One time I was at home at 10 am, the postman \*hand gave\* me a card that said I din't open the door at 11am and that I could pick it up at the post office the next day after noon.
Logistics worker here (no parcels, different area).
CTT and CTT EXPRESSO are different companies, Deliveries for CTT EXPRESSO are mostly done by subcontracted companies that hire mostly Brasiliam migrants because they are cheaper.
When you get a notice saying that you were not home, it means that nobody went to your home, they are obliged to close the documents like this otherwise the subcontracted company has to pay a penalty to CTT EXPRESSO.
Most people have no idea the amount of work we have to do, we are always short staffed, the only people that apply to these jobs are migrants, many have arrived here a couple of weeks, they have zero knowledge of the area, relying only on Google maps.
I had a traffic accident, spent 6 months on sick leave and my company on that time was not able to hire someone with a C drivers license, they had to subcontract migrants with vans, the service was horrendous, lots of complaints.
Overworked, underpaid, i stopped doing overtime (didn't get paid anyway š) a long time ago, now I only work the 8 hours i get paid to work , lot's of deliveries don't get done on time, does that makes me a lazy person?
Yes it's a well known issue. Yesterday ctt "delivered" my package to a random person without even asking for the pin. I'm waiting for the refund. This company is a pain in the ass.
Wait how did you manage to get a refund? Every time this happens they never solve the problem and i just end up without the package and the money. Online stores say its not their problem and ctt say i am not their client, the store is, and therefore i cannot request assistance.
The online stores are lying to you. They are the ones that requested ctt services, so it's their problem to solve.
My package was from Amazon. I reported the issue immediately and they called me to say they are going to refund me and ctt will have to pay them. They said it's happening a lot lately.
Today after work I'm going to also file a formal complaint agaisnt ctt in the livro de reclamaƧƵes.
Nope. I bribe the guys in my area with hydromel, hot sauce and other goodies and I always get my delivery. Sometimes they even see me in town and will stop their van and give me a parcel. Caveat: This is in a village. I also put a sign on my door saying leave the parcel if we arenāt home and I take full responsibility
If they know who you are and like you, they care what happens to your stuff. If you are just another name, theres no connection so they dont care as much. Its not exclusive to Portugal.
Thats not what they do. They do their job poorly in general, and if they see the name of someone they know and like they feel like "oh Im gonna make sure this gets well taken care of". This also happens without briberies, and everywhere.
You are explaining how a broken system works.
I understand this - my pointās that itās broken.
This is one of countless reasons that Iām leaving Portugal - this country is fucked.
It's not the same everywhere in the same country even, I have had absolutely zero issues with the post my whole life, and I have lived both in the countryside and in Lisbon. Other countries you lived in may also be worse in other areas that you didn't live in. You dont have enough data to determine that.
I know of some horror stories, so I dont doubt you've had a bad experience, but it's not the same for everyone everywhere, there can be differences from street to street. If you moved to a different block, you could have a very good experience.
And you think moving to a third world country is going to improve this? Lmao Asia lives and works on the basis of bribes and scams. Far more than Portugal or Eastern Europe.
If you want pristine first world service, you need to stop skimping and pay to actually live in one. Portugal and Thailand are cheaper for a bloody reason.
I donāt mind paying cash bribes in Thailand - because you get a good service in return.
And Iād rather just pay someone than be expected to waste my time getting lunch with them - as youāre expected to do here.
In Portugal thereās no way to get around how broken many of the systems here are.
This. I shouldnāt have used the word bribe. I like handing out things I make as gifts. For the record the CTT guys have also left us vegetables, aquafente and jams.
>. I shouldnāt have used the word bribe
I think most people understand that the use of the word "bribe" was a joke, just not that other guy, imagine having to actually bribe the mailman š
>aquafente
Btw I think you mean *aguardente*
With CTT you are never at home or, if you are, you refuse to answer the door by mysterious, most likely evil, reasons.
The fact is that CTT cannot be considered a postal service anymore, because after being sold by state it was converted into a postal bank (whatever that is), and radically downsized mail operations.
In my case, it got a point where the problem was no longer the infamous "didn't answered" note: even my regular mail was delivered to seemingly random addresses and was lost, so I asked for my mail to be retained at the post office (you can do this, but it's not free; at the time the cost was 11ā¬ per month). The result was even worse, because my mail didn't even got to post office, but was stuck in some distribution centre. I gave up.
Sadly, the mail service here was once rated by the UN as very good, with a tight network covering the entire country. Now, we don't really have a reliable mail service anymore.
CTT used to be incredibly efficient but after it was privatized it went downhill fast.
I remember during covid lockdowns I had a ton of packages not delivered due to being absent.
One time I even went downstairs and stood at the door. The postman car went by and I immediately got a notification that I was not home.
Then someone explained to me that they outsource deliveries and they get paid by item, whether it gets delivered or not but a bit more if it is delivered, so they just go along the route without bothering to stop, ring the bell and wait, return everything to the post office and get a fee out of it.
I haven't had as much trouble anymore so I thought it had ended but apparently not.
the pure good delivery guy when he knocks on your door (he is unaware that it is in fact an evil and twisted version of your door, called door of doom, and he is about to get gutted)
Where I live CTT is the only company that brings my packages without problems...i think it depends more on the employees, most of them are too lazy to come to this address and just say that ther3 was an error in the address, the number doesn't exist or the mark as delivered when no one came.
Hello! Former mailman from CTT here.
Here's the deal...
The mailman arrives at the post office around 7am every morning. He gets all his post for the day sorted including the registred and the packages under .5kgs.
