I ordered an Ezydog lead from MyPetWarehouse on 29.10.2018 and I received an email from Australia Post on 30.10.2018 claiming it should be delivered by 01.11.2018.
The tracking number now shows “Delayed” and the last and only location is Pinkenba.
As the old saying states “You just can’t help stupid”.
The parcel was finally delivered yesterday after a mere 8 days to get from Brisbane to Cairns.
Today I received an email from Australia Post asking how did they do and if I would recommend them.
I hope that they like their 0 out of 10 rating.
Australia Post B double truck burnt out.
And you thought that you had a parcel delivery problem?
The cheque was in the mail. Honest?
Last week I was expecting a parcel (18Kg) sent from Melbourne to Glenhaven in Sydney. There was no choice of courier provided and the shipping price was “free”. Checking on the courier’s web site showed that the parcel got to their Silverwater (Sydney, NSW) depot quite quickly, then the next morning was scanned “out for delivery”. At around 19:00 it was scanned back in, presumably the driver couldn’t deliver all his day’s work. The next three mornings it had a new entry out for delivery, but no scan in so still in the truck. When it finally arrived late on the fourth day the packaging was damaged and wet and the driver had to walk all over existing parcels in the truck to get to it, in his steel capped work boots. His only explanation was “we are doing pickups as well”. Not interested in further discussion. Luckily the contents were robust. This was Hunter Express, never dealt with them before but based on this experience will feed back to the seller of the item.
has the person been fired for fraud?
This new Boston Dynamics robot should be a shoe in for your footpath.
And if your gate is not open, it will probably just jump over your fence.
Not likely. It will be well behaved and like all well trained dogs never attack anyone. Unless asked to!
I do wonder about bones though. Will the AI be so dog like, one whiff of a decaying lamb shank can distract the AI or will it simple ravage the nearest servo for some grease and an oil change. Ah, what about that juicy High Voltage transformer over there?
An alternative to the local parcels van for some? As we do not have a footpath it would need a license and rego to run down the road though? 
We are having a terrible time with TNT Express (FedEx). Bought a bike rack back in November, to use these Christmas holidays. It was shipped from Albury on the 2nd December. Still hasn’t arrived. TNTExpress (maybe should be renamed to TNTslow) say it is in their Erskine Park warehouse, but have no idea when it will ship. Meanwhile it looks like we will be having to find and buy another bike rack, of have our holidays ruined. At the time it shipped some accessories were on backorder. They have since shipped with a different company and have arrived. What recourse does one have in these situations? Is there a reasonable time to deliver these? Am I able to seek compensation if I have to buy another bike rack? Anyone had luck in getting a similar situation resolved?
The merchant who sold you the bike rack is TNT’s customer, so any action needs to be initiated by them. Regardless of the carrier the recipient has no contractual relationship with the shipping company, and thus no direct rights, unless they directly arranged and paid for the service.
My expectation is that the T&C for delivery on the seller’s system is all you can hang your hat on. If you find TNT has not upheld their promised/contracted delivery or the item has gone missing or is delayed, as it appears to be, the recipient can usually lodge a ‘where is it’ to get information, but when it comes to compensation only the party who contracted the delivery can usually do that.
Since time is of the essence with only days to go you could ask the seller for a return authorisation assuring time to receive the item and return transportation time are covered. It is arguable if it is a change of mind or a service failure depending on all the T&C between you and receiving the bike rack, but consider negotiating the return cost.
As an aside, stories like @sydsim posted do not bode well if Fedex normal brilliant service goes down rather than TNT’s going up. I recently received a parcel sent Fedex economy from Canada in 8 calendar days, about as long as many of our domestic parcels get parked in a single depot awaiting routing.
Likewise. I ordered an Apple Watch from Apple. IN the past, they have always been delivered from Sydney… now its dropshipping from China via FedEx/TNT (Apple has always used TNT). It was supposed to be delivered tomorrow. Imagine my surprise (and to a degree, delight) when I received a “missed you” card on Sunday. I was probably asleep. The card had been tucked into my front door screen.
Anyway, I was not especially concerned at that stage. ON Monday I went to the SWMY.com.au site and plugged in details for redelivery… for yesterday. Didnt arrive, though Track and Trace said it was out for delivery. I waited all day, having left the card tucked into the door with a sig so it could be left without me having to sign. I go to Track and Trace this morning… and its now back in transit with a note that said a new delivery date was set by the customer (presumably Apple). Now its due for delivery on the original date (tomorrow)…
I don’t think the left hand knows what the right is doing with that lot. TNT (alone) was reliable. TNT/Fedex is not, and I wont be ordering Apple stuff online again. (well, cant really afford it anymore, on my last new watch and phone and still using a 12 yr old Macbook and a 10 year old Mac Mini.)
