This is what hapenned....not really OT, so

[Minya's wife 25]

So I'll tell a little story, I'd love to hear VJ members' opinion is on this subject.

Say you had a good friend, been friends for 7 years now, and as he/she works for one of the major courier companies (i.e. FEDEX, DHL, UPS) you ask her if she could mail your "packet of papers that needs to go to your fiance(e) before his interview" for you. At this point you're not sure of the exact interview date, but you know the consulate in question is not a busy consulate so an interview date could be given any time w/in the next two weeks. Your friend agrees to mail this for you. You go to her house on Sunday, bring the "folder of papers" w/ you, and bring your friend a 6-pack to thank her for doing you this favor. Your friend fills out the shipment "online" you give her your credit card # to charge the price of the shipment, your e-mail address is entered so you can receive notification w/ tracking number and its done. You go home happy that your 'shipment' is in good hands....

Monday rolls around and all day you do not receive e-mail notification that your 'shipment' is on its way, nor do you have a tracking number. Tuesday, you shoot an e-mail to your friend asking her if she'd gotten a chance to print out the shipping label, affix it to the envelope and 'mail' your stuff. She replies asking for your CC# again, because the first attempt "didn't go through". So you give her the # again, and sure enough minutes later the 'shipment notification' e-mail arives in your inbox. So now you have a tracking number.....you're set. In the meantime you get an interview date, two and half weeks from now....so you're doubly happy that your fiancee will definitely get the stuff in more than enough time.

So far so good, yes? Wednesday rolls around, and you try to track your package, but its telling your 'number not found'. Hmm....you're confused, but you say "OK, no biggie, it must not be in the system yet." Thursday morning, you check again and still 'number not found'. #######? How can that be? You shoot your friend another e-mail, can she check it out, what's going on? She replies that upon checking, she realizes that the package was never picked up for shipment, but she's remedied the situation, and on that afternoon (Thursday) your package went out....directly to the airport from whence it will presumably be on the plane to the destination. You breathe a sigh of relief....cool!

Friday morning, you track again....guess what? 'number not found'. Now you call your friend. She says, she does not know what is going on....she mailed your stuff, it is no longer in the "outbox" so it must be on the way...but since she, the company employee is the stated shipper on the mailing label....the company policy is that 'employee mail is not so important, it can wait'. You ask her, "Is it OK for me to call Customer Service, lets see if they can tell me what's going on?" She agrees, saying it is very strange and let's see whats up. So you call Customer Service. They have NO RECORD of your package....no record of any package from the given shipping address to the given destination address. HUH? You are given the direct # to the supervisor of the warehouse where your package would have arrived before going out the airport for shipment. So you call mr. supervisor. He checks, and nothing....there wasn't even a 'pick-up' requested for the given location. You call your friend again, perhaps she can shed some light on the situation.(Important here is the afore mentioned fact that this friend works for the courier service itself....granted in a different division of the company, but still...) Your friend is MIA, does not answer her cell, her work phone or your attempt to contact her via e-mail.

To top it off, you find out that the consulate has moved your interview date up to next friday!!!! Panic sets in, what to do?? As a last resort, you do a "contact us" e-mail on the courier company's website....and you give all the particulars you know about the shipment. You state that the 'documents' in the envelope are "time and identity" sensitive and you would like help ASAP to locate the materials. You call your friend again, she's not picking up, but you leave her a message....trying to sound calm, but asking her to please investigate, because you are afraid that your package is really lost somewhere and you are very worried. Your friend never calls you back.

About an hour later (it is now Friday evening) you get an e-mail from the courier service's Customer Service department, saying that they are sorry for the inconvenience, it was a "handling error" and your package is now in transit...this in no way reflects on the service level the company provides its valued customers. Bingo, now your tracking number "is found" and you are able to track the shipment online....it is in transit to destination.

It is now Saturday afternoon...your friend still has not bothered to call you back.

Opinions, advice?

-P

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

Did you do i this way to save a couple bucks? Next time go right to an office and mail it.

A lesson for all of us.... oh... and never buy or sell a used car from/to a friend.

