I placed my order on December 5, 2013. You guys didnt get around to shipping it until 1/08/2014 (a month!!)
Been more than a month that it is in Bag Out status and I have NO idea where it is. I opened several tickets and posted on BTC Talk and got nothing.
https://openrigs.com/index.php?route=account/order/info&order_id=885http://sms.postoffice.co.za/tracking/parcel.aspx?id=CN028932072ZA bag out
https://tools.usps.com/go/TrackConfirmAction.action?tRef=fullpage&tLc=1&tLabels=CN028932072ZA Waiting for Origin Post
http://globaltracktrace.ptc.post/gtt.web/ - On Route but nothing since 1/14
Edit: I sincerely wish I was fully aware and made to click like "20" times that placing an order on 12/5/2013 using the cheapest shipping method would result in a delivery by sometime in April of 2014 (I'm guessing). I would much prefer that this was NOT an option and be FORCED to use something that has full tracking from South Africa to United States. I order from China almost all the time various parts and accessories and I almost always get stuff within two weeks. This includes even heavy weight items (20 pounds in once case). They never use the slow boat options due to all the complaints.
If there is one take away from all the "trolling" and "flamebait" that openrigs should have is that their website should be updated to force consumers to only use options that are reasonable. Don't just take the money and then go "oops" three months later!!
I'll try speak to each of the points you've raised, if I may:
December 5th to Jan 8th is 20 working days. That is well within the timelines that are in our delivery and returns policy, miraculous even considering that customs were overloaded when they processed your order. They have less load now (supposedly) and have unprocessed parcels for us that they've had for weeks;)
The duplicate tickets were closed without responding, but the main ticket you submitted was responded to as far as I can see? Please let me know if you did not receive that response.
We have considered removing the surface mail option, but there are genuine use-cases where customers want shipping *that* cheap and don't mind the wait. It's always hard to strike a balance between providing the options for convenience, and enforcing a route that would cause them the least frustration. I can guarantee that if we remove the surface mail parcel we'll have customers complaining about how they don't mind waiting and isn't there a cheaper option:) The vast majority of surface mail customers choose the option realising full well what it means (because it has the transit timelines displayed during the checkout and on the delivery and returns policy that they have to read and agree to complete checkout), and they receive their parcel within those transit times. And, too, there is the distinct possibility that a parcel goes missing - that happens even with couriers like UPS who leave parcels at the door and consider that delivered.
I do think that there are more vessels going from China to the US (and it's significantly closer to get from China to the west coast), so I would expect shipments from there to arrive faster.
We are also seeing a number of deliveries to the US that aren't tracking on USPS' website, you may want to phone your local branch and see if they can track it any further for you. Sometimes parcels get a local tracking number, so scanning on the international one doesn't work. That having been said, we're still within the expected transit time period for surface mail, so it is possible it hasn't arrived.
Please let me know directly once you've spoken to USPS, either via email (listed at the beginning of this topic) or via PM, and we can take it from there:)