Australia Post Claim to Have Delivered Parcel. Left It at Wrong Location and Now It's Lost

pwnd on 06/03/2024 - 17:36
Last edited 08/03/2024 - 11:13

Looking for any advice or precedent. It's a long read, so TL;DR Aus Post claim to have delivered my parcel, but dropped it by my letter box on the street instead of where I reqested it, by the front door, which is 400m away from my letter box. Parcel is missing and AusPost are claiming there is nothing they can do.

Ordered an item from AliExpress. Item was due for delivery yesterday, Tuesday 5/3.
Received notification the day before it was due for delivery and gave me options for safe drop if nobody home.
Selected safe drop by my front door. See image below.

https://imgur.com/a/UuwyctA

Day of delivery, get notification parcel is on its way and it would be there between 9am - 11:05am.
I am working from home so figure, sweet, will receive it and if I am in a meeting or similar, they will leave it by the front door.
Around 1pm I remember about the parcel and go check my front door. Nothing.
Go and check emails and see that it is claimed to be delivered. Nice…..

Decide to go for a walk down my driveway to see if it was left by my letter box. Nothing there either.

Go back online and start lodging a dispute.

Attached is their proof of delivery.

https://imgur.com/a/idUsdqN

Not sure what that proves apart from the fact the driver was present outside my house.
30 mins after lodging I get a call from AusPost. Ask if I have checked locations. Say I have.
Asked if it's in the letter box. I say I doubt it, as it wouldn't fit.
They tell me it's a small parcel that should fit into a normal letter box.
I tell them it's not small enough to fit through the letter slot though, so unless he unpacked the parcel and flattened it, then reassembled it back together like a ship in a glass bottle, I doubt it would be in there, but to save him the trouble I have checked and it was not manifested into the letter box.
I also state that I asked for it to be safe dropped by my front door.
He says that the system does not talk to their delivery system so they would not be able to see that. I ask what would the point of that system be then… tells me he will investigate and let me know.

I receive an email the following day:

"Hi Pwnd

Thank you for your enquiry, I'm sorry to hear you were unable to locate your parcel, my name is Chanel and I can definitely provide you with an update.

After review of the tracking information for article ID 36, I can see it was scanned as delivered on 5/03. As the service used did not require a signature to be captured, your article was ‘Safe Dropped’ on your property.

We have investigated with the Delivery Centre who have advised the driver placed the parcel behind the letter box out of sight from the street.

As this is deemed a safe location on your property, if you cannot find the item, you will need to raise this matter with your local police as the article may have been stolen after delivery. Australia Post is unable to assist further in instances such as this.

I hope that this information has helped and that you enjoy the rest of your day. If there is anything else that we can do for you, please do not hesitate to contact us again.

Kind regards,

Not helpful"

My reply:
"Hi,

I requested the parcel to be dropped by my front door, which was an option with the link you provided me. As my front door is 400m from the road.
The fact that the parcel was not where your driver claims to have left it would suggest it is not a safe location.
Furthermore, the photo provided does not even show the parcel. I am yet to receive any proof that it was even delivered. A photo of the front of my letterbox does not prove it was delivered, just that the driver was there. If anything it makes the driver the most likely person to have taken it.
Lastly, on the day of the supposed delivery it was raining heavily. The area the driver claims to have left the parcel is not covered and would have been rain affected.
What is the process for Australia post reimbursing me for my missing goods?

Thank you"

Reply from AusPost:

"Hi Pwnd

Thank you for your email, we can confirm that the photograph taken at the time of delivery was purely for documentation purposes, showing the general area where the parcel was left.

Our delivery personnel have assured us that the parcel was placed behind the letterbox once the photo was taken. We trust the integrity of our delivery network and believe the correct procedure was followed in this instance.

If you cannot find the item, you will need to raise this matter with your local police as the article may have been stolen after delivery. Australia Post is unable to assist further in instances such as this.

