USPS – Complaint about damaged international package

This is to complain the poor management and service for United Stated Postal Service regarding the claim for article number CP725945297US (case number: DE1756191).

I mailed an international package to China using priority express on August 20th, 2011. The package was heavily damaged when received. I called USPS and received mails from USPS stating that “Your inquiry has been forwarded to the Foreign Postal Administration of China. If the addressee waives his/her right to payment, and damage or rifling is verified by the Foreign Postal Administration, you will then have rights to the indemnity. At that time you will be sent a claim package.”

In November 2011, I called USPS and they told me that the damage verification has been done and they will send me a claim form to get the refund for the damage. I received the claim form and the letter from USPS on Nov. 28, 2011 stating that “The postal service of CHINA has advised us that they have verified the some contents damaged for this article. If the article has not been returned to you, and you would like to file a claim, please complete the enclosed the claim and return it to International Claims, St. Louis Accounting Service Center, P.O. Box 80146, St. Louis, MO 63180-0146.”

Following the instructions in the claim package, I filed the claim form together with the mail receipt and the purchase receipt of damaged products in the package to International Claims in St. Louis. However, I got a mail from International Accounting Branch who handles this case and was told that “The addressee has not waived his/her right to payment and damage or rifling has not been verified by the foreign administration.” This is not consistent with the letter I received from USPS on Nov. 28, 2011 which stated that the damage has been verified.

I called International Claims in St. Louis several times and they instruct me to appeal to USPS Office of Consumer Advocate in Washington DC. Then I sent all the claim forms, the pictures of damaged package, the damage verification letter from USPS to the Office of Consumer Advocate. Again they said “damage or rifling has not been verified by the foreign administration and the addressee has not waived his/her right to payment.” I am really confused since USPS sent me a letter confirming the damage was verified by the postal service of China. I called International Claims in St. Louis in April 2012 to check what is wrong with this claim since they process the case first. Then the representative told me that the damage has been confirmed, they only need a letter from addressee to waive the right of payment and I can get refund after they received the letter from addressee. In April, the addressee mailed a letter to waive the payment to International Claims in St. Louis. The tracking number for the registered mail is RR914669965CN. After this, I called International Claims several times and they said they don’t handle this claim and ask me to contact USPS Office of Consumer Advocate in Washington DC. I contacted this office several times and they told me that there is no damage report again! At this point, I am done with this service and feel very tired. I am questioning the poor and inconsistent management in USPS causing the delay of this claim without any solution.

1. On Nov. 28, USPS sent me a letter stating that the damage was verified and notified me to claim the refund for the damaged package. Based on the statement “If the addressee waives his/her right to payment, and damage or rifling is verified by the Foreign Postal Administration, you will then have rights to the indemnity. At that time you will be sent a claim package.” If anything is missing for the claim, USPS should inform me initially instead of mailing a claim package. USPS has already sent me the claim package, which means everything is satisfied for the claim.

2. During the process of claim, I called USPS including International Claims in St. Louis and USPS Office of Consumer Advocate in DC many times, different representatives gave different answers. For example, in April, I called USPS International Claims in St. Louis, the representative said that the damage was confirmed and instructed the addressee send them a letter to waive the payment. However, after the address mailed the letter to International Claims in St. Louis, I called and they said they did not get the letter and the addressee should mail the letter to USPS Office of Consumer Advocate in DC. But in April, the representative instructed us to mail the letter to International Claims in St. Louis.

3. As a customer, I did my best to help solve this issue. I also contacted the local postal service in China where the package mailed to (tel: 86-551-4217041) and the postal administration in Shanghai, China(86-21-64591177 extension 323). They also stated that the damage verification has already been sent as early as in October 2011. They said that if any more documents is needed, USPS needs to send them inquiry for providing anything.

UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE
USPS OFFICE OF THE CONSUMER ADVOCATE
475 L’ENFANT PLAZA SW, RM 4012
WASHINGTON, DC 20260-2200
202-268-2284