USPS abroad - forget it!
(if you're not interested in a long rant about USPS international parcel delivery, skip this post)
On October 23rd I bought a used Herman Miller Aeron chair on eBay, and ordered international shipping with USPS (USD 250). USPS offers a tracking service, but this is misleading, really, as the only information relayed is a: when sender registers a shipment ("click & ship")
and b: a notice when it has been delivered. The USPS "tracking" system has one giant flaw: it does not tell you when your item is en route to destination, and thus gives you no chance to make sure you're there.
Tuesday morning 6 o'clock I received an update that stated:
"Attempted Delivery Abroad, October 06, 2008, 11:50 pm, FRANCE".
Not where in France, by whom, or anything else. 11.50 pm? WTF? Everyone here - mailman as well as me - were sleeping by 11.50pm. No sign of delivery attempts. When I called, a very rude lady told me I should contact Chronopost in France; the delivery was no longer their responsibility. Aha. Chronopost knew nothing of either tracking number, and had no clue why USPS would point me their way. So, I line up at the local post office and later at the main post office. Nothing there.
I called USPS and issisted: WHO is delivering in France, HOW do I find it? This time, the lady said she did not know why I would call Chronopost because most of their deliveries are made by Coliposte - but in fact, foreign deliveries were not their problem - I basically had to figure it out myself. When I asked for her superior or someone who knew ANYTHING, she hung up.
Then, I received a second email notice - again, delivery attempt, 11:50 PM.
And again, no sign of delivery attempts. So, I head to the main post office in Marseille to ask about Coliposte. They have nothing in the entire La Poste system. So I go thru DHL, FedEx, UPS and TNT with no luck. My tracking number - all I have - yeilds no information, and I start fearing the chair will be sent back after third delivery attempt. I find this completely unacceptable.
UPDATE: I have been in touch with several rude and -semi-automatic USPS employees, and a couple of friendly ones. The superviser at the local post office in Le Panier, a very helpful and thorough man - went through the whole thing with me, and found the tracking information "trés étrange". After 5 calls (!) to USPS - several being very short and extremely rude on the other side (
Listen to this!) I was told my package was at "Roissy Courrier International" (the international hub, in Paris). This was completely new and in contrast to the information given to me via USPS tracking - the package has probably not yet left french customs (after a week). Once it left, they explained, it will have a new tracking number which then works only in France. This will NOT be available via USPS tracking, so the whole idea of "tracking" is lost - you basically have to just sit it out.
UPDATE II: There was a slip in my mailbox saturday oct 10th, and today I picked up the chair from the local post office. The director singled me out in the +30min queue and found the huge box for me. There is still no update in the tracking info, and I hereby swear to never use USPS services again, or at least before they enter the 21st century.
3: Købe et "iTunes gift certificate" på eBay. Man kan sandsynligvis finde et på 200 USD for mellem 100 og 150 USD. Indtast koden, og du skulle have adgang til ALT indtil dine - billige 200 usd - udløber. Som altid på eBay er det vigtigt at tjekke sælgers feedback og antal gennemførte handler. Jeg har hørt der kan gå alt mellem 10 min og 24 timer fra man køber, til koden ankommer.
