Whoever is at fault, my understanding of how USPS works is now in tatters.
āDeliveredā status now doesnāt mean it was delivered.
New delivery notification that suddenly appeared on Sunday has same USPS tracking number as the original which implies delivery person can readily hold on to items for whatever reason while misleading customers into thinking their packages either got lost or accusing retailer of scamming.
I accept that they may not be shady. But what they are doing, USPS included, is not only far from being transparent but misleading.
Before I got a PO box, the USPS would say my packages were delivered all the time, only for them to actually show up over the next day or two. It was very frustrating. I honestly figured they did it to hit metrics, more than they cared what the customer felt about it.
Yes, Iāve been very happy with USPS until now. Except that it appears to be happening a lot more often and that my mailman may hold-on to chonky packages over the weekend while lying about it to USPS system.
Man. What I hate about this is that thereās an explanation, and not even a complicated one - but getting into it genuinely steps outside the realm of conversations I want to have on this site.
Suffice to say the USPS could use some help at the moment, and that this bizarro customer experience is unfortunately increasingly typical in their current operational state. The most Iāll say is that the unforced errors of this whole thing come from relatively recent policy & equipment changes, themselves coming from a relatively new face at the organization.
I feel like Iāve already said too much, ha - itās a genuinely bonkers situation but also inherently political and contentious so Iād like to avoid all that side of it. Really would. I just mention it to say this weird customer-end stuff with USPS is a.) totally a thing / not a one-off fluke and b.) unfortunately affects this community as a result.
Iāve so far had a grand total of one item go missing in the mail (something I sold on ebay, ouch) - thatās still pretty rare - but stuff arriving late because it went in mystery circles around the country? All the time. This doesnāt stop me from choosing the cheaper USPS option when itās there - but it is something I now factor into my expectations, and I have to recommend folks do the same.
Weird example: If I ever see āby 9pmā on that informed delivery thing? Almost certainly means itās not coming that day. Since I noticed that pattern Iāve felt a lot less led-astray by the site, ha
Im not sure what I can do. Both the USPS ans KFA just look at the tracking info and say itās been delivered. The only people who know it wasnāt actually delivered are me and my carrier.
I guess Iāll see if it shows up in the next week
Same here. Got notification Sunday with same tracking number as my delivered-but-missing package would be delivered (again) Monday. Nope. Just some bills and locker for large package remained empty, like last Friday when it was supposed to be delivered.
Maybe I shouldāve taken photos of the locker boxes in case they use no available locker excuse.
Got a call from USPS inspector today. He sent me a photo of shipping label that showed the same USPS tracking number but wrong address, one near my house. Shipper was an LA address: 20460 Yellow Brick Rd, Walnut, CA. Googling that shipper address turns up a lot scam related posts including Delivered-but-Missing and Receiving Unordered Packages which are, in hindsight, opposite sides of the same coin.
Other notable scams associated with Yellow Brick Rd. () is receiving packages they didnāt order but paid for using their credit cards. I could see how Yellow Brick Road from Oz is a name scammers would enjoy using.
You can find the service request link from the USPS tracking page to check if shipping label was switched or not.
TMI: I did visit the address with my wife but no one was home. I found the owner phone number and managed to talk to her but she only spoke Spanish. She either didnāt understand a thing I said or she never saw the package. And Iām not mentally prepared to torture my mailman yet so I think itās a dead end.
TL;DR - Theyāre offering $100 refund and $50 store credit to make up for a keyboard that I paid nearly $400 for (Class60 + EC kit). And they kindly suggests I go claim $100 insurance USPS offers to all Priority Mail.
I canāt believe KFA fails to understand that theyāre also responsible for failing to deliver their products regardless of who made them.
What a mess, Iād stand my ground for full refund or replacement. Itās 100% on KFA irregardless if they are the designer/manufacturer, or if the problem is on their or the courrierās side! Canāt believe theyāre telling you to file a claim with USPSā¦
Nice, glad to hear you were able to do that! I was gonna suggest a chargeback, but didnāt know the timeline. I donāt blame you after that response either. Iām sure theyād try to go round & round with you if you continued to pursue it further with KFA. Normally I try to give the smaller vendors that serve our community more of a chance than I would with bigger retailers. In this situation though, I wouldāve done the same. Itās borderline ridiculous that was their response to a package that went missing IMHO.
MM Studio made the board and had nothing to do with the package getting stolen in route between KFA and me. Itās amateur hours at KFA.
Timeline:
2023 June - ordered Class60 + EC kit from KFA.
2024 Feb - got USPS tracking
2024 Apr - Delivered status but no package. Investigation reveals someone changed the address on shipping label.
USPS just uses only the tracking barcode until the final leg during which ONLY the address on the label is used. They apparently didnāt compare the address on the label against the routing database record. I wonder if anyone filed CVE on this.
Anyway, AMEX reversed the charge without fuss even though it was 10 months old. Least hassle in situations like this is why I use their cards when I buy relatively expensive goods.
Iām blanking on if this was already mentioned/discussed, but is it possible it shipped directly from MM? Or is it that KFA did not order any extras and needs to find out if itās even possible to get a replacement to you?
Either way, that $150 refund/store credit offer on a $400 board is justā¦ yikes.
There is a reason I donāt order anything from KFA and hate when designers use them as the US Proxy for things. I would rather spend a bit more and get it shipped directly or from a different vendor that I actually trust.
Drama continues. KFA contested my charge reversal so I had to reopen the dispute with evidence.
I have no ground to accuse them of fraud since the package got lost en-route but I also cannot recommend KFA to anyone knowing that they are ready and willing to throw customers with lost package under the bus whenever they feel like it.
) is receiving packages they didnāt order but paid for using their credit cards. I could see how Yellow Brick Road from Oz is a name scammers would enjoy using.
What a mess, Iād stand my ground for full refund or replacement. Itās 100% on KFA irregardless if they are the designer/manufacturer, or if the problem is on their or the courrierās side! Canāt believe theyāre telling you to file a claim with USPSā¦ 
