View Full Version : USPS International Priority & Lost Packages
Hi everybody,
Got a question for all overseas buyers. I've bought some cards like 3 weeks from a store which has been discussed here earlier for its questionable business approach and customer relations, but the prices seemed good and I made the impulse purchase.
Upon placing the order I sent them and email and told them that I wanted to update my shipping method to Priority instead of First Class because I wanted tracking. They gladly did the update and sent me the letter with the tracking number and told me the items were shipped.
It's been 3 weeks but the package is nowhere to be seen. And later I learned that USPS Priority tracking actually doesn't "track". It was a $300 purchase and seems like it is lost. Because I thought I had tracking I didn't get the insurance but now since the tracking doesn't track and I'm uninsured what would be my options?
I've sent the customer service 4-5 emails over the last 10 days but received only one reply 4 days ago saying that one of the representatives "would be looking into it right away".
If they outright say that "USPS Priority doesn't guarantee tracking and your order is uninsured therefore suck it up" do my email requesting "an update to my shipping because I requested tracking" hold any value? Can I claim misguidance since they didn't tell me that Priority didn't actually provide (even though they just give you a dummy number)?
USPS tracking just says that "The U.S. Postal Service was electronically notified by the shipper on March 02, 2012 to expect your package for mailing. This does not indicate receipt by the USPS or the actual mailing date" but this could also mean that the shop never sent the package and since there is no way to get any kind of confirmation from USPS it looks quite open to abuse by the shop against customers making high value, uninsured, USPS priority shipments doesn't it?
Any advice, earlier experiences..?
You should contact USPS customer service and verify that they scanned the package in question. Once you receive word from them, you can build your case around whether or not the shop is duping you.
socialite
03-19-2012, 06:18 PM
Got a question for all overseas buyers. I've bought some cards like 3 weeks from a store which has been discussed here earlier for its questionable business approach and customer relations, but the prices seemed good and I made the impulse purchase.
Really?
MTG Chicago?
Not to sound like a jerk but you are most likely absolutely getting ripped off. Regardless, as an informed consumer, sounds like a poor choice on your part.
No, not MTG Chicago.
I don't want to name the shop directly because then it turns into something else, the thread gets locked and I don't get any input :)
I tried calling USPS from 1-800-222-1811 but it's an answering machine with no way of reaching a human to pursue it any further. The machine tells me that there is no tracking information for my tracking number available since it's an international order.
On Google I've read similar stories for ebay sellers, but in those cases sellers got in touch with their post offices to find out about the package and get things moving. In my case I'm not able to get a response from the customer service for any further help.
rxavage
03-19-2012, 07:01 PM
I had to open a case with usps because somehow my packages with tracking numbers were showing to be "delivered" when they had not been delivered. Whomever I talked to said they would "investigate" and contact my local post office, which I wasn't able to contact. Almost a week, of me interrogating various mail carriers as to what, why, or possibilities to this issue, later did my supposedly delivered packages arrive. The thing is with tracking is that they have to scan the package right before delivery so its pretty hard to fight but its common for them to scan all necessary packages delivered before going out for delivery, according to 2 separate carriers. Anyways, within a few days following the actual delivery I recieved a follow phone call from the original person in customer service that open the case and I received a begrudging call from the head person of my local office. Firstly, I recommend you open a case with USPS customer service, it will be alot of waiting and transfers but you will get there. Next I would notify ebay customer care and open a case. They will have you try and work it out with the seller, and sometimes they can be rude or difficult, try and get you to settle for less or just bully you with false claims. This also gives you time to talk to USPS and/or the cards to arrive. If the package was lost in transit and not confirmed delivered or the tracking number you were provided was false ebay will side with you. Ebay has sided with people who have even had confirmed deliveries, claiming they recieved nothing. I personally feel it is the sellers responsibility to ensure delivery. What if it was the other way around and my payment wasn't ever guaranteed to arrive but the seller still had to send the product? It sounds like the seller knows what you were asking for an deliberately deceived you and provided a far less reliable and accurate tracking method. I always ask for insurance, tracking, and delivery confirmation on purchases over 100$, especially after my experience and receiving a tropical island in a hand written letter envelope. I can always sense when something is wrong within a few days of purchase, and its always the decent priced($30-$70) without tracking that never get delivered... Sorry for all that rambling. Just be firm and don't take shit but be polite in all communication, everything should resolve in your favour.
