canada post expedited parcels (shippo generated) getting returned to sender

[vbref63]

Is anyone else experiencing getting parcels returned to them?  I only use expedited parcels in canada.  There's a 6% ebay discount for using them.  If I use shippo to generate the labels, it works fine. I print the labels at home.  After 10 years of experience on ebay and thousands of parcels, suddenly I'm getting these parcels returned to me.  CP puts a return to sender label on them and suggests there's insufficient postage (but they don't checkmark any of the boxes for weight, dimension or whatever) and they don't write in the postage due box any amount that I owe them.  The letter carrier is baffled.  The CP representatives are baffled when I call in and spend countless hours talking with them.  One CP representative said that when she inputted "my CP volume discount" it didn't entitle me to pay the rate that shippo showed me and so clearly told me that I was underfunding my shipping.  This person had also never heard of shippo!  And I don't have any control over generating labels, rates. etc......

I'm super frustrated.....

Any similar experiences out there? 

Who is at fault--shippo?  CP?  I don't even know where to begin.  Already wasted hours and hours on this.....

[tobyshitzu]

are you dropping these at an outlet/post office and leaving before they are scanned. If so its the smae issue as my thread right below, the staff there don't knwo how to scan them and think you haven't paid. I can give you an email at CP for quick action if you want to contact someone important

[vbref63]

Thanks for the thought.  However, the items are getting scanned just fine. The parcels are travelling from Edmonton to Richmond, or to Ottawa and then getting sent all the way back.....

[tobyshitzu]

That is weird, if they are under paid they aren't supposed to return them, they just bil the account for the extra.  I haven't seen anyone mention that happening

[vbref63]

They're definitely coming back.  But the return to sender sticker doesn't have any checkmarks on it OR an amount filled in the box for "postage due".  Same on all 4 parcels I got back.  Makes no sense! (i uploaded a photo)

But besides, how can there be postage due?  I don't generate the label prices!!!  I can just choose between the two or three options I'm given. 

I think there's some confusion in the system about the fact that shippo is being given the 6% discount (for expedited) but the individuals like myself should benefit from the shippo rate....

[ypdc_dennis]

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@vbref63 wrote:

... The CP representatives are baffled when I call in and spend countless hours talking with them.  One CP representative said that when she inputted "my CP volume discount" it didn't entitle me to pay the rate that shippo showed me and so clearly told me that I was underfunding my shipping.  This person had also never heard of shippo!  ....

---

That rep was useless -- of course your regular discount (which will be your Solutions for Small Business rate), does not match the eBay discounted rates via Shippo. What a clueless undertrained rep.

As for never hearing of Shippo -- point her at the CANADA POST website to get some more education.

https://www.canadapost.ca/web/en/blogs/announcements/details.page?article=2017/07/20/ebay_sellers_ar...

https://www.canadapost.ca/cpo/mc/business/productsservices/developers/providers.jsf#shippo

...

CANADA POST is FAILING to properly train their staff.

After 3 months their support staff still has untrained reps? MAJOR FAIL.

...

Contact Shippo ebay support and ask what to do: ebay-ca-support@goshippo.com

At a guess your packages were sent back by the same under-trained employee (or by one gearing up for the next strike by tossing sand into the system).

-..-

[femmefan1946]

Two suggestions.

Use Canada Post's own SnapShip service which gives you a 5% discount and actually works.

or of course:

[momcqueen]

That is absolutely not supposed to be happening and I would suggest the fault lays with an uneducated and overzealous CPC employee, since Return To Sender stickers likely don't stick themselves to packages. There is an ebay/Shippo Chat Thread planned for Sept. 12. I'd encourage you to come to that and report your experience.

In the meantime, if it had happened to me, I'd call Shippo and ask if I could reuse my existing labels, reprint them and reapply. If not, you're asking for Voids and waiting for Refunds, and then purchasing and printing new postage labels and that is a lot of extra work and waiting around. And if you're already on the phone with Shippo, just get them to double-check there was nothing wrong with the original postage, to be sure.

I'm sorry to hear this has happened to you. It sounds like a real pain.

[momcqueen]

And this is a thought to the other sellers on the thread: Canada Post manages twitter pages and although I don't have a twitter account, it seems to me like it's the one public-image front CPC actually cares about. Perhaps it has come time to lobby the CPC Help Twitter page with tales of Shippo gone wrong so that the talking heads are made aware of the true nature and extent of this problem. It's incomprehensible to me that this could and would still be happening three months later. I could see there still being some confusion for up to three weeks afterwards with the launch of a new platform but this must stop. We're trying to run businesses, Canada Post is supposed to be a business too. 

[vbref63]

I really appreciate the sympathy and helpful replies!!!1

One of my criticisms of shippo in all this is that they refuse to provide any phone access to live human beings.  They keep repeating in every response to my criticism on this policy that they find that email is the best solution yada yada yada.  I find it incredibly annoying to have to handle it by email!!!  And then sometimes I get a DIFFERENT human responding in the thread and things go awry....too frustrating.

[ypdc_dennis]

---

@vbref63 wrote:

One of my criticisms of shippo in all this is that they refuse to provide any phone access to live human beings.  They keep repeating in every response to my criticism on this policy that they find that email is the best solution yada yada yada.  I find it incredibly annoying to have to handle it by email!!!

---

Shippo has many problems, but that's not one of them.

Shippo handles many companies not just eBay and Canada Post. It is no surprise they prefer dealing with email because the problem can be directed to those who have detailed knowledge of the problem areas. A phone call just means talking to a random support person -- and as you have already proved with Canada Post, they may be clueless about your issue.

...

Personal bias:

I'm an email person by preference. I prefer pulling the facts about a problem together and then asking questions. It gives me an information trail that I can refer back to, and reuse if I am not satisfied with the answers.  Far too easy to misinterpret words and instructions on a phone.

-..-

[vbref63]

I respect that there's value in having time to process things if you use email.  And incompetence on the phone is all too common!!!  But whether it's email OR phone....incompetence is no help in the customer service department. 

What's frustrating about email is that shippo takes most of a day and often multiple days to get back to me.  Sometimes the person responding has switched up.  This creates nauseatingly long delays in an area that is already their fault.  So my tolerance of email in this situation is low.

[dd.collectibles]

This has happened to me as well using Shippo and CP. I generated and paid for 3 expedited labels on Sunday, brought them to the post office Monday where they were scanned. Today (Tuesday) they were all returned to me with a note saying "no credit on account". I called CP and they refunded the labels and said this was a rare occurrence. So now I'm trying again.

[vbref63]

I feel your pain!!!!!

I keep getting told by shippo every time I complain that the key is that when the CP person at the counter receives my parcels that they have to use "supplier account" when doing their scan.  Since I don't know what their screens are showing I'm not sure what that means or when to use it.....  but you could mention this if you're dropping off parcels.  It seems to me that CP is having trouble knowing whose account is to be charged for the parcels as they offer different discounts to different users.  CP customer service people have also suggested this when I call in to complain.  They say that the parcel is underfunded because I am not entitled to such and such a discount (a lower level discount than has been agreed to with shippo).

I notice that on the lower portion of my shippo generated labels I do see a large SA ....maybe that stands for supplier account and it helps the CP workers to process the parcel properly. 

I wish you the best of luck!!!

[momcqueen]

Absolutely, it needs to be inducted as a Supplier Account mailing. That is what the SA stands for and Shippo is the supplier account in question. As recently as this week, I had the authorized dealer counter worker turn the monitor screen around to face me and have ME walk her through it. Persistent pays, eventually everyone will figure it out.