CanadaPost returns the shipment with reason "refused" and receiver knows nothing about it

[aqyera]

I work for an online shop and recently we had a case when an item was mailed back to us apparently refused. We normally refuse unauthorized returns, just recorded shipment details and told CP to hold it in mailbox for now. Talked to customer and offered partial refund after subtracting full postage and 10% restocking, or simply refuse the return, and have CP to destroy the package with zero refund. There is tracking to confirm delivery and then refusal, so PayPal or VISA would be no help anyway. Customer acted all surprised - hey, I was wondering where this was and no, I did not refuse it, nor did anyone at my house.

Called customer service, some obnoxious CS woman kept telling me it was refused and that's that. I told her, like CanadaPost never makes mistakes, so what about all those checks we keep getting regularly for lost shipments and other screwups. Eventually talked to a supervisor, who had a brain and she agreed, if receiver had remorse, why would he want this back? I offered signed affidavit from receiver stating he did not refuse it, but she said she did not require it. We have to pick it up, pay return postage, pay forward postage again and she will refund both.

She told me how much they got for shipment in the first place, and since we used PayPal for this one, I figured PayPal keeps approx 15% from after tax total from reselling CanadaPost, so it's not exactly a convenience service to members like they try to market it.

[mr.elmwood]

Refused does not necessarily mean the customer refused it. Could be another reason that is not on the sticker. I just got one back today for insufficient address and I am looking at the sticker.

Things not on the sticker:

dog
mailbox broken
construction
unsafe area
snow and ice
gate locked
not picked up, return to sender

[reallynicestamps]

Glad you went to the supervisor, OP. Customer service can be frustrating (have you ever read notalwaysright.com?) but the clerk should at least attempt to see the customer's side.

Thanks for the reminder about "unsafe" and "snow and ice", this time of year those situations arise all too often. And of course, the postie can't even put a note in the mailbox if she can't reach it.

[aqyera]

Mr. E, we have sent several hundreds of thousands packages over some years and Refused does not mean Unclaimed or Undeliverable, it means there was interaction with recipient and package was refused.

This particular shipment shows "Item successfully delivered" then next line "Item refused by recipient. Item being returned to sender".

We don't argue with the postal clerks, I don't think they have any authority. CanadaPost is not a high-end shipping company and even though lost mail is rare, they make lot of various needless mistakes. Not so long ago we started seeing lot of bounced mail we dropped day before with postage due, brought it to the counter, they weighed it and said it's all fine, stamped it and dropped back into the mail. After couple days of this harassment, my colleague wrote a complaint suggesting they should train new hires better and our postal clerk forwarded complaint to sorting plant supervisor and it stopped.

CanadaPost is what it is. It's not UPS, we have a price comparison tool and usually choose between CanadaPost/UPS based on the price. Not complaining, just stating they are quite fallible.

[steveyboy1969]

I agree, refused is exactly that - the customer refused to accept or sign and that was noted by the postal worker. It doesn't take long to realise just how horrible CP is at customer service and of course delivery. I

[6190499]

I had few packages being "undeliverable" by Amazon (similar to "refused"), of course refunded in full, until I noticed... I use fountain of water in this hottest weather, random times of the day (including 2pm-4pm)  and most probably delivery person didn't want to get wet and especially to leave parcel in the water!

[recped]

ZOMBIE THREAD from 9 years ago!!!!!!