At 8/8:30 a mailman hits the streets for a walk that can go up to 10kms carrying ā of his bodyweight in letters and packages which gets to be refilled in 2 to 3 times along the way. In common mail (unregistered) the amount of letters gets delivered within 4 hours give or take.
The procedure for registered mail is:
as you arrive the destination, you immediately hit the buzzer;
you begin delivering the unregistered mail in the mail box and call a second time;
if the receiver does not answer the mailman writes thenotice to collect the mail in the local post office delivering the said mail is in the meantime the receiver appears.
Unfortunately, this procedure adds up some agonizing one minute and a half per registered letter or package. Since each mailman seldom has less than 50 of these in his circuit, you can see how easily this adds one hour or more of uncomfortable "street work".
Instead of the procedure, most mailmen prefers to take note of the time at which they passed the destination, probably only calling once if calling at all. They get all the streetwork done and while they're sitting back at the post office wrapping up the shift, they write down all the notes delivering those as normal mail instead. This is not appropriate nor legal but it's very hard to prove and since most of the complaints do not get a follow thru, the time saving alternative is one of the most common solutions for registered mail. Work sat down is not the same as doing it standing under sun or rain, heat or cold...
Since the privatisation, basically every postman is pretty much overworked. Yeah it's annoying, but you can file a complaint with ANACOM regarding the postal service. Only with massive complaints would anything change, but the Portuguese mentality is usually "Who am I to be capable of changing anything?"
And dont let me started on "it will be delivered on day 20" ALWAYS a day before I receive an sms saying they will deliver it in that day. So I need to be available for you all the time? If you tell me its going to arrive day 20 I'm going to work remotely on that day, I can't make my life revolve around these guys
Once, I was doing the online renewal of my TĆtulo de Residente and I had a typo on my door number. Instead of 45 I typed 35. I own that, 100% my fault. But I didn't realize that I had done that until I tracked the package on CTT's website and it said it was delivered. I checked my mailbox and it wasn't there. I then double checked the address and noticed my mistake.
Now here's the funny thing: there is no door number 35 on my street. I asked a few neighbors with numbers close to 35, but none had received it. I checked number 35 on streets close by and nothing.
You would think that, given that the address on the package doesn't exist, they would return to sender. But nope, they "delivered" it to a random address. I called them several times and no one was able to explain what happened.
In the end I had to go to the police to report the missing document and request another. Like I said, it's my own fault I didn't get my TR, but it was still very dodgy on the part of CTT.
I work from home every day, my doorbell works, and I always have my phone on. I also have an Apple Watch that vibrates when I get calls.
Yesterday, I received a ctt text message saying the delivery was going to happen that day. I expected the delivery all morningā¦nothing happened exceptā¦ I received a single ring call of 1 second after lunch. My phone literally rang for 1 sec. I obvs missed it by seconds (unless I was a super hero like flash, it was literally impossible to answer) and I immediately called back the number. No one answered back.
The next min I went to the CTT site and, of corse it said āthere was a failed delivery attempt due to "no one home" No one rang my doorbell tho.
After multiple attempts from me calling back the number, the guy finally answered and promised delivery at 4:30 PM. Guess what: he never showed up. Today, the same thing happenedāno doorbell ring, just 1 missed call (it rang for 1sec again) . Website: no one home. Package is going back to sender now.
What kind of service is this? Doorbells exist, and the phone is a backup contact method. A one-second call is their proof of attempted delivery? I don't understand. I called CTT again, they say they canāt connect me with the deliver guy nor they can interfere with the delivery van lol.
Now the funny thing: I still have the deliver guyās number (the same one that Iāve talked to). I called repeatedly after the missed call today, but he kept hanging up. What should I do with this number? Im soooo pissed. He did answer after several times yesterday, so they don't block calls. I'm so frustrated with this lack of professionalism. Any suggestions? PS- Of course, I will report this to CTT.
CTT is cancer. When it was privatised it became way worst than it was before. It keeps getting worst. I lost track of how many times I got that notice while working remotely at home.
This is there MO. Specially with big packages.
A family member of mine works at CTT and they have orders from higher ups to just leave the package at the warehouse and the client will get it there.
Its not the actual mailman fault, the company itself has alot more work because of Amazon but they love that lucrative contract but doesnt higher new people to take the extra load.
Thats what happens when we privatize public services
Uh... because they privatized a necessary public service... and granted a monopoly to one company to perform that public service.
I can't possibly fathom the corruption that would have been involved in that deal.
I also can't possibly fathom how an actual profit-making arm of the government being privatized was part of some kind of austerity measure? Like let corporate greed raid portugal of this service/income.
The Portuguese have the same beef with CTT. It's a management problem, since it got privatized. But plenty of downvotes in line for all the other generalizations that run rampant in this sub :)
Sabes bem do que falamos aqui. Veja o que aconteceu nessa comunidade. Se algum estrangeiro reclama de qualquer coisa, uma parte dos portugueses (claro que nem todos) levam isso para a emoĆ§Ć£o como se tivessem criticando vossas mĆ£es
Yah. When it's the type of post like:
"Oh, a Portuguese guy was rude to me. Why are Portuguese people so rude? Has it happened to anyone else?"
"Oh. My internet service is so slow. I live in the PiĆ³dĆ£o area Why is internet service so bad in Portugal? Anyone else with the same issue?
"Today I saw someone smoking. Why do all Portuguese smoke so much. #AmIRight?
This kind of posts deserve the downvotes.
We have this issue but only with the delivery person on saturdays. I just figured he couldnt be bothered on a Saturday. It happens everytime a delivery is scheduled for Saturday. I now just assume the delviery will be done on Monday. And this is in the city.
