Oz Round Table
The Oz Round Table boards => The Round Table => Topic started by: bnwt on October 31, 2011, 10:25:12 AM
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I have just gone onto a parcel contract with Australia Post
you get a much cheaper rate but you would not believe the complete and utter chaos that was involved to set it up
the three main players were - 1 my account manager - 2 the head of the local district AP business centre - 3 AP telephone support (who my local post office calls for help)
each one had different versions of what needed to be done each one completely contradicted the other
the details of the drama are so long and difficult to follow I won't bore you with them .... but the pics below will give you a taste of what was involved - the contents of this parcel was urgently needed by my LPO for my contract to come into affect
but I will keep you updated on how it goes
(http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll208/bouddiebay/IMG_2502.jpg)
(http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll208/bouddiebay/IMG_2505.jpg)
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Tags , from experience the only one that you need to believe /take instruction from etc is your account manager ... Each account manager works in different ways , when I was in WA I have 4 different account managers within 12 months ... The contract remained the same but they all had different interpretations ... It was my job to convert each one of them to interpret the contract to the way I wanted it read .. Some toOk more convincing than others but I got them all in the end ... Good luck with it ... The biggest advantage I found apart from price was that I didnt have to queue up in the podt office , I didnt use a pick up service but was able to drive around the back of the P O and just go through the back door and leave the parcels in the back room and get one of the staff out there to take their copy of the daily summary sheet and stamp mine ... Easy peasy ...
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the reality was that I was my LPO's very first parcel contract
my account manager said your LPO will be able to explain everything to me ........ I knew more about it then they did
the area manager insisted that LPO's could not do parcel contracts
no one told me or my LPO I needed to do Daily Summary Sheets
there was also the dispute about being able to lodge under 250 gram parcels .... support told my LPO under 250's were not allowed to be included as part of my contract - even though my contract clearly shows they are - they told my LPO 250's had to be charged at the 500 gram rate
I think finally I have everything sorted and will brief my post mistress this afternoon
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I can't say I'm surprised at what has been reported so far - but it seems typically symptomatic of people in positions of responsibility within AP that are not properly equipped for the job ... and I include the support network behind those who do the 'interpreting'.
I have someone keen to optimise their costs of dispatch, so I am quite interested in the practical examples.
Eagerly waiting for the next instalment....
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I think finally I have everything sorted and will brief my post mistress this afternoon
Now see there is another difference ... I debrief my mistress
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BNWT, I can well believe the chaos story behind it.
Some AP people are fantastic; others do not have a clue. If you're lucky enough to have a fantastic AP person helping you, everything goes smoothly... Otherwise, it's like wading through a field of poo.
(And NO, I don't know what that's like from personal field-wading experience!)
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Slightly off topic I used click and send linked to my ebay account yesterday and despite changing account detail problems and slow post and ebay servers. I finally got to the print label page after paying by credit card and evey though I gave the pop up permission to always pop up. Nothing went to printer.
Lots of time wasted trying to retrive prinable file.Also my LPO was open yesterday Am only. PO phone and email help was not. I was not able to post after yesterday for a few days.
After discussing with buyer changed to Post office COD and sent parcel . Then a few hours later got post office email with a link to a print file which worked. I have a horriable feeling my $14 is going to cost more in time than it is worth trying for a refund. Also buyer was not happy about COD costs and blames me for PO web error , more feedback problems for sure.
Moral never use click and wait in non PO working hours, expect system to be slow, clunky and always changing, remember once you pay you are playing roulette .
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Shyer, what browser do you use?
I know that several people on the forum here have used click and send with ease - but there may well be problems specific to certain browsers, or (as you say) at particular times.
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Click and send IT people have been fiddling ... I had an issue this week too
Typical of IT depts they are fixing something that isnt broken
I had to talk to the help line that got me to go into tools and pop ups and add their web address in there somewhere to allow their new you beaut print label screen to appear ...they admitted thats its caused more probs than its solved and thats why they now include a link to a pdf copy of the label in the confirmation email , something they never used to do , but that only works if you actually get the confirmation email which I notice Shyer said took some hours to come through ..... No doubt the clowns are trying to refix what they felafelled when they were fixing what wasnt broke
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I also found click and send wouldn't print after payment. The payment went through OK, but wouldn't create the PDF for printing - for two different sales.
Finally was able print both, but only from the email link.
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looks like the helpline is gonna running hot tommorrow then
Ive emailed them advising I expect a phone call from them asap Monday morning
as I have paid twice for 1 item and still cant a lable at the moment , this is after Darren from help desk assured me that by adding them to the tools/popu gizothingamegig that it would solvertheproblem
I would suggest that whoever is responsible irresponsible will be due for a jolly good pineappling tommorrow morning, they are going to be inundated with phone calls ...
