ParcelForce Worldwide International Hub

[NickRMCustomer]

Hi,

I have had three parcels go missing at the PFW International Hub between January and April this year. It's not been great as it's the first time my mail has been lost in transit.

Does anyone know anything about the following:

1. What is the situation at the Coventry International Hub capacity wise? Are they overloaded?

2. What is the process for incoming international mail/parcels?

3. On average, how likely is for parcels to fall of conveyor belts and be lost? They were put on ParcelWatch to try and locate them but this didn't bring any success.

4. The General line from PFW in all cases (including a €3.00, yes three Euro item) is that they have been kept by Customs. I've had no letters of seizure or a request for customs fees - does this happen? Do Customs hold goods with no notification to the recipient?

5. A fourth parcel that was assumed missing was randomly delivered to me, that had been assigned a new tracking number and marked up in pen.

This is three out of five parcels lost (it does makes me concerned about this specific location at the moment). The parcels were from Europe, if anyone has any insight into the situation there, it would be very helpful.

Thanks in advance.

[Snaggletooth]

I can tackle two of your questions.

4. Customs do not notify any party when parcels are seized. They will only contact the recipient, via the local delivery company, if there is tax to pay. The value of the goods is irrelevant to whether an item is seized, it’s all about what the contents are. If you tell us what was in the seized parcels we might be able to shed more light on this.

5. Parcelforce usually assign a new tracking number to parcels that come from overseas. This is linked to the existing record for the old tracking number. Very occasionally that linking process fails: I have seen it happen.

[NickRMCustomer]

Hi @Snaggletooth,

Thanks for the reply. Sure, I'll provide more information but please don't judge on my online shopping purchases LOL ...

You've made some immediately interesting points. I didn't realise Customs could seize and not notify the recipient. Do they notifiy the carrier (such a ParcelForce?) - how do you establish mail that is lost in a sorting office for example, mail that is seized or mail that is lost during customs checking?

Given your knowledge and that you have assumed the parcels were seized I'll assume this is possible, I had assumed seizing goods was rare, at least it's not something I have experience before.

The items in question go back to late January up until April and include:

1. A Calendar from Germany. Pictures of Teddy Bears. Price €3.30. Nothing I can imagine being of interest to Customs.

2. A Vintage/Antique Teddy Bear from Germany purchased via eBay.

3. A pair of leather motorcycle gloves from the Netherlands. These cost over €100, and could have attracted a customs charge. I have read through the EU tarrif guide for goods, and it's not clear if leather products fall under the animal/plants directive and attract extra checking or charges based on origin of goods verification.

4. A motorcycle under-helmet balaclava and scarf, also from Germany.

The items from Germany were all sent via DHL and tracked fine until reaching the Coventry International Hub, where they code as arrived and sorted - none of them were passed on to the National Hub for delivery though. Enquiries with ParcelForce indicated the items have been held by Customs, so I contacted HMRC ... after this ParcelForce decided they hadn't been kept by Customs but had been lost in the Sorting Centre (or returned to sender) - though no sender has received anything.

I re-ordered the calendar and it arrived within 4 days. The Antique Teddy Bear has been lost it seems. The leather gloves were refunded (they were coded as on their way to the PF Sorting Office and then vanished - Parcel Watch failed to find them). Same for the balaclava and scarf.

It's quite bothering in so much as I've never experienced lost mail until now - and one item I could understand, but four items, all lost at the PF International Hub in a short period seems likes something is going wrong. The balaclava for under a helmet was also ordered by a friend at the same time, we watched the tracking - his went through all the same points but continued on from the International Hub where mine just stopped.

My underlying concern is that items are being lost in Customs - either through overload, or it being easier to simply mark them as prohibited or for some other reason - and I would really hope this wasn't happening.

Any thoughts?

My local PF depot have been very helpful, most of the information I have has come from them. PF Customer Services really fill me with more doubt - with an ever changing narrative of "it's Customs", "no it wasn't addressed correctly", "oh, it fell off a conveyor belt", etc.

I would be interested to know if it's happening to anyone else - but ultimately I just want my post to arrive. I'm avoiding ordering anything I suspect might be delivered via PF now just in case it's lost.

Any thoughts? Is this really the consequence of Brexit and Covid?