AddressPal & Lockers - An Post's Parcel Service SEE MOD WARNING FIRST POST

FanadMan

<SNIP> See previous post

AppleKidd

Worst case they wont accept it and get sent back to amazon is it.

The_Conductor

AppleKidd wrote: »

Worst case they wont accept it and get sent back to amazon is it.

Nope- it'll get put up on a shelf somewhere- and eventually vanish.
Why should An Post pay to send something that is expressly forbidden back to a vendor?

Talk to some of the guys in the sorting offices- its a bit of an eye opener.

AppleKidd

The_Conductor wrote: »

Nope- it'll get put up on a shelf somewhere- and eventually vanish.
Why should An Post pay to send something that is expressly forbidden back to a vendor?

Talk to some of the guys in the sorting offices- its a bit of an eye opener.

NO bother Thanks

JohnJackson0

Quick question:
Has anyone with seized items not had their items declared or labelled? Wondering.

As to the person who replied to me saying that my item being signed meant nothing; it doesn't mean nothing at all. In fact, it tells quite a lot.

It tells me that my item hasn't been refused, which would guarantee me a 0% success rate of a successful delivery. I should have maybe mentioned that I have used AddressPal before, and it went fine (thought it was just for an unsigned letter, not a signed parcel like now).

So my item being signed for does in fact tell me that my item, while still not guaranteed to arrive (like some others that are signed for then lost), still has not hit the 'definite failure wall' of being refused signature (at which point it would be cancelled and I know I'm not going to ever see it).

In other words, my item being signed for tells me that it's not a guaranteed 0%, which it would have been if refused, but that it's still in the 'maybe' pile of possibly making it here, or being lost/seized/stolen on the way from UK to here.

I'll give updates and more information on my delivery after/if it arrives, which will hopefully shed more light on how things run.
I'm hoping I get a text saying it's at my local PO tomorrow, seeing as it was received at the UK on Monday morning, and the time from UK to here has been consistently 3 approximate days for the last 18 years in my experience.
So I hope to let you all know all the details tomorrow, if not Friday (but will still update if nothing happens tomorrow).

Dan Jaman

JohnJackson0 wrote: »

and the time from UK to here has been consistently 3 approximate days for the last 18 years in my experience.

Really? Not uncommon for ordinary mail to take up to a fortnight to here from the UK.

JohnJackson0

Dan Jaman wrote: »

Really? Not uncommon for ordinary mail to take up to a fortnight to here from the UK.

Hmm. Since about '98 onward we've had regular mail from a friend in UK mailing us to Ireland, and it's been pretty much always 3 full days. We've held 3 addresses here in that time, but all were the same area (about 1.5 hours outside Dublin). Not sure how much that really affected things.

A fortnight sounds a little crazy, that's longer than US or even Chinese parcels to here. Worst I've had is from Japan which did take either a fortnight or a couple days longer.

Who knows, we'll see how things go.

whiterebel

AppleKidd wrote: »

Well Lads,

i want to order batteries for a drone, normally I use PM but only mainland shipping. What's the story with AddressPal and batteries. The batteries are coming from Amazon Prime.

Batteries are on the prohibited list for AP as discussed about 20 odd posts back.

The_Conductor

JohnJackson0 wrote: »

Hmm. Since about '98 onward we've had regular mail from a friend in UK mailing us to Ireland, and it's been pretty much always 3 full days. We've held 3 addresses here in that time, but all were the same area (about 1.5 hours outside Dublin). Not sure how much that really affected things.

A fortnight sounds a little crazy, that's longer than US or even Chinese parcels to here. Worst I've had is from Japan which did take either a fortnight or a couple days longer.

Who knows, we'll see how things go.

We're in Lucan, Co. Dublin- a letter or card from my brother in Elephant and Castle, London- consistently takes 5 working days to arrive. Conversely- if he sends it to my work address instead (in Co. Kildare) it takes two working days. Go figure.

EndaHonesty

prettyboy81 wrote: »

Has anyone availed of delivery from the USA with them? I am assuming anything An Post handle from the USA will be subject to the usual custom & VAT charges before it lands at your door.

I ordered some aftershave from the US using Amazon.com (third-party seller) and AddressPal to test the waters.

I ordered on 3/7/17 and the parcel arrived today.

The parcel was dispatched on 6/7/17 and on 13/7/17 I got an email from AddressPal US customer services asking for the value of the items.

