Frequently Asked Courier Questions

Mark: Hi, it's Mark from Top Local. We're here with Mark Huggan from Phantom Couriers. Vancouver's favourite courier delivery company. We're talking some frequently asked courier questions. How're you doing today Mark?

Mark: Doing excellent, thank you.

Mark: So what happens if my parcel goes missing?

Mark: What? What's those words missing? Never heard it before. Oh wait I remember once, a package went missing and we tracked it down.

Mark: Back in '56 right?

Mark: Yeah, just before I took over Phantom. So, with tracking numbers, nothing really ever goes missing. It goes away and then somebody finds it and we get it back. So everything, it's pretty impossible to lose something unless somebody does something wrong and it hardly ever goes wrong. So tracking numbers are pretty much the fodder of what's going to get it back. And since we proactively track stuff, we really don't take our eyes off it for very long at all. But we'll get it back and there's insurance.

Mark: Yeah, so how long can customs hold my package?

Mark: Oh, depends how honest you are when filling out customs documentation. So if you're straight up, it could be in and out in 24 hours. It's always going to be a minimum, if they touch it, it's 24 hours. It's government. It's a slow process and they do a lot. The longest I've ever seen? Is a long time. It was like three weeks. It just was a lot of mess, mistakes, you know but if you do all the right things it should be 24 hours at the longest.

Mark: So do packages deliver on Saturday?

Mark: Yeah. 100%

Mark: How about Sunday?

Mark: No, 0% You can go pick them up sometimes from a rural area on overnights and stuff like that but mostly Saturday is fine.

Mark: So if I'm a seller, I'm doing e-commerce or something like that, I'm delivering, who's responsible for quote-unquote loss which we've already learned doesn't happen, but it's delayed?

Mark: Well that's going to be us. We're the last mile people right. So we would be responsible for figuring out what went wrong and solving that problem and that's what we do. We find things all the time. It's just like missed connections or some computer errors. Whenever a human gets in the way, little things go wrong and you asked them what did you do and track it down. So we are responsible.

Mark: Can someone get compensation for late delivery? If something really absolutely had to be there and it didn't make it, what happens then?

Mark: Yeah, we always feel bad that it doesn't make it. Ok, so when that happens, it's a judgement call whether we will pay for it or not. You might not see it on your invoice if it's like, oh you know, we screwed up. That's definitely not on the customer all and there's occasion where we'll pay for it 100%. But I don't like to say, like, there's no guarantees. Things go wrong. Tires pop on airplanes, birds you know, windshields crack. Things like that, they happen and that's life. But if it's our fault it's not your problem.

Mark: And what's involved in tracking? Is there something I have to set up if I have a package or is that all just automatically taken care of?

Mark: It's all automatic. Like you're a client, so you get a tracking number whenever you place a call with us. That just transfers right down the line. So it starts here and it goes right to the end. Like some people pass it off and like, oh you need to contact UPS, here's your UPS number. You can just use our number. It's universal through our system and that's it, start and end.

Mark: So there you go. The easy way to look after your package delivery and courier issues in Vancouver. The guys to call are Phantom Couriers, 604-899-5447. They're always hopping, always busy. Sometimes it might take a little longer over like Christmas or Black Friday, is that fair?

Mark: Yeah that's totally fair man. Those are busy times so it's totally bananas.

Mark: Think ahead, you might need to call them a little sooner and get your stuff delivered during those times but other that they're going to get it done. Thanks a lot Mark.

Mark: You bet, talk to you soon.