Collecting and Sending to Geo Council

[Shewolf13]

Question for those who know: How long does it take to get the elements back from the Geo Council once you send something in?  I figured it would be a day or two, but it's been three for some of the things and I haven't gotten any mail at all.  Doesn't mail come every day?

[ClayMask]

Sometimes it takes two days for the mail to come, but it shouldn't take more than that.  I'm guessing you have the same problem they're talking about in this other thread.

http://www.carls-sims-4-guide.com/forum/index.php/topic,23247.0.html

Did you pull your bills from the mailbox and end up with them stuck in your inventory?

[Shewolf13]

Nope, they just never show up.  Mail doesn't come.  At least it hadn't for almost four days.  I timed it.  It was very odd.  It did finally come.  I know you only get one element for each thing you send, but is there a chance to not get anything?

[ClayMask]

I know you only get one element for each thing you send, but is there a chance to not get anything?

I was wondering that too because it seems like it happened to me once or twice since the last patch.  I never noticed it happening before.

[Shewolf13]

I've never been one for collecting, so I had no idea if what I was experiencing was normal or not.  I know I sent in about 10 different things, but certainly didn't get that many elements.

[Tixxis]

I've never been one for collecting, so I had no idea if what I was experiencing was normal or not.  I know I sent in about 10 different things, but certainly didn't get that many elements.

Apart from a possible mailbox problem, I think it's weird you did not get a return of 10 elements for 10 items sent in. I'm used to getting one element per item sent in every time.
In a new game, when you have never sent anything off before, the wait can seem long. But over all, you should get mail within 24 hours. It tends to get delivered any time between 8.30 am and 1.00 pm as far as I can see. Sometimes, I travel if there has been no delivery and on return - boom - it's there.

[ClayMask]

Do you know if there's anything you might have done that caused the mail to arrive again?  Is is still arriving for you?  I'm having this problem now, along with many other people having it.

[Playalot]

Not getting the correct amount of elements back compared to how many collectables were sent away must be part of the general mailbox glitch. I sent away 12 collectables to only get a bill which then became stuck in my sims inventory. It wasn't even bill day... that had occurred the day before and I had already paid the bills using the phone.  Mailbox problems started after finishing the egg collection and I didn't receive the rabbit/toy thing either. lol (Not so much of a problem as it's available in build/buy anyhow.

[Sannara]

I am having the mailbox problem and I have not completed the egg collection. This is the third game file I've played since the patch and the mailbox has been glitched in all of them. I have sent 5 - 10 items to the council in each game and have gotten absolutely none back, and in my current game it has been at least 3 weeks of in-game time since sending them off.

I still get bills, but they seem to come slightly less often than pre-patch.

[ClayMask]

You can learn more about this issue if you go here.

http://www.carls-sims-4-guide.com/forum/index.php/topic,23247.0.html

[Shewolf13]

It seems to happen randomly as to when I get mail.  I tried traveling, but that didn't work.  But then two Sim days later it came.   But it certainly isn't regular.  And I'm positive I'm not getting a 1 to 1 ratio of elements to items.

[Tixxis]

It seems to happen randomly as to when I get mail.  I tried traveling, but that didn't work.  But then two Sim days later it came.   But it certainly isn't regular.  And I'm positive I'm not getting a 1 to 1 ratio of elements to items.

Claymask suggested - see thread mentioned above - that travelling is no longer a good thing when you are waiting for a delivery and I agree. You were lucky to get mail delivered two days later - I wish for that to happen in my games, but it doesn't. At the other hand, I have an absolute 1 to 1 ratio of convertion into elements.
Again, in that other thread, I mentioned how I had a reliable succes rate with sending off items after completing the Space Rock collection. I can now confirm that there are a few more collections that work just the same and this should allow you  to collect all elements. Try, and see if it work for you too?
 

[thelittlepakeha]

Supposedly the fix is to make sure your Sim doesn't go anywhere except work between sending the stuff and receiving the elements, and also not to save and reload the game. So far that seems to be working for me but I keep a fairly close [side]eye on it when I'm playing my collector Sim. (At the moment I'm playing a different file where neither of them are collecting anything yet.)