-mail!!! I just checked the board where I found her ad and noticed that she does not have it posted there!! She posted it today!! What are the chances of this???????

 

Is this not odd!!???!?!?!

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that's not looking good is it?

Did she ever give you the delivery confirmation # so you could verify?

That would seem like the reasonable thing to do.

Is there a "problems" board where you saw this posted?

Or maybe you could ask for a reference on her name?

I've seen that done in some places.

I've never had a bad transaction, but have had purchases where the mail took a long time, (but never more than three weeks) or where the seller did forget to mail the item(s).

In all instances, I sent emails every couple days-if the item wasn't received by 10 days- and the seller(s) were open to discussing what could have happened.

The fact that she's not checking in with you would raise alarms with me too.

If you paid with paypal I would initiate a claim now.

 

Hope you resolve this soon.

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The seller scanned and e-mailed me the receipt and DC# showing that she did definitely mail the books off.

 

 

When I put the DC# in it says that it was scanned at the Atlanta P.O. on the 11th of March, so it should have been here by the 13th.:confused:

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:hurray:FINALLY after a month they have arrived! The end of the package was cut, but the tape the seller used kept the books in the package!:party:

 

 

Why does the P.O. mark through a DC #??? They marked through the # 5 different times..to me that is a waste of money if they do that!

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