Vash01
08-17-2011, 06:27 AM
First of all, please allow me to apologize for the length of this post.
Until recently my feelings toward the US Postal Service were fairly neutral. I even sympathized with them at times because fewer people are using them. Since last year though I started seeing how incompetent they were, and getting worse. I heard from others what had happened to -for example, their certified mail that never reached the destination, not getting reimbursed when an insured parcel was not received, mail being placed in the wrong boxes, and so on.
It all culminated in my most recent experience. I was on vacation for a month. I had my mail held at the P.O. for 30 days, which was the maximum length of time they hold. When I returned, I fully expected to find my mail delivered, as I had requested, in my locked mail box which is about 50 yards away from my home.
Instead, the friend who picked me up at the airport told me that when she went to my house to check if everything was OK, she found a bundle of accumulated mail at my door. I found this shocking because the PO always expressed concern over leaving mail overnight in LOCKED mail boxes, because mail thefts have taken place in this city. For them to leave it outside my door, inviting someone to walk away with it, was opening door to identity theft and other possible crimes.
I called the USPS 800 number to complain about it. They recorded my complaint and forwarded it to my local PO. The supervisor from that PO kept leaving me messages on my work phone at odd hours when I could not possibly be there. That was a small matter. However, when I finally did reach her, she was extremely rude, and defended leaving the mail outside. She said it could not fit in the mail box, so the PO did me a favor in leaving the mail outside, otherwise I would have to go to the PO to pick it up. I would have rather gone to the PO to pick up the mail than to risk getting it stolen.
First of all, there are two very large mail boxes with locks next to the group mail boxes we have in my neighborhood. Whenever an object cannot fit in the regular mailbox, the mailman leaves it in the big box and leaves the key in my mailbox, so I can get it. From the size of the bundle, I dare say they could have fitted two of those in the large mail box. So her claim had no merit. I tried to talk to the woman but she kept interrupting and not letting me speak. She was one of the rudest person I have ever dealt with. She went as far as saying that since I received the mail, it was not stolen, so it means they did the right thing.
How can I assume that someone did not remove a part of the mail from my doorstep and how can the PO say that I received ALL the mail? Theoretically it cannot be proven. I asked for her supervisor and I was told she was on vacation. I had enough of this nonsense and I hung up.
I called the USPS 800 number again to see who was the highest authority for USPS in Arizona and I was told there wasn't any, other than the local PO, meaning the person I had talked to. It was shocking to me that they had no concern at all for the customer. When I said I wanted to write a letter to the USPS (I had already experienced what happens when I try talking to them by phone), I was given the address of 'Consumer advocate' in Washington DC. I don't even have to guess that my complaint will find the trash can without anyone of significance seeing it. Even if they did, I have already seen the attitude of postal workers- they can do nothing wrong, even though I keep seeing the mistakes they make. Everyone makes mistakes, but it's their attitude that is most bothersome. A simple apology would have satisfied me in this case.
I will still write to that address they gave me, but I have no expectation of anyone from the USPS admitting what they did was wrong.
I am thoroughly disgusted with the USPS, and if I had a choice, I would not use them at all. Someone at my work said it was going to be privatized. May be that's the only way they will improve, because a profit seeking business is not going to slam a customer like that.
Until recently my feelings toward the US Postal Service were fairly neutral. I even sympathized with them at times because fewer people are using them. Since last year though I started seeing how incompetent they were, and getting worse. I heard from others what had happened to -for example, their certified mail that never reached the destination, not getting reimbursed when an insured parcel was not received, mail being placed in the wrong boxes, and so on.
It all culminated in my most recent experience. I was on vacation for a month. I had my mail held at the P.O. for 30 days, which was the maximum length of time they hold. When I returned, I fully expected to find my mail delivered, as I had requested, in my locked mail box which is about 50 yards away from my home.
Instead, the friend who picked me up at the airport told me that when she went to my house to check if everything was OK, she found a bundle of accumulated mail at my door. I found this shocking because the PO always expressed concern over leaving mail overnight in LOCKED mail boxes, because mail thefts have taken place in this city. For them to leave it outside my door, inviting someone to walk away with it, was opening door to identity theft and other possible crimes.
I called the USPS 800 number to complain about it. They recorded my complaint and forwarded it to my local PO. The supervisor from that PO kept leaving me messages on my work phone at odd hours when I could not possibly be there. That was a small matter. However, when I finally did reach her, she was extremely rude, and defended leaving the mail outside. She said it could not fit in the mail box, so the PO did me a favor in leaving the mail outside, otherwise I would have to go to the PO to pick it up. I would have rather gone to the PO to pick up the mail than to risk getting it stolen.
First of all, there are two very large mail boxes with locks next to the group mail boxes we have in my neighborhood. Whenever an object cannot fit in the regular mailbox, the mailman leaves it in the big box and leaves the key in my mailbox, so I can get it. From the size of the bundle, I dare say they could have fitted two of those in the large mail box. So her claim had no merit. I tried to talk to the woman but she kept interrupting and not letting me speak. She was one of the rudest person I have ever dealt with. She went as far as saying that since I received the mail, it was not stolen, so it means they did the right thing.
How can I assume that someone did not remove a part of the mail from my doorstep and how can the PO say that I received ALL the mail? Theoretically it cannot be proven. I asked for her supervisor and I was told she was on vacation. I had enough of this nonsense and I hung up.
I called the USPS 800 number again to see who was the highest authority for USPS in Arizona and I was told there wasn't any, other than the local PO, meaning the person I had talked to. It was shocking to me that they had no concern at all for the customer. When I said I wanted to write a letter to the USPS (I had already experienced what happens when I try talking to them by phone), I was given the address of 'Consumer advocate' in Washington DC. I don't even have to guess that my complaint will find the trash can without anyone of significance seeing it. Even if they did, I have already seen the attitude of postal workers- they can do nothing wrong, even though I keep seeing the mistakes they make. Everyone makes mistakes, but it's their attitude that is most bothersome. A simple apology would have satisfied me in this case.
I will still write to that address they gave me, but I have no expectation of anyone from the USPS admitting what they did was wrong.
I am thoroughly disgusted with the USPS, and if I had a choice, I would not use them at all. Someone at my work said it was going to be privatized. May be that's the only way they will improve, because a profit seeking business is not going to slam a customer like that.