Prior to Christmas, this shipping method worked flawlessly and very swiftly. Packages were shipped to Canada Customs to the nearest hub in Canada for delivery to the destination by Purolator, (at least this is the case in Eastern Canada) Now, Purolator seems to be out of the picture. Now, Pitney Bowes has switched from Purolator to a new firm, virtually unknown in Eastern Canada, called Metroland. Their service levels are very low. Handoffs from Customs to them take days and days before the package moves again, and even then once it is in the area, it takes still longer before it actually finds itself out for delivery. Their tracking system is inaccurate if not simply handled with incompetence, and now for the third day, their tracking site is down for maintenance. Their deliveries as slow as they are, do not match the tracking information anyway and any calls to their head office in Ontario are met with indignation and the maturity of a grade 9 High School drop out. I contacted them in writing as well, and made clear that their performance would not only be judged by Ebayers in Canada, but by Pitney Bowes and Ebay. That does not seem to have struck a chord with them.
I don't have anything against Metroland, their opportunities for improvement are wide open, if the customers have the patience. They drop off packages to central hubs in a given delivery zone, into basic public storage lockers, these lockers are unguarded and the yards are wide open to penetration, with a variety of drivers having access, often single mothers driving a beat up van, loaded with not only the packages, but their small children. If the service provided matched that of Purolator, I wouldn't be critical given the job opportunities this represents. But so far it does not. Ebay and Pitney Bowes would be wise to take a closer look at what they have done.
