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Posted by mygifts2 on 13-Jan-2012 09:18 Report
Aust Post - gobsmacked.
 They can really stun me sometimes.  I sold an item on 21st Nov and posted said item on 22ndNov (paid with paypal), in a red satchel.  About 3 weeks later I hear from the buyer that he hadn't received the parcel.  I asked him to wait a few more days (I have had other parcels turn up after 3 weeks!!) and if still not received let me know and I would start an investigation.
So, parcel still didn't arrive, I fill out the necessary forms and lodge them at the PO.  A couple of days before Xmas, no parcel, no response from Aust Post.  We wait til Xmas is over and I try 2-3 times to ring the complaint no, only to sit for 10 mins or so each time waiting to be attended to.  Give up in disgust.

So I go on-line, fill in a complaint form (give them the reference no. from my previous complaint) and at the same time see a notice about the unusually large amount of queries they are having to process as this time (terrific I thought).  Also seeing a notice that a PO truck had caught fire on it's way to Qld (where my parcel was going) and all contents had been lost!!

5 days later I get a generic response from Aust Post, apologies etc, suggesting in future I use registered post etc., and that was it.  I forwarded this response to the buyer, who said he pretty much expected a non-response from them.

Today I receive an email from the buyer telling me he had gone into his PO to pick up another parcel and they said to him 'oh there is another parcel for you that has been here for ages'.  Yep it was the one I had sent.  He had been in a couple of times asking for this parcel, had not received any notices telling him it was there, and they had told him there was nothing for him!!!  What I can't get over, is Aust Post telling me they couldn't locate the parcel, so they can't have asked the receiving PO whether it was there?  So much for their investigating!!!
 
Replied by issabella10 on 13-Jan-2012 09:51 (Ref 2328558) Report
Amazing isn't it , that's what I would expect ( from experience) from our main PO in town. They process parcels when there's someone available and the amount of incorrect mail from other PO boxes I get in mine is a joke.

Lucky your buyer has now got his parcel , maybe they hadn't even scanned it in as received either that might be why AP hasn't got an arrival notice ?
Replied by ellencol on 13-Jan-2012 10:00 (Ref 2328561) Report
 I posted a really large box on the 20th of October, each time I rang i was told they were investigating but just kept on about the fact I should have registered the parcel which should not have been necessary as a box that large could not be lost, I guess some AP worker has a nice stainless steel wok in their cupboard (this was not a sold item, it was a git)

I have the green form which my PO lady gave me but they told me not to bother sending it in as they will not compensate me.

I am seriously thinking of contacting the ombudsman.

Ellen
Replied by richbartim on 13-Jan-2012 10:00 (Ref 2328560) Report
it is very annoying. with a red satchel there is no way of tracking it unless extra was paid which most of us don't do unless a buyer asks for that. still very strange how the receiving PO could let the parcel go unnoticed for so long.?..
I have had a big round around too but from centrelink, dispute going on since 21st september, they had more of our details duplicated, even though I kept taking proof into them so they could correct things...still not done. so Wednesday we went for another interview where they went through everything (again) and hooray.. I think this lady has now got it sorted. Might be able to get some help from them now. but all the hassle to get things sorted so I know how you feel.
Replied by chloecat on 13-Jan-2012 10:04 (Ref 2328563) Report
 Here's another one for you - we have a property out on Two Wells Road  (still own it even though we live in Victoria and parents and son/s still are there) - parents got a letter or call from the post office telling them that the guy that delivers the mail had been withholding most of the mail from before Christmas - they found it all stashed at his house - they are going to investigate!!!!
Replied by ellencol on 13-Jan-2012 10:18 (Ref 2328564) Report
  chloecat  my missing parcel was going to Whyalla, I wonder if that is where it landed.

Ellen
Replied by marian-48 on 13-Jan-2012 10:33 (Ref 2328565) Report
Some AP workers are so slack, I contacted them about a parcel posted on the 4th and going local, other end of coast, not interstate. Worker said I must wait 15 days, so I told him thats BS you can ring the PO in the location  it was sent to, after much fuss he did that and the parcel has been sitting at PO since last week. You wonder if they even bother to put a slip in letterboxes if no-one is home. 
Re claims, you can claim compensation if not Registered, dont let them pull that trick! Marian
Replied by issabella10 on 13-Jan-2012 10:51 (Ref 2328567) Report
Australian Consumer Laws have been extended and are now much wider , so if AP feels they don't need to compensate for a service a customer paid for but hasn;t received then I think they'll find the ombudsman has a different idea Don't let AP call your bluff by saying you won't get compensated .
Replied by sheila-bloke47 on 13-Jan-2012 11:11 (Ref 2328569) Report