I hope that this information has helped and that you enjoy the rest of your day. If there is anything else that we can do for you, please do not hesitate to contact us again.

Kind regards"

Return serve:
"Hi,

Why was the parcel not delivered and left by my front door, as I selected on the delivery link you provided? Had I known it was going to be left by the road I would have opted to collect it from the centre."

Reply from AusPost
"Hi Pwnd

Thank you for your email and sending that screenshot through. I tried to call you just now on 044444444, however I was unable to reach you.

I apologise that the parcel was not delivered to your front door as requested. Your address receives Roadside Delivery, generally the posties will not deliver to the door in these instances. The Delivery Centre have followed this up with the driver, who has confirmed this was delivered out of view of the street, behind the letter box.

Again, I am sorry that you have not been able to locate this delivery.

If you're looking for more convenient and secure ways to receive your parcels in future, we have options available. To find out more visit https://auspost.com.au/receiving/alternative-delivery-addres….

Kind Regards"

My reply as of 20 mins ago and awaiting their response

"Hi,

I do not understand why the option for "at the front door" exists if it's not something you are able to provide. This is also the first time I have heard that my address only receives roadside delivery. This must be an Australia Post thing only, as every other courier we have used has delivered our parcels to our doorstep.
Once again, I would not have asked for the parcel to be left unattended by the road, especially as we had 7mm of rain on Tuesday and the area is exposed and unprotected.
Previous parcels were left at the post office, which is where I would have wanted it to go, rather than be left unattended on the side of the road.
Your driver allegedly left the parcel somewhere behind this small wall, and the area is easily visible from the road, and is completely unprotected from the elements.

I inserted a photo of my front fence where the driver allegedly left the parcel
https://imgur.com/a/xuAaAdj

Coincidentally, today, a competent delivery driver left a different parcel at my door step. The major difference here was that it was still there when I arrived home. I would consider this to be a Safe Drop, because it is not visible from the road, and is protected from the elements.

I inserted a photo of a succcessfully delivered Amazon parcel that arrived today at my front door

If your driver was unable to drop the package at my front door, they should have taken the package back to the post office for me to collect.
What is the process for escalating this, so I am able to be refunded?

Thank you
Pwnd"

EDIT

After a few more attempts to have the package declared as delivered, AusPost have now agreed to mark the parcel as lost in transit. Have recommended to contact seller first so they claim from their end. Attempting that.
Will give you an update.

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Comments

  • boomramada on 06/03/2024 - 17:44
    +1

    What is the process for escalating this, so I am able to be refunded?

    I would just purchase it again, but this time around, user parcel locker :)

  • BOGOF on 06/03/2024 - 17:45
    +3

    Was your parcel an electric meter box? because i think i have spotted it!

    • pwnd on 06/03/2024 - 19:12

      putting it there would have made some sense. out of sight and out of view.
      checked inside it. nope.

  • freefall101 on 06/03/2024 - 17:54
    -3

    Your driver allegedly left the parcel somewhere behind this small wall, and the area is easily visible from the road, and is completely unprotected from the elements.

    How would a small box behind that wall be easily visible from the road?

    End of the day, it's Australia Post who are high volume, low service when it comes to courier services and I'm not surprised they didn't want to drive an 800m trip just to drop a small package at your door. Someone else stole your package, not them (probably), so it's hard to paint them as responsible when they did the bare minimum they're required to as a service.

    I'd just reorder it, and if it's expensive use a better delivery option.

    • WoodYouLikeSomeCash on 06/03/2024 - 18:21
      +6

      Your post still doesn’t explain why AusPost has no evidence of delivery? They just took a photo of a fence which means nothing and could’ve been taken on any day or time.

    • pwnd on 06/03/2024 - 18:29
      +5

      Clearly it was visible from the road, as somebody has grabbed it.
      My bigger issue is I requested it to be dropped at my front door. This was an option on the link they sent me. Not to leave it 400m from there.
      If they couldn’t do that, I would have preferred it to go to the post office. 9mm of rain fell in my area that morning, so the parcel would have been saturated as well.

