Holy crap! I am absolutely bewildered, angry, frustrated, and pretty sure I live in alternate dimension where what happened with my Sonic Pad makes any amount of sense.

As it is, I am completely baffled.

Before I continue, this is not what you think. It’s not a hit piece on the Sonic Pad. Not at all! It’s something much, much worse.

Ever since I missed the first release of the Sonic Pad (or at least what was the first one to me), I realized how valuable one could be for my company. Printing at 3x speed would make us immensely more effective.

So when I saw the Sonic Pad for sale on the 28th of September, I jumped at the chance. I was able to get one before the stock expired and was looking forward to the day it would arrive. If only I knew what that really meant.

See, I purchased the Sonic Pad in the middle of a selling a house. We already had an offer; I knew I would be moving from the house I was selling soon, but I didn’t know where. Wherever it would be, would be in the same area (and ended up being in the same small town). I thought perhaps I could change the address when it shipped.

I thought that until it shipped the very next day! I was excited, even though it meant I had no chance to change the address.

For two weeks, the package didn’t show any progress; the tracking only displayed the US information so the whole time it was making it to the US, I was in the dark. During that time, I found a place to live and forwarded my mail address. You will not believe the chaos that unleashed.

I was excited when two weeks later on the 12 of October it arrived in the US - at a hub in NJ (I’m in upstate NY, over 200 miles away). I was completely unaware of what was about to happen.

This Monday, the 17th it went out for delivery! I was so ready to get my hands on it! What’s more, I would be back at the house, cleaning for the walkthrough, so I would simply be able to grab it when I left. I was literally within 100 feet of the Sonic Pad… when the driver DROVE RIGHT PAST.

I wish I was making this up. I wish what happened next had any kind of basis in logic or reason.

Evidently, because I had forwarded my address, USPS would not deliver it. Understandable. However, what blew my mind was how they resolved it: they marked it Return to Sender.

Not forwarded. Not held at post office. Not contact recipient. Return to Sender. My new address was in the same town less than 10 miles away, and they decided the best course of action was to transfer it over 200 miles away to hand it back to DHL who would send it back to China.

I talked with USPS several times and the local post office who assured me that was just a catch all code and it was being forwarded.

I thought for sure they were wrong until I saw it showed as Out for Delivery today. Friend, I felt a huge sense of relief - for 5 seconds - when I saw the delivery location was NJ, not my address. It truly was being returned.

I have talked with so many people. I have called the local post office several times where the phone rings off the hook for 3 minutes and then just disconnects. I have talked to USPS customer service who assures me there is nothing they can do.

So my Sonic Pad is on its way back to Creality. I put in a support call with Creality to see if they can have DHL switch the address and resend while still in the US. I hope they can make that happen. If not, my Sonic Pad will spend the next two weeks going to China to be credited so I can reorder it and receive it three weeks later.

I am at a loss as to why USPS thought putting it back on a truck to NJ was good for anyone, themselves included, or, in this day and age - with GPS, instant tracking, and cell phones for God’s sake - how they have zero ability to stop it while it was in my town or at any point in the process. I am dumbfounded.

So… when will I have my Sonic Pad? I have no idea. All I know is I wish it wouldn’t end up going through USPS.

My Sonic Pad Nightmare (it’s not what you think)