My wife and I were customers of Stamps.com for more than four years. About four months ago they raised their rates from $4.49 plus a 10% surcharge per purchase to $15.99 per month. They claim it is a better deal. "Customers currently using the Simple Plan (R) ($4.49) will be automatically moved to the Power Plan (R)." How can a 300% increase be a good deal, there was not even any warning time to opt out. We would have to print more than $100 worth of stamps per month to break even.
We called on March 24th to cancel our service. At 14:18: 01 on March 24th we received an email from the Stamps.com Account Support Team, they stated that we would receive a refund check in the amount of $53.83 for unused postage in "4 to 6 weeks".
Needless to say we did not receive our refund in six weeks. So we called. And yes, I too stayed on terminal hold for 22 minutes, my wife for another 11 minutes. We were told that they we backed up on refund prossesing and that they only do them in batches every two weeks. The new time of arrival for our check was 6 to 8 weeks. They gave me a tracking number and said to call back when the refund department was open (it was past noon). We called back several hours later, no one was in that office. So we waited.
Eight weeks came and went, no check. We called again. I spoke to Eric this time, he said that "Stamps.com does not have the money, they would have to get it from the United States Postal Service." We were not on the list expecting refunds, so the actual time for a refund is 8 to 12 weeks.
I asked to speak to a manager. On hold again! (wow only 14 minutes). I spoke with Lawrence this time. He said he was sorry it was taking so long, but he would research the problem and email us back. No email ever came to us from Lawrence or anyone.
Guess what? After waiting 12 weeks there was still no check. On hold I go, this time only 17 minutes. This time we were told that we would have to wait another 2 weeks, we still were not on the list. But the customer service rep. (that's a joke) said she would check into it.
After doing a little research I found that Stamps.com has a D to F rating with the Los Angeles BBB. They have more than 300 complaints against them. Now they have one more. I also contacted both the California and Texas State Attorney Generals offices, the United States Postmaster General, US Postal Inspectors, the Federal Trade Commission and two local television stations (ABC and NBC in Houston). I am not through yet! I have a call into Paul Morris (Liason to the President of Stamps.com) He can be reached at 310-482-5800. The President of Stamps.com is Ken McBride, the VP and CFO is Kyle Huebner. For more information on Stamps.com go to Hoovers.com (business information site) or LABBB.org.
By the way, the USPS does not charge a monthly fee to print stamps from their online store.
We must stand up for what is right. Get on the phones and call everyone you know about your experience with Stamps.com.
If you have to be on hold with Stamps.com's 800 number stay there, they have to pay for you to hold. Most phone calls to 800 or 888 number are reverse long distance phone billing.
Good luck to everyone.
0 comments