My friend from South Carolina (USA) sent a package on October 20th consisting of an iPhone. He sent me a reference number (Customs#), using that we are unable to track it online (in USPS and in IPS). My friend spoke with Customs in Miami, they said the package left the USA and indeed they also were unable to track it. I'm little worried, whether the package will reach India and get to my place, or it will be lost on the way to India. Since it's been more than 2 months and I'm unable to track it anywhere (with Customs in India and local Post Office). Kindly assist on how to find or track the package, your reply will be highly appreciated. Thank you.
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Only the post office can assist with that. It could have been stolen or lost along the route.. Was it insured?? was your name and address also on the inside of the package as recommended?
This is why you should always insure any package you send through The USPS, Fed-Ex or UPS. They are then responsible at least for the monetary part of the package.
used to work for USPS. They can track it up until it leaves the USA. After that, they are no longer able to track it. Your friend could speak with the postmaster from where she sent it out. They may have some other solutions that were not available to us when I worked there. We had the same issue with packages going to military personnel. Once it got on a military ship or plane, we were totally out of the loop
The other posters are correct with the fact that packages sent from the US can only be tracked until it leaves the US.
All other information/tracking must come from the destination country/city or possibly any country the package travels through to reach its destination.
From records that I have read, India has a rather high percentage of non-delivery complaints. Why? Many reasons I'm not sure but it appears that theft may be the biggest problem.
You should try to gather all the shipping information about your package:
All dates with tracking information in the US;
Type of service paid for: Priority or First Class - Insured?
Was it sent in a box or padded envelope?
Was all information about the item enclosed in the package?
This would have to include: destination name and address as well as the senders information (all of this information is on postal forms on packages but should also be in the package just in case there is a problem with the form being torn/damaged/removed.
The actual value/cost must also be stated as this is what customs uses. If it is a gift that has to be stated clearly.
I am very sorry for your loss but you will have to do your own investigation as no one in the US can help you find information about your package.
I worked for the post office for 26 years and handled many complaints about deliveries to foreign countries but services have improved greatly so I'm hoping you will still find your gift.
As an aside to your problem:
eBay sellers ship a lot of items to foreign countries and sellers had so many non-delivery complaints that it was causing serious problems. eBay now uses a USPS tracking system for a lot of countries that tracking never existed before. Maybe this will soon be the norm with more countries and it will be safer to ship to India and other countries. Problems still arise because shipping with tracking is/can be more expensive.
Sure hope you receive your iPhone.
It does sound as if your phone has been stolen. If you pay through PayPal this should be covered, at least to a certain extent.
This is an unfortunate situation. Is there some postal bureau in India that you could contact? Since you have numbers associated with the shipping, someone should be able to track it in India.
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