      • boomramada on 06/03/2024 - 18:33

        I requested it to be dropped at my front door

        At what point did you put that when you ordered the item from Aliexpress?

        • pwnd on 06/03/2024 - 19:34
          +3

          I put that in on Monday, when Auspost emailed me to say parcel is arriving tomorrow where do you want us to leave it…

          • boomramada on 06/03/2024 - 20:09
            -2

            @pwnd: I don't think Auspost subcontractors read them, especially when they must deliver hundreds of them for peanuts.

      • Slinky0111 on 06/03/2024 - 19:37
        +1

        Gone from 7mil to 9mil of rain :/

        • pwnd on 06/03/2024 - 19:41

          yeah, i fudged that up. it's def 7

          • Slinky0111 on 06/03/2024 - 20:12
            +3

            @pwnd: Out of curiosity what product/delivery service was it. Xx111111111xx? Long tracking number?

            Anyway, as an someone with a lot of inside knowledge of auspost I can understand both sides. Depending on the service that was used to send it to you it may not have shown up on the posties scanner to leave at the front door. "As the service used did not require a signature to be captured, your article was ‘Safe Dropped’ on your property". The parcel been a international item, probably a 292 (2 letters, 9 numbers, 2 letters) from memory the option you chose would not show up on the posties scanner.

            If you're regular postie is away for a day, holidays etc and another postie is completing the round they maybe unaware your house is 400m down the driveway. Is the house visible from the road? If it wasn't raining in the morning when the delivery was made behind that fence would be "fairly secure". If placed a few metres in from the driveway would be pretty hard to see from the road. If it was raining or looked like it was going to, should definitely be carded to the post office.

            If I was delivering to a new area and couldn't see the house from the road, there is no way I'm riding 400m onto a property to look for a house. Card the article and move on.

            Invest in a secure parcel letterbox. They are perfect for your location. As posties are moved more towards parcel deliveries as mail slowly dies, imagine riding 800m at 10kmph into your property to look for a house, but then also do the same for every property on your street? Assuming it's acreage. Not going to shy away from the fact though it should have been carded to the post office.

            There are often reports of opportunists following posties in cars/push bikes waiting for them to safe drop parcels, unfortunately it's the world we live in.

            They definitely should have taken a photo of the parcel in the location, not of the letter box itself. Even if it did fit in the back of the letterbox, a photo should have been taken of it inside.

            Unfortunately sounds like your sool though. In future get a parcel letter box, use a parcel locker and use a different delivery option as it wasn't signature on delivery.

            Sorry I can't be of any real help. PS these views are my own and do not represent those of Aus post……

            • pwnd on 06/03/2024 - 20:30
              +2

              @Slinky0111: I appreciate the feedback and your perspective, and it makes sense.
              My issue is less with the delivery driver and more at the poor systems in place and then with the response from auspost.
              Why give me the option to deliver to my door and then tell me it can't happen, AFTER my parcel went missing.
              Even if it was successfully delivered and not missing I would have been shitty due to the wrong delivery location. In this instance I would be thinking the delivery driver is lazy, when clearly that is not the case, and they are not getting the correct information.

              ps. I am still confused by the proof of delivery photo.

              pps. tracking number was: 44ABN323232323232335176
              changed the numbers/letters but left the format

  • hasher22 on 06/03/2024 - 18:12
    +2

    Sorry OP. This is why I use a parcel locker when I can. Even Amazon, I use their locker.

    • pwnd on 06/03/2024 - 18:33

      I did at our old place, but where we are now my front door is very safe, plus has a camera. Literally today Amazon dropped off my wuben e7 flashlight at my front door from the deal I saw on here last week.

      • zathras on 06/03/2024 - 18:40
        +3

        Hmmm, I get the feeling Australia Post don't want to do anything more than politely tell you to fleshlight off.