The items were 5 aftershaves with a value of around $100 and I gave them the descriptions and values (correctly).

As I said the parcel was delivered today with the normal post and there were no extra charges.

The customs declaration on the outside of the parcel has the correct value and description.

Are aftershaves exempt from customs and VAT? Or is the value low enough to avoid them?

Kamili

EndaHonesty wrote: »

Are aftershaves exempt from customs and VAT? Or is the value low enough to avoid them?

According to http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/money_and_tax/tax/duties_and_vat/value_added_tax.html they are not exempt.

If you buy online or by mail order etc.
From outside the EU

You can buy goods from outside the EU up to a value of €22 without incurring any VAT charges. Goods up to a value of €150 may be imported without payment of customs duty. To avoid these packages being stopped by Customs, the value should be clearly marked on the label. However, VAT and import duty is charged on importations of tobacco, tobacco products, alcoholic products and perfumes even if they cost less than €22. The Revenue Commissioners provide a guide to the reliefs available for imports from non-EU countries.

If your online purchase costs more than €22 you will have to pay VAT. If your online purchase costs more than €150 you will have to pay VAT and customs duty. This will be collected by the company that delivers your parcel. The company usually have an administration charge. Methods of delivery and collection differ from company to company, so you should contact them directly for more information.

rubadub

EndaHonesty wrote: »

Are aftershaves exempt from customs and VAT? Or is the value low enough to avoid them?

No, and the limit is not €22 on most of them either, most would be excisable products and so there is actually no lower limit (in theory).

If you bought €10 worth from Northern Ireland and got it delivered you would be liable for excise (and I think VAT too.)

Some toiletries have alcohol free versions which I think are exempt from excise.

They officially do not collect below €6 in VAT, there is nothing said about a lower limit on excise but it is probably the same, just not woth their while. At the current VAT rate of 23% it effectively raises the €22 limit to ~€26

JohnJackson0

Update: My signed-for order that arrived and was signed for at UK on Monday, arrived today at the post office (Thursday), taking the 3 days I expected.

The_Conductor wrote: »

We're in Lucan, Co. Dublin- a letter or card from my brother in Elephant and Castle, London- consistently takes 5 working days to arrive. Conversely- if he sends it to my work address instead (in Co. Kildare) it takes two working days. Go figure.

Yeah, it seems the UK to Ireland postal times are consistent but very counter intuitive when looking at the routes the mail takes to reach various destinations.

Thanks for that info though, handy. I'll head in soon to collect my parcel, and assuming it wasn't opened and resealed (like some here have had happen to their mail), I should be back sitting here a happy bunny

Will give a full rundown in a single post later, so people don't need to go thread searching for posts, to give an A-Z procedure of my experience that I'll share after I collect.

Cheers all, hope we can gather enough clear data on the procedures of AddressPal to warrant a change (and/or at least get a clear statement listing their procedures, as we've had too many people with lost mail and nobody held accountable) in how they handle this potentially useful, but evidently flawed (for way too long) service.

whiterebel

MOD WARNING: Aircraft operators, and the couriers and Mail services that use those aircraft have prohibited article lists for items such as batteries, liquids, aerosols and gels, as well as other dangerous goods. They have every right to impose these to ensure the safety of passengers, crew and of the aircraft itself. There is no discussion on this forum about how to get around them, the chances of being stopped or of getting it through. Check the An Post and Address Pal websites for their T&Cs on the articles that they don't allow on their service. Any post contravening this will be deleted from here on, if a poster persists they will be taking a short holiday from the forum.

The_Conductor

The_Conductor wrote: »

I used it for the first time last week. You have to give An Post a valid credit card when setting it up. I got an e-mail from them on Tuesday of last week advising my package at arrived at the facility and a charge of 15.99 was being put on my credit card to pay for carriage. The package still has not arrived here (yet)- so I can't advise what the next step re customs etc is going to be. Cost of items was $120 (electrical parts for repairing a robot).

Attempted delivery notice in my door this evening.
No e-mail/phone call etc received.
Item for collection from sorting office- EUR51.06 (no idea how they got that weird amount) due for taxes, duty and An Post surcharge.

They insist on taking your credit card when setting up the US maildrop- why the hell can't they just take the charge from it- and leave your package at its designated drop point- and give you some indication of tracking when its en-route?