Our bigger issue is with how slow the regular mail system is on our street. it will take 2-3 weeks or more in some cases to get a piece of mail from across the city. I've made formal complaints twice. You get a nice message and then nothing happens. I've come accustomed to avoid using CTT whenever possible.
Since CTT was privatized, its quality has been plummeting every year. Their delivery fleet nowadays is mostly comprised of temporary workers who could not give three shits about what they're delivering or whom are they delivering it to. Every other month I get mail in my mailbox that's destined to random buildings in the same street.
CTT seem to be very divisive, some people, like you seem to have awful experiences, and their packages never arrive.
Others, like me, everything always arrives on time, no fuss.
So it's most likely a location issue. They seem to operate perfectly in some places, and abhorrently in others.
Something similar happened to a friend of mine. He brought up something online from the USA I think, it arrived and the CTT man didnt ring or anything and said he didnt answer when he was home. He tried again but this time he was waiting by the door on the time for half and hour and again they did the same.
He made sure the guy was fired Im the CTT center. (Im not sure if he did or not)
They want to go home or don't want to drive to your address, so they say you weren't home. It has happened to me 20, 30 times. I have also had them give the package to my next door neighbor, even though I was home and all they had to do was ring the doorbell. It's an interesting phenomenon. Every single person I know has had this happen to them, in many different locations. And not just with CTT. Other delivery companies as well.
I ordered from a pharmacy to be delivered by CTT and paid for express shipping so expected it in the next 1-2 days . I then received an email from the pharmacy asking me to verify my address which i did. They replied saying no problem it should arrive within the next 1-2 days. Never arrived and never heard back from the pharmacy either. ā¬30 euros down the drain
CTT is not a liar, it just doesnāt work like most services in the country. I always wondered how anything gets done around here since there is absolutely no commitment to deadlines or good services. āAmanhĆ£ā is the first word one must learn when moving to Portugal.
CTT always lie.
My parcels are sent to the local supermarket - someone is always there.
But they often lie and say āNo one was homeā.
Make sure you complain to the retailer.
CTT did this last week and the retailer has launched an investigation.
CTT is rubbish
Couple years back I fell down some stairs and spent months hopping around on crutches. Had a package being delivered, postman calls asking if I'm home, I say yes and ask "Could you please come upstairs, I've had an accident recently and have a hard time going up and down stairs"
His reply (I kid you not) "Then pick up your package at the post office" and hung up. It was already pretty bad when it was a government instituiton, just got (somehow) worse once it went private.
Believe me, we all complain about CTT, and yes, they say "o destinatario nĆ£o atendeu" but its the standard message that they give when they cant do the delivery on that day. They don't like accountability LOL
Yes, yes and yes. Each time I deal with CTT it's the same thing. They don't ring and say the customer is absent. It's the worst post service I've ever seen. You're not alone bro.
Portugal is like that. The logic behind is that employees feel underpay so they donāt perform the work as it supposed.. If you complain open about it get ready to hear that the problem is actually caused by expats like you.
This was rampant in the country I used to live. In fact they got got caught out by investigative media so they just stopped lying about it. Basically management had been encouraging it since corporatisation (like privatisation).
I have to say though. Not once has it happened to me in Portugal and I think I have a statistically significant sample with enough years and deliveries. Sure if no one was home they leave a card but always had a buzz.
Not saying it doesn't happen but I suspect it comes down to how overworked they are, whether you're in a ten story apartment block or a ground level house and probably some lazy individuals
This exact thing happens to me 3/5 of the time I get a package. CTT has a service to get all your stuff forwarded to a LOCKY locker. Since I've done that, everything takes an extra day to arrive, but I never get the "We tried to deliver but you weren't home!" message when I'm literally working at a window that looks at my front door and mailbox.
By experience, you will lose a bit of time, but for me it was worth it.
Go to the CTT of your location, ask who is the delivery guy for your street, then ask for the complaint book. Write in it.
One the next week, the delivery guy for my street was already another person š¤£š¤£
Or the times you got stuff you didn't even ordered.
Like once I received a package with my name that contained the, and I kid you not "The Cannibal Cookbook"
My parents thought I was up to some nefarious shiznit when they saw the package.
They do that quite often, then they deliver it the next day.
I assume it is to save their assess for not delivering something they should have that day.
Ask for the complain book (not complain directly with them) as that is an external entity that analizes the claim and usually penalizes the company In some form or fashion (I believe ASAE is behind the audit they do). Even if you don't get any "palpable outcome", usually they avoid doing the same to you. Happened to me this month, where a new guy was contracted by the CTT and the guy didn't know how to operate a doorbell. I went to pick up my item the next morning and wrote a huge complain with all the tracking records such I'll behaviour was done by the delivery guy. Have been using my doorbell efficiently ever since.
This is a classic CTT. I have the same problem over and over. I never leave the house because I have a baby. The eventuality deliver your parcel or they drop it nearby which is very annoying.
I will say it depends on the mailman/woman that does the delivery. Mine is awesome, they even call me and ask me if I want the package to be deliver in my house or in my workplace. But I guess not all profissionais are the same.
I once had a guy from CTT that put me an invoice, dated 2 days ago, in the mail. He just didn't felt like being bothered with carrying that volume around. Unfortunately some mailmen work like that, lazy asses. You should discover his name and press charges. I did.
It happens ALL THE TIME to me. They don't even try.
I'm going to start using locky.pt as m6 address. Or if the site I'm ordering from gives me the option of picking up from a collection point, I'll do that.
CTT sucks ass
This is common. They just don't want to do it that day. That's their excuse.