Thanks rxavage for the elaborate response. It's not an ebay purchase however. It's a store. If it was ebay it would have been easier :).
I've dealt with them before (both sold and bought) and never got ripped off but their customer service always left something to be desired but I also never bought money cards from them earlier.. I'm not trying to put blame but since they are not currently doing any follow-up (nor giving any response to my queries) I'm wondering my options to follow this up with USPS from my end. All I can get about USPS is the phone number with the answering machine.
rxavage
03-19-2012, 10:19 PM
I will try and look for the contact number I used. Is it possible to call you credit card company or bank and ask for a stop payment or charge-back?
I have had a few incidences with online retailers. I have had orders arrive missing cards, both retailers had friendly customer service and didn't hesitate to refund, more than I paid in one instance, or replace the missing card immediately. Even taking a loss the cs reps never acted like I was lying or showed even the slightest doubt. Another time a big local retailer with a separate online store sent me the entirely wrong order. They sent me an email notifying me that I may receive the wrong order and to send it back, Also that the correct order was sent already. Unfortunately I opened the package first and upon discovering the mistake I proceeded to contact them, thats when I read the notification email. So the next day I called an explained the situation and I offered to drop of the wrongly received cards on my way home from work. I didn't get a chance to return the cards for a few days, I never received an email or call inquiring about the return. The store was actually surprised and grateful I returned the cards; which although less than the value of my order was still pretty decent with a playset of jace memory adept when it was a 50-60$ card... It doesn't hurt and nothing to lose by chatting up an under appreciated customer service rep.
Oh I know, last month I had an order lost while shopping with CardKingdom and they refunded my my money as store credit even though I didn't have insurance and using First Class instead of Priority. I made sure to tell them my appreciation. I know that people relations matter :)
With this shop though their president/customer service representative is always late, uncaring and kind of arrogant. Order is late for 2 weeks and they are not returning emails for 5 days. Don't know which is more alarming.
You said it was possible to withdraw payment. Did you do it before, do you think it's possible? I'm not so sure.
rxavage
03-20-2012, 05:54 AM
Oh I know, last month I had an order lost while shopping with CardKingdom and they refunded my my money as store credit even though I didn't have insurance and using First Class instead of Priority. I made sure to tell them my appreciation. I know that people relations matter :)
With this shop though their president/customer service representative is always late, uncaring and kind of arrogant. Order is late for 2 weeks and they are not returning emails for 5 days. Don't know which is more alarming.
You said it was possible to withdraw payment. Did you do it before, do you think it's possible? I'm not so sure.
I have stopped payment on a purchase made with a credit card. You have to call the company and ask them to do it after explaining the situation. You can also stop payment through the bank but if it has already cleared you might be too late.
So the current situation is: Payment already made 4 weeks ago, package was shipped (if) 3 weeks ago, customer service last responded 5 days ago only saying they will look into it without any further updates, I can't initiate a tracking inquiry with USPS from my end and the seller needs to do it, seller can't be reached.
Any advice?
"International priority" does not track beyond the US border AFAIK - it uses USPS tracking only, which ends at the border. You need Express Mail International, which is the USPS name for the global EMS mail network that tracks globally. I personally will not use anything but EMS when shipping international packages, especially for eBay/paypal with their onerous seller requirements. I'd insist on EMS for anything valuable I bought overseas too.
"The U.S. Postal Service was electronically notified by the shipper on March 02, 2012 to expect your package for mailing..." means that USPS never received the package in the first place though. USPS procedure requires the package be scanned when it's accepted by the post office and this happens 99.9% of the time. Even if it's missed at acceptance, it'll get scanned *somewhere* along the line. Almost beyond doubt if that's the tracking status, the package never got to USPS.
