CANADA POST really screws up in a big way!!!!

[Anonymous]

I sent an expensive package to Germany with a tracking number and it was sitting at the customs for a week, verifying recipient's address; Possible Delay;

It was unclaimed by recipient. Item being returned to sender;

Item has been arrived in Canada and was sent for further processing (Ville St-Laurent on March 2;

Item has been presented to Canada Border Services Agency for customs review on March 3 in Montreal;

Item processed in Winnipeg on March 4;

Item processed in Montreal on March 6;

Item processed in Winnipeg on March 8;

Item processed in Montreal on March 9.

For some unknown reasons why it kept going back and forth to Winnipeg and Montreal.

As for the item was "unclaimed by recipient", it is not true, the guy said he never received the postal notice so it is coming back here.  The problem is that Canada Post will not reimburse me for the postage rate which is nearly $85.00 and the recipient didn't want to pay for the postage rate but want the package!  I am not willing to pay the expensive postage rate due the stupid postal system!  Any advice.  Thanks.

[momcqueen]

It sounds more like Deutsche Poste messsed up than Canada Post did since they delivered it to Germany as requested.

Did you pay return as well? As in, counter rates when it arrived back to you in Winnipeg?

Call eBay to see what they would have you do with this situation. I have a theory about what to expect but I don’t want to start you thinking one way when it may not be what eBay advises.

[rehautala]

There is not a lot you can do as far as the PO goes. When you send something overseas, you should have had the option to "return at sender's expense" or "abandon".

If you chose to have it returned, you have to pay the return shipping cost. Canada Post did get it to Germany, so you are not eligible to get a refund for that either.

I agree that the German PO somehow made a mistake, or the buyer for some other reason did not get the notice.

eBay will tell you to contact the PO.

[femmefan1946]

This " the postage rate which is nearly $85.00 and the recipient didn't want to pay for the postage rate but want the package! " makes me wonder if the customer was also unwilling to pay the duty and VAT on the item once it got to Germany.

Since we were not in the Bundesposte office, we can only know what the customer told honeybed.

@Anonymous  Since you can see the parcel bouncing, go to your local Post OFFICE , not postal outlet, and ask them to intervene.

Make it face to face, not phone or email.

It is possible that the return postage will be waived. Not likely, but possible.

And of course---

Politely.-- Captain Malcolm Reynolds.

[cumos55]

There was once a parcel mailed in Winnipeg.... over 10 years ago

The Parcel had tracking.

It went from Winnipeg to Montreal, then to Calgary, then Montreal,  then Calgary.

And it kept going between Montreal and Calgary..... and Canada Post could not stop it.....

Eventually the person that originally mailed the parcel was paid the insurance value of the parcel plus postage. 

The Parcel was never found.

[dhslk]

Wait until you have the package in hand. There is a possibility that the buyer just didn't bother to pick it up because Customs fess were due. Or perhaps there was a problem with the address. In both these cases, it would be the buyer's fault for the return and postage (both ways) should be on the buyer. There should be some info on the parcel as to the reason for return.  

[Anonymous]

Excuse me, not ideal for me to go to the post office in person as I am mobility limited with health conditions and cannot stand more than 5 minutes or I would end up sweating like crazy from pain.

I rather contact Canada Post by email or phone through Internet Phone, that way our communications would be saved and printed while in person nothing.

Right now I rather sit back and watch how much more they continue to be so stupid before I finally get the package and will start the action to contact Canada Post for the refund.  I am getting the refund for the late delivery anyway.

[izzame]

To get the package in hand , you have to pay the return postage first. CP "return to sender" ( so to say) is also like COD (without the added COD charge)

I had the same thing happen 2 x both times from Germany !!! Both sent w/tracking

1st  buyer refused package as he felt, I the seller should pay his duty & taxes as part of the price for the item ( really, was also a "seasoned' buyer) 

2nd buyer, didn't bother to pick up.  When he saw the "amount due for duty & taxes" on the card, decided it wasn't worth it. The package will sit for whatever time frame the postal service policies state and then automatically "returned to sender" who is then responsible  to pay the return postage to get the package back.

