My woes with LOOMIS and how it all worked out

[VeeNDee 44]

October 26 was my visa appointment - at the consulate they told us we were approved and that we would receive notification of our passport being shipped and ready to pick up. Sure enough, on October 30 I received an email from the US consulate with this title:

"LOOMIS has your passport but it's not ready to pickup"

In the email was a link with a tracking number and a Waybill number. Throughout the week I clicked on the link to check the tracking and see where it was. On several occasions the status changed to undeliverable. On Friday afternoon I decided that the third undeliverable status was a bit concerning so I tried phoning them - but they were already closed and only answer the phones on weekdays!

On Saturday, I clicked on the link in my email for tracking and the status showed as "Waybill not found" and Packet not found or something similar. I almost had a full blown panic attack, but we managed not to lose it, reasoning that surely they wouldn't lose my passport and all the complications that would ensue from that! Oh I bet you can imagine where my mind went in the possible implications.

This morning I called LOOMIS when it opened to inquire about the status of my passport and the lady on the phone calmly told me it was ready for pickup and had been ready for quite awhile. In some disbelief I said, "But the tracking says it is undeliverable" - and she replied that she saw it was actually there and ready for pickup.

I felt greatly relieved but still wanted to go there and get it asap just in case it wasn't true - so drove over to the LOOMIS office (I went to the one in Richmond - which is right by the airport and by the way Google Maps was a bit misleading on how to get there but I digress). I paid for parking, or tried to, only to have the machine eat a loonie. Two of my loonies wouldn't work because they were one of the fancy special ones with like a hockey image or something on them and it kept spitting it back out. I finally managed to pay for parking only to have a guy walk up behind me and say "Oh didn't you realize there is free parking across the lot by the restaurant?" GAH! Anyway we had to walk around to find LOOMIS - it was actually in a building behind the building by the road so you can't see it from the street but it is there.

When I gave the men there the waybill number they brought out the package and I sighed a great sigh of relief and explained my consternation about 'undeliverable' - they just said matter-of-factly, "Oh, that means it's ready for pickup."

If it's ready for pickup, make the status say READY FOR PICKUP?!?!?!? Does that not make sense to anyone else?!?!??! The only email I ever got said it wasn't ready for pickup and I never heard anything else via email or a phone call. Apparently it had been there since the 30th already! The man also said that I must have typoed the waybill number to show it as not found to which I replied emphatically that I did not since I had clicked on the SAME link multiple times as I had before, as had my fiance and dad who I forwarded the email to see the same message. I guess he didn't think anything of it, but maybe it was some type of temporary tech glitch? I did not typo it, grrr.

Long story short, if it says undeliverable, don't panic. If it says as not found, don't panic. Call LOOMIS if you have any questions. Their number is: 1-855-2-LOOMIS or 1-855-256-6647. If you haven't heard anything, that doesn't mean it's not there and waiting!

[peteranna 0]

great info thanks!!!

[JnJ13 13]

I had the same thing happen to me but I was so excited after I got the "not ready for pick-up" I called the next morning and they said it was ready! Great advice to call in the future!

[VeeNDee 44]

I had the same thing happen to me but I was so excited after I got the "not ready for pick-up" I called the next morning and they said it was ready! Great advice to call in the future!

Haha so in other words "not ready for pickup" means "ready for pickup" :bonk: :bonk:

Glad you got it figured out quickly!

[sk8rpatty 17]

Thanks so much for posting this!

Ours is coming up very soon and you probably saved us time and stress! Now we know to call.

Thanks again!

[kobiams 2]

Great info, could save people a lot of time and suffer to know that.