Hi Everyone,
As I mentioned in my last blog, the government never stops giving and Canada Post is one of the many arms of the government. This is my first blog regarding Canada Post but if they really don’t start to get their act together, it won’t be my last! This is what I mean.
Last year I had a lot of changes. One was a change in address and I decided to use Canada Post’s Mail Forwarding service. What a joke! The best way to understand this blog is for me to type part of the (sales-) letter that Canada Post sent me requesting that I extend their Mail Forwarding service. This is what it says.
“For the past few months, Canada Post’s Mail Forwarding service has given you the peace of mind of knowing that you’re not missing any of your mail–enabling you to focus on the task of moving and settling into your new home or your place of business.
Why not continue to make sure you don’t miss any of your valuable mail by extending your Mail Forwarding service for an additional period of 4 or 12 months? The 12 month service option offers greater value and ensures you won’t miss annual or infrequent mailings, such as tax documents, car licence stickers renewals, financial statements and membership club renewals.
To avoid service interruption and the possibility of exposure to breaches of privacy or identity theft from mail being delivered to your old address, please extend your Mail Forwarding Service before it expires.”
Before the letter ends there are steps as to how to “extend” my Mail Forwarding Service. All of that is followed by,
Sincerely,
Mail Forwarding Team
Canada Post
That is quite the sales-letter if I ever read one and I have read a few. I like the first sentence ( paragraph). That one really pissed me off because a lot of my mail was never delivered to my new home address! This is what I mean.
In February of last year, I paid Canada Post over $85 to forward my mail for one full year. In theory I should have had the peace of mind of knowing that I wasn’t missing any mail, enabling me to focus on the task of moving and settling into my new home or business. Instead, I have been focusing on getting my mail!
I first noticed that I was missing some, not all, of my mail in late March early April of 2014. It was what most would consider junk mail and not that important to me at the time. In mid-April one of my clients informed me that they received the payment that they made to me and the envelope stated, “Moved”.
Okay just so everyone, has this straight, I paid Canada Post to forward my mail. They did. All of my mail was being forwarded and then some of it wasn’t being forwarded. And then months later, one piece of mail was delivered to my old address and returned to the sender and they called me to let me know.
After apologizing to my client, I called the toll free number on my receipt, left a message and a few days later someone called me back. He said that this has never happened before, he doesn’t know how I am getting some mail and not all of my mail or why one piece of mail was delivered to my old address when all, and then later some, of my mail was being forwarded during the same time period of time to my new address.
I told him what mail I did and did not receive. Canada Post, according to him takes all of their mail services very seriously, he was sorry and would look into it immediately. About a week later, I began receiving all of my mail, including the one from my client. To me the problem was solved. Until it wasn’t.
That began happening, again, in July of 2014. Again I didn’t think too much of it. But I did wonder about some money owed to me which would again be paid by cheque and mailed. And that money was over due.
Before I reviewed my calendar, I searched my memory to see just how over due, over due really was. It was a lot. I have worked for this person for years and everything has always been resolved after one or more emails. I began typing.
In my email I gave all the details and then strongly suggested that Canada Post had screwed up my mail again and told them when Canada Post screwed up last and how. The gist of the emails went like this; a cheque was mailed, I didn’t receive it, they checked their records to see if I cashed it.
Once it was established that I did not receive my cheque, or at least cashed it, I thanked them for their patience and understanding and blamed Canada Post because who else was I going to blame? At least six different people handled the paperwork and then cheque before it was mailed to me. Another cheque was issued. All of the above took about a week to sort out. It took about ten days for me to receive my new cheque.
Unfortunately because they had to cancel the original cheque they passed that cost to me. I didn’t like that but I understood it. She, like me, also has a small business. So yes dear readers, including Canada Post, not only did I pay for a service I didn’t receive I then had to pay for a service I provided! And two small businesses were gravely interrupted! Thank you Canada Post, for once again showing me, anyone who reads this blog today and in the future just how incredibly and utter incompetent you really are! Thank you so very much! But it doesn’t end there. In fact it gets better. Or worse depending on how you decide to see things.
In the middle of my sending and receiving emails I called Canada Post and spoke to the night supervisor from the Oshawa post office and told them about my lack of service. ( I do have the person’s full name and gender I am just not going to post it.) They told me their position, (of night supervisor) that they can’t (really) help me and that they would speak to their supervisor. Again, all of my mail was being delivered until it wasn’t!
