Question about CP missing package claim and unused shipping label
Summary: The discussion revolves around a question regarding a missing package claim with CP and an unused shipping label. Participants, including zee-chan-jpn-books, recped, and dinomitesales, are trying to address the issue of how to proceed with the claim and resolve the situation concerning the unused shipping label. Throughout the conversation, they exchange information and updates on any progress or solutions found to tackle the problem effectively.
Unfortunately I just had my very first missing tracked parcel to the US in 10+ years of casual selling... and it was a huge order too, 9 kg worth of comic books 😭 It's very frustrating because the Expedited Parcel only covers $100 of the item cost, and I didn't bother purchasing additional insurance as I did NOT expect a tracked parcel to go missing! And I packed them really well so they shouldn't be damaged unless the whole box fall into water, so additional insurance didn't feel necessary. I also never had any buyer complain about receiving their books damaged... I sold those books for much less than what I paid, because I just wanted them to go to a new home... 🤕 I don't get how such a big box could've disappeared into thin air.
I submitted the missing parcel form to Canada Post after x'mas, and I received a reply that it is indeed missing and they will be sending a credit to my account... so for those of you who had to deal with this, does it literally mean I will only get a credit to my account to use on future shipping labels? I am a bit confused as the e-mail below also mentioned a cheque that would take up to 30 days to arrive... I have highlighted the below in red.
My second question is, I actually bought two shipping labels to this buyer. She added a few more books to her order, after I bought the first label so I printed a second one. I have submitted a request for a refund on the first label back on November 30th, but I have yet to receive a refund on that unused label. Should I submit a refund request again?
Thank you in advance!
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Dear customer,
Thank you for contacting Canada Post regarding non-delivery of your item.
Service Ticket Details
Topic: Inquiry - Mail item not delivered
Ticket Number: XXXXX
Tracking Number: XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Amount of Payment: XXXXX
Method of Payment: CREDIT TO ACCOUNT
We are unable to confirm delivery of your item. You will receive a payment equivalent to the postage plus the insured value of the contents.
PLEASE NOTE: Additional shipping fees incurred, including signature, oversize handling, Proof of Age, Proof of Identity, additional liability coverage, COD and pick-up services, are not refundable. Taxes on postage are not refundable for commercial accounts and Solutions for Small Business customers.
Please allow 30 days for payments issued by cheque to arrive. If you have any questions, please contact us by replying to this email.
zee-chan-jpn-books
OP6 months ago...this is getting a little crazy. I only had one sale this whole month to the US (and I ended all listings because personal life got too hectic for the last couple weeks). It's a CD. It's mailed on Jan 7, last scan on Jan 15 at NC. It STILL has not arrived. I don't even know if I should bother relisting my items now...
dinomitesales
·6 months agoI posted another thread here about a Tracked Packet that was mysteriously returned to me (this is separate to the shipment I'm referring to elsewhere in this thread). I contacted Canada Post via the chat feature on their website to hopefully get some additional information (spoiler: they couldn't give me any). But they did open a claim for me to get a refund for my shipping costs.
This was all done within the chat window on the Canada Post website. Customer service representative Kuldeep did some work behind the scenes, coming back every few minutes to let me know he was still here and working on the issue. Eventually he said the claim would be processed within 5 business days via the familiar "credit to account". I asked Kuldeep: What does "credit to account" mean, to hopefully get some more answers to our questions here in this thread. This label wasn't even purchased online, I bought it at the post office. Here is that portion of my conversation:
Me: What do you mean by "credited to my account"?
Kuldeep: We'll refund it to the card/account that was used to pay for this.
Me: I bought the shipping label at the post office though.
Kuldeep: So you paid by card?
Me: I paid at the post office counter in Shoppers Drug Mart using my debit card.
Kuldeep: Yes it will go back to your debit card.
------------
If anyone is familiar with how retail payment processing works you will understand that this makes no sense lol. Canada Post does not have my debit card number, nor the ability to refund the payment to my debit card. The payment was originally made to Loblaws, Inc. as the payment machines at the post office are under contract to Shoppers Drug Mart and the funds deposited into their account.
I chose not to ask any additional questions to Kuldeep as it seems that he is confused as to how things work. I fully expect a cheque for $8.83 (the value of the shipping label) to arrive in a few weeks but I'll follow up if anything different happens lol.
zee-chan-jpn-books
OP6 months agoI don't have a registered business with that name since it's all like an online garage sale to me... The cheque is a TD cheque and I do have a TD account. Will TD let me deposit the cheque (it has my correct full address) if I login to my SfSB account in front of them to prove that it's indeed me, or should I contact CP to issue a new cheque with my real name...?
ricarmic
·6 months ago@zee-chan-jpn-books Do you do online banking, as in cashing cheques via your phone??
My experience is that is is very accepting of problems, I've had cheques with no date, or no signature, or the last name of mine wrong (first name correct, last name my village name).
