jones74

hello all, I thought I should my recent experience of the uk to oz postal service so you can avoid making the same mistake as I.

When I lodged the application for regional sponsored subclass 139 back in May 04 I decided to send it with fedex reputed to be the worlds best courier, the service was impecable, tracked it all the way to the door of currie street within 3 days. It cost around £40 but was worth it for piece of mind.

My case officer had requested additional information and asked us to attend our medicals- great news we thought, nearly there.... well hopefully so.

We had to return the requested documentation by the 27th Oct O4, no problem thought I, sent them off by international signed for on the 28th September 04 and thought nothing more of it.

Anyway like a fool I assumed it had got to its destination, it was only a few days before the deadline when I wondered if it had arrived, I decided to track it, ethe extent of the royal mail tracking for this "signed for" service was "left uk". I contacted auspost, they were helpful but unable to trace the package and are investigating its dissapearance, no news yet!

As a last ditch effort I contacted my case officer by email, apologising for doing so and explaining the situation and sending what I could as file attachments in the email hoping it would suffice. I also asked my sponsor to get the additional docs cetified again and send them next day delivery to my case officer.

My case officer has emailed me to say that she appears to have all neccessary documents now so it's back to the waiting game.

Anyway I can see you all yawning now.. so to cut a long story short(you wish) If your sending any documents use a reputable courier with door to door tracking, a bit more costly but worth it for peace of mind.

Cheers

Chris & sheila -adelaide bound as soon as centrelink pull their fingers out.

gary-o

TELL ME ABOUT IT. I sent my 136 class application(MODL) off in May with 38 countersigned documents (imagine the work that went into getting them sorted) with Royal Mails International Signed For (about a tenner). After 2 weeks i phoned to check it had arrived. After what seemed like half an hour on hold, i too was told it had left the UK but thats where the trail went cold. I had to phone back the next day as the woman at Royal Mail would make some enquiries. What happened next doesn't do the old ringpiece any good.
I was told it had arrived at Sydney airport but from there they don't know what happened to my 40 odd page, 96 question, 38 countersigned documents, photos and my credit card details for $1795. BUT all was not lost because she would send me a claims form !!!!! Like that would make things better. Before that arrived, my application arrived back at my house ( good job i wrote my name and address on the back as advised) unopened and complete. THANK GOD.
I then sent it via TNT, door to door with proof of delivery in 2 days for £27 and it was confirmed arrived in Adelaide on 24/6/04.
And yes i am waiting/hoping for a shout to have our medicals done still !

jones74

Hello Gary

Sorry to hear you had the same nightmare, I am pleased that is seems to have resolved itself, hopefully other will learn from our mistakes.

I see your in Cheshire, we are just along the coast from you in Rhyl, we went to Wrexham for our medicals at the yale bupa hospital, we payed 180 per adult and 60 per child. This covered bloods, xrays and medicals, might be near enough for you. Hope you get your medical request through soon, where are you heading for in ozz?

Cheers

Chris

teach

Hi Gary,
Sorry to hear that you are another victim of "International Signed For". It is cack and not worth the paper it's written on. We had missing items sent by this service, that turned up on our doorstep 83 days after they went missing. We had a full search done, including the Oz postal Service who said that they weren't in the consignment. When I signed for our things I was told that the address was incomplete and that is why they didn't even leave the UK. I can see a bit of a battle happening with the doc our meds are booked with. They send docs by the above mentioned service. Absolutely no way is that going to happen.
Sarah

JAJ

If this is important to you, your options are probably limited to:

1. Offer to pay the doctor to use a courier (but remember that the risk of his secretary getting confused by a non-standard process is not zero).
2. Find another medical provider who does use a courier.

Jermey

Wol

We've had several items of post go missing within Oz; my HSBC PIN was one for example. Just disappeared off the planet.

Over the years we have also almost certainly had redirected post go astray.

Several years ago a parcel UK >> Oz went AWOL. Twelve months later it reappeared on our (UK) doorstep with "unable to deliver" on it! Oh yeah? So why the twelve months?

Lesson is, the Post Offices are not infallible!

teach

Thanks Jeremy, I'm going to use my powers of persuasion, lol. If that doesn't work I'm going to squeam and squeam until I'm sick.
Sarah

fattyandgyps

Seem's to me there must be a lot of lost applications and medicals floating around in outer space that never come back down to earth ... there seem's to be so many story's of documents that go missing, never to be seen again! along with our prospective marriage visa application, medical and xray, Royal mail were investigating it and we were told it would take 5 working days... that was 2 weeks ago and still havent heard anything, and dont expect to hear anything.... paying for new medical and x ray next week and starting the whole bloody process over again

gyps

teach

Oh poor things, at least ours were only cards and photos. Royal Mail even gave us our postage back. I hope you have put in a claim form for the meds and xrays. We were offered compo when we started the search. Good luck.
Sarah

PS sending some karma your way.

gary-o

G'day jones74. We are actually in Macclesfield, so our medicals (if requested ) would be in Manchester. They are a bit cheaper than you paid (£140 for adult) and with a guy called Dr. Million.....i kid you not.
We did a 3 week rekkie last June and "did" Sydney and travelled 700km around Queensland.We will be looking to live within an hours drive of Brisbane.....the Gold Coast is favourite at the moment. Not sure where yet as there are sooooooo many places that would suit us. Just as we find a suburb another comes along in our internet searches.
We were over "your way" last month.....i have an auntie and uncle who live in Prestatyn and we have some friends who sold up in Macc and moved to Beaumaris.
Good look with your medicals !! :scared: