Given the wealth of knowledge here (ok, a lot of it useless, but some gems…), I was wondering if anyone could help me out.

I bought something from the Czech Republic as a present for my girlfriend and asked for tracking. It was duly sent with a Czech Post tracking number that showed it being handed over to the destination country postal service. That was 9 days ago and my letter box has not seen so much as a ‘while you were out’ card.

Is there a way of searching/asking Royal Mail WTF is going on and where it is? Is it just possible that it’s taking such a long time because someone is walking it from Dover to my house?

IME most imported packages come via Parcelforce – you could try putting the Czech tracking details into the Parcelforce tracker and see if it recognizes it?  Also look on the Czech tracking system to see if it gives you a consignment code with a ‘GB’ ending and use that?  Sometimes it takes a few days to clear the Parcelforce system and then it gets sent to your local depot.

Cheers dovebiker.

Turns out that ParcelForce does not recognise it, but Royal Mail does. They correctly identify that it’s coming from the Czech republic and is international signed, but the error message is Mr. Helpful…

The system is currently unable to confirm the status of your item with reference <reference>. Please try again later.

Joy. I just hope they have not left it in a bin.

I sent quite a lot of post abroad from the UK and find there can be radio silence for a couple of weeks once it arrives in the destination country. I guess it’s the same for incoming items.

The Royal Mail message is the standard ‘holding pattern’ message for anything that’s waiting to be processed i.e. waiting for someone from RM to scan-in and clear, making sure its nothing naughty. Fortunately it’s not Yodel, so chances are it’ll turn up with your postie in a few days looking for a signature, rather than being left in your bin.