heres a question....it finally happened. Sold a guy on this board an ashtray for a token $5.00 (I have to drive around, wrap up, etc so it basically pays for that) plus shipping. After much delay the money order (I asked for a check) showed up, took some sweet talking at the bank to avoid the cashing fee (which would have been the same as the money "made" on the ashtray!), sent the ashtray out and now the *($%^$%*^&*post office has lost it. Its been about three or four weeks and he has not recieved the ashtray. I don't mind replacing that, but the shipping is 7.40 Canadian. What is a fair solution here?? Any thoughts? I don't mind helping guys out, but it just isn't worth my time anymore. And now I have to pay to send someone another part for free. Is there any recourse from the post office? Thanks for any thoughts. later Tim
Tim, the postal service here has been terribly slow lately. I mailed a magazine first class about 250 miles away, and it took 11 days to get to it's destination. If you are mailing across the border, I would ask the buyer to give it another week or 2 before sending another.
Unfortunately, unless you insured it (which you obviously wouldn't on a $5.00 part) you have no recourse except to fill out a form for "lost mail". I did that once about 15 years ago. Still no word on what happened to the envelope. Good thing it wasn't some life-saving medicine....I'd be long dead. I think some mailman is smoking cigarettes and putting them out in your ashtray (anyone know if Dave Burns smokes?). In this case, I'd suggest you send another one if you have one, on the condition that the buyer sends you the funds to cover the postage. Anyone who'd object to that is a knucklehead, in my humble opinion. If he won't go for it, tell him that's your one and only offer, so he should reconsider his answer. Good Luck and I hope you guys work it out.
I can second the postal service being really SLOOOOOOOOW, recently. It took exactly one week, monday to monday, for my dave ray distributor to go from southern CA, to upstate NY. And it was shipped PRIORITY, i.e. 2-3 days.
Tim, Assuming this is a Canada-US shipment you can at lease get the shipping $$ back from Canada Post. Last time I sent a Can->US shipment I had to file a full claim for a lost part, but the shipping fee was returned separately since it's a Guaranteed Service. You just need the reciept to make the claim. If you want more details (phone numbers, supervisors names, hell I even have a couple claim forms kicking around) feel free to give me a shout. After this last year I'm (somewhat) familiar with the whole process
If the member is on the East Coast I will do the same. PM the members address to Scott or me. Whoever is closer.
USPS / Canada Post It sure can be frustrating when a situation like this happens! Fortunately there is not a lot of $ involved and the part is fairly easy to replace ( as a couple of generous offers indicates). In all fairness to both Postal Systems, while they may be slow, they are usually quite reliable. The bulk of my cross border transactions have gone smoothly with varying degrees of time to expedite the shipping, but maybe I've just been 'lucky' up to this point! Just my HO. :Smarty:
Tim, you sent me a fuel gauge last winter and it took forever to get here due to customs I guess. Y ou may want to wait it out a little longer.
Yes, I remember that, did you finally get that gauge intalled?? I will take care of this problem (it is my problem, after all), just curious as to thoughts on how to best resolve it. No point somebody else sending an ashtray, all that does is make me look badou: I have sent parts out free of charge, it just kind of burns when the P.O. loses something, This whole ordeal took way longer than it was supposed and has really gone bad and dragged on, I guess a guy just loses his patience with it, especially over an ashtray (I don't smoke!!LOL). Hopefully it will show up in the next few days while I try to find another one.... Thanks guys! later Tim
Tim, sadly enough I never installed the gauge. Trying to find motivation to tear the whole dash and instrument cluster apart to fix this. I just keep the tank filled up and keep an eye on the odometer. I am paranoid about cracking my mint dash pad. Good luck.
Understandable. someday when you have to remove the dash for some other reason, it will be ready to go.... later Tim
...one last thing Tim, just a complaint can be enough to get them in gear. They "found" my part and delivered it about 8 hours after the claim was processed. Sometimes it just gets stuck in customs-paranoia land. The legacy of 9-11...
Tim, Give it a little more time. In the beginning of the year I sent a MO to Patton for a dash pad. The PO lost the money order. Took 30 days to reissue. Last month I sent a money order to Mike Garrison. 30 days later it turns up in MY mailbox marked "undeliverable". Had the right address on it too. Scott Miller ships me something from Washington State to Long Island, NY and it takes 3 days. Mike G. ships me something from Topeka, Kansas and it took 5 days. Half the distance. Go figure! Be patient, it'll work out. The offer stands for the ashtray, I have a few.
