Between 2013 and 2023 I had to say a heartbreaking goodbye to each of my five deeply cherished pet ferrets. All five ferrets were a huge part of my family, and were loved more than I can possibly say.
When my last boy passed away I made the decision to have his ashes, along with the ashes of his four siblings, turned into memorial jewellery, so that they could be with me every day, no matter where I went.
I selected a jeweller in New Zealand, who specialised in memorial jewellery, as I could not find anyone within Australia who offered the style of jewellery I was after, and I thought that sending my babies ashes to New Zealand would be safer than sending them to America, where many of the other jewellers specialising in this medium seemed to be based.
On 14 April 2023, I carefully packaged and express posted my pets ashes to the jeweller in Auckland. I waited anxiously to hear that they had arrived safely, and just under two weeks later they were delivered.
After six weeks the memorial ring was finished, and on 10 June, 2023, the jeweller posted the jewellery, along with the remaining ashes which were not used in the ring, from their local post office in Auckland.
Unfortunately, this is the last point in time where we 100% knew the whereabouts of the parcel containing my pets ashes and memorial jewellery. Whilst a high fee was paid to have the parcel tracked, it has since come to light that the tracking number does not mean that the parcel was individually scanned at each point on its journey.
Instead the parcel is assigned to a larger delivery of multiple parcels going to the same place, and the updates provided are for that larger delivery. If the individual parcel was lost at some point in transit, the tracking of the larger delivery would still indicate that it was on its way.
On 18 June the tracking number indicates that my pets ashes and the memorial ring reached Western Australia, but there were no further updates from this point. New Zealand Post no longer considered the parcel their responsibility at this point, as they believe it has reached Australia.
Australia Post do not consider it their responsibility, as they do not believe it ever entered their network. The Australian Border Force report that the parcel never passed through their department for clearance, and is not anywhere on their premises.
Trying to get help from anyone at Australia Post or New Zealand Post has been near impossible, as neither company would assume any responsibility, and just wanted to blame each other. I submitted countless online enquiries, which were initially all ignored.
I was unable to get anyone to help me on the phone, and all of my Facebook messages to both companies were dismissed. I had to beg for the tiniest bit of compassion from either company, but there was none to be had.
It wasn’t until I directly reached out to the CEO of NZ Post, and the Ombudsman in Australia for Australia Post, that anyone from either postal company actually started communicating with me directly. Even then I had to ask over and over again for assistance, and my questions were often glossed over, with the same meaningless sentiment repeated in every email.
My pleas for further assistance are still being ignored to this day, with neither the NZ Post CEO nor the Obmbudsman responding to my multiple follow up emails. We are now approaching the three month mark of my dear pets' ashes being lost.
Anyone who has lost a pet knows how heartbreaking it is to say goodbye. Grieving is a difficult process, and in this case the actions of Australia Post and NZ Post have extended my grief indefinitely.
I have no idea where my pets ashes are, and this is causing so much heartbreak. I am sharing this story in the hopes that someone, somewhere, might come across the parcel and be able to help bring my babies home.
It is my hope that sharing this story might help bring my babies home, and if not then I hope it will at least hold both postal companies accountable for what they have done.
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Published: September 2023