If you paid by credit card, call the number on the card and initiate a chargeback against the merchant.
Thanks for the response cdr, I talked to my bank and they said they could start an investigation to get my money refunded. I'm sure it'll be long and tedious but at least now I know there is a way. I didn't start the process just because I'm a decent guy :wink: and thought to give these guys time to response to the emails until the end of the week. Come monday, I demand the refund through my bank. We'll see how responsive their customer service is when the money is coming put of their pocket :)
jjjoness'
03-20-2012, 11:48 AM
I don't know about the shop or ways to get back your money, but there's something else to consider:
Your package might be stuck at your custom office. I have no clue how long that takes in France, but I had that problem several times. Shipments that don't go through customs usually take 2-3 working days to ship to Germany. Shipments that do take 2-3 weeks. I had to wait as long as 4 weeks for some shipments to arrive.
Just saying there's still a chance you're not being ripped off.
If the seller did use USPS tracking, then it would have been scanned somewhere in the USA side prior to leaving for International shipment. If the post office has no record of the package, then it must not have been sent - which is what the OP can point to in a chargeback request.
Packages are usually held up at Customs too, but there should have been a record of receipt at the USPS departure terminal. Best thing to do is check with USPS on the status of the tracking number on US soil.
Hi Koby,
Yes, that's excatly what I'm thinking. But the problem is I can't check with USPS from where I am. The USPS support line won't give me any additional information and I believe the only way for me to inquire USPS is by going through the post office the seller opened the ticket. They are based in Houston, so again unless they follow it up for me in Houston I have no way to follow it up from my end. In which case I believe I have the right to claim "no response + no support = no send" unless they put in any effort to prove otherwise.
@jjjones
Even though I'm kind of tilted right now I don't believe I'm being ripped off, that's why I didn't start the chargeback request process with the bank today and decided to give it time until Monday. The package might be at the customs, migt be lost after it entered France or could have been lost anywhere along the way. These are all very real possibilities and seller isn't responsible for any of them. The only issue I have is that the sender isn't verifiying that USPS received it and that it's out of their hands now.
Again, if USPS ever got it there's no way there'd be no tracking entries. The seller just plain didn't send it. Nothing else is a "real possibility".
@cdr
I read on Google that sometimes if USPS receives the packages after office hours or close to Friday evening they might go unscanned up until the package is delivered but I don't know, I don't live in the U.S. I don't know how these things work over there :) So you're saying if there's no scan they probably didn't get it?
@cdr
I read on Google that sometimes if USPS receives the packages after office hours or close to Friday evening they might go unscanned up until the package is delivered but I don't know, I don't live in the U.S. I don't know how these things work over there :) So you're saying if there's no scan they probably didn't get it?
I've sent hundreds of packages with USPS. A lazy employee might not scan it at arrival even though they're supposed to, but I've hardly ever seen even that happen - maybe 2 or 3 times. The chances of it not getting scanned somewhere along the way - especially at the border - are nil. I've never seen a domestic package not get scanned somewhere.
"Electronically notified blah blah blah" just means someone created a mailing label. USPS hasn't received a thing at that point.
Thanks cdr, that was most helpful :)
And let me reiterate why you should prefer Express International (EMS):
- The sender must present the package on the date of the label or the label is void. No sitting in "has been electronically notified..." status.
- The sender must physically present the package to a mail clerk to be scanned into the EMS system - no throwing it in a mailbox, no chance of it not being scanned.
- $100 of insurance automatically, additional insurance only around $1 per $100.
- EMS takes package tracking very seriously, unlike standard airmail (Priority International is airmail).
- Guaranteed to arrive in 3-5 days.
It does cost $30 for a large envelope or more for a heavier package, but for more expensive purchases the peace of mind is completely worth it.
