Canada Post apologizes for mail not being forwarded

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This article was published 14/03/2023 (907 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Canada Post has delivered a refund and an apology to a couple whose mail, including negative results of a cancer-screening test, wasn’t forwarded for months.

While Canada Post insists it was an isolated incident, others have come forward to complain about the mail-forwarding program.

Vonda Plett said Tuesday she reached a resolution with Canada Post after the Free Press reported her story. Before that, she had argued with the Crown corporation for days, to no avail.

She was upset because she had stopped getting forwarded mail three months after she paid for a year’s worth of the service.

The new owner of her former house passed on a pile of mail that hadn’t been redirected, including the cancer test results.

“I just received a call from a superintendent at Canada Post falling on his sword,” Plett said.

“Sincere apologies, full refund, extra year of service, and commitment to improve training. Too bad it takes media exposure to get action but glad it did.”

A few hours after Plett received the call, Canada Post responded to the Free Press.

“Canada Post wishes that all of our customers have the best experience possible when entrusting Canada Post with their mail,” spokeswoman Janick Cormier said.

“This was an unfortunate incident and we regret our customer’s experience. I can confirm that we have contacted the customer in question and have offered a full refund as well as an extension of service.”

Others told the Free Press they too have been subjected to poor service.

A half dozen people, including one in New Bothwell and another in Headingley, said their forwarding service inexplicably stopped before the year was up.

The woman in New Bothwell, who moved there last year from New Brunswick, said the forwarding service stopped twice, with the resident in her former home getting her mail, even though the service isn’t supposed to stop until June.

“We started last June and in October the new owners contacted us about our mail,” she said.

“They sent it to us, but then, another four months later, it happened again and they are sending it to us again. Some of the mail is junk mail, but that’s not the point. One was a T4 for my husband and we’ve been looking and looking for it, but it turns out it’s part of the mail that’s not here yet.”

“Canada Post is dropping the ball and not doing a good job, but they want the money up front for this service. If it wasn’t for honest people, we would have no idea this had happened.”

Kim Hery said some of her mail still hasn’t been forwarded to her, including tax documents she needs to complete her late husband’s final income tax form and other estate paperwork. He died in October.

“I paid the money to ensure this didn’t happen and it turns out I didn’t ensure anything,” Hery said.

“You have no idea the internal turmoil I’ve gone through. I did my due diligence after my husband died and now I am going through my loss all over again.”

Hery said she contracted Canada Post again after reading Tuesday’s article and she is waiting for a response.

“I need to get the income tax done.”

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca