Purloined books: Amazon, salmon and la Poste
I recently ordered some books from Amazon.co.uk which never arrived. This is the fifth time that books sent from England have not been delivered to me in France. They were not all Amazon packages - one was a birthday present, one an Amazon marketplace purchase forwarded to me by my mother, another two deliveries of books that I had written.
Now I have moved house there is no possibility that anyone could reach into my letterbox and steal the books from there, and I suspect the postal service (I also once saw a documentary about just how much theft there is from within the French postal service). A friend of mine also had some smoked salmon and children's clothes disappear into thin air after being posted from England.
I wonder if any other members have had books lost/stolen by the postal service, and got any compensation from La Poste or Amazon (even if it is not their fault - they have not even replied to my email about it). I am considering reporting this to the police. Obviously it is much better to support a local bookseller, but in this case I needed the books fast and two of them would have had to be ordered.
Alison Culliford
Now I have moved house there is no possibility that anyone could reach into my letterbox and steal the books from there, and I suspect the postal service (I also once saw a documentary about just how much theft there is from within the French postal service). A friend of mine also had some smoked salmon and children's clothes disappear into thin air after being posted from England.
I wonder if any other members have had books lost/stolen by the postal service, and got any compensation from La Poste or Amazon (even if it is not their fault - they have not even replied to my email about it). I am considering reporting this to the police. Obviously it is much better to support a local bookseller, but in this case I needed the books fast and two of them would have had to be ordered.
Alison Culliford
posted by SOAF Chairman at 4:02 PM
6 Comments:
I am wondering why Ms Culliford has automatically assumed that the fault lies with La Poste. The Royal Mail service is pretty dire these days and I think one can safely assume that items are stolen in the UK as well. And after all, why would anyone working at a sorting office for La Poste in France want to steal English language books?
On a practical note, there is no point in complaining to La Poste about lost mail which originated in the UK unless it was sent by some form of recorded delivery - when it can be traced. La Poste (and the police) would justifiably ignore the complaint unless 1. there is a tracking number of some kind and 2. one can prove that the fault occurred in France. One has to be able to prove a loss, after all and then normally compensation would have to come from the originating postal service.
Yes, I have experienced missing post here, but then likewise in the UK. When an Amazon order failed to arrive and I contacted them, a replacement copy was sent to me. They accept the payment, they have to supply the goods.
For Shelley Power
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I've found Amazon tend to send out replacement orders systematically, sometimes even by Fedex (at their own cost).
I've had all sorts of problems with UK to French post. One package took six months to arrive. It was a Fortnum and Masons hamper, and the contents were inedible by the time it materialised... I still have no idea why/where the holdup was...
I never had problems with Amazon UK until December last year when I ordered a couple of books which never arrived. Two months ago I decided to risk placing another order for a book and it too failed to turn up. I contacted Amazon and they sent a replacement copy which also never arrived!
It seems that it is those of who live in Paris who have this problem with Amazon.uk. Our books are sent by the highly inefficient Royal Mail and I fear that they are probably stolen by someone there. But Gregor, who lives in the country, receives his orders from Amazon within a few days and they never go astray because for some inexpliable reason they come to him via the German post!
I'm going to write to Amazon and ask for an explanation. If only we in Paris could benefit from some German efficiency!
I sent an email to Amazon concerning the non-arrival of books and this is their reply:
'Please be informed that for international deliveries, "Airmail" is carried by Royal Mail First Class, Deutsche Post or UPS to your local mail system. "Priority Express" is serviced by DHL and UPS.
'We do take full responsibility for any errors made during delivery; if any of our carriers were to lose or damage a package, we would of course replace it at no extra expense to you.
'Please be informed that when an order is dispatched the choice of carrier is based upon a variety of factors and it is not possible for us to assign a specific carrier to a particular order or customer. We expect all of our carriers to deliver a high level of reliability, however, and where this has not been reached we will take the appropriate action to improve our services.'
It seems to be the luck of the draw whether books are dispatched by Royal Mail or via the German post. In future I shall order any book I want through Galignani. It's a bit slow but at least the books do arrive.
While I have no doubt that British postl workers also steal, they do not do it as often as their French counterparts. I narrowed the problem down to either my branch of la Poste or the French sorting office that hanled that branch, as having the books sent to work (different sorting office) fixed the problem overnight.
As to why French postal workers would want to steal english language books: you don't need to read them to offer them for sale on eBay or amazon.
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