A parcel from Barclay Crocker has just arrived with postage due AGAIN. The last time this happened I was suspicious because they had taken a priority mail box and stuffed it in a priority envelope. Well, they were so sorry, would certainly refund me the postage I had to pay, would speak to shipping blah, blah, blah... so I gave the benefit of the doubt. So now this has happened to me again in exactly the same way. Anyone else? Question: When is a $1 shipping sale not a sale? Answer: When the post office collects on the other end. :mad: This is what they did to me (I wonder if they always do this?):
Well... the sticking you in the end is a pain in the arse and not acceptable. However, i have seen priority mail boxes shoved in flat rate priority bags and I have done it myself. You pack a something in a small priority mail box. When it gets weighed and shipping is estimated you find that it is cheaper to send it small flat rate than regular priority. However, you can't just slap a flat rate label on a non-flat rate box. Rather than repack the box, you shove it in the small flat rate envelope and it happily goes at the small flat rate envelope charge. Still no excuse to not pay the proper shipping on their end. wait... did they stick it in a regular priority mail envelope and not a flat rate envelope? Yeah... Stupid error if that is the case - and they did it twice on you!
I have never bought from them, but this is the second time that I have read about TSD folks having issues with them...
Well, not exactly happily. It is a flat rate envelope. Barclay Crocker paid the $4.90 rate but somehow the post office decided that wasn't enough and I got stuck with the $5.05 difference. You're saying the post office is wrong here? Maybe they are. Interesting, but I'm still stuck with charges I should not have to pay.
Yeah, I wouldn't be any happier either; however seeing that is a flat rate envelope then "Just like the Flat Rate Boxes, this paperboard envelope features a predetermined rate of $4.90 regardless of the weight or destination zone of the package." The post office is the one making the error it sounds like. Was the envelope modified in some way to make it larger than it normally would be? Either way, you still end up paying for someone's mistake.
Not that I could see. They did use tape to close it, which I guess they are not supposed to do. Obviously, the USPS charged the regular priority rate instead of the flat rate but I have no idea what prompted them to do that.
update Caitriona Barclay contacted me by phone and email and it is clear she is intimately involved in the business that carries her name. She refunded the money I paid to the post office. She also made it perfectly clear the "postage due" was postal error and not a mistake by Barclay Crocker. The refund was made in the spirit of continuing a tradition of excellent customer service. I can only agree. When I started this thread I had visited the local post office and they ASSURED me that the postage was owed and I would not get the package unless I paid it. This can clearly be seen from the picture. In the meantime Ms. Barclay informs me she had gone to her post office armed with all the packing materials and the items I had purchased to weigh items and reconstruct the packing. Her post office ASSURED her that Barclay Crocker had done nothing wrong and the postage was correct. Bottom line... my post office told me one thing and hers told her the opposite. What can you expect... it's the government. Presumably this discrepancy will be resolved by higher postal authority. I'll update here if more information becomes available. In the meantime, I have become convinced that my post office was in error. Consequently, I requested that the thread title be changed to more accurately reflect the content and that has been done. No one should be concerned about ordering from Barclay Crocker. If anything, this thread shows the owner will go the extra mile to resolve issues. They have good products and prices, frequent sales and exceptional customer service.
Thanks for finishing out the story. I was a little surprised at first as I'd never heard anything negative about Barclay before. Now I know why.
Just to further this story about customer service. I live in the same small state as Barclay and planned to visit the store on a Saturday and called to let them know I was coming. Ms. Barclay spoke with me and said that if I arrived after the store had closed to give her a call and she would come down and open the store so I could get what I needed (giving me her cell #)! Now that's customer service!!!!
