“We are committed to providing an efficient and reliable delivery service, but clearly something has gone wrong and we continue to investigate the reported delays,” a spokesperson said.

UPDATE: An Australia Post spokesperson has encouraged anyone experiencing delivery concerns to contact its customer call centre.

“We are committed to providing an efficient and reliable delivery service, but from time to time things go wrong,” the spokesperson said.

“We apologise for any delays our customers experienced.”

The call centre can be reached on 13 76 78.

EARLIER: Heathcote residents are bewildered and frustrated that their parcels appear to be travelling to them via Western Australia, leading to often significant delays.

The Bendigo Advertiser is aware of at least 24 people who say they have had parcels go to WA, even those parcels that originated in Victoria or NSW.

Tracking information shows many of these parcels get processed at an Australia Post facility in Sunshine West, before getting sent to Welshpool or Rockingham – or both – in WA.

Mary Cresswell is one person who has experienced this issue.

A product she ordered online from a Sydney-based store was due to arrive on June 15, but only made it to Heathcote on Tuesday.

Ms Cresswell said the delivery date was pushed back twice from the original date, then after contacting Australia Post, an incident case was established.

She said Australia Post told her they could not find her parcel, but a couple of days later, it arrived.

It was the sender, she said, who discovered it had gone to WA.

Ms Cresswell said Australia Post had given no reason for the delay and the parcel’s strange journey.

Another resident had a parcel arrive a month after it was sent from Melbourne – it was only supposed to take two days, and it too had gone to WA.

Tracking information for Michelle Chapman’s online purchase shows it was processed at Sunshine West, then went to both Welshpool and Rockingham, before it was taken back to Sunshine West and then to Golden Square.

Most recently, tracking information showed it had arrived in Heathcote on Wednesday morning – three weeks after the shipping information was received by Australia Post.

Glynn Murfitt had two parcels, sent a week apart, go temporarily astray.

“Response from Australia Post was a blanket apology with no urgency about resolving the issue.”

One resident who has also experienced the problem was told by Australia Post that it appeared there was “an error on the postcode that was listed for the parcel” which was discovered by staff in Rockingham.

But Ms Cresswell said her parcel was correctly addressed and she had had no issues receiving previous parcels from the same sender.

An Australia Post spokesperson said the organisation was “committed to providing an efficient and reliable delivery service, but clearly something has gone wrong and we continue to investigate the reported delays’’.

“We apologise for any inconveniences experienced by our customers and encourage anyone with delivery concerns to call our customer call centre on 13 76 78.’’

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