Story time~~ Grab a chair and let me start at the beginning
Waaaaay back in March, a pony I had been wanting appeared on ebay. She was a white Venezuelan Cherries Jubilee with light pink hair still in her box. She was an auction-style listing that started cheap, and the seller was friendly. The day she ended, I even timed my break at work so that I could watch the end of the auction, and I won!
I was so excited that I’d actually be getting one of my favorite Venezuelan ponies! I sent payment right away and went off back to work completely thrilled.
Cherries was marked as shipped not too long afterwards, and the seller gave me a tracking number to follow. I was told that once Cherries entered the US, information would appear on it.
Days ticked by, then weeks. Nothing had appeared on the tracking number and no pony at my door. As my 45 day window with paypal was coming to a close, I messaged the seller saying that I still had not received Cherries, and that shortly I would have to open up a claim to protect myself if she didn’t arrive (she wasn’t exactly cheap!). If the pony did end up arriving after I opened the claim, I would close it and resend any refunded payment. The seller was very understanding, and explained that they did not send Cherries by FedEx, as they had a habit of opening up the ponies, and opted for the slower EMS instead because the packages were sealed right in front of the post office workers.
The paypal deadline passed, and still no Cherries. The seller graciously refunded my money, and kept checking at their post office for any news. They told me that there had been some delays in Colombia, and that things should be moving along shortly since there had been many complaints. I was still hopeful that Cherries would show up at my door, and kept checking the tracking number.
More days passed. Then weeks.
Finally, on May 23rd, my Cherries was in the US!
She had arrived in Miami, Florida and was finally going to be home soon!
I anxiously stalked the tracking number.
On May 24th she cleared customs, but was ‘undeliverable as addressed’!
The next day she was declared ‘dead mail’ and ‘Disposed by Post Office’.
I wanted to cry. Had the post office really thrown away my pony?
It made me sick to think she could be just sitting in some garbage can or dumpster. I looked up the phrase that the tracking number had given me, and learned that this did not necessarily mean that she was thrown away... yet. There’s a place in the US called the Mail Recovery Center, where all ‘undeliverable’ mail is sent and sorted through. If something is under $25 in value, it’s tossed. If it’s over $25, they keep it around for 3 months, and if it’s unclaimed, it’s auctioned off. I didn’t know if they would deem a plastic toy horse as being worth over $25 (I didn’t know if the label was even still on the box!), so I was still freaked out.
After a trip to my local post office, they put me in touch with the International Mail Center. The rep was friendly, and sent me some forms to fill out (basically what was in the package, the seller’s contact info and my contact info). The seller told me the information I needed for the forms, including pictures of what Cherries looked like, and I got them send off to the Mail Recovery Center with a hint of renewed hope.
More days passed. Then weeks again. No calls from the MRC. No calls from my post office. No Cherries.
My mom ended up calling and requesting more of those same forms. At this point I was beginning to give up entirely but decided we might as well send them more. My mom warned me that the rep she talked to ‘didn’t sound very optimistic’. It was mid-July at this point.
Today, July 25th, exactly 2 months since my poor Cherries was declared ‘dead mail’, I got a call from a restricted number while at work. I had no idea who would be calling, and couldn’t listen to my voice mail until later. I easily forgot about it until I got home about an hour later. It turns out that it was my local post office! They had an EMS package for me!
Could it really be true? Could my Cherries have finally made her way home?? I called them back immediately and said I’d be in to pick it up in a few minutes. I freaked out my cats by how hyper I was, and likely confused my neighbor who saw me literally run outside to my car. I managed not to get a speeding ticket on short drive to my post office. I could see a large battered box behind the counter with foreign labels on it, and could barely wait my turn in line to get my hands on it. After expressing how happy I was to the clerk and hugging that box all the way back to my car, I raced back home.
Of course, I took pictures
Here’s the box~ It’s definitely seen better days
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Was CHERRIES!!!
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My beautiful Cherries!!
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loginAnd thus concludes the long, roller-coaster story of how my Cherries Jubilee came home
Oh and since it’s way past the date on when I can leave feedback for the seller, Mitchell-mugno, I figured I’d say something here
They have been completely amazing during this whole mess and they deserve praise. Friendly, professional, informative and patient, definitely one of the best sellers I’ve had the pleasure of working with.
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