I ordered a VIP201P CED player from a seller in the United Kingdom (UK) last month. The package got to the delivery depot in the USA on 3/24 and was sent out for delivery and was returned to the depot and marked as undeliverable. Now, I am to pick up the package at my local depot where ever that is.

The shipping company is Parcelforce. I went to their website and the webpage says that the site is down and will be up shorty (it has been a week and the website is still not up). The seller told me to go to Parcel2go.com which I did and I found out the package location from that URL.

What burns me is that I am to pick up the package from my "local depot". Nowhere is there an explanation of where that is. Also, the customer help number is located in the UK which is useless to me.

Has anyone had any experience with Parcelforce? I seem to be going around in circles with the seller regarding them.

Sorry to hear of your problem.

Parcelforce are part of our UK Royal Mail group & are usually very good with anything I have received & sent out including many overseas parcels.

The site issue, perhaps something to do with trying to access the info from overseas is the issue as the site looks to be up & running for me (here in the UK).

Your seller should be able to get the info from this end surely & pass it to you, if there is an issue on that front he can at least update & pursue further.

Again & only my experience here but Parcelforce are good but once out of their hands & into wherever carrier takes over the handling does add another link to the chain that may cause issues but they should be able to forward details of what is happening as they are the ones responsible ultimately - your seller should be able to pursue them for all the details.

Hope you get a resolution here.

Good luck.


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Hopefully my 2 cents can help.

Did you try the same tracking number on USPS tracking?? They are the ones who take packages from others when they are here in the USA.
Also if you aren't too far from the post office I would take the tracking number you have to them and talk to them, they may know more than all of us, sometimes...

Now as for the "depot" was this one of those packages sent by the ebay overseas shipping when we send packages to a central hub and they take over???
I still think its the post office or something like that or DHL that handles the package anyway.

I agree best thing is to go to your post office and ask them.

I put in the tracking number that the seller gave me (P2G48931394) into USPS tracking and the result is that the "Status not available". Parcel2go.com says that the "Current status: Addressee to Collect from Depot". What depot are we talking about here? UK or USA?

Here is the delivery history copied from Parcel2go.com.

Delivery History
Date / Time Description Details
24/03/2018 - 08:46 Addressee to collect from depot Delivery Agent - UNITED STATES AMERICA
24/03/2018 - 08:31 Out for Delivery 138159998
24/03/2018 - 08:12 Received at delivery depot Delivery Agent - UNITED STATES AMERICA
23/03/2018 - 13:08 ARRIVED IN DESTINATION COUNTRY Delivery Agent - NEW YORK -PTT
20/03/2018 - 12:35 Exported from the UK International Hub
20/03/2018 - 04:35 Prepared for export International Hub
20/03/2018 - 00:08 Sorted for export International Hub
19/03/2018 - 15:06 Collected Birmingham Depot

I found out from an online forum that the delivery agent is the USPS. But still, it has been 2 weeks since the package got to the US and the USPS should have delivered it by now. I will contact the seller to see if he can help. Maybe the tracking number he gave me is wrong?

Did you ever get a parcel notification slip in the mail? usually when dealing with a parcel my post office will send out a slip notification and hold the package at the office, typically they only deliver what fits in the mail box, I have to pick up anything larger.
Also in tracking it may read as "delivery attempt failed, over sized item. This is an example from a few days ago:

DELIVERED
Apr-06-2018, 16:40 PM
Notice Left (Receptacle Full/Item Oversized)
Apr-03-2018, 10:12 AM
Out for Delivery
Apr-03-2018, 09:21 AM

Delivered only shows up after I go to the post office and pick it up, the postmaster scans before handing it over.

When I have problem like this I always print out the tracking history and bring it to my postmaster.

If a package is too big for my mail box, my mail carrier will deliver it to my front door if I am home or not Rarely, he will leave a notice that he could not deliver. He could not deliver to the house a few weeks ago when my driveway had too much snow in it for him to drive in safely. (FYI. I have an RFD mail box.) Having him deliver to the house maybe a rarity today; but, it is such a convenience.

Update:

The VIP201P player is still in limbo. The seller keeps referring me to the web page for Parcelforce which is of no use to me . The company still says that the package is at a "local depot" and is awaiting my pickup. It sure would be nice if they would contact me either by E-mail or even a postcard that I had to pickup the package in person. A notice as to the location of the "local depot" would be a great help too.

Personally, I would not use Parcelforce for any package shipment. They seem to assume that an american would know what or where a "local depot" is. Also, their customer service needs a phone number in the USA besides the one in the UK. It would help out a lot.

I have another player, a VIP1000 model, coming. It was shipped from New Brunswick, Canada. The tracking number given me worked up until the package reached JFK. There the tracking number died. I have no idea where the package is right now. I do not even know what the shipping company is. Hopefully, the player will show up in the next few days. Time will tell.

While I’m not sure exactly what went wrong here I will say that I’m %99 sure you need to be dealing with your local post office and not the UK side.