Australia Post is owned and operated by the government.  Do I need to say more?
Replied by memyandi on 13-Jan-2012 11:37 (Ref 2328572) Report
I have to feel sorry for AP in some ways because, like any business these days, it must be hard to get good staff that want to work, and have enough brains to do the job properly!
Replied by ditas-odds-n-ends on 13-Jan-2012 11:49 (Ref 2328573) Report
 Wow !  Wouldn't that make your blood boil. I had a simular incident once of  a KOALA plate which my buyer wanted to include in her parcel to the UK for Christmas. ( a couple or three years back.) After phone calls backwards and forwards to several Post Offices in the same area it was found sitting in the backroom of one of those neighbouring  Post Offices. The poor lady had driven from one to the other and with me ringing repeatedly someone finally had the sense to look for it.  It makes it awfully hard to make Buyers believe that we even send the parcel , especially if they never do turn up. Registration definitely is the answer but how to convince Buyers to agree to pay for it?
Happy New Year !!! Cheers, Dita.
Replied by mygifts2 on 13-Jan-2012 18:05 (Ref 2328591) Report
 Hi again all.  Well believe it or not, I have now had a phone call from Aust Post re: this parcel.  I told her that it had turned up and told her the story of the buyer's experience with his P.O., telling her neither I nor he had been impressed. Yes and she so agreed, yada, yada, yada, and would be getting in touch with that particular P.O. and the manager and telling him of our complaints, and basically how to do his job..lol  I am sure that will go down well, and make all the difference in the world - not!
Replied by straybooksoz on 13-Jan-2012 19:43 (Ref 2328596) Report
Maybe AP asked the local PO, mygifts.

After all, if they couldn't find it when the buyer came in and specifically asked for it, I doubt they would have found it on a phone call from Head Office.

This sounds, to me, like a slack local PO, not a systemic AP failure.
Replied by pashmina on 13-Jan-2012 22:19 (Ref 2328623) Report
OMG ...MyGifts....that's crazy....but at least it showed up !!! 






Replied by sey35 on 13-Jan-2012 23:32 (Ref 2328625) Report
I posted a parcel in October.  The buyer never received the parcel and forgot all about the parcel.  Last week the parcel was returned to me as unclaimed.  I contacted the buyer about it and she said that she never received a card to pick up the parcel.  I tried to resend the parcel but AP told me since the buyer did not pick up the parcel, I have to pay new postage for it.  The buyer refused to pay more postage and after she kicked a big fuss at the post Office, they finally agreed to refund her the postage cost to have the item posted back.  
Replied by agk2000 on 14-Jan-2012 13:02 (Ref 2328665) Report
 Here are some  problems I had with Australia Post-
1. Items delivered to sender instead of receiver(3 times)
2. Items returned marked insufficient postage  (twice). In both cases postage was the correct amount.
3. Envelope took 3 weeks to deliver locally.
4. Parcel delivered to wrong address ( countless times). Includes a registered parcel worth $400. Lucky we have honest neighbours.
5. Items lost (5 times).
Considering I've had over 3,000 deliveries, not including our daily mail, with Australia Post  you must admit they have a very high efficiency rate.

Keep up the good work


 
Replied by remaynerecycled on 15-Jan-2012 08:34 (Ref 2328727) Report
put the green form in. The local AP is talking BS. They compensate. And they'll tell you if yours was in amongst what was found at Whyalla.

Original post...........go Ombudsman on their butt.

I had the biggest fight with TruEnergy a few months back. Months after a debit agreement had expired they spent the next couple of bills using up my credit then helped themselves to my bank for more money of a rather large sum. Forty minutes on hold to their sales and billing I gave up and went through the ombudsman. Normally I get contrite people phoning back. This time I got an arrogant sod who argued that its ok to take cash out almost six months after the debit agreement has expired because the computer (always the computer) sees that a bill is due but there is no set amount anymore so just helps itself. The fact that this is theft, and yes the ombudsman agreed on that point with me, seemed beyond his comprehension. And the forty minute phone wait had him repeatedly telling me that they don't compensate for that. No apology or murmurs of how they're working to cut down the wait time. In the end he threw a lot of credit at my account to shut me up. Ombudsman said they can't do anything about the wait time as that's not what they deal with. I wanted to demand that the cash be put back but then I'd only have to transfer most of it back to them immediately anyway as the bill was due so ended up leaving it there. Not the most satisfying ombudsman intervention experience.
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