Today, I received the Loop Pointer I have bought from USA. There was a screw-up in the delivery method, in my opinion, though. My family was not at home to receive the parcel. And when my dad came home at 2.30pm, he found the parcel on the floor, beside the house gate. Yes, thank you so much vPost.

Now, let’s say you are the delivery company, what would you do? There is no one at the delivery address. Do you leave the goods on the outside, giving people a chance of to help themselves before the rightful owner comes back? Or do you, being a responsible company, bring the goods back and call to double check when is the better time to deliver the goods again? Better yet, call the consignee to confirm a good time to deliver the goods before you even send the goods out for delivery!

Like any security conscious citizen, my dad initially thought that the unattended parcel was a bomb! Curiosity got better of him, unfortunately, or fortunate, whichever way you decide to put it. It would be highly amusing to see the bomb squad in my neighbourhood just for this false alarm. Now, if this was to happen, who is to be blame? Surely it is not the consignee or a representative of him!

Right now, my consignment note remains unsigned, to acknowledge the delivery. My contact number is clearly printed on the note, and the delivery man could have just call me on the spot! And whatever signature that is probably scribbled across the copy of the note is highly probable to be a forgery, or a misrepresentation!

To be fair to vPost, I have sent a feedback to highlight this issue. And no, 3 days is too long to provide me with a satisfactory answer. Am I being fair on posting this up on my blog. Certainly not. Neither did they being fair in ensuring my parcel is safe.

My item was delivered on Monday, 28 June 2010, sometime before 2.30pm.

The ambiguity of the time was due to the fact that my dad picked the parcel up that was placed at the gate when he returned home. There was no one home in the morning.

I would like to ask the following questions pertaining to the delivery procedure:

1. Is the delivery man supposed to leave the parcel outside of the residence or at the door of the address indicated when there is no one answering the doorbell?
2. On my consignment note, I noticed that a recipient is required to sign and acknowledge the delivery. It has not being signed at all. Is it required to be signed? If not, then why is it on the consignment note?
3. I would like to know who will be responsible in an event that the parcel being switched with one of a dubious origin during the time the parcel is left unattended. To be honest, my dad had a slight suspicion of the parcel to be an explosive device.
4. Are there any alternate methods of picking up the parcel in the event of non-delivery? I cannot find any options on the website.

Update 1 (29 June 2010, 9:43am)

Daphemaia had kindly post a link to share about others who had a bad experience with vPost. Compared to theirs’, mine seemed mild. Still it is an atrocity. I decided to check Speedpost’s tracking service with my parcel number: VS001053075US. And the status came out to be: With Delivery Courier. The date stamped on the site was: 28/06/2010 10:08.

Now, how can the parcel be with the delivery courier when the parcel is with me? And does vPost/Speedpost/Singpost have not any controls that checks on non-deliveries when parcels are “with the delivery courier” for close to 24 hours? Come on, this is Singapore. How big can the island nation get? No parcel should be with the delivery courier for more than 24 hours. In fact, 12 hours allowance is more than sufficient.

Update 2 (29 June 2010, 10:38am)

This is indeed not funny. As I was typing Update 1 (above), the delivery status was updated to Delivered. Curiously, the date and time (9:27) of the delivery is before the time I accessed the Track & Trace function (9:40). I suspect that the update is done by someone behind the computer just simply update the date and time delivered to suit their needs. This should not be the case. And no, I have yet to receive any SMS or calls or emails from Speedpost or the delivery man.