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. 🙂

[pandora_z_box_123]

If it was me .. I would be ringing talk back radio in your state 🙂

[viewmont1071]

sorry to hear this has happened with you Coops- what a nightmare.

Both you and the seller have an entitlement to receive an exact copy or printout of the signature that was obtained at time of 'delivery'.

From there you can claim fraudulent use of your ID and it becomes a legal matter (not just consumer) - once you have the signature copy versus your usual signature on any number of cards documents etc (and have this verified by a JP on a stat dec) they may be inclined to rethink the situation.

I agree, it's not a consumer issue I would not wait for the copy of the signature.

Your stat dec should just affirm you did not receive or sign for the parcel and nobody was in attendance at the address on the day of the attempted delivery. You need to keep it factual rather than opine who signed the delivery invoice ie just state you didnt and you were not there.

The sig on the stat dec/letter of demand should put AP in a whirl.

I would also draft a letter of demand sent via reg post addressed to Australia Post stating the facts, your remedy and a timeframe. 

Failing a satisfactory outcome I would commence civil action with a view to compensation and report the matter to the police.

It's up to AP to justify and defend their contractors actions and then in turn it's the police who will ultimately decide if they believe the law has been broken and the contractor should be charged.  

[tall_bearded]

There are two possible scenarios here. (1) the contractor signed off the consignment and safe dropped the parcel, or secondly, by sheer chance, someone happened to be on the property at the time of delivery and signed for it.  The second is the least probable, but will automatically be elevated to the most probable if the contractor provides a stat dec/affidavit that, when they arrived at the property, someone was there and they signed for it.  Please note, once the contactor has made a sworn statement to that effect, the onus will be yours to prove they are lying.

It is the buyers’ responsibility to select and pay for the delivery mode of their choice and adequately insure the consignment against loss or damage.

The buyer can choose from 3 basis categories of delivery, regular which is delivery to a place, registered which is delivery to any person authorised to be at that place, and person to person which is delivery to a specific person only.  That is if the buyer pays for regular post the contractor is well within his/her rights to ring the door bell and leave it at the doorstep.  If the buyer registers it, the contractor is well within his/her rights to hand it to any person who was is on the property at the time of delivery and which they have a reasonable belief are authorised to be there, without requiring proof of identity before handing it over.  If the buyer pays for person to person it can only be handed over to addressee, and then only after the provision of proof that they are who they say they are.

The buyer only has a right of recovery against the seller if there is proof it wasn’t posted, or if the loss is attributable to seller negligence.  Neither of these apply to these circumstances.

PayPal buyer protection is a recovery service only, and provides the buyer with no recovery rights in addition to those conferred by statute.  That is why the PayPal Buyer Protection policy now contains two specific disclaimers (1) That it is not insurance and (2) if the seller can prove postage, even though you did not receive the item, the loss may be precluded from PayPal Buyer Protection.

For present purposes your only real option is a complaint to the ombudsman on the grounds of contractor negligence.  That is, as you nor anyone else resident on the property was home at the time of delivery, it was signed for by someone not authorised to receive it.  As for the negligence, though person to person delivery wasn’t paid for, considering the obvious value of the item being delivered, though there was no specific onus to do so, before handing over the parcel, the contractor should have asked for proof of ID, and if the ID provided was not that of the addressee, then the personal details of who was taking delivery should have been recorded.

However the above is contingent on the contract between AP and the courier indemnifying the courier against negligence claims, and if it doesn’t, your only other option is to initiate a negligence claim against the contractor. Whichever course of action you choice, should you need it I’ll be more than happy to assist you in preparing the necessary documents.

As for the future, I would recommend that significant valued items are always sent person to person.  That is because it forces the contractor to verify ID before handing it over.   

Finally, if the contractor says it was signed for by someone who was on the property at the time of delivery then also file a police report.

[the3coopers]

Whichever course of action you choice, should you need it I’ll be more than happy to assist you in preparing the necessary documents.

