could somebody please explain a bit clearer about posting gifts to turkey as i have mailed a mobile phone to my partner in turkey on 4th december and it is now at the post office in bodrum but each time he goes to collect it the post office manager won´t give him the parcel and says to come back in 1 week then 2 weeks , but each time he still does not give him the  phone . thanks in advance anybody that can help with this matter .

I had a bit of a bad experience sending my husband some things when he was in Turkey.  The post office in Turkey actually opened the package, riffled thru it and took some things.  From then on, I send things only by UPS. 

Thanks elisabeth wot is" UPS " just in case i send anything else . and do you no of anyway to get the phone out of post office or will he need to send it back to me ?

 I also sent gifts to people in Bodrum. Greetings cards/photo cds etc. were always received ok but anything more expensive was never received!

UPS is a company that delivers parcels etc. Another company that has an office in Bodrum is DHL. Never used either personally but have friends who have used DHL without any problems.

Maybe it is worth the price of an air ticket to deliver the present personally??

 UPS is a private mail service.  The UPS stands for United Parsel Service.  It is quite expensive but worth it if you send anything of value.  I don´t know if they have it where you are but it is very popular here in the US and it ships to most major cities around the globe. 

Anyway, as far as what to do now, I am not sure.  Sometimes it takes a while for mail in Turkey to get from post office to post office.  Your package may have arrived in a major city but may not have reached his location yet.  In my opinion, the Turkish mail system gives new meaning to the expression "snail mail." 

Thanks RED1 and Elisabeth the parcel is definately at the bodrum post office as i had to give the tracker code so they could find it because of how long it seemed to be taking . i have looked on the customs/regulations and it mentions about sending gifts not more than 500 OM () in value and something to do with postal date not being 1 month before or after certain holidays as bayram finished on 1st december and i posted parcel on 4th december i am wondering if this is why they won´t let him collect the parcel or what to do now ie should he send it back to me ?

 maybe he needs to pay an incoming customs´ tax??

Normally a foreign phone needs to be registered with customs on arrival (at airport for example) and then registered with phone company (such as turkcell) by person bringing it into country. Well this is my experience anyway!  Maybe the problem is because it is a phone?

Good Luck

Thanks red1 i have had a look to see about a incoming customs tax but cant find anything to help with the problem . Maybe i should of kept hold of it till i go back in april .

I am still missing a simple letter from my mom. She posted it last summer...

You´d better stick on UPS or DHL.

I noticed that post-office-people have a certain kind of craving here for packages coming from abroad. I suppose that they are just overly careful and trying to guarantee out safety.

My father-in-law ordered a special kind of cheese from Russia last month. The box arrived open with a piece of cheese missing.

Probably somebody was hungry.

Thanks everybody for your input but i am still confused as to why they won´t let him have parcel and what to do now