Parcel stuck at Heathrow Langley HWDC

[fraxos]

Hopefully it does turn up. It was a cheap mobile phone so no reason (I think) to be either confiscated or destroyed.

[fraxos]

The plot thickens. I have been able to contact Border Force at the Heathrow WDC and they have confirmed that it never went through them...At the same time the sender is claiming ignorance saying it is with customs so nothing he can do about it.

[danfish13]

The plot thickens. I have been able to contact Border Force at the Heathrow WDC and they have confirmed that it never went through them...At the same time the sender is claiming ignorance saying it is with customs so nothing he can do about it.

I think I have been through the same and spoke to the same people. Everybody denies having it and says to speak to the other party. My parcel landed on 12th June and still no sign. 6 weeks on Monday. Sender has opened a missing parcel investigation with USPS as well. Just seems no other avenues to try!

[Snaggletooth]

Hopefully it does turn up. It was a cheap mobile phone so no reason (I think) to be either confiscated or destroyed.

Sending mobile phone batteries in the Post is fraught with difficulties. It could be that the authorities have noticed a problem.

[fraxos]

But the battery is not removable so why would that be an issue? Also, if there was a problem surely someone would have the parcel?

[Snaggletooth]

But the battery is not removable so why would that be an issue? Also, if there was a problem surely someone would have the parcel?

Keeping the battery inside is just one of the rules. There must be a return address on the parcel, there must not be another battery in there, the phone must be undamaged, the packaging must be "rigid" (a strong cardboard box, basically).

Is it coming from someone you know or are you buying it? An old scam is to sell you a supposedly working mobile then mail a damaged one, knowing that the mail system will impound & destroy it.

And yes, someone will have your parcel. But there is no tracking in the parts of the system where parcels go for additional examination, and sometimes queues of many weeks for items to be dealt with. We aren't getting lots of complaints on here about the general queue to come into the UK, which is why I suspect it's a safety examination.

[fraxos]

I have bought it from a reputable seller on Aliexpress so I am hoping that it is not a scam. And according to the invoice they have sent me all the information is there.

The perplexing thing is that there have been zero updates since the day it touched down in the UK. No mention of customs cleareance etc. See below:

ARRIVED IN THE UK
2017-06-23 15:42:00
ARRIVED IN THE UK
2017-06-23 15:28:00
Arrival at Processing Center (Country code: GB)
2017-06-23 15:28:00 [GMT+8]
Arrival at Destination Post (Country: GB)
2017-06-23 14:31:00 [GMT+8]
Depart from transit country
2017-06-21 03:44:17 [GMT+8]
Despatched to overseas (Country code: GB)
2017-06-21 00:05:06 [GMT+8]
Hand over to airline
2017-06-19 22:03:27 [GMT+8]
Received by line-haul
2017-06-17 18:46:08 [GMT+8]
Outbound in sorting center
2017-06-17 17:46:08 [GMT+8]
Shipment information received
2017-06-17 17:24:00 [GMT+8]
Inbound in sorting center
2017-06-17 16:46:08 [GMT+8]
Accepted by carrier
2017-06-17 16:16:05 [GMT+8]
Waiting for pick up
2017-06-17 08:31:12 [GMT+8]
Shipment confirmation
2017-06-16 10:31:00

[TrueBlueTerrier]

No mention of customs cleareance etc.

In the vast majority of International Royal Mail cases, there is no mention of Customs in tracking.

[Snaggletooth]

Are you sure it is coming in by Royal Mail? That tracking information does not look like it is for an item coming through the normal mail.

[fraxos]

Apologies, this is not from the Royal Mail website but rather one that tracks the whole journey. But yes, it has been confirmed that Royal Mail are handling this side of the journey.

[calexandrah94]

Hi there, I'm certain that my question will have been answered approximately 500,000 times in the message boards but I'm just looking for a little bit of help/advice. I've ordered two vinyls from the US (tracking number LX533873075US) and on the USPS website it's registering as being in Heathrow, on eBay it says it departed London 5 days ago and the Royal Mail site says it has no record. I've tried parcelforce but they said it's definitely with Royal Mail. What would people suggest I do? This is the first time I've had an issue with something coming over from the US so I'm a bit frantic!

[fraxos]

According to this:

https://www.17track.net/en/track?nums=LX533873075US" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

ebay is right and has departed Heathrow so I guess the next you are going to hear about it is when it reaches a delivery office near you. No promise that it is going to happen though...

[TrueBlueTerrier]

According to this:

https://www.17track.net/en/track?nums=LX533873075US" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

ebay is right and has departed Heathrow so I guess the next you are going to hear about it is when it reaches a delivery office near you. No promise that it is going to happen though...

I am afraid not - USPS is unique in that they scan their items as they off load it from the aircraft and pass it to Customs. When RM have it the tracking will show as an RM scan rather than a USPS one. (This is still showing the last scan as a USPS one)

[fraxos]

Good point, missed that!

[calexandrah94]

Ah okay, would you say it was worth me trying to get in contact with USPS and see what's happening or just leave it and keep an eye. I'm just struggling to know who to contact!