NATICK, MASS. (WHDH) - Staying in touch with family can be difficult when they live across the country.
Mike O’Brien was having extra trouble connecting with his son in Los Angeles.
“We wanted to communicate with him, and he has no phone,” Mike said.
That’s because his cell phone was broken. Mike bought a new one for his son, went to the post office, and shipped it off to Los Angeles, where he lives.
Mike said, “they put a sticker over the box that had general delivery at the post office, and we thought we were all set.”
He sent the phone priority mail, 2-day shipping, and specified his son would pick it up at the post office.
Ten days went by, “I think it’s definitely, doomed,” Mike said.
He used the tracking number from his receipt and found the package had traveled from Framingham to LA, then back to the East Coast.
“It’s gone across the country, and back, gone to Puerto Rico, it’s been to New Jersey about 4 times,” said Mike.
After a trip to Puerto Rico, Mike contacted his local post office supervisor and asked for help.
Mike said, “I would even ask, almost every day, where does the system think the package is going next, and they said, unfortunately, we don’t have that information in our system.”
After another month the phone was still traveling from place to place.
“From there it just continued to loop around, and nobody could figure out why,” he said.
With no answers from the Post Office, Mike called Solve It 7!
We reached out to the Postal Service and they told us when the package arrived at the LA postal facility, they could not hold it for pick up.
They tried to send the package back to Mike with a new shipping label, but there was a problem.
“They transposed the zip code to a number that does not exist. 45 days later the package was still traveling aimlessly around the country,” Mike said.
After our calls, the Postal Service tracked down the package and re-labeled it so it would get back to Mike’s house.
“So, I opened the door, and low and behold there is the well-traveled package,” Mike said.
Mike re-sent the phone to his son using another service, just in case.
He said,” if we hadn’t gone to Solve It 7, I think it would probably be on its way to another visit to Puerto Rico.”
Got a problem you can’t solve on your own? Send an email to solveit7@whdh.com or give us a call at 617-367-7777.
(Copyright (c) 2020 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
(Copyright (c) 2024 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)