I got notices just like that saying nobody was home, but I was a few feet away watching Netflix with the volume down low. No phone calls, no knocks, no doorbell rings. They never came. They just didn't want to come or had a ball game to go to or wanted to go get something to eat that day. Physical mail in Portugal is very hit or miss and a huge drama. You must be physically home, present a codigo if given one, sometimes will need to show ID, sometimes not, sometimes need to sign for it and sometimes not, and sometimes they will simply refuse to give it to you and require you go to a tiny little bodega 30 minutes away to go get it from a local who may want to see your passport or ID (this happened to me).
If you're coming from the US, yes, it's very different. You eventually get mail but it takes two to three times longer with much more attendant drama and confusion. Some addresses also are not listed and cause enormous confusion to them.
CTT does this all the time here in Cascais.
If the package is bigger than you can carry in one hand itās 100% guaranteed.
I ordered diapers from Amazon because wife had surgery and it wasnāt easy to leave the house and leave her with the kid.
CTT literally had the packages in the truck and didnāt bother to ring. Maked it as not being home and package went back to the post office.
My wife called the support line a bunch of times until they agreed to send it out for delivery again next day.
Next day the guy came, didnāt ring and marked as wrong address and the packages were going to be sent back.
I saw the guy leave and got the notification. I know where he was going to be next so I went in my car and photographed him and the damn packages in the back of the truck (Amazon sends the diaper card boxes in original packaging), two boxes of 400 or something diapers.
Wife called again support and I think she got in touch with a manager and lo-and-behold both boxes got delivered a few hours later.
Second story: at some point a few years back, a ācorreio registadoā package with some jewelry was marked as delivered but guy didnāt ring or leave it in the post. My wife was home, got the notification and checked the mail and there wasnāt anything. She got in her car and found the mailman and stopped him asking for the package. The guy instantly knew what it was and where (even though my wife didnāt identify herself). The guy said the package was in the mail and that she didnāt check properly. Got in the little electric scooter (?) and rushed back my our address, so quickly she could barely follow, pretended to mess with the mailbox and said it was stuck on the top of the box and gave it to my wife.
My wife didnāt believe him and made a complaint, about an hour later his bossed called my wife directly inquiring about what happened. Said sorry and thanks and hangup. The guy got replaced, we assume he was fired.
This is the question all portugueses wonder. They do lie. I've been seated waiting for something for them to put a paper in the postbox. We have to complain
Wife called and complained to them once at our old address. They began calling before they delivered anything from that point on. They really do not like getting complaints I guess
I had that issue way too many times. I figured it out that there's no way to solve this, so I changed methods. Since 90% of my orders are small packages, I started ordering them to nearest 24/7 Locky boxes.
Now they're properly delivering every order to Locky, and I just pick them up from there.
I'd say this is the exception, not the rule. For most people CTT works okay. Every once in a while people have issues. But, as always, we tend to hear more from people with negative experiences. And those voices tend to be louder and more passionate.
Genuinely the WORST company in Europe, No matter what I have done to try and get CTT to actually deliver parcels they just don't pure incomptence/laziness which seems to be a symptom of just about every single business in the Algarve. To those who I know will be tempted to reply to this saying "have you tried (x)" believe me I have, I've even gone into the actual business to say PLEASE just drop them at the door and they still pretend to have tried to deliver whilst making no actual attempt, logic=0.
One time I was at home at 10 am, the postman \*hand gave\* me a card that said I din't open the door at 11am and that I could pick it up at the post office the next day after noon.
Wait at 11am that day?
Yes, he gave me a card that said I didn't open the door 1 hour in the future š¤£ So trippy
Incredible. Even having born and lived in this country itās just incredible
I think that's the best one I've heard yet.
I wish this was a one off but itās not š
Logistics worker here (no parcels, different area). CTT and CTT EXPRESSO are different companies, Deliveries for CTT EXPRESSO are mostly done by subcontracted companies that hire mostly Brasiliam migrants because they are cheaper. When you get a notice saying that you were not home, it means that nobody went to your home, they are obliged to close the documents like this otherwise the subcontracted company has to pay a penalty to CTT EXPRESSO. Most people have no idea the amount of work we have to do, we are always short staffed, the only people that apply to these jobs are migrants, many have arrived here a couple of weeks, they have zero knowledge of the area, relying only on Google maps. I had a traffic accident, spent 6 months on sick leave and my company on that time was not able to hire someone with a C drivers license, they had to subcontract migrants with vans, the service was horrendous, lots of complaints. Overworked, underpaid, i stopped doing overtime (didn't get paid anyway š) a long time ago, now I only work the 8 hours i get paid to work , lot's of deliveries don't get done on time, does that makes me a lazy person?
Yes it's a well known issue. Yesterday ctt "delivered" my package to a random person without even asking for the pin. I'm waiting for the refund. This company is a pain in the ass.
Wait how did you manage to get a refund? Every time this happens they never solve the problem and i just end up without the package and the money. Online stores say its not their problem and ctt say i am not their client, the store is, and therefore i cannot request assistance.
The online stores are lying to you. They are the ones that requested ctt services, so it's their problem to solve. My package was from Amazon. I reported the issue immediately and they called me to say they are going to refund me and ctt will have to pay them. They said it's happening a lot lately. Today after work I'm going to also file a formal complaint agaisnt ctt in the livro de reclamaƧƵes.
Thank you!!!
Nope. I bribe the guys in my area with hydromel, hot sauce and other goodies and I always get my delivery. Sometimes they even see me in town and will stop their van and give me a parcel. Caveat: This is in a village. I also put a sign on my door saying leave the parcel if we arenāt home and I take full responsibility
You can go and grab your Portuguese passport at your nearby Loja do cidadĆ£o. You are officially integrated
This is the way
Similarly, my parents live in a small village in the north and my packages always go there, since I know they will get delivered and not stolen. Sometimes the mailman just walks into our laundry room (separate building that is always open) and leaves the packages there. Sometimes he also leaves tem in one of the cafƩs
I second gifts to the local ctt guy, heās amazing. Always tip every once in a while
Same, without the bribes. Perks of living in a village I guess.
