DON'T SEND INTERNATIONAL MAIL with USPS

I sent a phone by USPS to a friend of mine in Germany in April 2008. I bought an insurance for $400. The phone was stolen in Germany on the way to the addressee. It took him several days to file a claim in Germany, which he scanned and sent to me.

Sometime in April I went to a local USPS office, where the package was sent from. Obviously, they said they don't process international claims. Surely, they take your money, but they don't handle issues. Apparently, the only way to file a claim with USPS in to CALL their phone 1-800-222-1811. I called it, and it took me a lot of time to get through their idiotic auto-response system. When finally someone picked the phone, she refused to accept any information from me except the tracking number. I told her that I have German claim papers, but she said they have top get papers from Germany and that they'll contact me later. Whatever. A couple of weeks ago I called them again, and couldn't go through their stupid answering system this time. Maybe they upgraded it since last time to defend better from customers. So I wrote an angry e-mail asking to give me a direct phone or call me back. They fired up a couple of rude e-mails, one of which said that they won't reply to my e-mail. Interestingly, one e-mail said that they don't have any information about my case!

Today I was able to go through the automatic answering machine to a human being who called herself Debbie. She was extremely rude, and said the information shows that the package was delivered to Germany. sure, it was, except that the contents were stolen. Then she said that they sent me claim forms on June 2. I didn't receive anything, of course. She said she'll re-send them. She said I can't download forms online! They can accept payment online, but they can't post claim forms ONLINE! When I started ranting about the quality of their service, she hung the phone on me.

Basically, the warranty from USPS doesn't make any sense. It's a fraud, imho. I wonder who deals with these idiots, FTC or FCC? Someone has to have an authority over these scumbugs.