Paphos Life

I had an important tracked letter sent from the UK on the 03 January on a supposed 3-5 working day lead time. When I finally found a Royal Mail human yesterday he advised that it had definitely left the UK and was being sent via Larnaca Airport. It has not been receipted there and he advised that they had been experiencing problems through that airport.

I was then just at the main Paphos post office and a gentleman was asking what had happened to the "Christmas post". With a shrug of the shoulders he was told it's at Larnaca Airport. He mentioned he'd had packages sent in late November that haven't yet arrived.

Anybody else having similar problems or knows anything more?

I was told to wait 20 working days and then claim it as lost if it hadn't arrived. I don't want to do that if it will eventually arrive. Particularly if I get the letter resent resulting in it just being further back in the queue on similar timelines.

I am still awaiting an Amazon DE Parcel that was sent to Polemi via DHL on the 29th November. On the track and trace page the last entry is 30th November when the parcel was sent Abroad from Frankfurt .
The post office here say it has not arrived.

Thanks for sharing Trev. That sounds like a similar story to my experience. Parcel leaves international country and doesn't show as arriving in Cyprus.

Message from the Cyprus post office .

“Arrival in Cyprus of delayed postal dispatches
14/01/2019

We would like to inform you that a large number of delayed postal dispatches has arrived, originating mainly from Germany as well as other European countries. The staff of Cyprus Post is doing their utmost to handle the large volume of items. We ask for your understanding as this will take a few days.

In order to locate an item of interest which bears a tracking number, please use the Track & Trace system on our website, which is the only reliable source of tracking information or the PROmitheas Proactive Track & Trace. As soon as an item is received, it will be shown on the track & trace system.

We assure you that we are doing everything humanly possible so that you can collect your items the soonest.”

Thanks Mrblobby. If they've just arrived with Cyprus Post I wonder where they've been for days/weeks? Customs is the only thing I can think of but I haven't read about any strikes or other problems...

It is the same every year. Still waiting for Christmas cards.

Yes I have had the same problem. An important letter on the plane at UK end at 18 Dec but no arrival entry on tracking system at Larnaca until 30 Dec. Very quick update to say it is despatched to Paphos but no entry of ever arriving at Paphos or of being returned from Paphos. Next entry was that it was returned to UK from Larnaca on 14 Jan. If only the tracking system accurately recorded what was happening then something could have been done. The provided recipient contact number wasn't used to resolve any problem.
Derek

Maybe I am cynical, but my previous experience of track and trace letters or parcels is that they take much longer to arrive than if you saved the money and sent them by ordinary air mail. For example I sent 3 small packets from the UK to Paphos on the 4 and 5 Jan, by ordinary airmail. All three had arrived in my mail box at the PO in Ktima Paphos by the 14 Jan. In the past I tried using track and trace and each time the trace ended at Larnaca Airport. It seems to take at least 6 days for these items to appear in Paphos. Same scenario often with Reg mail. I enquired why the long time lag in delivery times and was told that on arrival recorded and reg items are in another queue to get recorded on someones computer. So much for the computer speeding things up!
I also suspect that if anyone with dishonest tendencies has access to the mail which has just arrived he would be more likely to pick up reg or recorded items for his closer inspection. This in fact happened a couple of years ago when an employees home was searched and was found to be full of mail bags...
On that occasion I eventually had the missing cheque book which was sent to me by my UK bank delivered to me some 9 months after it had been posted from the UK. By which time I had of course cancelled it...
Dee

Kili01 - some good food for thought in there. I'm wondering whether to cancel what's in the letter and get a resend. If I do that and it turns up then...

Did your tracking actually show as Larnaca Airport in the past? Right now mine stops on the UK side at 'London AMU'.

Have had several track and trace packages in the past, and they have always resided in Larnaca for several days before being forwarded to me in Tremithousa, or carrier. Nothing to do with the current holdup I know, but an indication that all is not well in Larnaca I don't think.

Another one , they tried to deliver but no one was in so they put a note through ....I wonder at who’s house ?

Actually , it is probably at my local post office in Tala , she does this regularly , does not put a note through our box . You can go in and ask and if you are lucky they will find the package . Very disorganised , packages all over the place .

I went into the Tala Post Office yesterday thinking I might be able to post there. Obviously a bad assumption... It did look like semi-organised chaos at the time.

A package was sent from China to me, it took 5 days from China.
And 28 days from Larnaca to Paphos.
Lunch break any one!

The plot thickens. Today I've received a 'notice of arrival letter' (still no update on the track and trace system) dated 10 January 2019. They're telling me to go to the Paphos City Centre Post Office - Nikodimou Mylona 25. Does that sound right as I think I've driven past there and not seen a post office? I thought the main post office was the one near the hospital which is called the Paphos District Post Office and is the one Dom has in the directory.

For anybody else waiting I've now just picked up my tracked letter. So from sending to receipt was 14 days. Not sure why I bothered with getting it tracked as that is still showing it as having just left the UK. LOL...

I sent a complaint Email yesterday to Paphos Postal department with the tracking number from 29th of November. Despite tracking showing the small parcel had left Germany the reply to my complaint was..
" Please be informed that the said item has not been received by Cyprus Post. " Grrrr.. So now i will just consider it 'lost'..

At last we have collected our Christmas card from UK. Along with a couple of other letters.