Often time when shipping internationally you may have more info from some couriers than others. For example, with many EMS packages I’ve received I had detailed tracking info from HK or Japan or wherever and then as soon as it lands in Chicago I get total radio science until after they’ve delivered the package to me.

I’m almost positive the player is sitting at your post office, your local depot. They won’t sit on it forever though so go there ASAP or else they may ship that giant thing back to the UK were there is no way the seller will pay for postage and the player will likely be scrapped.

Wow.. 24/03/2018 - 08:46 Addressee to collect from depot Delivery Agent - UNITED STATES AMERICA

And you are sitting there doing nothing. Well except complain on an obscure forum. You have nerves of steel.
You know, they only store parcels for a while, if they have not been picked up, they get sent back.
International shipping might just not be your thing.
You better keep it to items available in the states.

Update:

I received the VIP1000 player from Canada this morning.. Cosmetically, it looks very good to excellent. There are no cracks or scratches on the outside. I will open the player up this PM to check on the 2 belts. It would be a miracle if the 2 have not turned to goo.

I will check with my post office this afternoon to see if the other player is there or not.

Well, I guess there has been a miracle. The VIP1000 had belts that have not turned to goo. They both looked normal. I replaced them because both seemed to be overstretched especially the loading belt. It made a squeaky noise and had a hard time raising the disc during the disc loading. The arm drive belt seemed to be good; but, I changed it anyway. Now, I have to test the stylus and the electronics.

Would you believe that the VP201P player was at the post office? It turns out that the the mail carrier left a notice that there was a package for me. Well, I did not find the note so I did not know that the player was at the post office. When I went there this PM, the post mistress said that she did have a package for me and they had had it for 2 weeks. I was going to make a phone call to the post office; but, I could not find the phone number so I decided to go there in person. I am glad I did.

You are lucky they didn't sent it out, although I have not picked up boxes at the post office for some amount of time, but not so long as 2 weeks.

Very lucky, but then again the post office should have given another note a few days later to let you know it was the final notice.

This is true. I should have gotten another notice (the final one) before the package was returned. You could say that "I dodged the bullet" on this one.

I agree but also I think it depends sometimes on how organised they are and who is working there, there have been times I believe when they have left me only one notice for two items if they arrived the same say or maybe a day apart, and caused other problems. this comes down to the fact that some of the people working there are not as good as others.

Fortunately there is a woman at my post office who knows me well and is absolutely fantastic, before I even get through the door she has all my mail at the front desk, as long as she is there I never have an issue.

Mistakes do happen in the postal world.

I've received cards with incomplete tracking numbers scribbled on them or references to the wrong number of items I'm supposed to go and collect.

On one occasion I was able to determine an item worth about £100 was still sitting in the depot from tracking info online even though they were adamant I had already signed and received it. Yet within a few minutes someone who I know in the depot took another look on the shelf behind him and it showed up. That sure made the Depot Manager look stupid!

The USPS does make mistakes. This is the routing table for a CED that I bought. It was scheduled for delivery on 4/12.

Time and date Place Message
Saturday, Apr 14, 2018 9:24 AM WARRENDALE PROCESSED THROUGH USPS FACILITY
Saturday, Apr 14, 2018 7:40 AM WARRENDALE PROCESSED THROUGH USPS FACILITY
Friday, Apr 13, 2018 8:11 AM DELHI , NY Arrived at USPS Facility
Friday, Apr 13, 2018 7:50 AM DELHI , NY Arrived at Post Office
Thursday, Apr 12, 2018 8:58 PM SYRACUSE NY DISTRIBUTION CENTER Departed USPS Regional Facility
Thursday, Apr 12, 2018 3:39 PM SYRACUSE NY DISTRIBUTION CENTER Arrived at USPS Regional Destination Facility
Thursday, Apr 12, 2018 12:00 AM N/A In Transit to Next Facility
Wednesday, Apr 11, 2018 12:00 AM N/A In Transit to Next Facility
Tuesday, Apr 10, 2018 3:26 PM PITTSBURGH PA NETWORK DISTRIBUTION CENTER Departed USPS Regional Facility
Tuesday, Apr 10, 2018 2:32 PM PITTSBURGH PA NETWORK DISTRIBUTION CENTER Arrived at USPS Regional Facility
Monday, Apr 9, 2018 12:00 AM N/A In Transit to Next Facility
Sunday, Apr 8, 2018 12:00 AM N/A In Transit to Next Facility
Saturday, Apr 7, 2018 2:44 PM DENVER CO NETWORK DISTRIBUTION CENTER Arrived at USPS Regional Origin Facility
Saturday, Apr 7, 2018 12:00 AM N/A In Transit to Next Facility
Friday, Apr 6, 2018 4:43 PM BERTHOUD , CO Departed Post Office
Friday, Apr 6, 2018 3:09 PM BERTHOUD , CO USPS in possession of item

Originally, the 4'th line from the top read:

Friday, Apr 13, 2018 7:50 AM DELHI , NY Missent

It was changed to what you see above. It is like the USPS did not want to admit that they sent a package to the wrong facility.