Hajo L. Posted October 11, 2019 Share Posted October 11, 2019 Hi, I´d like to ask if there are any special experiences with foreign customs services. To be more specific: My order from Caracal had an excellent start and made it over the Atlantic pretty fast, but is since september 30th sitting at Frankfurt, Germany: I hope that it´s the German Customs Service, because otherwise I´d said the package has gone AWOL... HAJO Quote Link to post Share on other sites
KursadA Posted October 11, 2019 Share Posted October 11, 2019 Obviously this is outside my control. What you have seen is not typical but not so unusual either - I saw delays of up to 30 days for even advanced countries like Germany or Canada. Not even going to go into what sort of delays I have seen in some other countries. As a policy if your shipment has not reached you in 30 days after entering your country, I consider it lost and send a replacement. I wouldn't worry about it - please give it 10-12 more days and let me know if you still don't have it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Niels Posted October 11, 2019 Share Posted October 11, 2019 To add to what Kursad says, you can also contact your postal carrier and ask if there is any issues with the shipment? Sometimes they are simply overworked and hence the shipment is delayed. That's the beaty of tracking - you rarely loose the shipment Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Hajo L. Posted October 11, 2019 Author Share Posted October 11, 2019 KursadA, thank you, I will be patient! Niels, I called USPS and gave the tracking number to their voice system. As I understood it, they do not track it anymore (I had the feeling that when I gave my tracking number, they would only have a look at the current status - obviously the shipment had no follow-on-services or whatever you´d call that). So far I think it´s just overworked customs agents - we germans aren´t that effective anymore, we somehow still keep the impression outside of Germany, but it´s not true anymore... HAJO Quote Link to post Share on other sites
vfma115 Posted October 11, 2019 Share Posted October 11, 2019 Hello HAJO, I had a simliar problem with an order from another decal maker in the US (no name dropping here ;-)). It took nearly 8 weeks but in the end it arrived. One has to be patient. Regards, Carsten Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TomTheCat Posted October 12, 2019 Share Posted October 12, 2019 Don't give up too easily! Hajo, I'm a fellow German 😄 Give it a couple more days. I do order more or less frequently from Japan (don't ask), and it's not unusual for a shipment to sit two weeks in customs. Problem in such a situation is that the German Post doesn't have the tracking in their system yet, thus can't give any information on it either. Apart from that, it's often the case that although I mostly have my parcels sent registered, when I enter the tracking #s into my DHL page, I'm told that "this number does not include the tracking option." Yeah right, wtf... Kursad, do not simply resend. Of course it's inconvenient for the recipient if they have to wait even longer, but I thought the point of paying for tracked shipping is to have a handle for, well, tracking the item. Be aware that in Germany, only the sender can request a tracking inquiry. (It may be different in other countries, I wouldn't know.) That means if push comes to shove, you'll have to contact your carrier, so that they start an inquiry through official channels. Most likely this should do the trick to bump such a shipment. I don't want to scare anybody, but just for your information: I once had an (unregistered) shipment from Japan arrive after almost FIVE MONTHS!!! Naturally, I had already given up on it. On the sunny side, I have to say that in 19-odd years of buying online all over the world, I only lost one single shipment (knock on wood). And that was a domestic one - go figure. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Hajo L. Posted October 12, 2019 Author Share Posted October 12, 2019 Thank you for the encouragement, guys! HAJO Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Hajo L. Posted October 16, 2019 Author Share Posted October 16, 2019 The decals arrived today! For some reason the USPS-tracking systems still lists my package as sitting in Frankfurt, but better to have it listed there and the decals already arrived at my place than the other way around. 😉 HAJO Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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