How do I call internationally? How long to ship a package from UK to USA?

[Tap]

I need to follow up on a Christmas present that hasn't arrived. I ordered my son a game from the UK on Dec 4 on EBay from reputable store/seller, paid w/ Paypal. I have never recieved an email to say the package shipped and as far as I can tell they accepted the Paypal transaction.

 

I emailed them privately and through Ebay on Sunday. I still haven't heard back from them. I emailed them last night through Paypal....I didn't get a response today either. I know it is the holidays...I get it. But, they have had 3 working days to contact me (in the UK it is 7pm Wednesday as I type this) and they have current items on Ebay, so I assume they are not out of town.

 

 

How long would you expect a package to take to get here from he UK? Allowing 3 days for them to process the item and ship, it has had at least 2 weeks to get here. Does it usually take longer than that? I can totally understand if it does, but I would just like to know. If they had sent me an email giving me the shipping details, I wouldn't be worried.....I think the lack of any communication is what is bothering me the most.

 

I am thinking about trying to call them tomorrow but I haven't ever called internationally before. I have free long distance to the UK so I don't have to worry about that ... just the dialing. The number looks like this..+44 12########. (I blurred the numbers).

[Melissa in Australia]

Not sure about the calling internationally bit,but I do know you need to dial a code to in front of the other phone no.

pParcels can take a long time, usually the time for a parcel to come from America to Australia is 2 weeks, but we have had it take over 4 months.

UK are having major transport problems at the moment. It wouldn't surprise me at all if your parcel is delayed.

[Laura Corin]

The UK's postal service is in crisis at present, due to unusual weather. I would expect that the seller would respond to your contact, but I'm not suprised that the package hasn't arrived. We are still waiting for a parcel shipped within the UK two weeks ago.

 

Laura

 

ETA: sorry- title went wrong.

[Matryoshka]

The + is to indicate that:

 

1. You need to insert your country's international access code in front of that number, and

 

2. That number is a country code (+44 is indeed the UK's)

 

Sometimes you can get an international number without the country code; it often starts with a "0". Then you have to find the country code, add it in front, and remove that 0, but you're good.

 

The US's international acces code is 011. So... from the US you 'd dial:

 

011 44 12 .....

[RegGuheert]

+44 12########. (I blurred the numbers).

If you are calling from a cell phone, you simply hold down the '0' for a couple of seconds and then you will see a plus sign. Then dial the numbers. But since you said it is free, I doubt you are using a cell phone. On other phones in the US, you replace the + with '011' for dialing.

 

Good luck!

[Hedgehog]

Well, they should definitely have contacted you at some point, and particularly after you'd emailed. That's just rude, unless they have some crisis going on!

 

We are having a lot of delays to our mail at the moment due to the fact that the country was poorly prepared for the snow we've had and in many cases the councils just haven't dealt with it. Many minor roads are still covered with a thick packed layer of snow and ice; winter tyres are hard to source and the hardware stores sell out of snow shovels within hours. There aren't many flights going out of Heathrow Airport, and some other regional airports are closed too. Deliveries of anything are unpredictable - some, like my herbal remedies, arrived from London in 2 days; by contrast I'm still waiting for a book I ordered 2 weeks ago.

 

Mail usually takes around 1 week to get across the pond, but this time of year combined with the weather could mean delays of up to 3 or even 4 weeks.

Hope your expected parcel shows up soon!

[Hathersage]

The US is also causing delays:

http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/content1?catId=400033&mediaId=3800088#1600085

 

My last package from the UK took a month.

[Sun]

Packages from the UK are delayed by the snow there (and lack of outbound flights) and by US screening of cargo.

 

Yesterday I received a package that was shipped from the UK via air mail on 12/6, so that took 17 days. However, I think my package managed to squeeze out in the window between their end of November snows and the more recent ones.

[Jamee]

In addition to the weather, it will also depend on how they shipped it. If they go slow, it could take up to a couple of months. I have a US address and it takes almost two months for US mail to get delivered to me. It all depends on how it ships, but yeah, the weather there has been a mess. Hope you get it worked out.

[Tap]

UPDATE:

 

I finally got an email from them today. They say they never received payment but both my Paypal account and Ebay show that they did.

 

:(

 

I guess I will have to file a dispute. Oh well, I am glad it wasn't his only Christmas present. He still wants the item, so I will have to find another store to get it from.

[Laura Corin]

UPDATE:

 

I finally got an email from them today. They say they never received payment but both my Paypal account and Ebay show that they did.

 

:(

 

I guess I will have to file a dispute. Oh well, I am glad it wasn't his only Christmas present. He still wants the item, so I will have to find another store to get it from.

 

Sorry you are having to deal with this.

 

Laura

[Bee]

Just got an e-mail from the company today that due to security concerns in the US airline shipping industry they are having longer than normal delivery times. Between that, the weather in the UK, and the US postal service I think dd will be lucky to have her most wanted Christmas presents by mid January.