Canada Post 5 stars....Pitney Bowes 1 star......

[recped]

Hey Mods....this post has NOTHING to do with the Global Shipping Program!

So I needed to send a package of stuff to a friend of mine in Thunder Bay, I went over to PayPal/shipnow to print an Expedited label. Pasted in the address, entered the info and continued to the next page.

Shipping seemed reasonable but I rarely send anything over the 750 gram minimum and I know the increments over .75kg are actually pretty small (that and I may not have ever shipped to Tbay).

Print the label and drop off the box around 4:00pm on Monday.

Tuesday morning I get a message from my friend, turns out he gave me the right street and city but also his postal code from Guelph where he used to live.

Package arrives in Kitchener-Waterloo on Tuesday morning and then moves on for "local delivery", buddy calls Canada Post on Tuesday afternoon to see what if anything can be done, they tell him not to worry it will be redirected.

Wednesday morning it's back in Mississauga, label correction is done and then sent out to the final destination.

Thursday morning it arrives in Thunder Bay and is delivered a couple of hours later.

Canada Post did a nice job on this one, I only paid the postage to Guelph, they found the error, fixed it, forwarded it and delivered it in a very timely fashion and at no additional charge.

Pitney-Bowes gets only 1 star, I've used a number of postage printing applications for Canada Post, USPS and others, I've not found any recently that would allow you to print an incorrect label. It's a bit of a shock that PB don't run any type of address verification.

I currently use Stamps.com for USPS postage, it won't let you print if there is a zip code mismatch, it won't even let you print without a pop-up if you send to an address that should have an apartment number but you haven't included one.

[drucecat]

I actually had a fairly similar thing happen on a sale that I made about 3 months ago.

The biggest difference was that I noticed the problem in the address prior to shipping the package out, and this is where the story gets interesting.

The buyer and his address were returned as looking very French Canadian, and the postal code began with a G. Which of course means Quebec.

The PayPal verified address showed the Province as SK (Saskatchewan).

So, I checked the buyers registered address on eBay, and it was identical, except it correctly showed the Province as QC (Quebec). I also used Google maps and did a drive-by of the buyers residence, in QC.

So, I reprinted the address label with QC as the Province. I also sent a note to the buyer telling him that his PayPal verified address was incorrect. I wasn't certain that my message would be understood by the buyer, as I can only communicate in English, and as he was from Eastern Quebec, he may not understand my message.

Lastly, I gave PayPal a call, as I thought that they may want to follow this up with the Buyer, as it would be easy for a seller to send an item to the wrong address.

Well, I have never had a more ignorant response than what I received from PayPal!

I was told that the address was only between myself and the buyer, and until the buyer requested a change, they were unconcerned.

 I told them eBay had a different (correct)  address.

I explained that if I had been a US Seller, I would certainly have sent the package out to the wrong address, as very few US sellers would be that familiar with Canadian addresses and postal codes. I did say it would probably be delivered, but the possibility of a delay was high as SK is in the west and QC is in the east. The CS rep could care less.

So, I asked about PayPal coverage if I sent it to QC. Of course there was none (and honestly, I expected as much, as I didn't expect PayPal to change the address on my say so; I just expected them to acknowledge the problem and contact the buyer). I was told that if I shipped it to the verified address, (the wrong SK address), then it would be covered.

By this time I was pretty much losing it, but I asked very politely for PayPal to contact the buyer, who may be only French speaking, so he could contact them in order to get this changed. The CS rep assured me that they had French speaking CS reps on staff that would be happy to communicate with him, as soon as he contacted them. I asked how he was to know to contact them if he couldn't read my note, as it was in English. Apparently, this is of no concern  to PayPal, because they would do nothing.

So, I hung up, sent the parcel to QC. Got a positive about 10 days later.

I did give PayPal the most scathing feedback on their questionnaire they send out after you have contacted CS.

This kind of makes you wonder, what kind of a moron can sit in front of a computer screen, and rather than quickly check, if what I'm saying is correct, would choose to knowingly leave the information as incorrect. It potentially hurts the buyer, the seller, eBay and PayPal - but why should that matter to the "big business".

Also, more to your point; how does the wrong verified address get approved in the first place. Are there no checks whatsoever? 

And, I also use Stamps.com for all my US and most of my international packages. And, I agree that their address verification (they are verifying the address with the USPS database) gives you a great amount of peace of mind.