Has anybody had anything delivered from across the big pond lately?
If so, how long has it taken to get delivered once in the UK?
I'm waiting for a delivery, and according to the USPS tracking, it left Heathrow on Monday morning, yet according to Royal Mail's tracking, it's still leaving America.
I know the last tracked item I ordered that was sent with USPS came via Parcel Force, and they kindly changed the tracking number to a UK tracking number after it cleared customs, so tracking stopped once it had cleared customs.
I also noticed a delivery from China this week that had a new UK tracking number applied over the original Chinese one, but it was just a small order I wasn't in a hurry for, so I've got no idea how accurate the tracking was.
Comments
Was it definitely shipped USPS or could it have been FedEx? Sometimes FedEx and TNT change tracking numbers or card for each other when they really shouldn’t, so that can cause a delay. Royal Mail will have no record of anything until it gets scanned here at your local depot (point of issue of the customs charge) as they’re number only relates to the service they provide, which is clearing customs and going from the depot to you.
If the seller shipped with USPS I would expect a carded duty invoice next week. If the invoice hasn’t arrived with you by Wednesday/Thursday I would contact seller with something along the lines of “I know from your tracking it’s in the UK but we can be awful with issuing duty invoices. Can you check with your carrier that the goods have arrived here and that a customs bill has been raised?”
Normally the States isn’t too bad, but we have had a few packages from the US and noticeably Australia now which are held for 10 days before a customs notice is issued. No idea why, we never get an explanation which makes any sense. “The System” is complicated.
I'm not sure if this will get a customs charge or not, as similar orders have previously been under the threshold, and generally been delivered within 10 days. We're now heading towards two weeks, which was why I was wondering what other peoples recent experiences have been.
I'm sure it'll turn up eventually.
Remember, it's easier to criticise than create!