Well if I knew that Priority was just an expensive first class without any of these features I would definitely have chosen Express. I thought that Priority provided the same level of tracking but Express only enabled a very fast air transport. I thought I didn't need the cards within 5 working days and just having tracking and reliable delivery was fine so I picked the Priority.
Nevertheless if I'm not misreading what you said, regardless of the shipping method being Priority IF USPS received the package it would have been scanned and status would have been updated. If I'm seeing the "Electronically notified..." status even after 18 days, then it means that the shop didn't ship the package.
Nevertheless if I'm not misreading what you said, regardless of the shipping method being Priority IF USPS received the package it would have been scanned and status would have been updated. If I'm seeing the "Electronically notified..." status even after 18 days, then it means that the shop didn't ship the package.
This is true for any USPS shipping service that provides "Delivery Confirmation" and/or a tracking number. The service can be initiated from any electronic postage program, but unless it is scanned at the post office, it will remain with the status "Electronically notified ..." Once the package is scanned somewhere en-route, it will update on the USPS database.
If, as you said, 18 days after you were provided with a tracking number the status has not changed from "Electronically notified ..." then the package has not been scanned at all. You can also use the tracking number and its status log as evidence for chargeback.
Ok guys so after a threat to call my bank for a chargeback on Friday morning I received a response. Here's the deal.
The shop is MTGFanatic. I put in the order February 19th. After a long process of reauthorizing my credit card (which I used to shop with them before) they send me the "Shipped" message on February 29th. Meanwhile they had 3 cards in the stock and it went to 0 upon my purchase.
After my order is delayed I checked their store again and saw that the cards were replaced with 4 new copies. I kept checking and they were gone too.
After sending multiple emails, calling USPS myself several times, and 4 weeks of inactivity on my tracking label here comes the response from our dear shop.
"I am sorry for the delay in response to your e-mails. I checked with our shipping department and they said your package was not there or that they could not find it within the department. However, based on the information provided by the USPS it does not appear that they have received your package for shipping yet."
and shortly after another update:
"Ok I found out what is going on with your order. We are actually out of stock of the cards you ordered"
So apparently after 1 month I get notified that they were out of stock on the items and it was nothing to do with USPS. They also said that refund was made (which I will be checking out in the morning, if I'm hit by the exchange rate difference even 1 cent I'll be very pissed off). I wasn't intending to talk trash about the shop and that's why I didn't give their name first. I had confidence in them and looked for the blame in USPS. Turns out you have to chose your online shopping wisely.
birds of paradise2
03-22-2012, 08:33 PM
mtgfanatic is a famous ripper-store. One of he shadiest mtg-stores there is. Incidents like this is not rare...
Let me guess, the card you ordered raised in price? What cards did you order? Do they have them in stock atm?
Lt. Quattro
03-22-2012, 11:35 PM
There is a huge thread over on mtgsalvation where some higher up with mtgfanatic goes ballistic and makes his or her store look bad. It's well known for finding a way to screw their customers.
For me the case is closed. I'm not shopping with them again.
On the other hand for USPS Priority shipping, I still don't know if they would have provided reliable tracking but they sure have a way out incase they don't provide you with anything. When i called them they specifially said that "They don't guarantee that the package will be scanned upon arrival or during the transit". So when using USPS you either get First Class for the cheapest option or get Express with actual tracking. Priority is just an expensive First Class without any additional features.
For me the case is closed. I'm not shopping with them again.
On the other hand for USPS Priority shipping, I still don't know if they would have provided reliable tracking but they sure have a way out incase they don't provide you with anything. When i called them they specifially said that "They don't guarantee that the package will be scanned upon arrival or during the transit". So when using USPS you either get First Class for the cheapest option or get Express with actual tracking. Priority is just an expensive First Class without any additional features.
Just to clarify, this is true internationally but not domestically. The tracking of Priority is domestic so it's what you want for within the US - though First Class w/Delivery Confirmation is the exact same thing as priority in most cases and cheaper.
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