deskthority

It's a tiny envelope package from the US via USPS, and it said it's "Delivered" from the USPS tracking.
I have been waiting for a notice from the German custom (at Berlin) since June 10th, but then nothing has arrived either.

Does anybody know whom or what department I can contact to seek help or make an inquiry?

June 19, 2017, 12:25 pm Delivered GERMANY
Your item was delivered in GERMANY at 12:25 pm on June 19, 2017.
June 12, 2017, 6:58 pm Payment of charges - Item being held, addressee being notified GERMANY
June 12, 2017, 6:58 pm Customs clearance processing complete GERMANY
June 10, 2017, 1:35 pm Processed Through Facility GERMANY
June 10, 2017, 1:35 pm Customs Clearance GERMANY
June 6, 2017, 2:11 pm Departed USPS Origin Facility LOS ANGELES, CA 90009

Sorry if it should not be on this subsection of the board, but this envelope has a few key caps.

Please help, or please advice.

Did you contact USPS first?

In my experience German customs can take quite long to process a package, so it's probably still laying around at the customs office. Have you tried entering you USPS tacking number at the DHL or Deutsche Post website?

Under dhl.de, what can be shown in all the history of this shipment is:

Status From Wed, 28.06.17 10:25 a.m./p.m.
The shipment has been picked up
Next step
The shipment is being transported to the parcel center of origin

Show detailed tracking history
Date/Time City Status
Wed, 28.06.17 10:25 -- The shipment has been picked up

What carrier uses USPS in Germany ? DHL ? I think yes, but

June 12, 2017, 6:58 pm Customs clearance processing complete GERMANY

with DHL this means delivery attempt to your doorstep, charging fees at your doorstep.
(or at your local post office if you not at home.)
holding an item means a) other carrier with other procedure e.g. paying at the local depot of the carrier or b) no clearance more documents needed to do clearance.

the strange output from dhl.de may also be a hint for another carrier?
or dhl even shortened the lifetime of the trackingnumbers again. until summer 2016 you were able to view 6-9 month old correct tracking infos.
since last summer just 4-5 weeks later same number was a other shipment. with your case now this would only be 9-10 days ? I can believe this is real, a) a error or b) I suspect your shipment is not handled by DHL.

Menuhin wrote: Under dhl.de, what can be shown in all the history of this shipment is:

Status From Wed, 28.06.17 10:25 a.m./p.m.
The shipment has been picked up
Next step
The shipment is being transported to the parcel center of origin

Show detailed tracking history
Date/Time City Status
Wed, 28.06.17 10:25 -- The shipment has been picked up

Sounds like your envelope is on it's way back to the sender. Customs only keeps envelopes for 7 days before returning them to the sender. Did you not get a pickup notification?
In cases like this I call my local customs office ...

Thanks for giving me some idea what might have happened.

Y___Y

It is just a small thing. Hope it can eventually arrive the sender - have to pay the shipment again.
They could have leave at least a notice.

There must have been an issue with your address if you didn't get a notification. Typo in the postal code ie... had situations like that before where I called customs several times until they found out my parcel was filed in the wrong postal code by DHL! I had 2 days left to collect it ...

So the story continues:

I waited for over a month and the custom notification finally arrived yesterday - but it has arrived more than a month later because the address on the letter of custom claim notification was incorrect - e.g. it was printed with an incorrect street number 75, and then later corrected by hand to 35. The non-delivery of this incorrectly addressed notice and its re-routing to have its address corrected explains for the late arrival of the custom notice.
However, because I must claim the package within 7 days of its printed date (20.06.2017) of this custom notice, when I finally received this custom notice after its address has been corrected, my package is already on its way back to the US. Currently, its return shipment is not tractable and I am not sure if the package will be lost or will eventually arrive at the sender's address, assuming the sender's address is well written and readable.
I communicated with the sender a few times - he should have used a correct address as he printed my address from PayPal's transaction page.

My question is, if it were you, what would you do?
Is there any (German law) legally informed member here that can tell me who is the party responsible for this mishap? Because German custom said that's the fault of Deutsche Post, but Deutsche Post said that I should ask German custom.

That's a shame Menuhin but you should never wait a month without checking with the carrier what is going on with your package! Who is responsible for the wrong house number will be impossible to find out now, sounds like customs messed it up but they'll never take responsibility. Make a copy of the custom claim notification for proof and complain formally in writing to both Post and Zoll!

Zur Einfachheit mal weiter auf Deutsch:

Die Zollbenachrichtungskarte verschickt doch eigentlich DHL, weil sie es nicht abfertigen konnten mit ihrem internen Zoll (wegen fehlender Unterlagen) und somit an lokalen Zoll weitergeleitet haben.

Gleichzeitig macht DHL einem (auf dieser Benachrichtungskarte) das Angebot die Zollabwicklung zu übennehmen für ca. 28-29 EUR - also man schickt Unterlagen zu DHL, die holen die Sendung wieder vom lokalen Zoll ab, liefern es an Deine Türe.

Ergo würde ich 100% DHL als Absender der Benachrichtungskarte sehen und somit dort den Fehler.