Six-month package delivery

Back in early November, I ordered seven books from Quality Paperback Book Club (actually, they go by just QPB now, as quite a few of their titles are hardcover). Since it was a “free shipping” promotion and also getting close to Christmas, I expected a delay of some sort. Two months later, I checked the website to see what the status was, and it said that the books had been shipped - in mid-November. It turns out that QPB used a third-party delivery service of some sort; apparently, they delivered it to my local post office, which was supposed to finish the delivery.

I went to the post office to see if they had it in the back somewhere; they couldn’t find it, but they did come up with a tracking report, which said that they had tried to deliver it (or at least it “was on the truck for delivery”) in mid-November, but it wasn’t delivered for an unexplained reason, and a few weeks later, they tried to send it back.

I contacted QPB to see if the package had been sent back; their customer service types had no idea what I was talking about, and would just say that the package had been delivered. Assuming that it had gotten lost in the mailing system somewhere (did I ever tell you about the time I had a shipment from Amazon take over a year from delivery to receipt?), I re-ordered the books in mid-March, and they arrived without any problem.

On May 5, I got a note in my mailbox - “We attempted to deliver a package for the second time, but couldn’t” (it doesn’t say why they couldn’t), and that I needed to pick it up. I have no idea where the package has been for the last five months, nor why it suddenly showed up again…and yes, I now have two copies of a few books.

I don’t have any useful advice but I can tell you, if it was me, I wouldn’t be doing any more business with QPB.

Seems odd.
Well that will explain why it was hard to send back… delivery paid for across the city,
return address, across the country…

They put it in the “too hard” basket. Or the “wait for someone to come get it” basket …

That’s part of the problem - I did “come and get it” a couple of months later, but they couldn’t find it. I have a feeling that it was sent back to the shipping company’s local office in December, and for whatever reason, they shipped it back to the post office in May. Since the tracking number was already in the system, it was considered a “second attempt.”

What I don’t understand is, why didn’t they just leave it on my front porch? I have had other deliveries - including subsequent ones from QPB - left there without a problem. The delayed one didn’t need a signature I suppose it’s possible that QPB only uses the “third party” service when they promise “free shipping,” so I’ll have to think twice about ordering again during a free shipping sale.