topic Re: Sea/surface mail from UK in Selling

Sea/surface mail from UK

sprinklespowerpuff — Thu, 29 May 2014 12:06:22 GMT

Hello, I have been waiting for a parcel from the UK since end of January. Instead of airmail the seller advised that she had been given the wrong postage quote at her local Royal Mail which made the item way too expensive for her to ship by that method so she sent the package surface/sea mail. She was quoted 6 weeks to arrive here. I am still waiting. My AP courier lass told me more like 3 months. Anyone had any experience with sea mail packages? I'm not very hopeful now that it will ever arrive.

Re: Sea/surface mail from UK

howie696 — Thu, 29 May 2014 12:08:45 GMT

Open a dispute at 45 days and repay the seller if and when it arrives, they were silly to use sea mail

Re: Sea/surface mail from UK

putney32 — Thu, 29 May 2014 12:14:51 GMT

...since the end of January...... sorry your 45 days to open a dispute are well and truely past.

but that is what you Should have done.

however, I have known UK parcels to take 3 or 4 months, yours is at the outer end of that scale now, so possibly it is not going to arrive and you have absolutely no where to turn for help after such a long time.

😞

Re: Sea/surface mail from UK

lane-ends — Thu, 29 May 2014 12:33:44 GMT

When I used to send or recieve surface mail from UK it was 9-16 weeks. So never do it anymore.

Re: Sea/surface mail from UK

sprinklespowerpuff — Thu, 29 May 2014 12:35:17 GMT

Yes Putney. I was well aware sea mail would negate a Paypal claim but she acted in good faith and obviously thought she was doing the right thing. She was given a quote of around $23.00AUD postage which I paid then upon her return to the post office to ship was quoted a far higher amount. Obviously, in hindsight it would have been better if she had refunded my money and re-listed the item. The irony being she said she had to "pay the difference" to even send sea-mail so I assumed she had to spend some of her own money as it was. She sent me a message saying she didn't think she would post to Australia again after this although she had posted to the US. I felt bad but it wasn't my fault any more than it was hers for the discrepancy.

Re: Sea/surface mail from UK

sprinklespowerpuff — Thu, 29 May 2014 12:58:26 GMT

@lane-ends wrote:
When I used to send or recieve surface mail from UK it was 9-16 weeks. So never do it anymore.
Thanks, Lane-ends. Wow, 16 weeks. That Royal Mail employee who originally quoted the seller should have been hauled over the coals. Any idea what goes on with packages on the cargo ships or whatever? I was wondering if the parcel could be in a "dead letter office" somewhere - my address made illegible by water damage, ha ha.

Re: Sea/surface mail from UK

chezzy — Thu, 29 May 2014 22:38:48 GMT

Too late for Paypal etc now. I'd be suggesting you lodge an enquiry through the Post Office, I think it is best for the seller to do this although the addressee might be able to do so too. Here is some information I found on UK's Royal Mail website about the process and compensation etc (note Surface Mail is now called International Economy)

http://www.royalmail.com/personal/help-and-support/royal-mails-claims-process-for-loss-damage-and-delay

http://www.royalmail.com/personal/help-and-support/available-compensation-for-lost-or-damaged-international-items

http://www.royalmail.com/personal/help-and-support/claims-process-for-international-items

Re: Sea/surface mail from UK

cq_tech — Thu, 29 May 2014 23:36:24 GMT

Have you emailed your seller yet to let them know your item still hasn't arrived, just in case it was returned to the sender for some inexplicable reason?

Re: Sea/surface mail from UK

lyndal1838 — Fri, 30 May 2014 02:01:13 GMT

Even if the OP had not missed the cutoff time for a dispute, he would not have won it as paypal does not cover items sent surface mail whether the seller can prove postage or not.

Re: Sea/surface mail from UK

lizzyamelia — Fri, 30 May 2014 03:47:18 GMT

It can take 4-5 months via sea mail from UK - have had many heavy items sent to me this way from sellers I regularly buy from.

Your seller should have contacted you first before sending via sea mail as you had agreed on airmail and were expecting them to do this.

I would still be contacting the seller advising non receipt of your items.

If you paid via paypal using a credit/debit card but have missed the cut-off time for a claim you may still be able to claim back though your credit/debit card provider for non receipt of goods.

Also find out if there is any paperwork you can fill out here for AP to do a search for it - may be floating around at a PO somewhere awaiting delivery/collection.

Re: Sea/surface mail from UK

chezzy — Fri, 30 May 2014 04:18:12 GMT

@lizzyamelia wrote:
It can take 4-5 months via sea mail from UK - have had many heavy items sent to me this way from sellers I regularly buy from.

Also find out if there is any paperwork you can fill out here for AP to do a search for it - may be floating around at a PO somewhere awaiting delivery/collection.

Australia Post re Missing mail items

http://auspost.com.au/parcels-mail/missing-mail-items.html

Australia Post online Missing item enquiry

https://contactus.auspost.com.au/app/enquiry/ArticleSearchLanding/session/L2F2LzEvdGltZS8xMzkxNzQyNzI5L3NpZC9Eb24zZ2lNbA%3D%3D

Re: Sea/surface mail from UK

ajarnjenny — Fri, 30 May 2014 08:14:07 GMT

It may still come. When my daughter was living in London, she sent a great load of clothes home, by sea mail. because she was flying home and didn't have room for them in her luggage and she was home for four full months before they turned up.

And they were not delivered by mail, we had to go to a customs place and pick them up.

Re: Sea/surface mail from UK

lyndal1838 — Fri, 30 May 2014 09:00:38 GMT

Unaccompanied baggage or bulk shipping is a bit different to surface post through Royal Mail. RM items will be delivered through Australia Post.

Re: Sea/surface mail from UK

lane-ends — Fri, 30 May 2014 11:06:12 GMT

Bare in mind there will always be sorting errors, a package that goes by air to the wrong country, gets redireced, could have done a lap of the globe and you may still get it 10 days, and we are non the wiser. If it goes in a container, then on a slow boat to wrong country, then ditto when redirected. It could turn up after who know when.

Even domestic parcels get dropped in the wrong sack all the time. Thats probably the biggest cause for delayed mail.

Re: Sea/surface mail from UK

sprinklespowerpuff — Wed, 04 Jun 2014 07:52:49 GMT

Hello and a big thanks to all the members who kindly replied to my post in this matter especially Lane-ends whose advice I found particularly helpful. I wanted you all to know that my item has shown up - Monday of this week. It was almost as though the **bleep** thing was waiting for me to come on here and lament my loss then arrive and if it could speak say "fooled ya - here I am". I have messaged my UK seller and needless to say she is gobsmacked at the length of time after what she was told by Royal Mail. Anyway, thanks again to you all. All the best.