Unhappy Portuguese- CTT + Royal Mail = Complete failure

[Peter42y]

My story is hard to believe but true.
In the beginning of January I did order a camera from a UK retailer.
It did cost me more than 300 pounds.
The camera did arrive but the zoom had a problem. If failed to unlock.
The very same day I did mail the retailer telling him about the issue.
I was given a return number.
The next day I did send the camera back to the UK , carefully packed.
That was January 16.
January 17 the camera did arrive in the UK.
Since then.., no news. ( today its the 23 January ).
No news either from the retailer.
It as if the camera did vanish in the ozone.
I have a tracking number but information does end in the 17 January.
I called Portuguese Post Office.
They have no more information about the parcel.
Royal Mail has given them no more information than the one I already got online.
This is unbelievable.
It is as if UK is afghanistan.
Once the parcel does enter the UK..,its complete blackout.
In an era the customer has many rights, when it does come to Royal Mail.., no rights.
I might have lost hundreds of pounds because I did trust Portuguese Mail and Royal Mail .
I believed, naively , that they would be able to deliver a parcel to its final destination.
Actually they cant do it.., because I have no way to know and to prove if a parcel was delivered or not.
Sending a parcel through Royal Mail it is as if I give it to a stranger hoping such individual would deliver the package to its final destination.
If it is delivered, fine.
If he does not get delivered ..,well.., I should have known better.
I have no guarantee parcel would be delivered ,I have no way to track the parcel, I have no way to check if it was delivered or not..
In short : I leave a parcel in the Portuguese Post Office and in return I got nothing.
I get 33 euros of reimbursement if parcel is lost.
These are my rights.
Needles to say I will never ever use Royal Mail again .
In an Age of Computers Royal Mail is unable to track a parcel sent from Portugal, a european country.
Mind Boggling.
Portuguese customers are completely screwed up, when it doing bussiness with UK firms , if the trust Royal Mail.
Knowing well Portuguese have no way to track their parcel, UK businness can always claim they did receive nothing from the portuguese.

Thank You

PS : I called DHL. With DHL people can follow their parcel and get confirmation if it was delivered or not. Unlike Royal Mail

[SpacePhoenix]

It's probably stuck in customs, it's not unusual for things to take a month to arrive. Until customs release an item there is nothing RM can do

[Peter42y]

It's probably stuck in customs, it's not unusual for things to take a month to arrive. Until customs release an item there is nothing RM can do

Thanks a lot for your answer.
It was much appreciated.
The question is : Is portuguese tracking number valid in the UK ?
With DHL we can track our parcel.
When I went to the Portuguese Post office I asked how long it would take my parcel to arrive.
In fact since I was returning a good that was damaged , it would be advisable to return it within 15 days after the purchase.
The postal clerk did reply : " Three days at the most ".
I trusted the postal employee.
Well.., now all I can see is that the parcel ( a camera) is stuck in Royal Mail distribution Center.
If I had known my delivery would take weeks to arrive , I would have choosen DHL , instead.
Thanks again for your reply.

[Pinky 1]

You're not on your own
http://www.royalmailchat.co.uk/communit ... =6&t=50337" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I should imagine that your parcel is in a queue at customs.
Patience is the name of the game here

[Peter42y]

Thanks for your answer.
Today I received an e mail from the company to which I did return the damaged good.
The mail does say I did order another item similar to the one I did return.
I guess this does mean they received the damaged camera and are already preparing to ship a new one.
If it is the case these are good news for me.
According to the Portuguese mail service tracking number the parcel is still in Langley being sorted out.
This is not a surprise since Royal Mail does not track parcels that come from abroad.
Parcels from abroad arrive in the UK and do disappear from the radar as if they had entered a black hole.
Disturbing indeed.
Such fact does not increase the number of Royal Mail customers.
People will switch to other mail services such as DHL with which they can track their goods from origin to destination and delivery.
I do not know : Maybe Royal Mail does not need foreign customers.

[Peter42y]

My parcel arrived , indeed, to its destination.
The 24 January the seller did sent me a new camera.
Today the 25 the camera has already arrived in Lisbon and in in the courrier hands.
Great service from DHL.
Royal Mail did deliver but the fact that a foreign customer has no information if the parcel sent to the UK does get delivered or not is not acceptable.
Great service from expansys UK.
The day after I send them an e mail telling them I had received a faulty product they did sent me a return number.
I sent the camera back to the UK , and one or 2 days after receiving it expansys was shipping another camera to me.
I really hope this one works better.
Anyway..,if it does not its not expansys fault. Its the manufacturer fault.
Expansys did react very fast to my mails ( less than 24 hours), and after receiving faulty product was fast also. In less than 72 hours they were shipping another camera to the customer.
Expansys UK : Recommended.

[Lounge Lizard]

"This is unbelievable.
It is as if UK is afghanistan." except with a worse climate.

[Peter42y]

As I wrote yesterday , I did receive 24 afternoon a mail from the company to which I had returned a faulty camera I had bought .
A new camera was being prepared.
They were preparing to ship a new camera .
This is how I knew my parcel had been received .
In the same day in the afternoon , I received a DHL tracking number.
The camera had been shipped a few minutes after 6 PM . ( January the 24 2013 ).
20 hours later the camera was arriving at my home in Lisbon.
20 hours.
Unbelievable.
DHL : Five Stars.
Expansys UK : Five Stars. I bought a camera from expansys uk. Zoom was damaged. In the very same day camera did arrive I sent mail to expansys. Less than 20 hours later they reply back . They gave me a return number. I ship the camera to them the 16 January 2013. The 24 January they ship back to me a brand new camera. That camera did arrive the 25. Its important that consumers do share such good stories about companies that actually deliver the goods and are reliable.
DHL- Five stars. ( in five)
Expansys UK , Expansys Portugal : Five Stars. ( in Five)
Royal Mail : 2 stars. ( in five) ( the fact that foreign customers cannot track the parcels they sent once they reach UK territory is extremely annoying ).

[SpacePhoenix]

Only mail from a limited number of countries will be tracked within the UK (mainly European). It's down to what agreements RM has with each country's equivalent of RM.