  • PissLUR on 06/03/2024 - 18:37
    +4

    dont forget to revoke the safe drop option now. as it applies to your future orders too. its not a once-off request.

    • SlickMick on 07/03/2024 - 17:01
      +2

      Only if OP doesn't want to go through this process again. But the instructions were clear, leave it at door or don't leave it.
      What should happen is delivery driver gets sacked, good luck with next one.

      But yeah, I'd be using parcel locker/ post office just to avoid the hassle.

  • brendanm on 06/03/2024 - 18:46
    +4

    Nice letterbox 👍

    Auspost are hopeless, I've just had a delivery where it just went up and down between Brisbane and the gold coast for days, going on a merry old trip to a bunch of different depots and sorting centres.

    • pwnd on 06/03/2024 - 18:58
      +2

      I am really unimpressed with the response. I understand they are not responsible for somebody else swiping the parcel. But not if you didn't deliver it to where you were meant to. The option to leave it by my front door was a pull down option, not one I typed in myself.

      Cheers for the compliment on the letterbox. It was a cheapo metal pole in the ground box, leaning on the power box for over 10 years. Only updated about two years ago.

      • brendanm on 06/03/2024 - 19:09
        +3

        I'm really unimpressed with most things they do, quality of service has taken a massive nosedive.

        If they had an option for front door, and you selected it, it's very poor on their behalf to just plonk it at the letterbox and call it good.

      • SlickMick on 07/03/2024 - 17:03
        +3

        I believe they are responsible actually. You authorised them to leave it at your door, where you could have verified claimed delivery or theft. Leaving it somewhere else is totally on them imo.

  • bargaino on 06/03/2024 - 19:21
    +2

    Fasthorse did something like this. Left my package near the letterbox on a busy road, when Auspost will always go the 10 metres to my porch if it will not fit in the mailbox.
    I complained and they said it would not happen again.
    Though your guy was worse, did not even take a photo of where it was left!

    As my front door is 400m from the road.

    Ah! I see the problem here. Is it not safe to leave packages hidden behind that wall? Then I suggest you put a parcel box on the back of the wall.
    You shouldn't expect a lowly-paid contract driver to go 400m up your private estate, without even paying for signed delivery. Even though they are supposed to, yes.

    • pwnd on 06/03/2024 - 19:36
      +1

      Private estate? Brother, I am on ozbargain, not whirlpool. People on whirlpool buy high yield investments that are worth more than our combined household income.

      • djones145 on 07/03/2024 - 13:13
        +1

        what u talking about br0
        recent polls indicated that 80 percent of us earn over 500k and have a high yeild merc amg ( along with a toyota station car)

    • SlickMick on 07/03/2024 - 17:07
      +1

      My driver parks in my driveway, I can't see that an extra 400m for OP is significant. I mean, the destination says that location 400m up the driveway with a doorbell - why'd he stop 400m before the destination?

      I've been a delivery driver, I know how crap some destinations can be. I'd have had no issues with this one.

  • bmxr on 06/03/2024 - 19:25
    +1

    You're assuming it was delivered, and then nabbed? Whilst this is the most likely outcome, it may never have been delivered. How big was the package? You say it wouldn't fit in the (beautiful) letterbox. Would the packaging potentially look like a high value item, a phone, a watch? Even a phone case I got delivered from AliExpress the other day, looked like it could have been a phone. Something of that size coming from "Quantium Hong Kong" might pique the interest of some delivery people to investigate further.

    I know 99.999% of our delivery and logistics industry are all honest, hard working people. But, I had an incident where the police allege that the postie identified a letter with my new debit card, and follow up letter with the pin number enclosed, They never delivered these letters, instead they provided these to a known criminal who went on a 2-day $22,000 spending spree with my savings account! At least at the end of the spree they made a $200 donation to charity. I got the most of the money back from the bank, except we asked them to leave the donation as it was.

