United States Postal Service

[2boys]

What is the name of your state? Ohio

Hi, I'm not sure if I'm posting my problem in the right area, but here goes: My brother moved in with me at the beginning of September to stay for a couple of months. Him and his wife were planning to move to California but needed to get thing sorted financially and added to the fact that their lease was up and they didn't want to sign another year lease on their apartment. Anyway, when he moved in with me, he had his mail forwarded to my house. Fine, no problems.
Well he left October 27th and had gone in to have his mail forwarded a few days before to his new California address. He filled out the form correctly, it was an Individual Request, meaning only his mail to be forwaded but all other mail at that location was to remain the same. They have his form on file and it shows him having filled it correctly.
Well anyway I noticed in the week of October 30th that my mail was not coming in like it usually does, by the end of the week, I was getting no mail at all.
In the mean time (I'm a single mother of 2) I was desperately waiting for a child support check that my family and I really needed and I had unfortunately overdrawn in my bank by $23. I had gone onto the child support website to check that the money had been paid and it showed paid on 11/02/06. So I figured I just had to be patient.
Well by the next week, still nothing, so on Thursday(11/09/06) I called child support and they said, there is no way in hell that check shouldn't have gotten to me by then because they had put it in the mail on 11/03/06. I went to my local post office and they said they didn't know either because there was no forward on file for me, only my brother. Lo and behold when I followed up on the morning of 11/10/06, some mail was finally delivered and it had a forwading sticker on it. But the kicker was that the forwarding label stated, "RETURN TO SENDER - NO FORWARD ON FILE - UNABLE TO FORWARD - RETURN TO SENDER" and it was dated 11/08/06.
I was told that someone by mistake had assumed that I was supposed to have my mail forwarded too but there was no address on file so my mail was just wandering around in the postal service.
It is now 11/13/06 and I have incurred the most hideous bank charges for that measly $23 I overdrew, my family and I had no money throughtout the week, I ended up borrowing money from people, but my main concern are the bank charges that I could have easily covered, had this mess not occurred with the Post Office.
I have filed a complaint and I am now waiting for someone to get back to me, "within 1 business day" .

I'm sorry this is so long but I needed to lay out the time line. Am I able to sue the Post Office for the amount of my bank charges? At the moment if I got the child support check today, it would all disappear into paying the bank charges leaving me nothing.
I thank you for your assistance with this matter.

 

[moburkes]

No. Until that child support is in your hands, you should NOT count it as "money in the bank". Sure, the post office made a mistake, and sure, you can ASK for reimbursement, but you made a mistake as well. If you hadn't made the mistake, their mistake would not have caused those fees. Lesson learned.

 

[2boys]

No. Until that child support is in your hands, you should NOT count it as "money in the bank". Sure, the post office made a mistake, and sure, you can ASK for reimbursement, but you made a mistake as well. If you hadn't made the mistake, their mistake would not have caused those fees. Lesson learned.

Ok fine, but this does not only involve that child support check. Yes that was my main concern but I also receive mail from overseas that I will have no way of knowing if it reached american shores or not, bills, and other pieces of first class mail that are very important to me are also of a concern.
So basically they bear no responsibility at all for what happened where the forwarding of the mail is concerned even though the customer had not requested their mail to be forwarded?

 

[moburkes]

They made a mistake. Address it when you talk to them.

 

[2boys]

They made a mistake. Address it when you talk to them.

I already have. They don't seem too concerned and continue to shrug their shoulders and basically imply that if I turn twice on Sunday to the left and click my heels maybe I'll get my mail.

 

[moburkes]

Go to your local office. Explain what is happening. Ask what you can do to rectify the situation.

 

[2boys]

Go to your local office. Explain what is happening. Ask what you can do to rectify the situation.

Been there. You mean what 'they ' can do to rectify the situation.
I've been to my local post office twice already, spoken to 2 supervisors, 1 fill-in carrier, 1 very rude customer rep on the 800 number, been told 'it won't happen again but no we don't know where your mail is.'

Am I being overly demanding in wanting my mail?