I got a confirmation e-mail from An Post- when they received my package in New England. I got no further correspondence from them.

So- delivery took a day less than 2 weeks- and the taxes/duty/charges are inflated- by my reckoning- it they were applied properly- I should owe about EUR30- possibly slightly less- definitely not just over 50 quid.

I may use this again- if I'm looking for something that I just can't get here- such as some of the toys my 6 and 7 year olds have seen on Youtube- esp. in the run-up to Christmas- however, its not a service I can recommend for regular use- its too random- no notifications whatsoever- and christ only knows why they wanted my credit card details to setup the account, if they're not going to bill it for any charges due. The 15.99 came off it- for carriage to Dublin- however, a carrier pidgeon would have been faster.

Not particularly impressed or happy here.

rafi bomb

I'm very confused by the how to fill in the address for amazon if someone will help me?

I have it in this format

Full Name: My name and id code AP etc etc

Address line 1: Air business AP

Address line 2: 4 the Merlin center acrewood way

Town/city : Not sure what goes in here

Country: St albans

Postcode_ Herts AL4 etc

I think it may be town st albans?

degsie

rafi bomb wrote: »

I'm very confused by the how to fill in the address for amazon if someone will help me?

I have it in this format

Full Name: My name and id code AP etc etc

Address line 1: Air business AP

Address line 2: 4 the Merlin center acrewood way

Town/city : Not sure what goes in here

Country: St albans

Postcode_ Herts AL4 etc

I think it may be town st albans?

St Albans is the town and Herts is the county.

rafi bomb

Thanks was confusing me a bit

Board.surf

Keep in mind that it says country not county. i.e. You had St.Albans as the country.

mirrorwall14

I got an email I'm not sure it's from address pal

Dear AddressPal Customer,

An AddressPal item has arrived into Air Business in the U.K without the unique AddressPal Account Number included in the postal address.
The item is in the name of (NAME REMOVED for boards.ie) and due to the fact that there are a number of individuals with the same name but different account numbers on our AddressPal database we require additional information to ensure a successful delivery.
Therefore, in the event that you may have ordered an item recently through our service, we would be obliged if you would respond to this e-mail.

We require:

A brief description of Item(s) ordered.

The supplier i.e. company the item was ordered from.

If the response matches the item on hand, your package will be promptly dispatched to your AddressPal delivery Post Office in Ireland.

If, on the other hand, you have not ordered, or are not expecting any item(s) within the last week, please ignore this e-mail and we apologise for the inconvenience caused.

Kind regards,

AddressPal Customer Support Team

Collyflower6

I made two orders in June with addresspal-both disastrous.
The first order was two handbags, I was sent an email a few days later saying that the package was oversized so I would have to collect somewhere else and pay 25 euro. When I complained and questioned the size they volunteered to return to sender asap free of charge so I agreed. I have now been trying to organise a refund for over a month and the package was never sent back. An Post now say it can take 6 weeks-they could have mentioned this when they said ASAP. I am worried this order is going to be lost in transit.
At the same time I made another order from a different website, and that has just gone missing full stop. An Post have asked me to contact Royal Mail to provide a screen shot of proof of delivery with signature even though I dont see anywhere that a signature is a requirement upon delivery. So basically over a month later I am missing both products and down 350 euro. Getting worried about refunds as well as it is going on so long!

pleasant Co.

mirrorwall14 wrote: »

I got an email I'm not sure it's from address pal

Dear AddressPal Customer,

An AddressPal item has arrived into Air Business in the U.K without the unique AddressPal Account Number included in the postal address.
The item is in the name of (NAME REMOVED for boards.ie) and due to the fact that there are a number of individuals with the same name but different account numbers on our AddressPal database we require additional information to ensure a successful delivery.
Therefore, in the event that you may have ordered an item recently through our service, we would be obliged if you would respond to this e-mail.

We require:

A brief description of Item(s) ordered.

The supplier i.e. company the item was ordered from.

If the response matches the item on hand, your package will be promptly dispatched to your AddressPal delivery Post Office in Ireland.

If, on the other hand, you have not ordered, or are not expecting any item(s) within the last week, please ignore this e-mail and we apologise for the inconvenience caused.

Kind regards,

AddressPal Customer Support Team

If you're unsure about the source best to contact addresspal yourself directly, assuming you're awaiting a package that is.

