An Post apology after Offaly package went to America instead of Portugal

TULLAMORE man Richard May unintentionally paid An Post €45 to deliver a package – to himself!

Mr May has received an apology from An Post after Christmas gifts intended for his son in Portugal somehow ended up in the United States before arriving back on his own doorstep in Killiskea with his local postman last week.

The sorry saga began on December 2 when Mr May, a former staff photographer with the Tullamore Tribune, went into the post office in Tullamore with a package containing some toys, sweets and mince pies destined for his son and daughter-in-law who live near Porto, Portugal.

His son Andrew's address was clearly printed in large black type on the package, and Richard May's home address as the sender was also clearly printed.

The package was weighed and stamped in the normal matter by the woman at the counter. “She said it would take four to five days and I know myself from previous experience that it usually takes six or seven,” he explained.

By using the tracking number he was able to check the progress of the package but by December 19 it had not been received.

“I sent an email to customer services in An Post as the receipt said to do and I did not receive a reply.”

The package with the Christmas gifts had not arrived by Christmas, nor had it arrived by the new year.

Mr May called in to the parcels office in Burlington Business Park in Tullamore and was told by one of the staff there that the package had probably made it as far as the Portlaoise Mail Centre.

He filed a complaint online but learned that he might not receive a response for up to 60 days.

“On the 28th of January the postman delivered it back to me,” said Mr May.

“It had eventually gone to the United States and the United States returned it as an 'insufficient delivery address'.”

The complete tracking record for the package details its movements from the exact time it was handed to An Post in Tullamore – 2.30pm on December 2.

It was sorted locally at 5.45pm the same evening and was again sorted in the Athlone Mail Centre at 10.58am on December 4.

The tracking record then attributes the following to the Portlaoise Mail Centre at 5.19pm on December 6: “We have your item and will process it for delivery”.

Three minutes later the tracker has the note: “Your delivery has been sorted”.

There is then a gap until December 10 at 12.10am when a note at Portlaoise Mail Centre said: “Your item is being sent internationally. We will aim to show tracking information from the receiving post, but would recommend tracking the item further on their site.”

There was then a much longer gap until three further notes appeared on the tracking record at 8.45am on January 18 last.

The first read: “We tried to deliver your item UNITED STATES Reason: The address was incomplete.”

The next one said: “Your item is leaving a sorting office for delivery in IRELAND”.

And the third note, again marked UNITED STATES, said: “Your item is being sorted by the receiving post”.

The tracker revealed that the package arrived at Park West, Dublin 12 on January 27, was sorted in Athlone on January 28 at 1.33am and was back in the sorting office in Tullamore at 7.46am before arriving at Mr May's home in the afternoon.

“We are returning your item to the sender” the note on the tracking record at 7.46am said. The letters RTS, which Mr May says must stand for “return to sender” are clearly written on the package with an arrow pointing to the sender's home address.

“Just as well I had my address on it even though our local postman would know anyway,” said Mr May.

Having had no reply to his online complaint and two emails about the matter Mr May decided to write to the relevant person in management – by ordinary post.

“I wrote to Garrett Bridgeman, the head of letters and parcels with An Post and asked for his opinion on the matter. I said I'd give him a week or 10 days to reply. I sent him a very polite letter,” he said.

“I am aggrieved that two emails weren't acknowledged and while I don't expect an instant solution I do expect an acknowledgement. The least I will accept is that they give me my €45 back.”

Mr May added that he had no complaints at all about the staff he spoke to in Tullamore: “The people I dealt with on the ground in Tullamore were very pleasant and very obliging.”

He also pointed out that a package coming the other direction from his son arrived from Portugal within four or five days: “They posted it from the post office. It's just down the road from where they live.”

Yesterday (February 5) Mr May received an apology from An Post by email. It confirmed the package had been sent to the United States and gave an undertaking that a refund would be processed as soon as possible.

The email from a team leader at An Post headquarters in Dublin said: “Firstly, I sincerely apologise for the misdirection of your parcel, which was mistakenly sent to the USA instead of Portugal and subsequently returned to you. This falls short of our service standards, and I understand the frustration this may have caused especially in and around the Christmas period.”

The email added: “Secondly, I have escalated the matter to our admin team, who will now finalise the case and process your refund asap.

“Once again I am very sorry about the inconvenience this may have caused.”

Mr May told the Tullamore Tribune he was still “perplexed” as to why a package which should have arrived in Portugal after about five days instead ended up in the United States, via Portlaoise, before being sent back to him.

“There is still no explanation,” he remarked.

A spokesperson for An Post repeated the apology this morning (Thursday, February 6) and said they would attempt to find out what happened.

“What a tale of woe and a dreadful experience for Richard. Also, dreadful that we did not reply to his letter or emails and for that please accept our fullest apologies,” the spokesperson said.

“What happened here is clearly a miss sort of some kind. This is very rare indeed and we accept that will be of little consolation to this customer. We will endeavour to find out exactly what went wrong, and try to repair the damage done, but please accept our fullest apologies.”