Americans ordering from the UK - ever need an "air waybill"?

[RegularChumpington]

Just thought I'd ask here since I had a new experience today.

I ordered from The Whisky Barrel, who I've had great luck with in the past. Order made it to the US, appears to have fallen victim to the snooping eyes of a Delta Cargo employee. Now my order is missing an "air waybill" number which seems to be required to get further. I've looked on past orders and haven't found any such number.

I suspect this is part of a "free whiskey for me" policy that this person is implementing. I was just curious if any of you had ever had a similar experience or knew how to get such a number? I'm assuming that the lack of this number is sufficient to justify that it also can't be returned to the merchant...

It's all new to me but if anyone has encountered (and importantly, solved) this sort of issue before, I'd welcome any advice.

[whiskytime]

I've never had this problem exactly...but isn't the air waybill a contract between the shipper (The Whisky Barrel) & the airline? So I'm guessing it's actually the seller or whoever shipped it responsibility. They should have a copy of the air waybill to clear this up or refund your money. I would contact them first (The Whisky Barrel).

[RegularChumpington]

I've never had this problem exactly...but isn't the air waybill a contract between the shipper (The Whisky Barrel) & the airline? So I'm guessing it's actually the seller or whoever shipped it responsibility. They should have a copy of the air waybill to clear this up or refund your money. I would contact them first (The Whisky Barrel).

My understanding is something similar to that. I've contacted them but due to the difference between Los Angeles and Edinburgh (and my tendency to wake up late) means I'm waiting until tomorrow to hear back. Hopefully it's easily resolved. Until then I will continue to expect selective enforcement of a "I like free whiskey" policy on behalf of Delta.

Thanks much. It's all new to me.

[mongo]

one of the things i like about ordering from the whisky exchange is that their shipping bills/labels don't say "the whisky exchange" on them.

[badgerbrown]

The airway bill number should be the tracking number for the parcel, which hopefully The Whisky Barrel will have passed on to you. I see they use FedEx. I'm not sure of the format of their tracking numbers but I do know that the airway bill number is the same as the tracking number, so try that.

[RegularChumpington]

So far, so good. TWB replied a couple hours ago (seems like it would be after business hours) and are investigating with their carrier.

They used Parcelforce out of the UK which then switches to USPS when here - it's got the standard international postal tracking # but that is not sufficient for Delta Cargo... we shall see.

Ever hopeful still.

[mongo]

if it's the usual parcelforce/usps thing it's either something that got left off the label (in which case the store should take responsibility) or some delta cargo employee looking for something that isn't there (in which case the store should sort it out). either way, you'd seem to be in the clear. where in the u.s is it?

[RegularChumpington]

It's in the hands of Delta Cargo at JFK in NY. The Whisky Barrel has been great so far. I trust them more than I trust the dude at Delta.

[mongo]

i hope this is ending well.

[sorren]

I hope all works out well for you...

[RegularChumpington]

Still in process. TWB has been great so far; getting the information from Parcelforce seems to bit of a slow process.

Hopefully tomorrow things will move forward and they will be freed up.

[RegularChumpington]

Three way bureaucracy logjam: Parcelforce, Delta Airlines, USPS. I'm about ready to write this one off.

[mongo]

hopefully, not in financial terms.

[BigMac]

So, How did this turn out?

[mongo]

i was just about to post the same question.

[RegularChumpington]

We're late in Act II, in which the Delta employee got sick of waiting on Parcelforce who was waiting on USPS and decided to circumvent policy and just ship the bottle directly to me.

If it's not here this week I'm considering it lost, most likely.

[mongo]

please keep us updated. i may never purchase from the u.k again if this doesn't end well. i'm nervous each time i order and it will only take one terrible story to spook me off for good.

[RegularChumpington]

please keep us updated. i may never purchase from the u.k again if this doesn't end well. i'm nervous each time i order and it will only take one terrible story to spook me off for good.

I've ordered before and I've ordered since - even from The Whisky Barrel (who have been nothing short of phenomenal in helping through this - we're really at the mercy of a trio of big, dumb organizations) - and everything else has gone fine. I'd take this as the inevitable glitch that has to arise over the course of many international transactions.

It has maybe caused me to rethink my maximum for international purchase, but I wouldn't take this as a vote against the practice altogether. (That said, I probably should slow down next year anyway)

[mongo]

am i right in assuming that the whisky barrel is discounting responsibility for whatever this cockup was?

[RegularChumpington]

am i right in assuming that the whisky barrel is discounting responsibility for whatever this cockup was?

Not sure I follow the question. This is almost definitely not their issue. Everything started with the Delta employee who decided something was missing, opened it up and the whole drama begun. No package I've gotten before or since has had this mythical waybill number on it and it's been completely fine.

[mongo]

am i right in assuming that the whisky barrel is discounting responsibility for whatever this cockup was?

Not sure I follow the question. This is almost definitely not their issue. Everything started with the Delta employee who decided something was missing, opened it up and the whole drama begun. No package I've gotten before or since has had this mythical waybill number on it and it's been completely fine.

generally, the shipper has a responsibility for the shipment until it reaches you. if i ordered something from amazon and it shipped originally through ups and then transferred to the usps for delivery (as often happens) and some random usps employee decided to not deliver it, the responsibility would be amazon's: they would either re-ship or refund my purchase. i am not sure what responsibility the whisky barrel takes or disavows for shipments to the u.s.

[RegularChumpington]

generally, the shipper has a responsibility for the shipment until it reaches you. if i ordered something from amazon and it shipped originally through ups and then transferred to the usps for delivery (as often happens) and some random usps employee decided to not deliver it, the responsibility would be amazon's: they would either re-ship or refund my purchase. i am not sure what responsibility the whisky barrel takes or disavows for shipments to the u.s.

Ahh, right. That's what I thought but I wasn't sure - running on low sleep right now. (To be rectified shortly).

Since we haven't reached that point of decision I'm not too concerned. If it gets there, we'll see. For the moment the belief (instilled in me by the Delta employee who started this whole mess) is that the package is on its way so I don't honestly expect it for another couple days. If it doesn't show up this week, then I'll be on to next steps with TWB - who as I've said, have been great in helping on this.

[whiskytime]

And there is always the ability to put a stop on the credit card. But you have to do that properly. First you need to subtract that dollar amount from you cc bill when you pay your monthly bill AND write a letter to the cc co. explaining why & include a copy of receipt if you have. I've had to do this - it takes a month or so but the cc co. took care of arguing w/the co. (happened to be in Germany) & got my account credited - no charge to me.

You should check your cc agreement to follow their steps correctly.

[Malt-Teaser]

Mr. regular,
I have looked into this a little as I work in an airport and directly with freight; an airwaybill is nothing other than a cargo manifest, a list of what the cargo is.
This is generated by your supplier and/or their shipper who create a manifest based upon what you've ordered and what the specific parcel contains. At this stage it doesn't even have to include values, just contents and weight which are the two most important things when it comes to loading aircraft.

I certainly hope your 'people' get themselves sorted out on this.
Malty

[RegularChumpington]

The package arrived today and told the rest of the story... looks like it was damaged pretty badly in initial transit - to the point that I would bet it was partially or mostly open.

Fortunately, there was enough packaging material that everything survived without damage. The box was more or less shipped in a cocoon of tape so I practically needed a machete to cut through.

All's well that ends well!