Isn't it great when the seller gets to pay coming & going and the buyer gets all their$$ back. Oh, and don't forget, your "cost" of this item has increased and you still haven't sold it, you're back at square one with a smaller profit margin.

"The cost of doing business, expect once in a while", I fully agree. But in the last 3-4 months this anything goes returns has become a buyer free for all and getting worse.

[momcqueen]

If a package is returned because the recipient/buyer has refused delivery (or to pay duty) it voids, I believe, the MoneyBack Guarantee but you’d want to call Customer Service to confirm that.

[reallynicestamps]

cannot stand more than 5 minutes

I know what you mean. I dislike the ATMs so I usually drag a chair over when I am waiting for the teller at the bank.
Because the clientele is also elderly, I've had a few others take over 'my' chair when a teller comes available.
Which makes me think that bringing a garden chair or a folding chair (or a walker with a seat) might be an option.

The reason for the 'face to face' is that the clerk has to deal with you. A real human being. Not a voice on the phone, or some letters on a screen.

What Esmerelda Weatherwax calls 'headology'.

[widgetc]

I had a parcel bounce back and forth between 2 Quebec locations for over 3 weeks. The buyer finally contacted me, I contacted Canada Post via phone and they intervened and the parcel arrived safely.

[ricarmic]

I also once had a parcel bouncing between two cities.

The reason was the actual address on the box was correct, but the fill in helper at my post office put my (the sending) postal code on the bar code.

So it went to Mississauga, machine sent it back to London heading for my postal code. Someone with eyes in London saw the address said, hmmm why is this here, sent it back to Mississauga, machine there read the bar code and sent it back again and on and on...my postmaster in my wee village finally got the message to the right folks to stop the eternal back and forth. (This is yet another of the major advantages of living in a wee village and a local post office).

[hlmacdon]

---

@femmefan1946wrote:

This " the postage rate which is nearly $85.00 and the recipient didn't want to pay for the postage rate but want the package! " makes me wonder if the customer was also unwilling to pay the duty and VAT on the item once it got to Germany.

Since we were not in the Bundesposte office, we can only know what the customer told honeybed.

---

It doesn't happen often, but when there is a returned package,  9/10 times in my own experience this seems to be the case with European customers. With VAT rates being what they are, potential duties, handling fees, etc they'll just refuse to pickup any package that has fees due. Same thing happens with Canadian customers buying from abroad so it isn't a uniquely European thing. 1/10 times there is a legitimate screw up by one of the postal services but typically that involves the package being misdirected to the wrong country and it ends up getting passed back to the originating country rather than the destination. Pretty much why I ship 100% of shipments with tracking these days, it just makes the whole process transparent for buyer and seller.

For the OP, to deal with this I would go to the foreign postal services website and input your original tracking number. This will include a complete tracking status on their side including updates which don't always sync with Canada post, this will allow you to ascertain what the buyer would have been able to see and that can dictate whether it makes more sense to find a compromise that works for both parties. It's a tough one, but with expensive packages or packages with high shipping costs I tend to babysit those ones and monitor the tracking number on the destination country's postal site and let the buyer know if a package happens to be available for them to pickup. 

From having dealt with this quite a few times over the years, EBay's policy is buyer is responsible for the original postage costs and any subsequent postage costs for a reshipment if the item was available for pickup and they declined to do so or the package was refused by sender. They are entitled to a refund of the item's price once your package is back in your hands. Both ebay and paypal generally take a dim view where the tracking demonstrates either took place. 

[reallynicestamps]

And it looks as if Deutscheposte uses DHL as their tracked parcel service. And the site is in English.

https://nolp.dhl.de/nextt-online-public/report_popup.jsp?lang=en&extendedSearch=true

Which is helpful, although playing with Google Translate or Babelfish is also fun.

The most that the seller needs to refund in the case of a refused parcel is the selling price, then?

Good to know.

[collector662]

@izzame I am in the same boat too, how do I tracked my package when return to me from Germany to canada.

[widgetc]

I had a parcel bounce back and forth between 2 Quebec locations for over a month. Only then did the buyer contact me.  I had to call a number given to me by the local post office and have them intervene. It arrived after about 6 weeks total. The buyer was very patient and all was well.

[kh-leslie]

Hi everyone,

Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thank you for understanding.