Mark,?
You and I are in an almost identical situation, I live in London UK. Day 31 here.
I ordered my uBitx on 10th December (first-batch order, like yours), my package was also tracked into and *out of* the Mumbai 'Office of Exchange' on 15th December as confirmed at
I haven't chased it with HF Sigs yet but there seems little point unless to arrange for a replacement to be sent but I am now starting to wonder at what point this is the best course of action (see below and the latest from Royal Mail)? The radio was a Christmas present to myself, I knew it was very unlikely to arrive before Christmas but I really did expect it to have arrived by now.?
I have also seen or heard nothing since Mumbai. I too have spoken with the UK Royal Mail and they have no record of the tracking number as issued by India Post and to back this up the tracking number is not recognized as valid on the UK Royal Mail online tracking system.?As far as the UK Royal Mail is concerned my package is not on the UK system and they can not confirm where it is, if indeed it has arrived in the UK at all. That *is* a concern.??
For further confirmation, I have *this morning* spoken with Customer Services at the London Heathrow Worldwide Distribution Centre (HWDC) (Tel UK 0843 548 8217)?via Royal Mail customer services, which is the UK main sorting office for international mail sent by air to the UK, and they are (1) Unable to track my package, (2) Have assured me that they are *not* suffering a major backlog. UK Royal Mail are quite clear - the package has *never* been on their system.?*This afternoon* the advice of the UK Royal Mail parcel tracking team (Tel UK 0345 774 0740), using my India Post tracking number as reference was that: (1) The Parcel should be here by now and that they strongly recommend initiation of what they called a 'postal investigation' which must be started by *the sender* through India Post, and that India Post would then liaise with UK Royal Mail, I was also advised that an investigation can take up to 8 weeks. They also confirmed that they are not aware of any backlog in UK customs (HMRC) clearances at their international handling centre and in fact said that typical handling time was (quote) "5 days or less at the moment *because* of Christmas".
I assume (or more accurately, I fear) that this proposed 'postal investigation' would involve continued delay whilst the package is located and/or any remedial action is taken, ie. a claim for the loss is submitted and then eventually a replacement (back log permitting) is sent? Ouch.
Where does the responsibility now rest to sort this out because from what I have heard from UK Royal Mail today they don't think that this is their problem furthermore I am sure that the solution is no longer about just being patient!
To be clear, in no way is this a personal criticism of Farhan or the excellent innovations and fun he has brought to the amateur radio community, or the fantastic work he continues to do to offer worthwhile employment opportunities to ladies in India, but it is a genuine concern from a customer (and Bitx enthusiast) who simply wants to enjoy their new radio but who is now starting to fear that their package could be lost/taken and that it's going to be months before a uBitx arrives.
Of course it could arrive tomorrow despite what the UK Royal Mail have told me today ... stranger things have happened!
?
73 Carl M0ICR
