eBay

amberwoodottawa · ‎03-22-2004

While not related to my eBay sales, I always like the opportunity to bring up the excellent service from CP (NOT!!!).

In anticipation of taking a short break and heading off to Florida with the family, I placed a "Hold Mail" service with CP online and PAID the appropriate fees for this service with my cc. I immediately received an emailed confirmation and 2-days later recd by Express Post, a further confirmation that there would be NO mail delivery until March 22nd.

So you can imagine my surprise when arriving home on March 19th to find my mailbox busting at the seams with 14 pieces of first class mail crammed in including bank statements with cancelled cheques, a new unsigned bank card, cc bills and a cheque for several thousand for consulting work that I do.

Those 14 pieces does not include junk mail delivered by CP which shjould also have been held.

I reported this to CP this morning and was told that I can expect a further call from a local supervisor taking up more of my time as I am certain he will try to tell me it was held until the 19th and all delivered that day.

I am also certain that I will get my $ back for the service however none of that is important. Their poor or absence of service that I paid for could have told a burglar that we were not home, or provided a fraud artist the opportunity to steal our identity or for some of the mail to be stolen by kids or fall out of the mail box and blown away creating a general inconvenience.

Thanks again CP for advertising your quality services, charging too much for them and NOT deliverying!

Malcolm

gloriaguides · ‎03-22-2004

They took 17 days to get a book from Nova Scotia to BC recently-expedited service. My buyer was really upset. At the same time it was taking almost 3 weeks to the western US. I was doing alot of hand-holding that week! Gloria

llee2 · ‎03-22-2004

Well this really comes to no shock to me and probably not anyone else here. CP really needs an overhaul. My most recent CP horror story...

Having moved recently, I set up a change of address to have my mail rerouted to my new house. I did this 6 weeks ahead of the move to give CP enough time. Well, it was enough time but that didn't stop CP from doing a crappy job at rerouting my mail. I would get some mail rerouted but at least half was still going to my old address (including cheques, eBay money orders and a T4 slip). Luckily, I hadn't rented out my old place yet and able to pick up my mail. When I complained to CP, they said that sometimes "some" mail will get through the address change and sent to the old address but he would alert the appropriate station to be more careful. I told the rep that it was closer to half my mail. If "some" mail was still going to get through, then would it be ok if I paid CP only "some" of the cost for the address change service? You can probably guess CP's answer to that one.

shooger · ‎03-23-2004

They didn't deliver some stuff I bought when I wanted them to, and I think the mail person stepped on my garden! Additionally, I don't like gray uniforms with blue trim!

amberwoodottawa · ‎03-23-2004

shooger
Neither does my dog!

Malcolm

amberwoodottawa · ‎03-23-2004

Continuing Saga with CP
A local area supervisor calls yesterday afternoon while I was out and leaves his telephone number. In his message he starts to laugh and tells me that he wants to talk to me to tell me an interesting thing about my mail delivery, in response to my call to C/S in the morning.

I called the number he left, 16 times yesterday afternoon and 8 times this morning. There is no voice mail so the phone rings until I hang up. I have allowed it to ring a full 25 times just to see if his voice mail is programmed to answer after an inordinate amount of time.

Keep up the great work and superior customer service CP!

Malcolm

amberwoodottawa · ‎03-23-2004

Further CP Update
I finally got thru to the CP Supervisor. He told me that there appears to be a glitch in the CP system. The online method of registering when you want mail delivery to begin is different from the forms filled out manually in a postal outlet.

I am the First person to complain about the problem (Oh yah right!). He was very greatful for bringing this to their attention and he has assured me that he has called for a review of their system. (That will probably take CP about 1 year and cost $1 million).

I couldnt hold back and told him that as a commercial account of CP I found their billing methods horrible and corrupt and while I applauded their service within Canada I told them that their relationship with USPS needs to be fine tuned as Expedited Parcel can take upwards of 4 weeks to travel 1,000 south of the border.

He is crediting my charge card the $6 for the Hold Mail charges (Whoppee!!!).

Malcolm

amberwoodottawa · ‎03-23-2004

Further note on my conversation with the CP Supervisor: I asked him why CP prefers to use their old manual forms and prefers manual procedures while trying to convince everyone to use their on-line shipping tools, be it for personal or commercial use?

They want us to use their online tools however they dont use them internally. I asked the Supervisor if he reviewed their form online on the CPO web site before calling me and he said he hadnt and would have to borrow someone's computer to have a look at it.

They are so antiquated in their procedures and technology that when I said I would fax the confirmation letter I rec'd, the Supervisor told me that the fax line is shared with a telephone line.

It took me 15 minutes to get the fax thru as CP clerks would answer the telephone and then hang up rather than switching the line to fax even though the Supervisor told them that my fax was coming in. And this is from the 2nd largest CP terminal in Ottawa.

Malcolm

whoscloset · ‎03-23-2004

Scary! VERY Scary!

Monique

ospreylinks · ‎03-23-2004

I had a situation with a hockey association that I use to be treasurer and we had a Canada Post Box for years.

The box came up for renewal and one of our members went in prior to it expiring and paid the fee.

While the clerk did take the money, they did not log the payment correctly and they ended up closing the box.

We had bank statements, entry forms for a tournament and a whole mess of stuff returned before we found out the box had been closed in error (a matter of a couple of months because from time to time mail would be available for pick-up in the box).

While I contacted the local post office and told them of the grief they had created and we also were forced to cancel our hockey tournament because of lack of response, when it turns out the enteries were returned.

I informed them I would be looking for compensation for this apparent error on their part and the resulting loss of revenue to our association.

Well, I guess I could sue, but their response, why didn't you tell us earlier there had been an error, and sorry nothing we can do about it.....

Jerks......

Jeff

ospreylinks · ‎03-23-2004

Also, my experiement with Canada Post desk-top shipping tools has come to an end.

It was taking me 20-30 minutes to process a single shipment (while the computer stalled, chugged and general error messages arrived).

Apparently however, there is a new version being released in April. I will probably take a look, but for it to take 20 minutes for me to do their key-punching for them and then getting a paltry $.30 in savings....

Just because I look stupid doesn't mean I am!

Jeff

amberwoodottawa · ‎03-23-2004

I have had a one-year experiment with CP and eBay. If I decide to continue with selling on eBay I will probably drop my account with CP even with the Level 3 status I have as I dont think it is worth crap.

If a level 3 costs me $38 one month and $189 to ship an identical guitar to the same customer in Arizona via Express Post the next month then they can keep it.

I am up to around $1,900 in deductions from my CP account so far and it is just a matter of time until the gloves come off.

What disturbs me is how much the inside workers depend on their old manual systems as do the supervisors and I assume some lower level managers.

I firmly believe that the CP screw ups are the result of running manual and online systems at the same time and that the cost of doing so removes any chance for the crown corporation to turn a profit or truly be efficient.

Malcolm

your-chic-shopper · ‎03-23-2004

First let me start with I hate UPS .....but I wanted to comment on some resent news

I had UPS in my office in Vancouver they have a New Service .

This is what they do
A third party courier comes and picks up your items . They clear it across the boarder . At that point it starts from Blain WA just over the boarder from Vancouver . It get's scanned and Starts to be shipped from UPS

No Demetional weight on your items PERIOD
4 pounds is around $6.00 America and arrives in 5 to 7 day's Guaranteed any address in America

The only thing is they charge by weight on the pick up in American Funds ..Around $20.00 and up . However if the items arrive faster to American Customers . You could group your shipments once a week

The saving are almost 50% and I am also to the point of considering doing this