I reckon the entire IT dept should be sacked and made to go and work at the bureau of meatheadorology ...
thatwilllearnthem !
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HI C.
I was in this instance using IE8 I have problems before with firefox. Ie9 and chrome
Two monopolies no one is responsible.
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I did one on Friday - again with the same problem with the blocked popup.
I used Chrome and eventually got to print from the website pop-up by going up to the 'blocked popup' notification at the top right of the window.
Although the parcel was lodged on the Friday (scanned and receipted), it missed the driver by literally 30 seconds so it is sitting in the post office until the first pickup on Monday. That was the best part of 3 days that the parcel didn't travel an inch.
Frustrating and inconvenient it was.
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Would You Use Australia Post As Your Telco?
http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2011/11/would-you-use-australia-post-as-your-telco/
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My simple answer... no. Not as things stand. Australia Post STILL hasn't fixed the post calculation page... so my judgement tells me they will be as responsive to other computer issues with their information and products as they have hitherto shown.
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Would You Use Australia Post As Your Telco?
http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2011/11/would-you-use-australia-post-as-your-telco/
Does anybody else find this somewhat humourous?
In years gone by, the Post Master General was the single government body that provided communications by post and telephony. Through various feats of political gymnastics, the PMG's department was subdivided and the two sides were fenced off, giving us Australia Post and Telstra.
.... and now we are presented with the prospect of Australia Post reaching back over the fence.
All we need then would be for Telstra to get involved in something like after hours parcel pickup lockers - and then we'd really be wondering who does what......
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heaven help us
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OZ Post Tipped AS New Telco In NBN Era
http://smarthouse.com.au/Wireless_And_Networking/Industry/X6H4C8B4
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I think I'm going to punch a mailbag. This is insane!
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my parcel contract has turned into a nightmare
in an act of sheer desperation I have contacted the Ombudsman in the hope someone at Australia Post will actually listen to what is going on and then attempt to resolve it
in a strange coincidence this morning I got a survey about Australia Post and businesses using parcel post
I thought this question was very interesting
(http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll208/bouddiebay/ScreenShot2011-11-24at230.jpg)
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it's only a matter of time until this happens in Australia
https://www.ipostparcels.com/
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Hi Tags,
Another nail in the Post coffin. Their mail in general is down and believe it or not the thing that is helping is Ebay sales.
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Yes... Australia Post's letter mail is down more every year it seems - but their parcel post is on the increase, due, in part, to online retail.
With increased demand for parcel delivery, there are bound to be niches that were previously uneconomical, but now have the prospect of becoming viable - and there are sure to be a few entrepreneurs who will tackle these opportunities.
It will be interesting to see what develops over the next couple of years or so....
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BNWT, has the Ombudsman resolved your contract problem? (I'm sorry - I forgot to ask earlier.)
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I have become an online panellist for Aust Post, sending & receiving Australian post mail items.
I receive maybe 4 to 10 items a day & have to enter them into their website each day.
Then twice a week I have to post a bunch of letters from a particular post office, & enter the time & date posted.
They pay me to do this.
Make enough to buy the Mint issue coins I want,
& go past the post office anyway, cost me nothing.
I get mail from all over Australia & I send mail all over Australia.
I am not to tell the staff at the PO I do this, but I have been going to the same PO for years & know most of the staff on a first mane bases, I think they are suspicious.
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Do they give you the shifty-eyed look, Elantra?
I was about to say "That sounds like an interesting job", but realised that while its IMPLICATION is interesting, the task itself - of receiving items and entering them onto the AP website, and posting off letters from a particular post office - isn't in itself fascinating or engrossing. They pay you to do this? Hmm. Would it make enough to keep me in CDs? (Probably not... I do have a LOT of CDs...)
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Do they give you the shifty-eyed look, Elantra?
I was about to say "That sounds like an interesting job", but realised that while its IMPLICATION is interesting, the task itself - of receiving items and entering them onto the AP website, and posting off letters from a particular post office - isn't in itself fascinating or engrossing. They pay you to do this? Hmm. Would it make enough to keep me in CDs? (Probably not... I do have a LOT of CDs...)
If you buy your CD's from Go-Lo, which they sell for $1.00 each. Yes it would certainly keep you in CD's.
I know this because I just bought ten from them, replaced some "eight tracks" from the 70's. Quiet a surprise actually, a buck each, original sound has not been re'recorded or remastered, a nice little pick up.