London Embassy Not Checking Their PO BOX??

[featherB 1]

Has it occured to anyone that the mail *has* been picked up, but you haven't been notified?

Occom's razor.

Leave 'em alone & they will get to you. You won't feel better in the meantime, and you won't be able to be oh-so-proactive-feeling, but it will all get done.

(isn't it you lot who think it's us Americans who are pushy? <g>)

Actually, you have a valid point. The Royal Mail has done it's job and delivered the mail to the PO Box. When it gets picked up is nothing to do with them, they wouldn't know. The box is the property of the Embassy...NOT Royal Mail. They cannot check when the box has been emptied. Therefore, you will only ever get a PO Box delivery notification, surely?

Good point - I sent my P3 by Special Delivery, and although when I typed in the tracking number it said it had been delivered, it also said something like 'the tracking information for this item is not available'... or something.

Will see if I can find the slip and will check!

[Mags 112]

Has it occured to anyone that the mail *has* been picked up, but you haven't been notified?

Occom's razor.

Leave 'em alone & they will get to you. You won't feel better in the meantime, and you won't be able to be oh-so-proactive-feeling, but it will all get done.

(isn't it you lot who think it's us Americans who are pushy? <g>)

Actually, you have a valid point. The Royal Mail has done it's job and delivered the mail to the PO Box. When it gets picked up is nothing to do with them, they wouldn't know. The box is the property of the Embassy...NOT Royal Mail. They cannot check when the box has been emptied. Therefore, you will only ever get a PO Box delivery notification, surely?

Good point - I sent my P3 by Special Delivery, and although when I typed in the tracking number it said it had been delivered, it also said something like 'the tracking information for this item is not available'... or something.

Will see if I can find the slip and will check!

I sent mine Special Delivery but admit, I never actually checked the online thing to see if it got there....kind of defeats the object doesn't it? But it did get there (this was last September) and I think I got a packet 4 through about 10 days later.

[meauxna 15]

Has it occured to anyone that the mail *has* been picked up, but you haven't been notified?

Occom's razor.

Leave 'em alone & they will get to you. You won't feel better in the meantime, and you won't be able to be oh-so-proactive-feeling, but it will all get done.

(isn't it you lot who think it's us Americans who are pushy? <g>)

Actually, you have a valid point. The Royal Mail has done it's job and delivered the mail to the PO Box. When it gets picked up is nothing to do with them, they wouldn't know. The box is the property of the Embassy...NOT Royal Mail. They cannot check when the box has been emptied. Therefore, you will only ever get a PO Box delivery notification, surely?

"Actually"? !

Freaking out any earlier than 30 days from mailing in is jumping the gun, IMO.

[rebeccajo 14]

Aren't there Express Delivery services in the UK?

Like FedEx and others?

I NEVER use the US mail for anything important. NEVER. I don't care if they are happy to send me a 'certified return' card. I don't trust the buggers.

It always seemed to me when I would suggest to Wes that he use an Express service, he acted like I was nuts. Are these services not as readily available to John Q. Public in the UK like they are in the US?

[featherB 1]

Has it occured to anyone that the mail *has* been picked up, but you haven't been notified?

Occom's razor.

Leave 'em alone & they will get to you. You won't feel better in the meantime, and you won't be able to be oh-so-proactive-feeling, but it will all get done.

(isn't it you lot who think it's us Americans who are pushy? <g>)

Actually, you have a valid point. The Royal Mail has done it's job and delivered the mail to the PO Box. When it gets picked up is nothing to do with them, they wouldn't know. The box is the property of the Embassy...NOT Royal Mail. They cannot check when the box has been emptied. Therefore, you will only ever get a PO Box delivery notification, surely?

Good point - I sent my P3 by Special Delivery, and although when I typed in the tracking number it said it had been delivered, it also said something like 'the tracking information for this item is not available'... or something.

Will see if I can find the slip and will check!

I sent mine Special Delivery but admit, I never actually checked the online thing to see if it got there....kind of defeats the object doesn't it? But it did get there (this was last September) and I think I got a packet 4 through about 10 days later.

Aha - mine was similar, then - I sent off Packet 3 on a Monday, called the Embassy (not imagining for one second I'd hear anything, but thought 'what the hell!) the following Wednesday (I think), and they told me my interview date and that Packet 4 was in the post. - but I was just wondering if there was some kind of security thing that stops you getting the usual tracking info from Royal Mail... ie whether EVERYONE's Packet 3 would show up as having disappeared into this mystery PO box when they try and trace its whereabouts...?! It does seem bizarre that everyone seems to be getting this same 'PO Box' response right now - unless that's what always happens!

[featherB 1]

Aren't there Express Delivery services in the UK?

Like FedEx and others?

I NEVER use the US mail for anything important. NEVER. I don't care if they are happy to send me a 'certified return' card. I don't trust the buggers.

It always seemed to me when I would suggest to Wes that he use an Express service, he acted like I was nuts. Are these services not as readily available to John Q. Public in the UK like they are in the US?

Hmm... they are, but I have a feeling they cost waaaaay more than even the most expensive Royal Mail service. Although I could be wrong. Special Delivery is pretty good, though - they guarantee delivery by lunchtime or 9am the next day (I think they have a same-day one now, as well) and has always (touch wood) worked fine for me. If you need something delivered NOW you'd use a courier service, but if next day is good enough, or you just want to know for definite that it got there, £4-something for Special Delivery (depending on weight, mind you) is pretty good...

