Canada Post EST down again

[llee2]

Every @#$@#!*& weekend...

Of course, it system errors after I enter all the credit card info. No doubt they will charge for something I can't print off again. They did this in December to me and when I called they were supposed to refund me. Called last week to ask where my cheque was. Their answer - they're backlogged with these problems and haven't gotten to it yet. 2 months now for a refund over their mistake. Getting to be as slow as their delivery.

Lincoln

[catseye*]

I got a couple done this morning, now it's hanging up again.

anyone else?

[sunward-hobbies]

I tried around 4:00 Et and couldn;t get through. Called tech support and seems it wasn't expected to be up today.

Angelo

[catseye*]

seems ok now, a little slow but working

[ospreylinks]

I presume you are talking about the on-line version. Why not just download the desktop version?

Jeff

[catseye*]

The main reason is that it's not Mac-compatible.

[ospreylinks]

It is also clunky crappy slow junk, but because I want a printed manifest for back-up I choose to use it over the on-line version.

Jeff

[catseye*]

Tell us what you REALLY think, Jeff!

[llee2]

I have the desktop version and you're right, it's crap.

In fact, I'd rather just go with the counter rate than use the desktop version. Just pisses me off that CP has the program and it's a crap shoot whether or not it will work at any given time. You'd think that with them constantly pushing people to use EST, that they'd have some flipping stability on the site.

And by the way, EST was down YET AGAIN late last night with "no backend servers available".

Lincoln

[ospreylinks]

What I don't understand with the desktop version is everytime you boot it up you have to sign in and it connects with their server and checks for program and barcode updates, end everyday it seems it has to acquire an update, which takes time....

So if you want to use the software just to check the price of shipping to reply to inquiries, you have to mind your time while it loads, etc.... I have used the online freight quoting by Canada Post only to find that when I punch in the same info to the online CP, the freight is different and always higher when getting ready to ship, meanwhile we have quoted and collected on a lower freight amount....arrrghhhhh....

Why can't the Canada Post software emulate the UPS shipping software. It loads fast, seems to run mostly bug free and the only time it communicates with the UPS server is when you actually ship an item, and at that time it does its necessary updates, etc.....

At best all I can say is the Canada Post Desktop version was written by a bureaucrat who doesn't do any shipping.

Jeff

[ospreylinks]

I meant when I punch in the same info to the desktop CP shipping tools, the freight is different.....

Jeff

[imagi.nation]

Lincoln:

I have found that when I get the "no backend servers available" message that going through the login process again re-connects to the servers. It also works when you get the screen with all the java gibberish. They seem to have an inactivity timeout set for a session but don't let you know how long it is or that you've timed out. My guess is that the timeout is between 4 and 5 minutes.

Cheers,
Ernie.

[recped]

The new postal code lookup page (advanced) was not working a few days ago as well.

Had to look up my sisters postal code (new house), it was telling me that no such address existed. I was thinking perhaps I had the wrong street number so I checked my own address.....apparently I don't exist either!

I don't use EST but it sure would be nice if the online shipping calculator didn't lose all the data when you hit the back button to revise.

Ben

[llee2]

Ernie,

That has worked for me in the past, but this week it hasn't. I'm on for less than a couple of minutes and it seems to always error in the last step (after entering all my CC info). I called CP today to make sure I was not billed for these shipments that never went through and they can't even check. Apparently, they've been up and down all week and the rep kept getting the same error when he tried to access my account history.

And although he said CP was aware of the problem, he had no idea exactly what was wrong, or when it would be fixed. Nice, huh?

Lincoln

[v2777mr]

Hi Everyone,

Has anyone had success today using the canada post OBC? When you get the label printout part it is all corrupt!

Any ideas

thanks

Melissa

[bh542]

I had a bad day this Monday---I couldn't go through until 9:00pm. I did it that evening and finished all shipping labels and payment for the next day. I noticed somebody said it was not ok on Tuesday.

I found that it usually worked at midnight. I was worrying it wouldn't work during day time so I did it last night and I was right, so far.

Andrew

[snow_white_39]

Yup, had problems yesterday (26th) and today (27th) with the label printout being corrupt. Very frustrating! Are other people having this problem too?

Gwen

[tamamottyl]

I had same problem today with the label printout being corrupt. I am using paypal credit card. So I checked my card and CP has already charged for that error!
How can I ask them refund?

Mott

[ospreylinks]

I called Canada Post today just to complain about the clunky slow nature of the EST desktop version and having to wait to get through for several minutes....

After finally having my call answered I talked to a women who didn't realize it was such a crappy program, when I asked her if an update was coming, she said she didn't know anything about the desktop version as she just worked on the online version.... so why was I talking to her? She didn't know, but said she would transfer me to the desktop help and then hung up on me....

Yup, customer satisfaction here is high...

Jeff

[v2777mr]

Just called the help desk and it should down all night right when you get the label page. Thanks Canada Post!!!

put they glad me a number for when you can't print a label but get charged for it.

1-800-267-7151

Later

Melissa