How I spent this morning on the phone with USPS (I'd spend the day, all day with CP vs USPS )
Background: Buyer purchased pd. right away, I shipped within 24hrs. Oversize letter rate USA . Destination: Virginia USA
I do not print postage online, go to my CP station as I always do. Point being, I am physically involved in this process and not new to mailing. Pd. for correct postage watched employee do what they need to do. Custom form was attached filled out by myself. Item was made in USA. declared value under $20.00 (true) Again, point being, no customs/duty issues.
Email from the buyer this AM extremely upset (reasonably so). Letter carrier came to his door yesterday with oversize letter package, telling him that to give him the mail he would have to PAY the letter carrier for the postage and declared value of the item !!!! Buyer, refused ..... so would I have. Buyer states in email that he checked his PP account and that the payment in full had been taken out of his account as it should so basically WT*
To cover all the bases, yes postage and documentation was secure on pkg, filed out correctly, placed on pkg were it should be etc.
So a nice challenging way to start the day instead of listing, again. Started with USPS 800# on website then continued to escalate call, more the call was escalated, the worse the "customer service" became to the point 1 "professional" told me that if I thought it was such a big deal, that I should be calling the police not them. When I replied that I was hoping that this could be resolved "internally" but if that is her suggestion as way to resolve this, if she could kindly give me the local sherriff's #, the call got escalated again. Next person comes on starting with, "Are you the Canadian calling accusing USPS of doing something wrong ...... I was given, finally, the local postal station for the buyers addy # Called them, I assumed they were foreworned of my call .... anyway it was challenging to say the least and it took me speaking with/explaining the situation to 2 different supervisors , though I think one person was a union rep as they were more focused on how dare I say anything about the letter carrier than resolving the situation .... I finally had to ask to speak to someone who was interested in resolving. End of the story ... the package was still there( not on it's way back here yet) "It will be delivered today!! I asked if there was any $$$ owing ... no and they hung up
So based on this real situation: If buyer marks didn't receive on time ...... All I can say... no matter how eBay wants to twist/spin/sugar coat/be in denial, this is a measurement of postal service.... not the seller, as I assume the initial intent of this festering can of worms that is about to be unleashed, was to be. Remember, the program isn't "officially" under way yet and many many sellers have various situations that are the same.. it's affecting the seller and should not .... eBay don't use sellers for what they can't control. In this case, I feel that I did everything short of getting in my car, driving to Virginia, retrieving pkg and hand delivering. So If I get a "not arrived" mark .... is our only recourse to spend time with a CSR pleading our case, instead of listing and when the CSR asks for tracking (which I don't have) does that mean basically call over, seller once again SOL
What are your thoughts?
