And so it happened to me, as predicted by myself. My very first parcel that is nowhere to be found in 86OF’s warehouse.
You may have ended up reading this post because you had the same fate. What I have to say to you is, don’t panic! Most likely, the parcel will be found. Also, don’t get angry nor too worried. It doesn’t help at all. Just take the logical steps toward finding your parcel and hope for the best. That’s all you can do anyway. Yelling at the customer service does nothing to help your cause.
Based on my experience, here’s likely the series of events that will take place when your parcel is lost.
- You notice that your parcel is not registered into your account after 3 days it has been delivered to the warehouse (签收). You get worried. At this point in time, contacting customer service does not help at all. Well, I did so, and all I got in reply was a link to an FAQ on their website, which basically tells you to retrieve the signed courier delivery slip from the Taobao seller. I think most people’s reaction is reluctance, but there is a valid reason for having to go through the hassle – the warehouse personnel will have to take in all parcels that arrive at the warehouse, even those that do not properly identify the owner. Returning the parcel to the seller is not the right thing to do, you’ll have to agree right? I guess most people will expect that all is well when the courier delivery status is indicated as “delivered”, but sometimes there can be problems in identifying who the parcel belongs to. And of course, the warehouse staff can misplace parcels too, like in my case.
- Most people will be reluctant to get the courier delivery slip from the seller because it sounds like hassle. Well, I felt the same way, but i just asked the seller anyway. What’s so difficult about asking a question, right? To my surprise, I asked the seller (night time), and got a prompt reply they will check with the courier company. The next morning, I checked with them again, and within hours, I got the courier delivery slip. So easy! The seller was happy to oblige with the request. Moral of the story – asking for the courier delivery slip may not be such a big deal afterall.
Just like that - After I provided the evidence of the courier delivery slip to 86of, they set about getting the warehouse staff to find the parcel. I had to check with them 3 times before the parcel was finally found, 6 days later.
I guess overall, it wasn’t such a bad experience. There’s a delay in getting the shipment, and that’s just part of the price you pay for the relatively cheap shipping fee. You’ll have to share some of the workload in doing follow up every now and then. Suits me just fine.
There is a notice on 86of’s website about minimizing the chances of lost parcel (to almost zero) – they advice you to ask the seller to write your branch and user id with a marker pen on your parcel. This is called a 唛头. They ask you to leave a comment to the seller, but i felt the comment looks too intimidating. I prefer to just say it more politely “请在我的包裹上用大头笔写上AMK XXXX，谢谢”. For my latest shipment of 3 parcels, i left this comment to the sellers. Let’s see if they will do as instructed..
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