eBay

funkyflamingo* · ‎12-01-2016

I am not a very big buyer, but this week I have had two items that have gone missing from AP- Sunshine west Depot. One went back to Hobart which was originally from Hobart and the other got to Sunshine west and is now going to SA, and I'm in Mordialloc, 24 km from Melb CBD.

I am now worried about all the items I have posted with Aus post in the last two weeks!

Has anyone else had any issues?

zanadoo_56 · ‎13-01-2016

@funkyflamingo* wrote:
I am not a very big buyer, but this week I have had two items that have gone missing from AP- Sunshine west Depot. One went back to Hobart which was originally from Hobart and the other got to Sunshine west and is now going to SA, and I'm in Mordialloc, 24 km from Melb CBD.

I am now worried about all the items I have posted with Aus post in the last two weeks!

Has anyone else had any issues?

Last year I requested a pacel I was unable to collect from my local PO be transferred to another PO with better opening hours. It was only 5km away from the PO it was originally sent to. The parcel went back to Sunshine West first. Then tracking showed it was sent to Croydon (nowhere near where it was suposed to go) At Croydon they must have realised it was at the wrong place...but alas it had to go back to Sunshine West first which it did. At Sunshine West it was again sent back to Croydon.

That was it for me. As the public cannot deal with the sorting centre direct I rang AP customer service and asked them to DO SOMETHING before it went back to Sunshine West then possibly Croydon for a third time. Thank God the customer service person managed to get my parcel off this infuriating merry-go-round and it went to my local sorting centre where they then forwarded it on to the PO I requested. It took nearly 3 weeks for AP to transfer a parcel approx 5km. Arrrggghhh!!!!!!

A later overseas parcel bought (I thought) from the US was sent from Germany by the German postal service and DHL to Oz where it languished at Sunshine West for nearly a week. With nothing happening I made enquiries at AP but as I had 'not yet taken possession of the article' I could not make any claims (they told me the parcel was 'lost'). Take possession...ha! If I had possession I wouldn't have needed to contact AP about it. Only the seller could make a claim....and they didn't want to know as it was too complicated for a $40 purchase. So I contacted DHL who promised to look into for me. Emails flew back and forth as they requested every tiny detail I could tell them about the item. A few days later they contacted AP....and within 24 hours my item was miraculously found. No kidding, Sherlock. What a surprise. Apparently Sunshine West then forwarded the parcel on to its destination....without updating the tracking so I still had no idea where it was. After phoning the most likely destination every day it emerged that the item had sat in a van for a couple of days then it was finally dropped off where I expected to collect it. If I hadn't kept ringing I'd never have known where it was. The tracking never moved from Sunshine West...it still said the same a month after I collected it.

lyndal1838 · ‎13-01-2016

DHL is the German Postal Service and usually very efficient.

Once it arrives in Australia it goes to Australia Post and soon loses momentum.

If you are very lucky it remains with DHL and will probably be delivered a lot quicker than AP.

digupatin · ‎13-01-2016

@*tippy*toes* wrote:
Underwood Qld all have a nasty reputation.

Another Underwood victim here.

A parcel I posted from here in Vic on 2 December was last seen in Underwood on 4 December and since then has been 'in transit'.

My local PO didn't seem surprised after checking for me, saying that the parcel still may arrive at its destination.

zanadoo_56 · ‎13-01-2016

@lyndal1838 wrote:
DHL is the German Postal Service and usually very efficient.
Once it arrives in Australia it goes to Australia Post and soon loses momentum.
If you are very lucky it remains with DHL and will probably be delivered a lot quicker than AP.

I was very impressed at how DHL was willing to take up the matter with AP considering I wasn't allowed to directly and the seller wasn't interested. If they hadn't there would have been nothing I could do as the parcel was supposedly lost (according tto AP) and AP customer service couldn't help either. I've never had any purchase remain with DHL.

I do wish however that there was some agreement between AP and the various postal services at least in Europe that Registered Post items could also be tracked...at the very least once they reach Oz. I've bought items from Germany and France where the sellers have insisted on using RegP but if they vanish into Sunshine West or wherever, with no tracking a parcel requiring a signature is pretty pointless if AP had it last but now can't find it. No tracking/signature system is perfect but I've had some success with one system: E-DELCON. It would be great if it could be significantly expanded.

I've bought a lot of items over the Christmas period (not all eBay) with tracking or RegP, both domestic and from overseas and I have come to the conclusion that tracking is a lot better than signature required for overseas purchases. For local because the delivery timeframe is (usually) faster, for me it comes down to convenience....and I have never found RegP convenient.

dazzledayz · ‎13-01-2016

@*tippy*toes* wrote:
Sunshine West, Chullora NSW and (I think) Underwood Qld all have a nasty reputation. It's not unusual for parcels to ping pong between Sunshine and Chullora multiple times before getting to where they are supposed to go.

I'm in NSW and was expecting a parcel from Vic. It arrived today, 3 days after the last estimate, after taking a trip to *Underwood) Qld on its way.

Underwood is my main sorting centre and seems to be working fine.

My local MC is Heathwood which onships to Underwood.

Underwood is also the Brisbane gateway for interstate mail and I frequently post in close proximity when in the area.

I find that speeds up the AP handling process by a day or two.

There appear to be no unusual problems occuring with my parcels or letters.

dazzledayz · ‎13-01-2016

@pennyforum14 wrote:
Is there a problem with Aus post Sushine West ?

Yes, the logistics staff there need a lesson in Australian geography. The routes they send our parcels off on are more complicated than a fair isle knitting pattern. Chullora in Sydney isn't a whole lot better.

I believe the problems with Sunshine and Chullora stem from the new automated sorting equipment now in use.

Somehow the codes are misread and the mail incorrectly sorted into the wrong state destination bins.

No manual checking so the mail just goes where the system sends it.

It's been going on for a long while now so goodness knows what the problem really is.

We had a huge problem up here in Qld a few years ago with a new health dept payroll system from IBM that was a total dogs breakfast and they never got that sorted.

It was eventually scarpped in its entirity.

hotrodvideo · ‎13-01-2016

Yes ihave been a vitim of the automated sorting system Mid 2015 though

e_traders_aus · ‎15-01-2016

I have had a few items misdirected from underwood, take a tour then returned back to underwood then misdirected again to somewhere else then back to underwood, if I send something to VIC then trouble often starts maybe these items are going through sunshine west. items are sent eparcel and printed on AP labels so its not an issue of dodny handwriting ot address placement.

latina4621 · ‎15-01-2016

I have lost count how many parcels i have had bounce back and forth from chullora and sunshine west.

last year i had a 3 week wait on a parcel that was stuck on the merry-go-round at sunshine west before it decided to get off

also it is a waste of time complaining to australia post, as all you get is excuse after excuse about why the parcel is still there.

as in it is xmas, or there is a huge volume of parcels and my all time favourite is the wrong address, if only i had a dollar for every time i have been told that. instead of admitting their machinery is incompetent .

247newdeals · ‎16-01-2016

@harley_babes_hoard wrote:
I've not had any problems with underwood Tippy, in fact they have come out of there very quickly

I find my parcels sit for 1-3 days at underwood it is when I see Chullora my heart sinks a little