I gotta rant here. I find Indian postal service to be heavy handed and highly bureaucratic. Earlier I only used to make online purchases from seller in India, not having a a credit card or an International usage enable debit card from websites like ebay India or Indian websites like Snapdeal, Myntra and Jabong. I also lived in a country where PayPal usage is also allowed for transferring money to and fro (currently India only allows you to receive money, which automatically is withdrawn towards your bank account) which makes it a pain in the ass when making payments. I only got my credit card in February and have made good usage of it.
I’ve been buying a few Star Trek ship models which are all from sellers abroad and hence I need to make them payments in dollars or pounds and it is done by the credit card via PayPal. Now this is fine, although there is a charge for doing so, which I don’t understand, but it’s like Rs.64 and I am not complaining. My complaint is on the Indian postal service & customs department, which only seems to be affecting packages from Hong Kong for some reason. I have made 3 purchases from Hong Kong, 3 from the US (all from one seller) and 1 from Germany. The second purchase from Hong Kong had 3 ships in it. The 2 packages from the US and the one from Germany, I received in10 days – 10 from the date that the seller ships it, which is usually the same day I make the transaction or the very next day.
10 days from the USA or Germany is totally fine and reasonable. But from Hong Kong – it takes so long. The seller ships it on the same day or the next and it reaches India in 3 – 5 days! Then it goes to the Customs office nearest me, which is about 25 minutes away, and it just sits there. Take this purchase for example; I made the purchase on the 14th of April, seller ships it to Hong Kong post on the 15th, it goes on a plane on the 17th and reached India on the 18th of April. It goes to the Customs office on the same day, in Cochin, and it just sits there! It is the 4th of May today and I still haven’t received it. This is ridiculous! The German seller used his IPS (Indian Postal Service) equivalent Deutsche Post and it reached me in 10 days. The US seller sends the packages via USPS and reaches me in 10 days. Hong Kong is closer to me than the US or Germany – and still!
Ugh, rant over!