[edit] Or maybe not. I’m sending the watch back because the one thing I bought it for was SpO2 readings (by finger gadget they drop dangerously low at times) so I wanted to get an overall pic. Nope. 15 seconds is not enough. Even the finger gadget isnt that instant. So TNT is supposed to be picking it up on the 3rd Jan. Wonder if that will happen…
My neighbour and I have had 3 examples in the last 2 weeks with Australia Post leaving a parcel at the local post office without leaving a card or I suspect even coming near the premises. The email first says " your parcel is coming today, if no one is home we will leave it in a safe place…" and that is all. It is only by using the tracking number that you find that the parcel has been left at the post office. Prior to this our local Startrack delivery person has been extremely reliable and courteous, despite the Covid restrictions. I’m assuming there has been a change of driver because of Covid or holidays and the overworked or lazy driver is taking the line of least resistance and going directly to the post office.
Were there any follow up emails?
Have you complained formally in each instance by email or other?
It may well be as you have indicated a driver issue. It is unlikely to be resolved whether the driver or some other issue, without customers complaining.
Assuming there was no card, was there also an email or SMS to indicate the failed drop off and that the item will be ready to collect at the local post office after ….?
A few years ago I had a problem with one driver and had a chat at the local post office. It might have changed since, but the only way to make a complaint was through the online/phone Auspost system.
The locals advised if a driver got a complaint(s) there was a meeting with the driver and if the complaint was upheld the driver was counselled. If there were subsequently further complaints (5 more from memory) the driver was let go.
Save for that one driver my posties have been excellent although the system behind them has routinely been found ‘curiously wanting’, to be polite.
There were no follow up emails to indicate that the items were at the post office.
With the current stress that the delivery system is under with Covid I am not going to complain, in normal times I would, but just make sure that I regularly check the tracking numbers for the current status whenever a parcel is expected.
I’ve just discovered that international parcel delivery routing depends on which carrier in Australia will do the Australian part of the delivery.
This probably isn’t the full story, so possibly worthwhile Choice investigating - @BrendanMays - if they don’t already know.
After my eye test I ordered new prescription glasses. Sourced most likely from China, I don’t think anyone in Australia makes lenses and frames, despite the well know names seeming like local firms. The tracking for them showed they were in Hong Kong for a couple of weeks doing nothing. My contact with the transporter got some movement, to the Australia Post’s Sydney parcel centre, where their tracking says they have been for the last 11 days. While waiting for the consumer service staff to see if they could find out what was going on, I asked why they hadn’t been air freighted from HK directly to Perth, instead of Sydney. Apparently, all international post that is destined for Australia Post goes to Sydney, where they have a huge facility for sorting parcels, a facility the other States don’t have! Hence for those in other States like WA, we then have multiple days of road transport, (WA 5+).
Many of the other International carriers don’t necessarily use Australia Post, eg, DHL, seem to always use local couriers, hence, air frighted directly to the nearest major airport to the destination.
If my story is accurate, that seems to be an awful account of our national carrier, in essence becoming increasingly Sydney Centric, at the cost of increasingly poor client service.
In Australia there are a number of businesses that fill prescriptions/make lenses, such as:
https://shamir.com/au/
https://crsurfacing.com.au/
And list goes on
Why make the main element of my post about the manufacture of lenses, whilst ignoring the central point about routing of international of parcel delivery, in this example all Australia Post going to Sydney.
Imagine being a passenger from Hong Kong to Perth, and just because you bought your flight from Travel Agent ABC, you were routed Hong Kong to Sydney, Sydney to Perth by coach!
It’s distressing to know there is a long wait on OS sourced optical lenses. Although, I’d like to imagine being routed on any route to Perth right now, providing I did not need to quarantine on arrival in WA.
The issues of centralised incoming services with AP or others are not unique, to Australia or OS. In particular for Australia where international travel and flights are currently very few it should be no surprise. Sensible or not NSW and Sydney have also been able to project a vested interest in being the centre of Australia. NSW is nearly one third of the nation and Vic just down the road nearly one quarter.
The OS shipper is not AP, hence they will send the package by the most convenient path and lowest cost to the Aussie border. There after it’s AP’s problem.
As for lenses, We had two sets between us provided late last year. The first came within a week of eye test and the second a week later. I gather they were sourced from Melbourne. Our Optometrist, QLD Sunshine Coast was able to advise up front how long it might take.
We all seem to think the route is governed by the sender. It does not seem to be that way.
I’m told by Australia Post (AP), not the Asian shipper, that AP was the designated means of delivery before it even left China, and AP designates to freight flight centres eg, HK, Singapore, etc, that its parcels go to Sydney.
So, lets all support this increasing Sydney centric view of Australia to the detriment of the nation and majority of the nation who don’t reside in Sydney.
By the way, freight flights all over the world have continued during the pandemic based on freight demand, ie just like pre-pandemic. There was a period in the early days of the pandemic when everything stopped. Its not like the days of Wells Fargo/Royal Mail, where the mail was delivered on passenger coaches.
