Parcel from Italy

Dna · Post by **Dna** » 29 Mar 2016, 09:46

I sent a parcel from Italy. n.RA835014885IT. It's been a month and it still can't be tracked on the website. The post office in Italy says that on the 28th of February the parcel went through customs. That's all they know. Nobody seems to know what happened. What should I do?

Post by **TrueBlueTerrier** » 29 Mar 2016, 14:29

contact the person you sent it to they may have received it but the system was not updated.

Dna · Post by **Dna** » 29 Mar 2016, 19:00

I can't do that. It's an important writing contest and they get thousands of those parcels. They sure can't look for mine and then tell me if they got it

Post by **TrueBlueTerrier** » 29 Mar 2016, 19:14

if they get "thousands" then it's extremely likely they have received it but the system has not yet been updated. This is quite common for recorded items going to customers who get a lot in the UK and as far as I can tell that was the class of service used.

Dna · Post by **Dna** » 29 Mar 2016, 19:18

I really hope you're right. The problem is that the Italian post office said that on the 28th of February the parcel went through customs and then have no idea what happened next so I was afraid the parcel was still sitting in customs. Isn't there a way to contact customs?

Post by **TrueBlueTerrier** » 29 Mar 2016, 19:20

Dna wrote:I really hope you're right. The problem is that the Italian post office said that on the 28th of February the parcel went through customs and then have no idea what happened next so I was afraid the parcel was still sitting in customs. Isn't there a way to contact customs?

No and it was just a transcript its doubtful that UK Customs kept it for long, they are only interested in illegal items and anything that needs VAT paying on it (from Outside the EU)

Dna · Post by **Dna** » 29 Mar 2016, 19:22

Ok thanks, then I hope it didn't go missing :P

Post by **Snaggletooth** » 29 Mar 2016, 22:51

Once it has reached 5 weeks since the day you sent it (any day now, I expect), put in a claim form with the Italian post office. They might just find the record of it being delivered, but whatever happens with that you should get the cost of postage returned to you. This helps to show that the problem exists and also gives a little financial penalty to the Post Office for the failure.

I think that tracking from one end to the other is usually done on a reciprocal arrangement, i.e. between any pair of countries it works in both directions or not at all. IIRC Italy is one of the few Western European countries where items sent by Royal Mail do not get tracking at the other end.