Saturday, February 11, 2012

A Rant About Australia Post - AGAIN


On 30 January I bought something on eBay which may or may not have been this. DON'T JUDGE ME. It was shipped to me on 31 January from Brisbane. By 7 February it hadn't arrived, which seemed kind of weird, so I had another look at the eBay purchase and noticed that the shipping had tracking. I went to the Australia Post site to check the tracking number and found that my package had supposedly been delivered on Friday 3 February and signed for by someone called D. David. I am not D. David and no D. David lives here. I assumed the seller must have accidentally sent it to the wrong person so I wrote to her, but the address she sent it to was mine. She said she would follow up with Australia Post.

I was in the post office the next day sending my mum a birthday present and picking up some customs forms for an international package I'm sending off next week (that's you, J!), and I asked about it. They told me I needed to ring the call centre. They also told me the contract delivery guy in my area was new. I said that explained a bit because lately when I have had packages delivered I've been coming home to find my gate wide open, and once I found the gate closed but the package just lying on the ground and it had obviously just been thrown over the fence. My fence and gate are quite high and not see-through, but I live in a terrace house, so it's only a couple of steps from the front door to the street. With the gate open, anyone and his dog can walk past, see a package sitting there and think, "Thanks, I'll be having that!" I also live just down the road from a strip of restaurants and cafes and several homeless shelters and homeless drop in centres, so a) it's busy during the day, and b) you never know who is lurking around.

So I asked the post office people if they would tell the guy to shut the gate. A simple enough request, one would have thought.

The next day I was working at home in the afternoon because Noodles was sick, so I happened to be there when the contractor delivered a package from Sarah (woo!). The first thing he said to me was, "Did you make a complaint about me not shutting the gate?" WTF? Attitude, much? I explained that I did ask the staff at the PO to ask him to shut the gate, and I explained why. He started giving me some spiel about how they have to drop things off in a certain time and blah blah blah. You know what, mate? I don't give a shit. If you have cause to open a gate, you shut it after. It takes SECONDS.

So then I asked about the package that hadn't shown up. He said it must have been dropped off and then someone took it (wow - maybe because the gate was left open!). I said it was supposedly signed for. He said in that case there would be a card in the letterbox. I said there would be a card in the letterbox if it was requiring a signature and there was no one home to sign for it. This package was signed for. He said, "What was in it?" Again. WTF? How is that relevant to the delivery guy? He would not have seen what was in it anyway! Then he said he knew nothing about it and he would talk to 'the guy' who delivered packages on that day. I already knew from the PO that 'the guy' was him. THAT FUCKER HAS MY DARYL.

Well, truthfully, I don't know that for sure. I do know that the previous contractor had an annoying habit of dropping packages off that were meant to have a signature on them, so I wouldn't be at all surprised if this guy did the same thing, left the gate open, and then someone walked past and grabbed it. However, I was home almost all that day, except for a couple of hours when I was at the doctor's in the morning, and I don't remember coming back and finding the gate open, so I don't think anything was delivered then. I don't know who D. David is, though the Australia Post call centre asked me if I was "sure" that someone of that name didn't live there. Pretty sure, but let me check the attic...

The seller contacted me again and said that Australia Post had 'no information' about the package, and she had to lodge a form for them to follow it up further, which would take about a week. How on earth could they have 'no information' when they know exactly when it was delivered (4:15pm apparently, when I was at home not having a package delivered) and by whom?

Damn it, Australia Post - you are not a bloody casino. We should not have to just take the chance that something may or may not get to where it's meant to be!

17 comments:

  1. So so frustrating! Hope it gets resolved and Daryl finds his way to your loving arms ;)

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    1. He's out there somewhere, Jade. SEARCHING FOR ME.

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  2. Fucking Australia Post. >:( And the nerve of the delivery guy! GTFO with your attitude.

    I had an issue with them around Christmas last year. Was expecting two packages and had been waiting for ages until I remembered that I could track one of them. After checking online, I found out that the package had been sitting at the PO for over 2 weeks and no one had left a slip or knocked on the door etc. When I went over, I told the woman what had happened, and she was adamant that a slip had been left. Then she had the gall to tell me to ignore any follow-up slips when I hadn't even received the first one! Gr.

    My other package completely dissapeared. :( Lucky I got a refund or I would've gotten *really* pissed.

    My apologies for the rant. lol

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    1. Oh rant away - we all have Auspost horror stories!

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  3. lol your rant just made me lol but yeah not getting your package sucks :( i ordered a pair of shoes off amazon and it was "delivered" except not. I think it's cuz my apartment was under construction at the time so they left the lobby door open which is where the mail gets dropped off and the mailman didn't drop it off to my apartment (which was the fourth floor) so he left it on the floor in front of all the mailboxes so I didn't get my freaking shoes and so somewhere in the world someone is walking around with my shoes T_T i got refunded but i'd rather have the shoes. especially since i bought them at an unbelievable price

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    1. That sucks! When I watch The Big Bang Theory and they check the mail and there's this table where packages sit I always think, does that happen in real life in the US? Surely things would be getting stolen all the time! I wonder how big apartment buildings here deal with mail?

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  4. This is terrible Dee. Not only are we charged quite a bit for postage in Australia, it's hit or miss as to whether it will even turn up! Your contractor sounds like a tool.

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    1. I know! If you can't trust a tracked package to get where it's going what hope is there? Auspost need some competition other than super expensive couriers.

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  5. Wow - that is disgraceful! I agree with Sarah, he sounds like an absolute tool.

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    1. He's a total tool. The last one was a bit annoying with dropping off things that should be signed for, but I want him back. At least he shut the gate. :-(

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  6. We once had a badly written/spelt note on a scrap of paper stuffed in the crack of the door, that said "PAKAGE ON BALCONY". He'd left a note to tell us he's THROWN a bundle up onto our second storey balcony. Sheer chance it wasn't anything fragile, I doubt he would have checked.

    It was amazing.

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    1. WTF? That is crazy! Did you complain?

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    2. Yep, I set Luke on them. Postie retaliated by leaving "you missed a package" slips even when we're home or if they're small enough to be safely in the mailbox.... sigh

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  7. OMG. Reading this makes me so angry! Forget Daryl (I only feel slightly judgy). GET THAT M*****F***** POSTMAN AND MAKE HIM PAY!!! How am I ever going to send you anything???

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    1. LOL @ 'only slightly judgy'. ;-D

      I actually have no idea whether Auspost is liable for the cost if a tracked package doesn't show up. Logic would say yes, but I bet they have a caveat somewhere that gets them out of it. :-(

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  8. INORITE! It's not bad enough that posting things is such a gamble in the first place, they have the shittiest attitude when it comes to fixing problems. I work for a government agency everyone hates and if we treated our customers like that we'd be plastered all over A Current Affair.

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  9. I hate them too...


    http://you-shit-me.blogspot.com.au/2012/11/australia-post-national-call-center.html

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