Shipping with PhilPost is a Total Nightmare If You’re NOT within Metro Manila

I don’t even know how to begin this blog post. I am still in awe at the incompetence of PhilPost Manila. I bought the Yi 4k+ action camera from its official Yi store at Aliexpress. The camera is not yet available in the Philippines which is why I braved purchasing it online because I soooo wanted to have it badly and wanted it soon. I chose it over GoPro Hero 5 Black because of its 4k@60fps feature which none of the other action cam currently offers.

So I made the purchase last June 8. I read in some feedback that their shipping only took 2 weeks the most, a factor that somewhat encouraged me to dive in and click that Buy Now button. Yes, I usually shop online but only within the Philippines. This is my very first international purchase. My husband usually purchases my lingeries online e.g. Torrid Fashion Store and he never had to deal with what I am currently going through. Well, that’s because his shipment was handled by DHL.

So let me show you the timeline”

As you can see above, the item arrived in the Philippines last June 22. This is the tracker that Aliexpress displays. But once it reached the destination country, the PhilPost tracker displays the details. Here it is below:

Notice that after the item has been cleared by the Bureau of Customs last June 23rd, the PhilPost’s ‘Turnover to Next Office’ status stayed like that for two whole weeks! My parcel has just been sitting there for two whole weeks! Just to be clear here, the parcel has already arrived in the Philippines. Now, if only I live just within Metro Manila, I could have just gone and picked it up. But no, I live in the Visayas area and PhilPost Manila needs to ship my parcel from Luzon to the Visayas region. And they’re not so good at doing that job! So I have been calling them about it and all they could say to me was that they have problems with ‘operation’ and I’m just supposed to accept that! It wasn’t till my husband was screaming behind me with flying legal threats while I was in a phone conversation with Pamela Bermuda, a staff of AMED (AirMail Exchange Department) that they changed the status to Enroute to Delivery Office. They also sent me dispatch particulars through text as proof that the parcel has been shipped by plane.

The next day I was so looking forward to calling Bacolod PhilPost. The excitement was building up; I was going to finally be able to hold my Yi 4k+ at last! When I called Bacolod office, they informed me that the parcel is not yet with them and that it may not even have left Manila office yet! Fuming mad, I dialed the personal mobile phone of Pamela Bermuda who was the one who gave me the dispatch particulars the day before. I used a different number so she wouldn’t know I was the one calling. She picked it up. I tried to keep my cool and just calmly asked where exactly my parcel was. To my complete horror, she said the parcel was offloaded from the plane because of the battery (Lithium) content and that she forwarded it to SMED (Surface Mail Exchange Department), but she does not know when the ship is going to leave Manila. She then gave me another contact person to get information from. She gave me the contact details of Ethyl Mateo. I ended up speaking with Maymay, Ethy Mateo’s assistant. She just basically confirmed that my parcel is still with them and that they have no idea when the next shipment is going to be.

At one point, I informed Pamela Bermuda I was just going to have my friend from Manila pick it up. I was not comfortable having to wait for three more weeks or more as they wait for the container van to fill with more items before they ship it off to Visayas. That’s how long my parcel is going to stay there! That’s just so freaking ridiculous! Ethyl Mateo informed me that the last shipment left on June 23rd. If they had done their job the moment the parcel was cleared from the Customs office, my parcel would have made it to that shipping schedule! But no, they just couldn’t do their job properly!

But here’s more, the only way I can have my friend pick it up from their office is if I mail my physical ID’s along with the authorization letter and have my friend show those to them. They no longer accept scanned identification documents! Hello? I need my ID’s here especially that I will be undergoing hysterectomy next Tuesday so of course that option is not acceptable and we have no choice but wait till that freaking container van fills with more parcel before they can ship it off to Visayas! So while I’m writing this blog post, I still do not have my parcel with me and it is now July 14. It’s been over a month since I made that purchase!