If it turns out to be a spoof then maybe you could post the senders address here?

mirrorwall14

pleasant Co. wrote: »

If you're unsure about the source best to contact addresspal yourself directly, assuming you're awaiting a package that is.

If it turns out to be a spoof then maybe you could post the senders address here?

I don't have a parcel coming asfaik

AddressPalFromAnPost@airbusonline.com

Email was this which made me suspicious

Collyflower6

That is the same email address I have been in correspondence with since having issues of not receiving parcels so I assume not a scam

Spocker

mirrorwall14 wrote: »

I got an email I'm not sure it's from address pal

Dear AddressPal Customer,

An AddressPal item has arrived into Air Business in the U.K without the unique AddressPal Account Number included in the postal address.
The item is in the name of (NAME REMOVED for boards.ie) and due to the fact that there are a number of individuals with the same name but different account numbers on our AddressPal database we require additional information to ensure a successful delivery.
Therefore, in the event that you may have ordered an item recently through our service, we would be obliged if you would respond to this e-mail.

We require:

A brief description of Item(s) ordered.

The supplier i.e. company the item was ordered from.

If the response matches the item on hand, your package will be promptly dispatched to your AddressPal delivery Post Office in Ireland.

If, on the other hand, you have not ordered, or are not expecting any item(s) within the last week, please ignore this e-mail and we apologise for the inconvenience caused.

Kind regards,

AddressPal Customer Support Team

I've had this before, it's legit - I got the parcel I was expecting after replying. What happens is they email all of the people with your name, and only one person should be able to respond with the required details and get the package.

Air Business is a legitimate subsidiary of An Post: http://www.anpost.ie/AnPost/Mobile/News/Information+Article?page=Air%20Business%20Launches%20High%20Quality%20E-commerce%20Distribution%20Service

https://www.airbusiness.com/about#about-air-business

roarlad

Same boat, I ordered an item from Amazon.com using AddressPal.
It took 3 days to get from Amazon to AddressPal.

@EndaHonesty do you recall who signed for your item @AddressPal?
My item has arrived there or thereabouts, however someone called "KRAVCHEMKO" appears to have signed for it... hopefully this person works for AddressPal..

EndaHonesty wrote: »

I ordered some aftershave from the US using Amazon.com (third-party seller) and AddressPal to test the waters.

I ordered on 3/7/17 and the parcel arrived today.

The parcel was dispatched on 6/7/17 and on 13/7/17 I got an email from AddressPal US customer services asking for the value of the items.

The items were 5 aftershaves with a value of around $100 and I gave them the descriptions and values (correctly).

As I said the parcel was delivered today with the normal post and there were no extra charges.

The customs declaration on the outside of the parcel has the correct value and description.

Are aftershaves exempt from customs and VAT? Or is the value low enough to avoid them?

mikeybrennan

I've got a few items through no problem

I wouldn't be getting any expensive items judging by the issues some people are having

Dan Jaman

I've had several AP items via the Home Delivery service and all went ok.
The fall-back position for badly addressed HD items is to throw them into the Post Office pickup stream, as happened with the last item I had.
I was not best pleased to see on the parcel, the usual sticker from AP, snottily telling me to kindly make sure my sender had my full and proper address, including their daftly long number - somewhat ironic, as the number I'd sent to them was the short one for Home Delivery.
You can't win.

Board.surf

mikeybrennan wrote: »

I've got a few items through no problem

I wouldn't be getting any expensive items judging by the issues some people are having

It's a mess. Ruining An Post's name in my eyes. They've had plenty of time to fix this! Far past teething issues. The depot in the U.K. seems like it's on Pluto and behaves like they don't even know what An Post is.

roarlad

roarlad wrote: »

Same boat, I ordered an item from Amazon.com using AddressPal.
It took 3 days to get from Amazon to AddressPal.

@EndaHonesty do you recall who signed for your item @AddressPal?
My item has arrived there or thereabouts, however someone called "KRAVCHEMKO" appears to have signed for it... hopefully this person works for AddressPal..

Heard back from AnPost:

Good Evening,
I have just heard back from our USA team and they inform me that the item was delivered to the wrong address. Could you state this to the sender.
Thank you

EB

Looks like this was UPS' fault.. quoting the APW # appears to have confused the driver into thinking it is an apartment block/number..