You'll find out fast it if will take it or not. I've never had one cashed with a problem have a problem afterward, I expect that would only happen if the cheque writer put in a claim against it.
I've also had to "strengthen" the writing, particularly of the numbers as my cheque writers are often aged and write "squiggly" or faintly in spots. No problems with the eventually accepted ones that way. (I've of course never changed the amount, only strengthened what was already there).
zee-chan-jpn-books
OP6 months agoI do have mobile banking but I'm quite hesitant to try depositing it. I looked at the cheque again and the cheque portion does NOT even have my address on it. All it has is "zee-chan" which does not resemble my real name at all. It's the letter portion that has my correct address... Including $100 insurance + 9.5kg postage this cheque is actually over $150...
If I tried, it'd look like I took someone else's CP cheque and tried depositing it to myself... And I'm worried that it'd raise red flags with my account. It's not even like what ricamic described as misspellings, it's a completely different "person".
Is this all an automated process? Hard to imagine anyone would think this could pass as a full name. I bought my label via Snap Ship. But geez, this is probably one of the reasons why CP is in such a deficit. The incompetence of the staff is astounding 🙃
mrdutch1001
·6 months agoCP assumed that "zee-chan " was a business name & therefore the cheque was issued to what CP regarded as a business>not unusual. Whatever name is used for transacting business on SnapShip, that is most likely to whom CP is going to issue the cheque...
ricarmic
·6 months agoWell I've cashed "Bob Toronto" with "Bob" my theoretical first name and Toronto the name of my village, no probs (hand written though, yours is type printed). It's a bot checking this not a person. Normally a cheque "to you" doesn't have your address on it either.
The app will let you know if it doesn't like it. If you try once and it fails then stop there, there isn't any reasonable adjusting you could do after that anyway.
The tolerance level may involve how many successful cheques you've cashed electronically and the running balance of the bank account. I've cashed a lot (many 100s in the last 5 years) and the balance is at least 50 times the value of the cheque value. Likely 95% go in as is no problems the other 5% haven't had any clawbacks (so far, probably cursed myself now).
My experience with tellers at various other institutions is that if the machine rejects it, then you're toast, but that is limited experience.
dinomitesales
·6 months agoIf you bought your label via SnapShip then they used whatever the "business name" was that you entered when creating your Solutions for Small Business account. Is it possible you entered a "business name" of "Zee Chan" when creating the account? I just entered my business name as my actual name as I'm just operating as a sole proprietor under my SIN. I assume this is why the cheque I received was made out properly to my name.
If you log into your account on canadapost.ca, then click your username in the upper right corner and select "Business Settings", see what it says next to "Business Details". If it doesn't have your name there then you might want to update that. I realize this doesn't help you with your current situation, but will correct the problem if you need to be paid out again in the future.
I would probably reach out to Canada Post and see what they say. Maybe they can re-issue the cheque for you. Definitely report back with any findings - this whole thread is a good source of information for anyone finding it in the future.
zee-chan-jpn-books
OP6 months agoYes I put zee-chan as the business name because I don't want buyers to know my real name (I work in public sector and I also have a very unique name). I am not going to adjust the business name on the account because I still want my future Snap Ship labels to not show my real name...
Anyhow, I decided to deposit it with my TD app since it's a TD cheque, and it got accepted on the first attempt........ Which I think is a bit concerning on a security perspective as that could mean anyone could deposit someone else's cheque?? Maybe there's more security features with the codes on the cheque that somehow links to my real name/address and what not that I'm not aware of?? The credit card I used to pay for this label is not a TD card... The email I use for TD banking is also different from my Snap Ship email... It actually concerns me that it deposited on the first try 🙃
ricarmic
·6 months agoI think the bank wants folks to use the apps because it in the end saves them money, otherwise they have to have more tellers in physical branches which costs money.
I suspect the bots are fairly foregiving for small cheques to help make sure people "trust" the phone deposit process, especially for "small" cheques like this.
I very strongly suspect that if there are ever any problems with a cheque then, I suspect that the bots would be more restrictive for that particular account going foreward, but that could be wrong as well.
I also suspect that a well maintained account (ie no problems in the past) with a decent amount of $$$ in it wouldn't raise bot suspicion. If an account with decent $$$ in it did have a cheque cashing problem the bank is covered anyway and would just pull the funds back out.
Whilst I think the real reason is that it saves the bank money overall, it is nice to see a process that puts at least some trust in the consumer for a change...
dinomitesales
·6 months agoThis actually isn't an issue. The "business details" are solely between you and Canada Post and are not visible anywhere else unless you choose to make them visible.
When creating your labels in SnapShip you can set your own "Return Address" that is different than the "Sender Address" attached to your account, and you can simply change the name on that "Return Address" to "Zee Chan" and it will show that way on the shipping label.
dinomitesales
·6 months agoOh jeez, what an annoyance. If you took it to a bank to cash they certainly wouldn't accept it. As ricarmic mentioned, if you use the mobile deposit option it will deposit the funds in your account, but it's unknown if it would be clawed back at some point.