Wait TIm, I'm going to say the same as several others have. Wait. USA-Canada mail service has been slow lately, very slow. ROA members in Canada were complaining that they hadn't received there club newsletter a full three weeks after I was done reading mine. If he never gets it, you owe him what he paid you. No more, no less.
You guys were right, the ashtray showed up and all is well....other then me stressing out over a lousy 7.40 while I can drop 3500.00 on metalwork and not even blink...whats up with that???ou: I guess I just hate it when I have to pay for someone elses mistake. Thanks all. later Tim
Glad to hear it finally worked out. God Bless the postal system!! Nothing like a little supplimental stress in our lives.:spank: Tim, I'm surprised that someone who has taken on several extrememly detailed projects in his life could be rattled by something this trivial. Don't sweat the small stuff 'cause we need to save our sweatballs for the more important things! :Smarty: I checked out the updates on your site. It's nice to see progress like that on a "basket case". Nice job on the metalwork. I'm waiting to see how the body bushings work out. I'm just about ready to order a set in prep for my '70 while they are still available. Keep pluggin' away!!!:TU:
OKKKKKKKKKKKKK Doug now its on !!! LMAO. :Brow: :spank: As a defender of the post office, which I might add I hate yall for making me do this,lol. YUP things have indeed slowed down. Not too bad here at least but it will get worse before it gets better. Here where we are they are switching over to auto sort systems. Meaning that they have some "new fangled" machine that is gonna sort the mail for us. Been in use elsewhere for awhile but you know how it goes when the "hicks" come to the head of the line,lol. Anyways......one thing I was told in regards to this sorting was that the address' needed to be normal size when you wrote them out so the machine could read them. Meaning no overly large handwriting or it confuses the machine and then its tossed into a pile for hand sorting or just returned all together. Of course this all happens at the post offices convienance as some have seen already. Also remember, for me Christmas started in October. That is about when all those stupid catalogs from everywhere start getting shipped out. There will be a time and it should start soon, that we start holding back the 3rd class(catalogs and such) mail in an attempt to get ALL the 1rst(personal cards and letters) class to it destination over the holidays. We hold the 3rd class till after the first of the year and then deliver it all when possible. Meaning when you hear the post office say you need to mail in advance to make sure it gets there in time , you might want to do it. As far as time and distance traveled of letters and packages and such as mentioned before.......DON'T think about the distance ! You have to know where the postal hubs are. A hub is of course the main mailing station for a state or area. For us its Wichita I think, in any case. For example: Garrison sending something to me 8 hours away = 1 day. BUT Again for example John Conilogue mailing something to me 3 hours away in Denver = 10 days 2 weeks. Because the packages have to travel through more stops(hubs) to get out to me. I would wait awhile on this were it me. Crossing the line, Christmas time, and a package to boot ??? Whew !!! I have the faith it will get there just may take awhile. OH YEA........just a little tidbit for all you friends out there.......If you are gonna mail through the post office, USE the "delivery confirmation" option on everything !!!!!!!! It only costs ya $.45 and can be tracked. Ya see, everytime a D.C. trades hands it has to be scanned and noted. That way you know where it is and exactly who the last was to have it, BY name(if you do the work). "Just a hint" if you will, but I use it all the time. Hope this helps......................... Later...................... p.s. Doug........you have been targeted. You wont see it coming but :eek2: :eek2: . All in good fun.....................D.
Well the thing with this is the irony, right? I drive around to get quotes, take the time to wrap it up and ship it off for a token amount just to help someone out and it gets lost ?? Stuff like that drives me nuts! Also, the fact it is out of my control yet makes me look bad, and costs me money and time for someone elses error is unacceptable. Anyway, back to the cars.....I will let you know as soon as I find out how those mounts work out.... later Tim edit: I don't think you can use a delivery confirmation across the border (I asked, they said now way to track it). I agree the post office does an amazing job but it is incredibly frustrating to try and help someone and get kicked in the teeth.....I have no doubt the holdup was probably at the border (customs, not P.O.). 7weeks??
