STILL Waiting on a Christmas parcel

[elliecat]

My mother in Australia posted me my family Christmas parcel at the end of November or early December 2010 - she's a bit OCD about posting things in time so would have posted well before the last date advertised in Australia for posting parcels to the UK. And it STILL hasn't arrived

The parcel was addressed to my work address (City of London) as she knows someone is guaranteed to be there to accept delivery. I've checked with our post room and nothing has come in.

She's made inquiries at her Australian PO about it and they've said there's nothing they can do about tracing the parcel since she didn't post it on a recorded or tracked basis.

Is there anything at all I can do over here to try and trace the parcel ?

I wasn't too upset about it not arriving before Xmas, or even in early January, as I know there were postal delays generally. But now its been at least 3 months since it was posted....

Is anyone else still waiting on parcels from Australia ? Is there an even bigger backlog for International parcels ?

Thanks

ellie

[arnold cheshire]

sorry to hear that i believe australian tracking numbers wont show up until delivered in the uk system if at all was it sent by sea mail ? by mistake ?

[Lounge Lizard]

sorry to hear that i believe australian tracking numbers wont show up until delivered in the uk system if at all was it sent by sea mail ? by mistake ?

I've always thought it strange that many Australian packets are marked 'RECORDED' and have the 13 digit international tracking number but don't then attract the "Signature Required" marking on entry to the UK.

[baldrick]

sorry to hear that i believe australian tracking numbers wont show up until delivered in the uk system if at all was it sent by sea mail ? by mistake ?

I've always thought it strange that many Australian packets are marked 'RECORDED' and have the 13 digit international tracking number but don't then attract the "Signature Required" marking on entry to the UK.

I believe that Registered items from Australia are tracked as special delivery in UK, but not 'recorded' items.

[baldrick]

Is there anything at all I can do over here to try and trace the parcel ?

You could try getting a form from a Post Office Counter for a missing item. This will require details of when and where the item was posted, the name and address to where it was going, and a description of the parcel and contents. Royal Mail would then try to find if it is in any office which it would have passed through, and see if it is in the Belfast office for items which are undeliverable due to insufficient or missing address.
But it is unlikely that it will be found, if it wasn't tracked. It might not even have arrived in the UK.

[elliecat]

Thanks for your replies.

I'm pretty sure she didn't post it on a tracked or recorded basis as it was a lot more expensive (she's a pensioner and it already costs her $60-80 to post a light parcel from Australia to the UK). It was just posted normal airmail.

I'll try a missing item form from the UK PO and see if they can find it. I wouldn't normally be too upset as the presents aren't high value and are replaceable, but my mum had made a homemade recipe book where she'd written out family recipes with photos of the finished dishes and 'chef's notes' and I know she spent a lot of time on that.

[HappyTimes]

this may sound daft, but have you visited your local sorting office to see if they have it in the 'cage'. It may have tried to be deliveried and no P739 card has been left, although as the time is going on they only keep parcels for 3 weeks, so it may have been sent back. It may be worth a try.