Shipping Delays from Canada to UK

[AwesomeSauceDesigns]

Has anyone experienced delays with shipping to the UK?

I sent something out on September 15th to the UK with Canada Post on International Air, which should have taken 10 business days. I got a message from the buyer today that it still has not arrived.

I do have something in my shop policies that says please allow up to 6 weeks for international delivery. I've never had a problem with shipping internationally yet, but customs could have held it.

How long should I wait? Is this normal? I mentioned to the customer to please wait until it hits six weeks as it may be held by customs and to check with the post office he normally gets deliveries to incase it is there and they haven't notified him.

[Former_Member]

I've noticed that some packages to the UK are taking a little bit longer than usual. The last one was sent on Sept 15th and didn't arrive until Oct 11th .

Sometimes they seem to take forever and other times they arrive in less than a week.

I also just got a note from one of my regular customers in Nigeria and she was quite surprised that her package that was shipped in Mid July has arrived already. It only took 12 weeks this time rather than the usual 16 - 18 weeks.

[cindylouwho2]

Like crochetgal, I have had UK packages arrive in a week, but some have taken over 5 weeks. 10 business days is a joke, IMO.

I haven't had anything take 6 weeks unless it was the holiday season, but anything is possible.

[sockysocks]

I am in the UK and not aware of any delays here. Was the price of the item over £15 ( about $27 CAD)? Anything over that value is subject to import tax and instead of delivering the parcel, Royal Mail mails sends a card telling you to collect the parcel from the local sorting office and also tells you how much tax and handling fee is payable on collection.
This is what the card looks like -
http://www.royalmail.com/personal/help-and-support/Ive-received-a-card-asking-for-a-payment

So if it is going to be subject to a fee and the buyer hasn't received a card yet, it might be worth them popping in to their local sorting office to check if the parcel is waiting for them, just in case the card wasn't delivered.

If the value is less than £15 it should be delivered as quickly as possible, but of course it still has to be checked through customs. (The import vat rate is 20% and the RM handling charge is £8 so they don't let many slip through the net unpaid!).

[DeLaBelle]

I too sent out a package on the exact same day, September 15, to the UK and was just notified today that it hasn't arrived yet! I looked at your shop Corinne and see you are in Vancouver - both of our packages would have been sorted in the same facility as all Vancouver Island mail is sent to Richmond now for this, it makes me wonder if it could be on our end??
The buyer already had spoke to her post office and they have said it may have been returned to the sender.

[AwesomeSauceDesigns]

The value of the order was $96.50 so it would have been stopped by the Royal Mail. I'll ask them to double-check with the sorting office.

[TigersandDragons]

Yes, I read so often in the forums that UK customers say they have not received a notice. It's hard to know how often this is really happening, or if many are shocked about the bill and don't want to pay it, so say they haven't received anything.

Maybe UK customs is backed up and is behind on clearing parcels and the subsequent paperwork?

Thanks for letting me know about the possible delays, so I can inform any future UK customers.