Thanks, I might well take you up on that 🙂 

[the3coopers]

There are two possible scenarios here. (1) the contractor signed off the consignment and safe dropped the parcel, or secondly, by sheer chance, someone happened to be on the property at the time of delivery and signed for it.

Just to clarify something - the delivery docket also had my phone number and email address (as well as my address). There is a phone call logged on our answering machine at 4 minutes prior to the item being "signed for". Unfortunately they hung up immediately and the machine didn't log the CallerID, but these records would probably be available from our telecom if I take it legal.

I would say that call was the delivery contractor phoning the house when we didn't answer the door. When we didn't answer the phone, they must have suddenly decided to give the package to some random person who just happened to suddenly appear on the property at that moment, and to sign for an item that was not addressed to them. I am sure that this is a regular occurrance :^O

I might just call Optus and see what I need to do to ensure that the CallerID records are not erased.

[superscanner4]

My sympathies to coops.  I wish I could say something helpful.  It looks like as you say, either the contractor signed and left it and it has been stolen, or less likely, an opportunistic thief signed for it.  But they  should only give the parcel to someone who has come from inside the house (proof that they live there).  Either way the contractor did the wrong thing, but I don't know how you prove it.  Good luck.  I always have to sign for USPS parcels or else get carded but with UPS courier (expecting one today) they occasionally leave things on the doorstep but in their log they do say"left on doorstep". 

AP contractors are a pain in the neck.  I came home one day to find a package sitting on top of my letterbox, in full view of the many passers-by, we are a busy street and many people walk past on their way home from the railway station, including lots of high school kids.  My front door however is not visible from the street as it is behind another house so it's pretty safe to leave stuff there for a few hours - but I wouldn't like it for a week!  Sometimes the mail guy comes down our driveway on his motorbike to drop books at my doorstep but other times I've had books damaged from the rain as they've tried to stuff them in the letterbox instead. 

I'm about to ask a question (will start a new thread) about damage by USPS.

[tall_bearded]

Before anyone has had time to cover their tacks...

You need to get in touch with your telco and get a printout of the incoming calls for the day in question.  If they charge you for it (and some do) get a receipt because if it goes to legal the cost is claimable as a disbursement. Now my bet is the incoming call in question was from a mobile in your cell. Then if the matter goes to legal you can summons the courier phone records which most likely will confirm the call was made from a mobile registered in his/her name or his/her company name.  This will almost certainly put an end to any assertion that it was handed to someone. 

The next step would be to contact USPS Express Mail International to determine what service was paid for, and like you, I would have though, considering the total cost involved, it was person to person receipted, (or the US equivalent) and if that is the case then the onus was squarely on the contractor to ensure it was delivered to the nominated addressee and the nominated addressee only.  That is, at the time the parcel was handed over, if they (the courier) didn’t personally know you, they could only have handed the parcel over after being provided with ID which proves you are who you say you are.

Finally if it was sent person to person, simply write to AP advising, it was sent person to person.  Therefore if it was handed over to someone, it was not handed to the person to which it had been sent, and as such, they, AP are liable for any loss.

[punch*drunk]

Stories like this make me glad I have a P.O.Box. Hope it works out for you.

[*kazumi*]

AP used to offer a "holding service" for about the same charge as mail redirection.  If going away, you can have your mail kept for you at the PO until the day of your return, then you can collect it or have it delivered.

[beach_and_home]

AP used to offer a "holding service" for about the same charge as mail redirection.  If going away, you can have your mail kept for you at the PO until the day of your return, then you can collect it or have it delivered.

Yes, have done this many times myself.

Also, with so many parcels coming and going, I think it is high time that people started installing larger mailboxes at their house so that parcels can be safe dropped in the mailbox. ie: have a really big one with a lock etc so that your parcels can easily be left but are secure. If you make it easy for the delivery guys they will do the right thing.

I personally have a delivery area at the back of my house which is used by couriers and APost. They love it because they know that whether I'm there or not they can leave the stuff and go. You need to sign "authority to leave" forms with the couriers for this to happen, but it is well worth it. With the AP parcel lady it is just a verbal agreement. But it is so much easier for me and for them.