A package with some DVDs we ordered from Amazon.Com failed to show up at our house. I tracked the package using the USPS on-line tracking tool. What? They claim to have delivered it? What Now?
I called USPS to inquire about the missing package. After wading through the menu (don’t you just hate those?) and 5-minutes of tinny elevator music, with the always useful “your call is important to us” intermittently interrupting the music , I got connected to an actual person. Another 15 minutes of occasional dialog and long silences (the computer and/or its operator was slow that day), I had a case number and a promise that I would be contacted by an investigator by close of business the following day.
Absolutely nothing heard the next day. On the day after that, I got a call around noontime. The person identified himself as an inspector (Clouseau?) and that he had investigated my case. His conclusion was that the package had been left on the porch and the destination tag had been scanned as delivered. This is strange, since Damsel is almost always home at postal delivery time to answer the doorbell. In fact, we were both home at the purported delivery scan time. I said that we did not receive the package and asked about the procedure for reimbursement. “There is nothing the Post Office can do. You will have to contact the sender and ask them to file a claim.” was his reply. I left him with some parting thoughts about the USPS passing the buck, being ultimately responsible for delivery and could I please speak with his supervisor? “I’ll have to have him call you back since there is no supervisor here.” “Forget it,” I said, “I’ll file another complaint on-line.” And I did. So much for the USPS being accountable for package deliveries. The response to my latest complaint was a flop as well – “You have been instructed to contact the seller – blah blah blah blah blah.”
Now, for the redeeming part of this rant; when I contacted Amazon to report the delivery failure, they replied with an email within a couple of hours. I went back on-line and filled in a form with details of the lost package, and within 15 minutes, I got another email advising that the replacement order had been shipped (via UPS this time).
This illustrated to me the classic contrast between customer service and civil service. The former serves the customer, and the latter serves itself.