Courier fails to deliver; sender irked
An Invercargill man is irate a package he sent through a Trade Me’s preferred courier has travelled throughout the North Island but not made it to its delivery address.
It has been more than a month since John Lynch’s package was picked up by Fastway Couriers to be sent to the auction winner in Northland. However, the package did not arrive. Lynch listed a Monet print on Trade Me in June and sold it for $78.
He used the website’s software to print off a Fastway Couriers packaging label for the item.
Bound for Cable Bay in Northland, the label had the buyer’s name, street address and postcode printed, but the region was not included.
There is also a Cable Bay in Nelson and one on Waiheke Island.
Invercargill was also left off the return address label.
Following the package’s travels over the course of nine days, Lynch said the package was misdirected twice and sent between several Fastway depots in the North Island. It then was returned to Invercargill. The framed print was packaged with two layers of bubble wrap, two layers of cardboard packaging, duct tape on the corners as well as ‘‘fragile’’ stickers, but it became damaged in transit.
Lynch said he had called the courier more than 10 times but nearly two months after the package was first sent, the situation had not been resolved, despite him making a claim with the company.
Fastway Couriers general manager Brad Bertie said as a result of Lynch’s experiences and repeated attempts to fix the situation, the company would be following up on training practices.
‘‘I’ll understand what the gaps were from a training point of view and well get it sorted,’’ he said.
Bertie did not know how the region had been left off the delivery label and said his company would be working with Trade Me to figure out what had happened.
He said with forklifts, trucks and couriers involved in the delivery process, sometimes things, including Lynch’s ‘‘fragile’’ item, get bumped and damaged.
‘‘It happens from time to time,’’ he said. ’’It’s the nature of our industry, but that’s not making any excuses.’’
Lynch’s item is now being held in the Invercargill depot, but he said he had been told he was not able to pick it up.
Bertie said it was ‘‘incorrect’’ for Lynch to be told he could not see the package, but this depended on which stage the claim was at.
It is normal practice for an item to be held by Fastway Couriers if a claim has been paid out because the item is effectively owned by the carrier, he said.
‘‘We really apologise [to Lynch]. It looks like a bad example,’’ he said.
Trade Me spokesman Logan Mudge said the company uses two preferred couriers, including Fastway Couriers.
When a person lists an item, they are able to choose both courier prices or if they have a preference, choose one of the couriers. ’’Usually people pick ‘give me the best price’,’’ he said.
Mudge said he had not seen this situation happen before and said couriers generally did not need the region to be able to deliver the package.
Since Fairfax approached Fastway Couriers, Bertie contacted Lynch and offered him a refund of the courier cost and the price the print sold for on Trade Me.
Lynch said the buyer of the Monet print had been patient throughout the incident.