Shipping to France

4sevens

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Feb 29, 2004
Messages
2,876
Location
Atlanta, GA
Okay... I'm in rant mode. Since this is not directed to a CPF'er it's not a jeer.
But I would like to see if anyone else has had the same experience as I have.

In the past 6 months, I have had two packages both sent by GPM to
France DISAPPEAR never to be heard from. Two years ago, I also had
the same thing happen but it was airmail.

The most recent one was registered as leaving the US a few days
after I shipped it. http://trkcnfrm1.smi.usps.com/PTSInternetWeb/InterLabelInquiry.do?origTrackNum=lz746291754us

It has been over two months and it hasnt' showed up. This time it was over
$100 worth of lights. :mad: I double checked my records with the recipient
and the address is correct. Anyway, I want ahead and sent replacements
to him at my loss.

I'm seriously considering making France a no ship zone for me. Does France
in general have a grudge against the USA? Has anyone had the same
experience? Keep in mind that I have shipped around 200 packages in
the last 6 months, so this is not always the case, but statistically it
really does show something about the French postal system. :( :( :(

There I had to get it off my chest.
 

drizzle

Enlightened
Joined
Oct 23, 2003
Messages
840
Location
Seattle, WA
Ouch! I've heard of valuable shipments disappearing in Brazil but I'm suprised to see this in France.

What about private services like UPS, Fedex, etc.?
 

Frenchyled

Flashaholic*
Joined
May 21, 2002
Messages
2,300
Location
Land of Cheese, Frogs and wine
Oh Nooooooooo ....Foursevens........:(
What a bad publicity for us, poor French ;)

I received more than 200 shipments from Japan, Singapore, USA,UK, Argentina, Australia, etc.....
I have had only one problem from the U.S, when Don sent me a surefire X200 mod, I received only some spare part, but not the light (notice : the package arrived !!) And a package from UK, never arrive...that all.

Sometimes there are huge delay in delivery from FRance to U.S, (max I encountered , 2 month this summer, remembered OSRAM lantern), but all my packages arrived.

I don't think France is an exception... and please don't make us a no ship- Zone !!! YOu never had problem with me..isn't it ?
For valuable product, I use now EMS...quick and tracked registered mail.. but it's about $20.00 each time...I still use GPM for all order < $150.00.
 

Sigman

* The Arctic Moderator *
Joined
Sep 25, 2002
Messages
10,124
Location
"The 49th State"
Frenchyled said:
Sometimes there are huge delay in delivery from FRance to U.S, (max I encountered , 2 month this summer, remembered OSRAM lantern), but all my packages arrived.
I think that was my lantern! :D

I've had packages take a couple months to be delivered to France, Scotland, Australia, & Canada as well...so I don't think it's "just France". I wish I knew what caused the slowdowns!! :thinking: :shrug:
 

gregw

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jun 7, 2004
Messages
1,511
Location
Hong Kong
As far as I know, Global Priority stops tracking once the package leaves the US. In order for you to track it to the recipient, you need to send it by Global Express/EMS.. I would suggest that instead of stopping all shipping to France, maybe you could make it compulsory to use Global Express/EMS for shipping. At least this way, you can track where the package is at all times..

Another method is by registered airmail. I believe that Registered mail may be safer than Global Express/EMS as it is a legal obligation on the postal service to track that the item, and if delivered, is signed for by the recipient so that it can provide proof of delivery.
 
Last edited:

amlim

Enlightened
Joined
May 30, 2004
Messages
304
Location
Singapore
gregw said:
As far as I know, Global Priority stops tracking once the package leaves the US. In order for you to track it to the recipient, you need to send it by Global Express/EMS.. I would suggest that instead of stopping all shipping to France, maybe you could make it compulsory to use Global Express/EMS for shipping. At least this way, you can track where the package is at all times..

Another method is by registered airmail. I believe that Registered mail may be safer than Global Express/EMS as it is a legal obligation on the postal service to track that the item, and if delivered, is signed for by the recipient so that it can provide proof of delivery.

i agree that registered mail should be quite safe.
 

bwaites

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Nov 27, 2003
Messages
5,035
Location
Central Washington State
My experience is that FedEx is both faster and more sure than the postal systems.

No grudge matches between postal inspectors as you go from US to ? and back.

FedEx is FedEx and they try harder.

Bill
 

SilverFox

Flashaholic
Joined
Jan 19, 2003
Messages
12,449
Location
Bellingham WA
Hello 4sevens,

Bill has a good point about FedEx, but sometimes they are cost prohibitive.

I use Global Express when shipping to France. I have only had 1 package get stuck in customs in Germany for 6 weeks, but it did get delivered.

Tom
 
Top