user feedback - Canada Post

emraphoto

emraphoto

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i reckon a lot of gear gets sent about via you folks so i thought i would post my Canada Post experience for you consideration when heading off to the post.

6 months of headaches now. 6 months of phoning, complaining, packages not being delivered, broken stuff and the list goes on. 6 months of calling them and still no solutions.

today was the last straw for me.

even though i covet all things "old/cool camera" i also have a bag full of pro bodies and bobbles that go with them. with 3 solid weeks of shooting ahead of me (starts tomorrow) and an extended few months on the road this summer i figured i might send the bodies in for a service. packed them all up and bought a replacement body for when they are away. paid a large sum of dough for the seller of said replacement body to ship overnight, across province to me. "mighty obliged" they say!

so, 7 pm and my "guaranteed 5pm next day service" from Canada Post is nowhere to be seen. Call them up. Shows up as being paid for and dropped at post but then ? Disappeared. Tracking number is about as good as a curling rock at a football game and the "guarantee"?!?! that is a good one.

"we don't actually mean we guarantee service, just that we will offer a postage refund if it doesn't show".

well, now we wait 24 hours. then we, well the sender actually, get to start the fun process of a trace. this will be my third trace in 3 months. they are long and drawn out processes. because it's a "trace" and not a "damaged" product no refund until trace is finished. if we are very concerned we can "contact the ombudsman". apparently Canada Post isn't very concerned.

i am not going to contact anyone as all i have been doing of late is dealing with Canada Post incompetence. i have phoned them so many times they know me by name and so far it has amounted to a hill of beans. i don't think contacting anyone else at Canada Post is going to help
because none of them are accountable to anyone. they plain well don't care. i inquired about lost wages and interest on the few grand i have tied up in the missing body but was met with a long silence.

so, consider folks. when you pack up that treasure to be sent off to some far land choose wisely. think twice before you trust your goods to a "guarantee" that isn't worth the paper it's written on.
 
I shipped two items last summer via Canada Post. A T3 to San Fran and a 21mm G Biogon to Thailand.

Fast, cheap, no problems.

UPS to the states (the third item I shipped last summer) a pain. It got there on time, just but the process was just stupid.
 
you know, the funny thing is i have had nothing but good things to say about them until last fall. then things just went south really fast.

all companies have issues. it is to be expected. their total lack of interest in solving the matters is another issue all together.

i will check out purolator for future needs. thanx!
 
I'd say their service is quite bad for what you pay for. Last year I asked my dad to send me a camera from my home place which is about 60km away from where I live now. Guess what, it took them 2 1/2 weeks to get the parcel delivered. I don't know the way they do it, may be they send it to Europe and then deliver it to the city from the other side of the continent. Not sure what takes so long. Also, I have another smaller issues like delivery man not buzzing to drop the parcel or unresponsive customer support...
On top of that my friend used to work for them part time and he mentioned that there are a lot of alcoholics in their central warehouse, that work drunk and occasionally steal parcel with high value on it to get some more boozeeee... They suck!
 
that really sucks. I've sent things expressPost which "guarantees" delivery within 48 hours and it's been a week before it arrives. It's a joke.
 
John,

1) How was it sent? Was it sent via "priority courier"? (i.e .purolator?)
2) Was there insurance?
3) Where was it sent FROM and where was it sent TO?
4) WHO was sending it?

I'm no fan of Canada Post but *smacks wood* I have not had anything go amiss (yet) - while there are times that they are (and can be) slow, I have always tried to attain (depending on buyer and/or seller) a tracking number and shipped via Xpresspost and/or Expedited Small Parcel.

I understand you're frustrated but, if you're having THAT much issue with Canada Post, have you called them (not the postal outlet but Canada Post itself) to open a problem ticket with them?

Cheers,
Dave
 
I've never personally had an issue with Canada Post. I will never use anything other than USPS (which also means Canada Post) out the US. FedEx, UPS and the other couriers are ridiculous with their "brokerage fees". Pure ripoff, period! Also, Canada Post _is_ cheaper than USPS by a fair margin. I shipped a package to my office in Alabama; $9. The same package from Alabama to Canada -- $26.
 
I'm really curious since there's a lot of "Not gonna use Canada Post/Purolator for shipping" posts.

So, who do you guys use? (those of you who actually are in Canada mind you)

UPS?
FedEx??
Only sell locally?

Really, as I stated, I'm no "fan" of the postal service but really, if you're going to eliminate them, you're going to be dealing with companies that may have equally bad records - just ask around.

Cheers,
Dave
 
No complaints from yours truly.

I agree with dfoo: UPS, FedEx, etc. are expensive and inconvenient for me so I avoid them if at all possible.
 
FedEx & Purolator are both super expensive compared with Canada Post. Also the couriers guarantees are also BS. I shipped a package to the US with a 2 day guarantee. In the end it took 3 days, and they weaseled out of paying the refund under some pretense.
 
Hmmm.

Hmmm.

I've used Canada Post (ExpressPost) MANY times over the past 5 years for tens of thousands of $$$ worth of gear. Most of it went to the USA but some to Europe and Aussi land as well. Not one issue.

<knock on wood>!!!</knock on wood>
 
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