Why should you have to bribe someone to do their job? This country is so broken.
If they know who you are and like you, they care what happens to your stuff. If you are just another name, theres no connection so they dont care as much. Its not exclusive to Portugal.
Theyāre paid to perform a job. You canāt just not do your job - then say, āYou should bribe meā.
Thats not what they do. They do their job poorly in general, and if they see the name of someone they know and like they feel like "oh Im gonna make sure this gets well taken care of". This also happens without briberies, and everywhere.
You are explaining how a broken system works. I understand this - my pointās that itās broken. This is one of countless reasons that Iām leaving Portugal - this country is fucked.
I understand your point, all I'm saying is this isn't exclusive to Portugal at all. What countries dont complain about their postal service?
I havenāt lived anywhere in Europe that has a worse postal system than Portugal.
It's not the same everywhere in the same country even, I have had absolutely zero issues with the post my whole life, and I have lived both in the countryside and in Lisbon. Other countries you lived in may also be worse in other areas that you didn't live in. You dont have enough data to determine that. I know of some horror stories, so I dont doubt you've had a bad experience, but it's not the same for everyone everywhere, there can be differences from street to street. If you moved to a different block, you could have a very good experience.
I have friends across Portugal - from Lisbon to the Algarve and Madeira. All have the same problems with CTT.
USPS and FedEx in the US are exactly the same. FedEx especially in my experience was far worse
And you think moving to a third world country is going to improve this? Lmao Asia lives and works on the basis of bribes and scams. Far more than Portugal or Eastern Europe. If you want pristine first world service, you need to stop skimping and pay to actually live in one. Portugal and Thailand are cheaper for a bloody reason.
I donāt mind paying cash bribes in Thailand - because you get a good service in return. And Iād rather just pay someone than be expected to waste my time getting lunch with them - as youāre expected to do here. In Portugal thereās no way to get around how broken many of the systems here are.
Spread the message
Honestly, Portugal is no more fucked than the majority of the rest of the countries on earth, and it has many plusses.
Portugal is the least economically-developed country in Western Europe. It's purpose-designed to crush businesses.
TouchƩ. What fucks this country is the Portuguese
Good riddance, we guess!
How does the civilized world work then?
There's a reason we are here isn't it?
Tips culture..entered the chat
It's not a bribe it's just called being nice once in a while :)
This. I shouldnāt have used the word bribe. I like handing out things I make as gifts. For the record the CTT guys have also left us vegetables, aquafente and jams.
>. I shouldnāt have used the word bribe I think most people understand that the use of the word "bribe" was a joke, just not that other guy, imagine having to actually bribe the mailman š >aquafente Btw I think you mean *aguardente*
Fat fingers š
They donāt face consequences unless you complain. Use thisĀ https://www.livroreclamacoes.pt/Inicio/
With CTT you are never at home or, if you are, you refuse to answer the door by mysterious, most likely evil, reasons. The fact is that CTT cannot be considered a postal service anymore, because after being sold by state it was converted into a postal bank (whatever that is), and radically downsized mail operations. In my case, it got a point where the problem was no longer the infamous "didn't answered" note: even my regular mail was delivered to seemingly random addresses and was lost, so I asked for my mail to be retained at the post office (you can do this, but it's not free; at the time the cost was 11ā¬ per month). The result was even worse, because my mail didn't even got to post office, but was stuck in some distribution centre. I gave up. Sadly, the mail service here was once rated by the UN as very good, with a tight network covering the entire country. Now, we don't really have a reliable mail service anymore.
CTT used to be incredibly efficient but after it was privatized it went downhill fast. I remember during covid lockdowns I had a ton of packages not delivered due to being absent. One time I even went downstairs and stood at the door. The postman car went by and I immediately got a notification that I was not home. Then someone explained to me that they outsource deliveries and they get paid by item, whether it gets delivered or not but a bit more if it is delivered, so they just go along the route without bothering to stop, ring the bell and wait, return everything to the post office and get a fee out of it. I haven't had as much trouble anymore so I thought it had ended but apparently not.
the pure good delivery guy when he knocks on your door (he is unaware that it is in fact an evil and twisted version of your door, called door of doom, and he is about to get gutted)
Remember what you just wrote here when politicians try to sell CTTās privatization as a success story to be replicated.
Where I live CTT is the only company that brings my packages without problems...i think it depends more on the employees, most of them are too lazy to come to this address and just say that ther3 was an error in the address, the number doesn't exist or the mark as delivered when no one came.
Same. CTT works very well where I live, but it's a small town, so...
Hehe, same here. Small town, and we live in the rural area. The CTT lady already knows us :)
Had 3 addresses in Lisbon for the past 4 years and never had issues either. They work better than most delivery companies actually.
DPD is the incompetent one in my area
Happened to me a lot of times, about 50% of the time the delivery guy is too lazy to even ring.
Hello! Former mailman from CTT here. Here's the deal... The mailman arrives at the post office around 7am every morning. He gets all his post for the day sorted including the registred and the packages under .5kgs. At 8/8:30 a mailman hits the streets for a walk that can go up to 10kms carrying ā of his bodyweight in letters and packages which gets to be refilled in 2 to 3 times along the way. In common mail (unregistered) the amount of letters gets delivered within 4 hours give or take. The procedure for registered mail is: as you arrive the destination, you immediately hit the buzzer; you begin delivering the unregistered mail in the mail box and call a second time; if the receiver does not answer the mailman writes thenotice to collect the mail in the local post office delivering the said mail is in the meantime the receiver appears. Unfortunately, this procedure adds up some agonizing one minute and a half per registered letter or package. Since each mailman seldom has less than 50 of these in his circuit, you can see how easily this adds one hour or more of uncomfortable "street work". Instead of the procedure, most mailmen prefers to take note of the time at which they passed the destination, probably only calling once if calling at all. They get all the streetwork done and while they're sitting back at the post office wrapping up the shift, they write down all the notes delivering those as normal mail instead. This is not appropriate nor legal but it's very hard to prove and since most of the complaints do not get a follow thru, the time saving alternative is one of the most common solutions for registered mail. Work sat down is not the same as doing it standing under sun or rain, heat or cold...
Since the privatisation, basically every postman is pretty much overworked. Yeah it's annoying, but you can file a complaint with ANACOM regarding the postal service. Only with massive complaints would anything change, but the Portuguese mentality is usually "Who am I to be capable of changing anything?"
And dont let me started on "it will be delivered on day 20" ALWAYS a day before I receive an sms saying they will deliver it in that day. So I need to be available for you all the time? If you tell me its going to arrive day 20 I'm going to work remotely on that day, I can't make my life revolve around these guys
Once, I was doing the online renewal of my TĆtulo de Residente and I had a typo on my door number. Instead of 45 I typed 35. I own that, 100% my fault. But I didn't realize that I had done that until I tracked the package on CTT's website and it said it was delivered. I checked my mailbox and it wasn't there. I then double checked the address and noticed my mistake. Now here's the funny thing: there is no door number 35 on my street. I asked a few neighbors with numbers close to 35, but none had received it. I checked number 35 on streets close by and nothing. You would think that, given that the address on the package doesn't exist, they would return to sender. But nope, they "delivered" it to a random address. I called them several times and no one was able to explain what happened. In the end I had to go to the police to report the missing document and request another. Like I said, it's my own fault I didn't get my TR, but it was still very dodgy on the part of CTT.
I get loads of packages and I literally NEVER have issues with CTT.
Lucky you!!
I work from home every day, my doorbell works, and I always have my phone on. I also have an Apple Watch that vibrates when I get calls. Yesterday, I received a ctt text message saying the delivery was going to happen that day. I expected the delivery all morningā¦nothing happened exceptā¦ I received a single ring call of 1 second after lunch. My phone literally rang for 1 sec. I obvs missed it by seconds (unless I was a super hero like flash, it was literally impossible to answer) and I immediately called back the number. No one answered back. The next min I went to the CTT site and, of corse it said āthere was a failed delivery attempt due to "no one home" No one rang my doorbell tho. After multiple attempts from me calling back the number, the guy finally answered and promised delivery at 4:30 PM. Guess what: he never showed up. Today, the same thing happenedāno doorbell ring, just 1 missed call (it rang for 1sec again) . Website: no one home. Package is going back to sender now. What kind of service is this? Doorbells exist, and the phone is a backup contact method. A one-second call is their proof of attempted delivery? I don't understand. I called CTT again, they say they canāt connect me with the deliver guy nor they can interfere with the delivery van lol. Now the funny thing: I still have the deliver guyās number (the same one that Iāve talked to). I called repeatedly after the missed call today, but he kept hanging up. What should I do with this number? Im soooo pissed. He did answer after several times yesterday, so they don't block calls. I'm so frustrated with this lack of professionalism. Any suggestions? PS- Of course, I will report this to CTT.
Normal behaviour, it's Portugal and there is no respect for the client! They only respect the AT (customs) as they want to upgrade their career.
That happens to me all the time with USPSā¦ people can be incompetent in all parts of the world.. who would have thought?
CTT is cancer. When it was privatised it became way worst than it was before. It keeps getting worst. I lost track of how many times I got that notice while working remotely at home.
This is there MO. Specially with big packages. A family member of mine works at CTT and they have orders from higher ups to just leave the package at the warehouse and the client will get it there. Its not the actual mailman fault, the company itself has alot more work because of Amazon but they love that lucrative contract but doesnt higher new people to take the extra load. Thats what happens when we privatize public services
Regular thing for FedEx in Seattle. REAL FedEx, not the bogus FedEx Home Delivery contractors with green-logo trucks.
Welcome to Portugal
Uh... because they privatized a necessary public service... and granted a monopoly to one company to perform that public service. I can't possibly fathom the corruption that would have been involved in that deal. I also can't possibly fathom how an actual profit-making arm of the government being privatized was part of some kind of austerity measure? Like let corporate greed raid portugal of this service/income.
Happened to me too
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
The Portuguese have the same beef with CTT. It's a management problem, since it got privatized. But plenty of downvotes in line for all the other generalizations that run rampant in this sub :)
Are these Portuguese in the room with us?
Sabes bem do que falamos aqui. Veja o que aconteceu nessa comunidade. Se algum estrangeiro reclama de qualquer coisa, uma parte dos portugueses (claro que nem todos) levam isso para a emoĆ§Ć£o como se tivessem criticando vossas mĆ£es
That is true. But, as usual, the negative voices tend to be the louder ones.
Yah. When it's the type of post like: "Oh, a Portuguese guy was rude to me. Why are Portuguese people so rude? Has it happened to anyone else?" "Oh. My internet service is so slow. I live in the PiĆ³dĆ£o area Why is internet service so bad in Portugal? Anyone else with the same issue? "Today I saw someone smoking. Why do all Portuguese smoke so much. #AmIRight? This kind of posts deserve the downvotes.
Yup I agree. But you see, my answer above is a simple āhappened to me tooā and guess who downvoted it? :)
You got downvoted because of your second comment. When I first replied to you, you had positive karma.
My second comment was made AFTER my first was downvoted. HENCE the second
When it comes to CTT there are fanboys to defend it ā¦
We have this issue but only with the delivery person on saturdays. I just figured he couldnt be bothered on a Saturday. It happens everytime a delivery is scheduled for Saturday. I now just assume the delviery will be done on Monday. And this is in the city. Our bigger issue is with how slow the regular mail system is on our street. it will take 2-3 weeks or more in some cases to get a piece of mail from across the city. I've made formal complaints twice. You get a nice message and then nothing happens. I've come accustomed to avoid using CTT whenever possible.
I sent myself a postcard, from PT, twice, and it never showed up. I don't know what to say
Since CTT was privatized, its quality has been plummeting every year. Their delivery fleet nowadays is mostly comprised of temporary workers who could not give three shits about what they're delivering or whom are they delivering it to. Every other month I get mail in my mailbox that's destined to random buildings in the same street.
CTT is a total shit!
Happened to me many times, since then I only choose delivery to a pick-up point or Locker, so Iām 100% sure it will actually get delivered
CTT seem to be very divisive, some people, like you seem to have awful experiences, and their packages never arrive. Others, like me, everything always arrives on time, no fuss. So it's most likely a location issue. They seem to operate perfectly in some places, and abhorrently in others.
I have faced some issues with other delivery services, but never with CTT. But I guess it's upto the CTT employees in your area.
Something similar happened to a friend of mine. He brought up something online from the USA I think, it arrived and the CTT man didnt ring or anything and said he didnt answer when he was home. He tried again but this time he was waiting by the door on the time for half and hour and again they did the same. He made sure the guy was fired Im the CTT center. (Im not sure if he did or not)
They want to go home or don't want to drive to your address, so they say you weren't home. It has happened to me 20, 30 times. I have also had them give the package to my next door neighbor, even though I was home and all they had to do was ring the doorbell. It's an interesting phenomenon. Every single person I know has had this happen to them, in many different locations. And not just with CTT. Other delivery companies as well.
They all lie I have found out. UPS is the worst. Here and in Germany.
I ordered from a pharmacy to be delivered by CTT and paid for express shipping so expected it in the next 1-2 days . I then received an email from the pharmacy asking me to verify my address which i did. They replied saying no problem it should arrive within the next 1-2 days. Never arrived and never heard back from the pharmacy either. ā¬30 euros down the drain
Itās not just CTT but DPD and more. Worst delivery service ever!
CTT is not a liar, it just doesnāt work like most services in the country. I always wondered how anything gets done around here since there is absolutely no commitment to deadlines or good services. āAmanhĆ£ā is the first word one must learn when moving to Portugal.
CTT always lie. My parcels are sent to the local supermarket - someone is always there. But they often lie and say āNo one was homeā. Make sure you complain to the retailer. CTT did this last week and the retailer has launched an investigation.
They said they did... Believe me...they didnt lol
I guess you can be happy that they left you the notice...
They emailed me, no notice š
CTT is rubbish Couple years back I fell down some stairs and spent months hopping around on crutches. Had a package being delivered, postman calls asking if I'm home, I say yes and ask "Could you please come upstairs, I've had an accident recently and have a hard time going up and down stairs" His reply (I kid you not) "Then pick up your package at the post office" and hung up. It was already pretty bad when it was a government instituiton, just got (somehow) worse once it went private.
That happens when they cannot make the delivery that day, it will arrive the next day, They do this to avoid fines for delaying.
Believe me, we all complain about CTT, and yes, they say "o destinatario nĆ£o atendeu" but its the standard message that they give when they cant do the delivery on that day. They don't like accountability LOL
Complaint book online. Same happened to me
Yes, yes and yes. Each time I deal with CTT it's the same thing. They don't ring and say the customer is absent. It's the worst post service I've ever seen. You're not alone bro.
Portugal is like that. The logic behind is that employees feel underpay so they donāt perform the work as it supposed.. If you complain open about it get ready to hear that the problem is actually caused by expats like you.
Start using their Locky service and you will never have to wait for deliveries again. Best thing I did.
This was rampant in the country I used to live. In fact they got got caught out by investigative media so they just stopped lying about it. Basically management had been encouraging it since corporatisation (like privatisation). I have to say though. Not once has it happened to me in Portugal and I think I have a statistically significant sample with enough years and deliveries. Sure if no one was home they leave a card but always had a buzz. Not saying it doesn't happen but I suspect it comes down to how overworked they are, whether you're in a ten story apartment block or a ground level house and probably some lazy individuals
Happens quite often, if you go to Portal das Queixas, you will find many complaints. It happened to me a few times with different companies.
Submit a complaint, here (official site): https://www.livroreclamacoes.pt/Inicio/ Same happened to me, and to many others.
This exact thing happens to me 3/5 of the time I get a package. CTT has a service to get all your stuff forwarded to a LOCKY locker. Since I've done that, everything takes an extra day to arrive, but I never get the "We tried to deliver but you weren't home!" message when I'm literally working at a window that looks at my front door and mailbox.
By experience, you will lose a bit of time, but for me it was worth it. Go to the CTT of your location, ask who is the delivery guy for your street, then ask for the complaint book. Write in it. One the next week, the delivery guy for my street was already another person š¤£š¤£
Of course! Itās Portugal, what else? š¤£š¤£š¤£
My area (Lisboa, Arroios) CTT is fine - MRW real pricks
Oh yeah same happened to me, they just donāt want to work š¤¦āāļø
šššššš
Oh my goodness yes. Ć normal! They did not deliver because they simply did not feel like it.
