Recently we have been receiving alot of complaints from our US buyers that their parcels still have not arrived even after 3weeks or more. So I called CanadaPOST and to my horror I was told by one of their agents that this infact is quite normal for parcel sent via Expedited - USA and infact it could take about 4-6weeks.
I asked her then why does the website information say 6-12days delivery - her response was this was an estimate and not concrete guarantee. Infact CanadaPOST does not offer any delivery time guarantee with EXPEDITED SERVICE.
Therefore, I asked her, ok so CanadaPOST is charging EXPEDITED RATES and actually delivering a GROUND SERVICE.
I told her then if this is the case why call it EXPEDITED -USA when infact GROUND-USA would be a more accurate title -- see could not answer this question and sounded very uneasy when I pressed her for an answer.
She also confirmed again to me that EXPEDITED-USA service does not and cannot get a SIGNATURE to deliveries in the USA, which means under eBay rules for items over US250 which require a SIGNATURE as proof of delivery you CANNOT use CANADAPOST since they do not have this capability -- for us this is a major problem since we do sell quite alot of items over US$250. We are now looking for an alternate shipper for these items. Most likely will be using FEDEX since UPS is just like CanadaPOST -- a ripoff with lousey service.
Thanks to CanadaPOST we know have 5+ active disputes for NO DELIVERY even though we did ship the items. To compound the problem even more the online CanadaPOST Tracking information for each item still shows that the item has not even left Canada - which leads the buyer to think we never even shipped the item and hence they get scared/worried and immediately file a dispute with eBay and/or ask for an immediate refund.
Also the tracking number that is printed on the EXPEDITED-USA label generated by the eBay shipping tool is TOTALLY USELESS since I was told by the CanadaPOST agent that the tracking information is NOT UPDATED PERIODICALLY and will only be updated AFTER the parcel is actually delivered and that they CANNOT guarantee if in fact it will be updated since this is done by USPS and NOT CANADAPOST.
I went to the USPS ONLINE PARCEL TRACKER and entered each items CanadaPOST Expedite-USA tracking number and sure enough it returned and UNKNOWN error message stating the the tracking number is INVALID.
I have had to contact each person by telephone to explain to them why their parcel has not arrived and to ask them to write letters or complaints to CanadaPOST and USPS for the long delay of their parcels and most have agreed to do so.
Thank you CanadaPOST for all your great efforts in ruining our image, reputation and not mention our business.
It would be nice to have some help from eBay to resolve these issue's but I am not holding my breath,
Any suggestions would be welcomed, any others experiencing the same problems??
Thanks,
TIM @ FTL