 

[fairisfair]

okay, I worked at the post office part time for a couple of years, as a remote encoder. Part of my job was to process those nasty little forms for forwarding mail. They are done at a REMOTE location, in other words, I was in Phoenix, coding mail for New York and about 25 other states. No way, does your local post office have his form on file and can look at it and be sure that it was completed correctly. They may be able to look to see that there is a form forwarding on file, but the actual forwarding orders are being added to the letter at some remote location. And most likely being done by a machine, as over 80% of todays mail is never even looked at by a human until it is stuck into your mailbox by your carrier. The postal encoders who are coding your forwarding orders are held to VERY strict quotas regarding accuracy and speed. The operators processing that mail are 99% accurate and are constantly tested on their accuracy. I find it much more likely that your brother made the error than one of them. Call your Child Support Enforcement department and ask to sign up for direct deposit.

 

[moburkes]

I thought about that, too, that brother accidentally did NOT check individual.

 

[2boys]

I thought about that, too, that brother accidentally did NOT check individual.

oh my god.
The first thing the supervisor wanted to check was whether or not my brother had filled out the form correctly. She brought back the computer print out that clearly shows '1P", INDIVIDUAL and she already told me she was puzzled because it was filled out correctly and that my mail should have been left alone and never should have been forwarded.
It is alos brought to light that even if my brother had filled it out incorrectly there would have been a forwarding address on file to CA. There is no forwarding address on file for me.
My brother is getting HIS mail, just fine. I am not, and it is NOT being forwarded to CA either.

 

[2boys]

okay, I worked at the post office part time for a couple of years, as a remote encoder. Part of my job was to process those nasty little forms for forwarding mail. They are done at a REMOTE location, in other words, I was in Phoenix, coding mail for New York and about 25 other states. No way, does your local post office have his form on file and can look at it and be sure that it was completed correctly. They may be able to look to see that there is a form forwarding on file, but the actual forwarding orders are being added to the letter at some remote location. And most likely being done by a machine, as over 80% of todays mail is never even looked at by a human until it is stuck into your mailbox by your carrier. The postal encoders who are coding your forwarding orders are held to VERY strict quotas regarding accuracy and speed. The operators processing that mail are 99% accurate and are constantly tested on their accuracy. I find it much more likely that your brother made the error than one of them. Call your Child Support Enforcement department and ask to sign up for direct deposit.

already done and by the way, the direct deposit was put into place before this fiasco. It takes 3 weeks, but thanks.

That's fine the computer print out she showed me and her words are all I can go by, so if the supervisor chooses to give me the customer the wrong information, then so be it, but that information is what I will stand by. The supervisor showed the computer print out because her first thought was that he had fille dit out incorrectly, she came back with the print out and said it was correct for him but there was nothing on file for me.

 

[2boys]

Update:

CS check came. no forwading label, but someone had "signed" it? it had an "AZ" written on it and then scratched out.

oh well. Thanx to everyone for their help through my time of rfrustration.

 

[fairisfair]

Update:

CS check came. no forwading label, but someone had "signed" it? it had an "AZ" written on it and then scratched out.

oh well. Thanx to everyone for their help through my time of rfrustration.

good for you. After all, getting the check was the most important thing!!

Just curious though, what do you mean someone had "signed it" ? signed what , the envelope??? If so, then that was done by your carrier. They will mark the mail that is being forwarded on their route so that it goes to the encoders, however, if the order does not include that particular person, then the encoder will reject it and send it back to the original address. Probably the carrier never realized that the order was only for one person, and not the entire family. That is why it was never actually forwarded anywhere.

 

[2boys]

good for you. After all, getting the check was the most important thing!!

Just curious though, what do you mean someone had "signed it" ? signed what , the envelope??? If so, then that was done by your carrier. They will mark the mail that is being forwarded on their route so that it goes to the encoders, however, if the order does not include that particular person, then the encoder will reject it and send it back to the original address. Probably the carrier never realized that the order was only for one person, and not the entire family. That is why it was never actually forwarded anywhere.

yes thank you, I was very relieved.

Yeah the envelope was signed. It looked like it was signed 'AZ'.
oh ok, your explanation sounds like what might have happened.