[Tinker 0]

NEVER depend on someone else to do something that important. It's putting them on the line.

She's probably not answering because she's assuming you think it's her fault, if it is or isn't you don't know *sigh*

Leave a message for her tell her SH*t happens and it is on it's way and everything is fine now. If you want to keep her as a friend.

Just my two cent's worth

[trueimage 0]

Sounds like your friend is not your friend. Sorry you went through that, but glad you got it taken care of. I hope your package makes it there in time. Good luck with the interview!

[Mags 112]

Did you do i this way to save a couple bucks? Next time go right to an office and mail it.

A lesson for all of us.... oh... and never buy or sell a used car from/to a friend.

Yup, I agree. Never buy anything off of a friend. If it goes wrong you either don't feel able to bring up the issue properly, or it ruins your friendship as there will antagonism there.

On the actual subject matter though, I'd give her the benefit of the doubt. You got the original email saying it was in the system, what happened to it afterwards may not have had anything to do with your friend. Let it go. It's on the way now and anything you do to argue the point with her will destroy your friendship.

Leave her a message saying something like "just thought I'd let you know the package is on it's way at last! Thanks for your help!". Or something like that. She may be worried and not know how to approach you, hence not answering your calls.

Good luck!

[Minya's wife 25]

Did you do i this way to save a couple bucks? Next time go right to an office and mail it.

A lesson for all of us.... oh... and never buy or sell a used car from/to a friend.

Not really, I could have mailed the package using my company's 'carrier of choice' at a discount and paid my company back. I thought since my friend works for ____ I would be in safe hands. BTW, my friend 'advertised' initially that she would be able to mail my stuff w/ her company.

But yes, a lesson definitely learned and noted. Relying on friends to things of such importance is not advisable....it can lead to trouble.

[trueimage 0]

Good advice everyone!!!

[Nessa 23]

Sue her and demand your 6-pack reimbursement

[CzechMate 16]

Oh yeah and report your credit card lost or stolen.....

CM

[Jamie76 0]

I agree with some of the other posters. If you want something done right, do it yourself. Never depend on a friend to take care of something critical if you can easily do it yourself.

[Minya's wife 25]

Thanks everyone! Since I can't be sure where the "fault" lies, whether its w/ my friend, or the company she works for, I will let it go and not sweat the small stuff. I'm thankful that my stuff is on its way, and my fiance will have it in time for the interview. I've posted this just as a reminder of how to avoid unnecessary stress along the way.

-P

[Fandango 1,440]

I still can't see the benefit of involving the friend in the first place....

I'd never ever ever EVER involved the friend, but I think you got that already here, lol. Good thing it was found, but you can rest assured your friend won't offer anymore faves

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Did you do i this way to save a couple bucks? Next time go right to an office and mail it.

A lesson for all of us.... oh... and never buy or sell a used car from/to a friend.

Golden advice, right there.

[Lance27 20]

All I can say is that you are really lucky that the package was found and sent on its way. I can't imagine how it would feel that package being lost and the interview date draws nearer. You are lucky you didn't have to reschedule the interview

Good luck for a quick and easy interview.

[Minya's wife 25]

All I can say is that you are really lucky that the package was found and sent on its way. I can't imagine how it would feel that package being lost and the interview date draws nearer. You are lucky you didn't have to reschedule the interview

Good luck for a quick and easy interview.

Thanks to VJ I made copies of everything before giving the packet to my friend to mail. The only things that would have needed re-doing would have been the employment letter, I-134 notarization and the translation certification. On Friday, while I was frantically on the phone w/ the courier company's every representative I could get a hold of, I also quickly re-printed the employement letter and I-134 and quickly gotten the former signed and the latter notarized. I also spoke w/ the certifor of my translation and lined up an appointment to have that re-done....so I was prepared to re-send everything should there be a need.

But the feeling of desperation....during the time that I thought the package was "missing" is not fun. I hope my OP post helps anyone down the line, or serves as a reminder of what not to do.

Thanks for the well wishes for out interview.

-P