Where did you originally purchase the shipping label? SnapShip, post office, or other?
Last Friday I also received one of the two cheques I'm waiting on from Canada Post, but it was properly made out to my name.
ricarmic
·6 months agoI just want to mention that I've never had one clawed back, I was surprised the not signed one didn't get clawed back, but as I said I doubt anyone looks at these after they've been "bot accepted".
I've done a lot of "strengthening" no probs there, sometimes takes 2 or 3 tries because I don't know for sure what's causing it to be rejected. I'm actually surprised the "bots" don't notice multiple reattempts, however generally these cheques are all under $150 so it's not a monster $$$ amount.
dinomitesales
·6 months agoThat's a good data point, thanks for sharing. Although it's always possible that different banks have different ways of handling things like this.
If I was in zee-chan's position I would probably chance it and use the mobile deposit and see what happens. I imagine it would be next to impossible to get Canada Post to cancel the cheque and re-issue another one (although I supposed it doesn't hurt to reach out and ask - I have to imagine this happens all the time, maybe they have a process for it).
ricarmic
·6 months agoYep I agree, I have the same problem mailing the cheque back, trying to explain the problem, and getting another one back, with probably similar problems is a lot of work.
Fortunately for Zee we both use the same bank.....
dinomitesales
·6 months agoI'm in the same position. Item went missing, filed missing claim with Canada Post, and the claim was granted and on Jan 8 I received the same email you did. The way it reads to me is "CREDIT TO ACCOUNT" means just that - credit to my Canada Post account I purchased the shipping label on.
The email does say "If you have any questions, please contact us by replying to this email."
I did so on the same day, simply asking "Is there an option to get reimbursed by cheque instead of credit to account?" and I still haven't received a response.
recped
·6 months ago@dinomitesales
Do you have an actual Canada Post Commercial account? Buying a label from Canada Post online using your Solutions for Small Business membership is not the same as having a Commercial Account with payment terms.
dinomitesales
·6 months agoNo, it's just a regular Solutions for Small Business account, as I assume everyone else here has. The label was purchased on SnapShip. If they were actually going to issue a cheque, I'm not sure why they wouldn't state that instead of saying "CREDIT TO ACCOUNT". To me that just sounds like I'll have a credit to buy shipping labels on my SnapShip account or something. I honestly have no idea - I guess we'll find out soon lol.
flipistics
·6 months agoThat's what they've said to me in the past and they've always issued a cheque.
zee-chan-jpn-books
OP6 months agodinomitesales
·6 months agoI got a response to my question from the Canada Post rep in charge of my claim.
Even though it said "CREDIT TO ACCOUNT", apparently the payment details behind the scenes indicate that a cheque is being issued. So I can expect a cheque. And I would imagine you can also expect a cheque lol.
Other responders here were correct.
Still not sure why they don't just say that in the email instead of "CREDIT TO ACCOUNT", but who knows lol.
zee-chan-jpn-books
OP6 months agoWow you got an MIA item too eh? Mine was to a buyer in Seattle. What's going on with December... please let me know if you hear back from them. Exactly, "credit to account" reads credit to my Snap Ship account to me as well 🤔
recped
·6 months agoCanada Post loss claims are paid directly to the person filing the claim (that would be you).
It will come in the form of a cheque, usually within a week or two but as their disclaimer states it "could" take a month.
zee-chan-jpn-books
OP6 months agoThanks! Would you happen to know how long it'd take unused shipping labels to get refunded? I think I read somewhere that says 6 months but that felt kinda long...
Do they just mail the cheque in regular letter or would it require a signature? I hope they will send the cheque in my real name, because I use a random "business" name as I didn't want my buyers to know my real name... 🤔
recped
·6 months agoThey will use the name you provided when you filed the claim.
The last claim I made with Canada Post was more than 20 years ago, it just came in a regular envelope, I doubt that has changed.
I don't now what "somewhere" you are talking about, the notification you posted clearly states "allow up to 30 days" and my previous post told you that normally they should arrive in 1 - 2 weeks.
zee-chan-jpn-books
OP6 months agoIt's two different questions. The "up to 30 days" notification is for my MIA parcel that I will be getting a refund on.
To reiniterate, my second question is, how long does it take CP to refund an unused shipping label? Because I printed one label for this buyer first, then she added more to her order, so I printed a second label with the new weight. The first label is not used, but on my Snap Ship account it still says "waiting for item" for that particular label... I also submitted a seperate request to CP to get this label cancelled and refunded.
recped
·6 months agoTo reiniterate, my second question is, how long does it take CP to refund an unused shipping label?
Refunds for cancelled labels is the same timeline, up to 30 days but generally within 2 weeks.
zee-chan-jpn-books
OP6 months agoWell I haven't gotten my refund for that unused label for 6 weeks by now...... Guess I'll need to submit another cancellation request.