    Fast forward to today, we havea 75m long driveway and we always plan for the worst, something to be dropped at the letterbox. These, largely contractors, don;t have the time to navigate your 400m driveway, park, come to your front door, deliver, turn around, back down the driveway and out. Time is money for the vast majority of them! If it's valuable, send it to a parcel pickup/locker.

    We look forward to your next instalment!

    • pwnd on 06/03/2024 - 19:51

      Yeah, no idea. The photo attached was just odd.
      The item was a miyoo mini, so would have had a little bit of heft, and possibly a lithium battery sticker on it, so may have seemed tempting.
      I could do a charge back on my card, but it's not the seller's fault, and from their perspective I imagine it's just listed as delivered.
      Would be a scummy thing to do to a not at fault party.

  • Trekky on 07/03/2024 - 08:00
    +4

    I'd report it to the police, just in case. There may have been thefts in the area.

  • sneijder on 07/03/2024 - 11:31
    +1

    AusPost has not pride at all.
    I ordered an item with Aliexpress. The delivery address is Level 3, 123 Some Street. But maybe the way of expressing address in China is different they put it as 123 Some Street, Level 3
    Yes it is not the "correct" format but I think it is pretty straight forward anyone can read would be able to find the address.
    AusPost just straight up said address not found and return to sender, without even trying to contact me.

    Aliexpress refunded me anyway so I have no loss.

    • pwnd on 07/03/2024 - 12:24
      +1

      The only way I expect a refund here is to do a charge back on my card, as from the seller's perspective it is marked as delivered.
      Don't want to do that as it was not the seller's fault.

  • zathras on 07/03/2024 - 12:29

    Was it a small parcel? Did he put it in the meter box?

    • pwnd on 07/03/2024 - 12:35

      Would have been small ish.Wasn't in meter box. Ordered a miyoo mini, so doubt the box would have been big.

  • djones145 on 07/03/2024 - 13:16

    check that wall. from the photo maybe he has taken one of the rocks out, hollowed it out, and left it in there!

    thats more possible than him wallking 400m to ur door

  • doctordv8 on 07/03/2024 - 15:07
    +2

    Up here on the Sunshine Coast Burnside have a same same problem with providing effective deliveries. We are deemed a Roadside Delivery yet it is only 80m to my door being 50m to car space, and 30m to door.

    They have sent me the delivery photo as well, with my parcel in view, and stated absolutely they can not and will not leave it out at the mailboxes. This same parcel had my details and CALL ME in the address… yet the incompetence abounded and it was taken away again.

    At least the truth was photographed, the parcel was on the ground, and date stamped correct. I received the Notification within and was on scene under 5 minutes and he was already gone even though there are near 70 mailboxes to sort.

    Upon raising the issue, Center Manager stated sorry but tough luck. They are our rules.

    But the inconsistencies to rules are there…. your parcel was not photographed, and behind the fence looked very secure. If they offer a door service, do it. If not, then whack it on the also near useless blue trucks and give them a chance. Or, give us the choice!

    Every other delivery crowd finds my door, with dam sight bigger trucks to navigate our car park.

    Mind, he does often do the squishy thing and force items thru the slot, which the Center Manager denied as well… even with photos!

  • Love a bargain on 07/03/2024 - 15:07

    Technically, the sender is the customer and only they can initiate a complaint/ request for compensation for the lost parcel.
    Despite it not being the seller's fault that your parcel has gone missing, they are responsible until the item is delivered. (Although the "safe drop" option might complicate things as they can claim that the parcel has effectively been delivered.)

  • Dabbler68 on 08/03/2024 - 21:31

    I recently had a notification of delivery but the package was nowhere to be seen. I was home at the noted time of delivery.

    After I sought evidence of delivery I found the parcel. It was inside my locked garage. I then remembered that I had gone into the garage to get a tool, and forgotten to close the door. Realising 20 minutes later I used the remote from inside the house.

    Obviously the delivery came in the brief period the door was open. Stupid place to leave it.

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