Fury grows over package delays
Frustration is reaching the boiling point among residents of Norway who receive packages from the US. The private firms that took over the job from the local postal service and an earlier contractor are fielding a flood of complaints from angry customers.
Jens Peter Gransaether, for example, has waited 42 days to receive a package that arrived in Norway on November 27. He's paid for postage, local taxes and duty, but the two video films he ordered still haven't arrived at his door as promised.
"It's shocking," said Gransaether, who puts the blame squarely on a glaring lack of cooperation between Nordisk Express AS (GLS), which acts as receiving agent, and Ekspressgods AS, which then is supposed to deliver the package to its intended receiver.
The trouble actually began more than a year ago, when the Norwegian postal service (Posten Norge) lost its contract with the US Postal Service for parcel post. The US Postal Service started using General Cargo, which in turn used Nor-Cargo in Norway. Delays began.
By November, Nor-Cargo was out of the picture and the contract was being handled by General Logistics Systems (GLS), which joined forces with Nordisk Express and Ekspressgods.
Questionable fees
Gransaether says he didn't even get a notice from Nordisk Express that his videos had arrived until December 10, nearly two weeks after they entered the country. He was ordered to pay NOK 284 in duty and taxes, which he says he did immediately.
Still no package arrived. He started calling Nordisk Express, only to be told they allegedly hadn't received his payment. He faxed over a receipt. Finally, he was told, the videos would be delivered before Christmas.
Christmas came and went. Gransaether started inquiring again, only to be told that he now he had to deal with Ekspressgods, which wouldn't agree to deliver the package to Gransaether's work address.
"I was told I could come pick it up myself, but I refuse to do that because I've paid to have it delivered," he said.
Gransaether isn't the only one who's quickly learned that neither of the contract firms handling parcel post from the US can live up their "express" names. Complaints have flooded in, and questions also have been raised as to whether Nordisk Express has the right to claim its alleged tax and duty fees.
One Aftenposten reader noted that he's still waiting for delivery of a package full of Christmas gifts that arrived in Norway December 10. The sender paid around USD 150 to send it, while the receiver also was hit with NOK 189 in duty charges, and still hasn't had the package delivered.
Another noted that Nordisk Express threatens to send packages back to the US if its fees aren't paid within five days.
Complaints piling up
Customers also have complained of poor service, long waits on the telephone and a general lack of responsiveness. Norway's consumer protection agency (Forbrukerraadet) has received several complaints from angry Norwegians who simply want to get their packages.
"The complaints focus on the fee the company is charging to handle something that at the outset should be duty-free," Jon-Andreas Lange, an agency lawyer, told Aftenposten. He said the agency intends to tackle the issue, and also wants to raise all duty-free levels in the hopes of eliminating irritating and seemingly unfair fees.
"Our impression also is that Nordisk Express has had quite a lot of trouble handling packages during the Christmas rush," Lange said.
Arild Toegard, sales and marketing director for Nordisk Express, couldn't explain why Gransaether's package was so delayed. He noted only that Nordisk Express operates under a different framework than the Norwegian postal service did.
Eivind Strangebye, managing director at Ekspressgods, was more forthcoming and apologized for the delays.
"I have full understanding for our customers' frustration," he told Aftenposten. "The system hasn't functioned well enough, and we've asked Nordisk Express to make some changes in the concept."