[TheZilla 0]

I'm just giggling a little bit about how different people all approach this process. I LOVE the people who are cool cats, who can sit back after mailing in all their Packet 3 stuff and just chill without checking on it all the time. I wanna be like that!! hehe. I just imagine them lounging with a pipe and a glass of port going 'Tis out of our hands now, life must go on", hehehehe.

I admit, I'm totally getting all obsessive, so is my fiance'. We were completely different during the initial I-129F part. I didn't even check for touches or anything like that, neither did he. We were fine before the whole "Mysterious P.O. Box" thing. Now we're calling all these numbers like little nutmonkeys begging for ANY info.

I don't mind if the cool cats laugh at us, hehe. My Mom puts me in my place. I'll go to her having a dramatic moment of despair over the lack of communication and she's just like 'Honey, it's the GOVERNMENT, what did you EXPECT? A basket of fruit and a candy gram?". Ah, Moms are wise.

[jlivings99 0]

My husband got the PO Box story also from the Royal Mail but we were eventually able to access online "Your electronic Proof of Delivery" (might have been almost a week after delivery). The Proof of Delivery has a stamp that says "American Embassy London 28 Feb 2007 Mailroom." Feb 28 is when it was delivered by the Royal Mail so the post office box might be a fiction they use for security purposes. (Since anthrax scare in Washington DC in 2001 the US governmnet is very careful about its mail.)

[featherB 1]

My husband got the PO Box story also from the Royal Mail but we were eventually able to access online "Your electronic Proof of Delivery" (might have been almost a week after delivery). The Proof of Delivery has a stamp that says "American Embassy London 28 Feb 2007 Mailroom." Feb 28 is when it was delivered by the Royal Mail so the post office box might be a fiction they use for security purposes. (Since anthrax scare in Washington DC in 2001 the US governmnet is very careful about its mail.)

Ohh - you could get your proof of delivery online - that kills my theory, then! I just found my Special Delivery slip (no idea why I still have that, it's with the copy I have of the forms & checklist) and typed the tracking number on the RM site... it's still saying the same thing it was at the time - that it 'has been delivered' but that the electronic proof of delivery is not available. Not that I care about the electronic proof of delivery now, of course!

The PO Box thing is odd, though... maybe if the RM turn up at the Embassy really early in the morning (whenever I receive something by Special Delivery, they seem to ring my doorbell at the crack of dawn!), before there's anyone there to receive mail, they stick it in a PO Box instead...? Doesn't make much sense if something has to be signed for, though...

[Teddy406 0]

Has it occured to anyone that the mail *has* been picked up, but you haven't been notified?

Occom's razor.

Leave 'em alone & they will get to you. You won't feel better in the meantime, and you won't be able to be oh-so-proactive-feeling, but it will all get done.

(isn't it you lot who think it's us Americans who are pushy? <g>)

I rang up Royal Mail (who we all know runs a VERY TIGHT SHIP indeed) and they said that it was sat in the super duper PO BOX OF DOOM and that i should contact the recipient.

[Buxton babe 0]

Freaking out any earlier than 30 days from mailing in is jumping the gun, IMO.

I have to agree NOW that being too concerned in the first 30 days can be seen as jumping the gun. However all I want to know is "do they have the packet?" then I can sit back and wait 24-30-49 days as required.

A week after posting I am still getting Sorry, there has been a problem with the reference number you've entered. Please try again.

[meauxna 15]

I don't know what I have missed in the past few months, but I don't recall that anyone has consistantly been able to get this information you want--confirmation of delivery. Even if you had one of their people by the throat in front of you, they would tell you that they can't see your case & that it takes X weeks to get it into their system.

Clearly it works.. people are moving to the US every day. I hate to see you torture yourselves like this over something that you can not affect.

Are you packed yet?

[Teddy406 0]

I don't know what I have missed in the past few months, but I don't recall that anyone has consistantly been able to get this information you want--confirmation of delivery. Even if you had one of their people by the throat in front of you, they would tell you that they can't see your case & that it takes X weeks to get it into their system.

Clearly it works.. people are moving to the US every day. I hate to see you torture yourselves like this over something that you can not affect.

Are you packed yet?

Half packed...I wont be leaving untill august-ish anyway, but I am a stickler for wanting to know what is going on, and we want to set a date and send the invitations out!

Like Cartman for the Wii---cmon, cmmmmmmmmmmmmon!

[TheZilla 0]

I don't think it's so bad to be a stickler for wanting to know what's going on. In a way, I suppose it is kind of like overkill at times to check on things so often, but I come from that 'Damned if you do, damned if you don't" school of thought. I've had so many experiences when I didn't check on things and then only later realized I should have. Wanting to make sure they haven't lost stuff, and if they have I want to know as soon as I can so it's not a month or two later before I do, you know?

I just don't trust bureaucrats, especially overworked ones

Teddy, I see your medical is Monday. GOOD LUCK!

[Teddy406 0]

I don't think it's so bad to be a stickler for wanting to know what's going on. In a way, I suppose it is kind of like overkill at times to check on things so often, but I come from that 'Damned if you do, damned if you don't" school of thought. I've had so many experiences when I didn't check on things and then only later realized I should have. Wanting to make sure they haven't lost stuff, and if they have I want to know as soon as I can so it's not a month or two later before I do, you know?

I just don't trust bureaucrats, especially overworked ones

Teddy, I see your medical is Monday. GOOD LUCK!

Thank You, Spurs won today with Paul Robinson scoring so I'm taking that as an omen for the best!

Peace and Love,

Teddy.