Ripped off by the Post Office?

This is a long post about not receiving all the items I paid for. In case you don't want to read the whole thing, the bottom line is that things do get "lost" in the mail. It surprised me because most of my transactions have used the U.S. Postal Service and nothing has been lost or damaged. This particular transaction used the Hong Kong Post for part of the journey, and something went wrong. I think it'll be a long time before I buy anything from a seller in Hong Kong again.

I have been looking for a nice M6 so that I could turn it into an M6-R, using JS's regulated and rechargeable power pack. The SureFire dealers I contacted have M6s on order but don't expect delivery for months. So I used a PM to contact a CPF member in Hong Kong who sometimes has them for sale. He had one available for a very nice price. So, I PayPal'ed him the money.

He had said that the M6 would be brand new and sealed. He would be using HK Post to send the light which is the regular postal service in HK. Further, the package wouldn't be insured, as insurance is not available in HK.

When the package arrived I had a surprise. The M6 "sealed" box had been opened. The padded envelope it was in appeared also to have been opened. There was no label or notice that customs had opened it for inspection. There are two accessories missing from the box: the HOLA and the lanyard.

The big item, the M6 itself is okay. In fact, I'm delighted with it. It has perfect appearance, fit, function, and beam – everything I expected. It is obvious that it's new. I conclude that the seller did send me a nice specimen of a new, sealed light. I believe that someone along the way opened it and helped himself to some goodies.

I have had extensive discussions about all of this with the seller. He explained that it's for times like this that he says the shipping is uninsured. So, I'm stuck. I can't really blame the seller. But I am angry about what has evidently gone down in the postal channels between Hong Kong and here. I plan to avoid international shipping, especially with Hong Kong.

Paul

This happens from overseas orders a lot I've found. I've never had anything actually stolen but I have had my packages arrived to me obviously opened and looked through with no customs inspections notice or anything like you mentioned. It's always risky to buy things overseas and a lot of the times it's even more expencive than waiting for a US vendor to get it in stock.

From the other side of the pond, I'm not in Hong Kong, about 5 hours away by plane, but the stories are similar..

Ordered a CountyComm bag and some lights and a very kind CPFer helped me relay it. USPS dropped the ball completely on this one, and after my side conducted a trace, they wrote a letter to me informing that it never even arrived in-country for delivery.

Just today, someone contacted me about a package I sent them that has also gone missing and I feel REALLY bad about it. I'm quite certain it made it out of here in one piece because I requested them to expedite it and handed it in at a post office directly. Expedited mails are handled differently and given priority (you pay more for the priviledge of course). Closest thing I've had to Global Priority at reasonable cost.

Now, there are trackable options, but cost goes up tremendously. I would love to use those instead of normal mail, but there's always the $$ factor involved.

And of course I'm sweating it because I have 70+ packages in flight this Christmas, headed to the US.. *$#()#@)( USPS!!! GET IT RIGHT!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rant.gif "Best Effort" delivery simply isn't good enough!

It also happens the other way around, when sending stuff from the US. I've had several experiences where the package "never makes it" to the destination.

Paul, there is no excuse of stuff like this happening. looking at the brighter side. glad M6 made it there.

there's been several reports of high profile lights like Surefire disapearing going thru customs or whatever.

I always lump it and pay the extra for insurance when shipping Surefire lights. or not do the deal if it's not available.

I have to wonder how much is greed and how much is simple incompetence. The light made it from HK, but the accessories did not. Did someone at customs simply drop the box and fail to notice the HOLA rolling under a desk? I have a hard time seeing a guy (or gal) in HK looking at a great light like that and thinking, "Hmmmm. That funny looking reflector thing would look nice on my kitchen shelf" or "Hey, I can sell that lanyard on the open market for big bucks!"

I live in the US and my wife ships things constantly as part of her hobby. This year every package has made it safely and unharmed. I shipped over 100 parts to CPF members and only one person (at a university) failed to get his (twice). One person in the south pacific did have to wait weeks, but it did get there.

Just last night as my wife was printing a shipping label she commented on how well the post office does now-days.

Daniel

Thanks guys for your condolences and for sharing your experiences in similar situations. Yeah, I'm sorry to agree that this is the risk that is to be taken if I decide to buy outside the US.

Kevin, good luck with your 70+ packages. You are indeed a brave soul.

Gary, welcome to CPF. You bring to mind a good point that "it's even more expencive than waiting for a US vendor to get it in stock." I was champing at the bit to get this M6 now. That was the original source of my trouoble, I think.

I like CY's take on my situation, "glad M6 made it there." So the cost of my lesson was relatively cheap.

Paul

UPS doesn't ship out of the country? Nor Fedex?

I would like to clear things up a bit. First of all, the Post Office in Hong Kong do offer insurance if you request it. Secondly, most items you send ( parcels, insured mail ) have a 13 digit no. which you may track point to point on their website. Most postal workers in Hong Kong are well paid ( in fact, all government workers here are paid top dollars. One example, our Central Bank Chief, the equivalent of Mr Greenspan, is paid $ 1.15 million /year ),
they have no reason to steal which may land them in jail and losing their job and pension. Most probably something happened en route, maybe airline employees got greedy or something. I have also heard stories about those USPS contract delivery guys dumped whole truckload of mails instead of delivering them. Bad things happen all the time and really out of our hands.

Thankfully USPS just delivered on one of the packages (going to the US). The light arrived just in time to make someone very happy.. no, make that two of us. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif Weeks late, but better late than never.

But the next time I ship anything of similar value, I think I'll opt for a trackable service, for my own peace of mind. I'm not worried about the impeccable honesty of the vast majority of CPFers, I'm worried about what happens to it in between me and them.

Luckily I insured the other package (some strange feeling told me to 'just do it'). I may have to file a claim on the other one, if it doesn't show up on the slow boat.

UPS/FedEx ship out of the country. Problem is it costs $55 to get a package the size of a U2 out here. Global Express (a USPS product, but outsourced to FedEx) is a reasonable alternative.. especially the "Outsourced to FedEx" part /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif tracking data is not updated in real time like FedEx, just once a day with no updates over the weekend, but that's acceptably good for less than half the price.

got 2 packages of osinks mia right now.
not uncommon to have a delay this time of year but 2 seperate packages?

[ QUOTE ]
AW said:
. . . the Post Office in Hong Kong do offer insurance if you request it. Secondly, most items you send ( parcels, insured mail ) have a 13 digit no. which you may track point to point on their website. . . .

[/ QUOTE ]
Thanks for the clarification. However, my seller said he couldn't get insurance. And, when it arrived there was no tracking number. Perhaps insurance availability is different in different parts of the city? I don't know, but if insurance were available, I might be inclined to buy from a Hong Kong seller. But I'll bet the cost of insurance is high, as KevinT alluded to.

[ QUOTE ]
KevinL said:
. . . I'm not worried about the impeccable honesty of the vast majority of CPFers, I'm worried about what happens to it in between me and them. . . .


[/ QUOTE ]
Those are exactly my feelings also. I feel I get to know about a CPFer just by reading his past posts. And I won't do business unless I sense the honesty you speak of. I believe in the honesty of my seller of the M6. I told him I would buy from him again if he were not in Hong Kong.

[ QUOTE ]
snakebite said:
. . . 2 packages of osinks mia right now. . . .

[/ QUOTE ]
Yup, you can count on delay this time of year. I hope that's what the problem for your packages is.

Paul