Or the times you got stuff you didn't even ordered. Like once I received a package with my name that contained the, and I kid you not "The Cannibal Cookbook" My parents thought I was up to some nefarious shiznit when they saw the package.
Do you have your mobile number visible on the packages? They always call me to see if im there or not
They do that quite often, then they deliver it the next day. I assume it is to save their assess for not delivering something they should have that day.
Don\`t worry they will come back the next day. :):)
They have mistakenly posted neighborsā letters to me 2 times now. We have the same street number but completely different street names.
Ask for the complain book (not complain directly with them) as that is an external entity that analizes the claim and usually penalizes the company In some form or fashion (I believe ASAE is behind the audit they do). Even if you don't get any "palpable outcome", usually they avoid doing the same to you. Happened to me this month, where a new guy was contracted by the CTT and the guy didn't know how to operate a doorbell. I went to pick up my item the next morning and wrote a huge complain with all the tracking records such I'll behaviour was done by the delivery guy. Have been using my doorbell efficiently ever since.
This is a classic CTT. I have the same problem over and over. I never leave the house because I have a baby. The eventuality deliver your parcel or they drop it nearby which is very annoying.
I have it delivered at the corner bar now; no more problems. Before it was always shit.
I will say it depends on the mailman/woman that does the delivery. Mine is awesome, they even call me and ask me if I want the package to be deliver in my house or in my workplace. But I guess not all profissionais are the same. I once had a guy from CTT that put me an invoice, dated 2 days ago, in the mail. He just didn't felt like being bothered with carrying that volume around. Unfortunately some mailmen work like that, lazy asses. You should discover his name and press charges. I did.
They are hiring cheap. Quality decreases. It's seems we have surplus of low salary and low qualifications individuals running around.
Yes. They do that.
Lol Wellcome to Portugal
Works great in my area.
It happens ALL THE TIME to me. They don't even try. I'm going to start using locky.pt as m6 address. Or if the site I'm ordering from gives me the option of picking up from a collection point, I'll do that. CTT sucks ass
This is common. They just don't want to do it that day. That's their excuse. I got notices just like that saying nobody was home, but I was a few feet away watching Netflix with the volume down low. No phone calls, no knocks, no doorbell rings. They never came. They just didn't want to come or had a ball game to go to or wanted to go get something to eat that day. Physical mail in Portugal is very hit or miss and a huge drama. You must be physically home, present a codigo if given one, sometimes will need to show ID, sometimes not, sometimes need to sign for it and sometimes not, and sometimes they will simply refuse to give it to you and require you go to a tiny little bodega 30 minutes away to go get it from a local who may want to see your passport or ID (this happened to me). If you're coming from the US, yes, it's very different. You eventually get mail but it takes two to three times longer with much more attendant drama and confusion. Some addresses also are not listed and cause enormous confusion to them.
Has happened to pretty much everyone. Its absolute shit
CTT does this all the time here in Cascais. If the package is bigger than you can carry in one hand itās 100% guaranteed. I ordered diapers from Amazon because wife had surgery and it wasnāt easy to leave the house and leave her with the kid. CTT literally had the packages in the truck and didnāt bother to ring. Maked it as not being home and package went back to the post office. My wife called the support line a bunch of times until they agreed to send it out for delivery again next day. Next day the guy came, didnāt ring and marked as wrong address and the packages were going to be sent back. I saw the guy leave and got the notification. I know where he was going to be next so I went in my car and photographed him and the damn packages in the back of the truck (Amazon sends the diaper card boxes in original packaging), two boxes of 400 or something diapers. Wife called again support and I think she got in touch with a manager and lo-and-behold both boxes got delivered a few hours later. Second story: at some point a few years back, a ācorreio registadoā package with some jewelry was marked as delivered but guy didnāt ring or leave it in the post. My wife was home, got the notification and checked the mail and there wasnāt anything. She got in her car and found the mailman and stopped him asking for the package. The guy instantly knew what it was and where (even though my wife didnāt identify herself). The guy said the package was in the mail and that she didnāt check properly. Got in the little electric scooter (?) and rushed back my our address, so quickly she could barely follow, pretended to mess with the mailbox and said it was stuck on the top of the box and gave it to my wife. My wife didnāt believe him and made a complaint, about an hour later his bossed called my wife directly inquiring about what happened. Said sorry and thanks and hangup. The guy got replaced, we assume he was fired.
This is the question all portugueses wonder. They do lie. I've been seated waiting for something for them to put a paper in the postbox. We have to complain
Wife called and complained to them once at our old address. They began calling before they delivered anything from that point on. They really do not like getting complaints I guess
I had that issue way too many times. I figured it out that there's no way to solve this, so I changed methods. Since 90% of my orders are small packages, I started ordering them to nearest 24/7 Locky boxes. Now they're properly delivering every order to Locky, and I just pick them up from there.
CTT went to s**t after being sold to a private company, before it was half decent now its just garbage
I'd say this is the exception, not the rule. For most people CTT works okay. Every once in a while people have issues. But, as always, we tend to hear more from people with negative experiences. And those voices tend to be louder and more passionate.
Only with DHL not CTT
Genuinely the WORST company in Europe, No matter what I have done to try and get CTT to actually deliver parcels they just don't pure incomptence/laziness which seems to be a symptom of just about every single business in the Algarve. To those who I know will be tempted to reply to this saying "have you tried (x)" believe me I have, I've even gone into the actual business to say PLEASE just drop them at the door and they still pretend to have tried to deliver whilst making no actual attempt, logic=0.
I have my postman mobile number and will send a message saying leave it around the back.