Help/advice pls - Aust Post contractor signed for my item & it's missing

[the3coopers]

We've lost a very expensive item that was delivered from the USA via USPS Express last week. Yet the AP tracking shows that it's been signed for!

Last Sunday we arrived back from an Easter Holiday, and it seems that the AP Contractor had come Tuesday 10th at about 7:38am -  there is a hangup on our home Answering Machine (my home phone number is on the vendor's invoice) at that time. The delivery status says delivered at 7:42am.

I phoned AP customer service and they say there's a scrawled signature with my first name on it. I am unable to get a copy, but I've asked the vendor to request it via USPS. I never sign my name that way, and anyway I can easily verify that I wasn't here on that day. The item should have been carded, not dropped.

Item was paid by Paypal, funded by a ANZ Visa Debit card. Theoretically I cannot claim INR since the item was delivered - and it'd be really unfair to chargeback on the vendor since they certainly did deliver something to us.

AP seemed to be saying "too bad", claim back via the vendor. Yet the only reason it's missing is because the AP employee seems to have either delivered to the wrong address or signed for it themselves and left it sitting on our front porch for nearly a week!

So, how on earth should I handle this? The item cost me almost $1000, so it's not a loss that I can "absorb". I'm wondering if anybody has had similar experiences, especially with making a claim against Australia Post for such a loss.

Thanks heaps for any advice you can give me. 🙂

[the3coopers]

Australia Post have just provided USPS and Vendor with the alleged signature. It's just a scrawl - nothing like how I sign my name, nor even really is it readable.

I've gone back to the Vendor with questions about whether the mail service is required to verify the receiver's identity etc, and what they suggest the next steps are.

I will make a report to Ombudsman soon, as this behaviour of AP is totally unacceptable. Unfortunately another more important personal matter is running at the same time... so this is an annoyance for me!

[tall_bearded]

Used to do this sort of thing for a living.

So don't hesitate to call if you need a hand.

[lyndal1838]

I live in an area that's pretty safe to drop a parcel at my door, and fairly regularly i get parcels left at the door(Unregistered). I have spoken to my delivery driver and asked her if she can leave registered parcels at the door for me, and she said she can't do it or she'll lose her job.

I hope all works out for you though.

That is not totally correct offroad.

You can make arrangements with AP to have everything safe dropped, even the registered mail.

I have been doing it for years and my contractor is totally reliable.

You need to sign a form for AP to say that you take full responsibility for any items that are left in the place that you have arranged with the contractor.

If your post office cannot help, try contacting the local parcel delivery centre.  It was my contractor who told me about it and suggested that where I live was quite safe and he suggested I use it.  It has saved me many trips to the post office over the years.

[phorum_junkie*]

If it is a scrawl that is recogniseable as your name then somebody has comitted fraud. If the delivery person had signed some random name and just said that person was at the property then you may have had a harder job if it was not person to person delivery but as you can prove you were not there. the sig is an out and out forgery and it is highly unlikely the delivery chap is going to be able to persuade anyone it was not they who signed..

[aussie.imports]

Thanks Lyndal, will look into that. The post office that my undelivered parcels go to has to be one of the worst on the central coast. The queue is always out the door, and i can wait anywhere up to 20 min to get to the counter. X-(

[mtnlane]

Any resolution for you with this Coops?

[the3coopers]

The seller's claim on USPS has been rejected, since there is a delivery signature. Australia Post issued a "statement" in writing that the item was delivered to me (my name) at my home.

I am currently writing to the Postal Ombudsman.

The seller send me a replacement device at their cost, just as a goodwill gesture. I have promised to repay the seller with any compensation I am able to get from AP.

[nouveau_retro]

So unfair and untrue- you were out of the country and can prove it- AP have no case.

[nouveau_retro]

sorry, should have remembered better (been a while since this thread started)- you were away on holiday and can prove it.

Coops as well as the Postal Ombudsman this may still be a legal matter such as fraud etc surely?

[the3coopers]

Coops as well as the Postal Ombudsman this may still be a legal matter such as fraud etc surely?

Nah, I cannot prove fraud - I can only prove that I wasn't here