On Friday I was waiting for delivery of an expensive item shipped via Canada Post Express.  The shipper promised expediated delivery in two days.

The order was placed and accepted on-line.  Order confirmation  was received Nov 27th.  Two days later (not) on Dec 9th we were actively monitoring the Canada Post tracking number for the long awaited but finally expected delivery.

And Surprise

The tracking updates showed the package landed in Edmonton at around 2:00 and the local sorting facility at approximately 6:30 am.  Out for delivery at 11:00 am.  All is looking good.

Alas, by 5:00 pm the package has still not arrived and then, the big surprise.  Checking the tracking number at 5:30 we notice the status has changed to “Your parcel has been redirected to the recipients new address.”

And Panic

Was the item in the process of going missing.  Afterall, we had been home waiting for the delivery since 11 a.m. and certainly we lived in the same place since at least then.  I am thinking it takes more than 4 hours to relocate your home.

So I called Canada Post.  Getting a live person on the line is a test, like a real I.Q. test requiring probably an I.Q. of more than 160 – but I figured it out.

A complete waste of time of course, the only advice being I needed to contact the shipper, Canada Post would do nothing and even if the shipper followed up immediately, it would take a week or more to investigate anyway.

So much for promised 2 day delivery, that had already taken 2 weeks.

Long story short, the shipper was little help but magically the parcel showed up Saturday morning at around 10.

Shopping Online

Interesting summary to this story is the fact my wife and I are avid and high volume on-line shoppers, for years. To date though very few, almost none of the items have been delivered by Canada Post and delivery is always as expected.

My advise to on-line retailers out there, give Canada Post a pass, there are lots of other cost effective options and Canada Post is just giving you a bad name.