I did some more work in October for the same client that my cheque was mailed to my old address for. And then I started counting. You see, some of my invoices have a clause stating that they, the client, have 45 days to pay the invoice in full. If they exceed the 45 days I charge them daily interest. I waived the interest with the above client a couple of years ago, and they have always paid me on time since. I knew they would not be late. And they weren’t. But an interesting thing happened.
For some reason, known only to Canada Post or the Canada Post employee who handles my postal code, I didn’t receive that cheque at all! It wasn’t delivered to my old address and it wasn’t delivered to my new address that I paid Canada post to forward all of my mail to. Because it was getting close to the holidays and I was scheduled to do some more work for them again I waited until the second week of January (2015).
Once I knew I was working I asked about the payment. Emails were sent, phone calls were made. Their finance department called me and told me the date they issued the payment, the cheque number and offered to cancel the cheque and issue me another one. I asked them to wait, just in case Canada Post got their act together over a month and a half later. Canada Post didn’t.
Before I was scheduled to work for them again in January, the woman who hired me asked if I received my pay. I told her the truth. I didn’t. As we spoke I finally said, “What can I say, it’s Canada Post. Someone there must not like me.” Days later, when she asked if I received my pay, as I handed her my invoice, I again, told her the truth. I didn’t. We sighed. We shrugged our shoulders. She offered to have my pay delivered to her office and inform security that way I could pick it up at my convenience. “(Her name), I’m not picking up my pay. Canada Post is just going to have to figure this out.” My not receiving my pay is an inconvenience to her, their finance department and me. I think it is about time that someone at Canada Post be grossly inconvenienced too!
Later that day, I checked my mail. The above sales-letter from Canada post was waiting for me. I could not believe what I was reading! As a smile formed I began to chuckle. The reason for this is because I was going to blog about this at the beginning of the year. Had I of not of waited, I wouldn’t have Canada Post’s sales-letter trying to convince me of how great they are! And of course I mean how great they are at screwing up my personal mail, my small business mail, my small business, the time of another small business owner, her small business and all of the time of the employees for the city I did work for!
If Canada Post thinks I am ever going to use their Mail Forwarding service EVER again they have truly lost their minds! If Canada Post thinks I would ever recommend their mail service ever they are insane! The next time I hear of someone who is moving, I am going to strongly insist that they don’t use Canada Post’s Mail Forwarding service as I hand them my business card and suggest that they read this blog!
Canada Post is a JOKE! I don’t care what shift sorts my mail or who does it. I want ALL of my mail. I want every piece of personal mail. I want every piece of “junk” mail. I want every cheque. I want all of my mail PERIOD! Every last thing! And I especially want every last thing since that is what I paid Canada Post’s Mail Forwarding service to do ALL the time not when they feel like it!
Normally I would suggest that an organization get a turnaround expert but let’s face it, Canada Post is one arm of the government. In my opinion, this is just another example of how taxpayers are just supposed to pay, shut up and take what little crumbs of service the government deems fit! So I guess we’re all on a diet!
But let’s say that Canada Post is different than the other arms of the government, meaning that they are going to discipline their employees. Let’s say that someone at Canada Post decides to investigate as to who handles and has handled any and all mail that is delivered to the address that I paid to have ALL of my mail forwarded to. Let’s say, Canada Post decides, like me, that enough is enough! Their (lack of) service is embarrassing and if they continue with their utter incompetence more Canadians, like me, will stop using their services and posting more blogs!
You know, maybe the person or people who sort my mail don’t like me. Maybe the person or persons who delivers my mail who is not a Fanna a.k.a. Fan of Anna. Not all of my cheques can go MIA all of the time, there has to be a reason why some do.
I would like to challenge Canada Post to determine who is deciding to withhold my mail. This is why. If my opening someone else’s mail is against the law than isn’t Canada Post’s withholding my mail against the law too? Hmmm.
I’ve given Canada Post a few chances to do what they are supposed to do–deliver ALL of my mail. Now I want Canada Post to stop giving chances to whoever is behind this. Take away their shifts, suspend them without pay! Fire their lousy ass! Ooppss, I forgot, Canada Post is a part of the government so they have a union. Government employees, no matter how much they screw up people’s lives, don’t get fired. I guess everyone will have to settle for someone being written up. Err!!!
Just so everyone knows, I called Canada Post twice and left messages both times informing them that I will be expecting mail from the City of _____ this week. I also told them that I would be looking for all of my mail ALL of the time, that I would like someone to return my call and that I will be posting a blog. I will keep everyone posted on my postal service.
Thank you for reading, A. Rebel’s Rant! ;D
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