usps.com United States Postal Service false advertising, selling fradulent services san bruno Nationwide
Ever wonder why the United States postal service is hurting for sales? Maybe it's because they have lost a lot of trust with their customers. The postal service itself comits fraud itself yearly anf due to what they are, most of the time get away with it. Last year, a California Post office who thought they could get away with their crimes, was finally prosicuted and a lot of postal workers were arrested. Would be nice if this happened more often, then maybe they would stop the fraud they pull on a yearly basis.
The San Bruno post office is no exception. Over a 10 year period, 90% of the time I sent a 2 day priority letter, it would get to tis destination in a week to 2 weeks. And what is their responce to this? It's not guaranteed, so if you want guaranteed mail service, send it express. That was their answer.
Guess what? on 10/10/2017 I sent an express letter from that post office at 4pm. I even saw the postal worker take not just my express letter, saw them take the others from the express box by the system. I sent the letter express because I needed to make sure my paperwork was in so I could be paid on time. When I wasn't paid, figured at first Payroll must still be processing the paperwork. Nope. When I looked at the tracking number, I saw the date was changed to another date other than what was on my reciept. I can understand this possibly happeneing if I had shipped the letter from my home and had the carrier pick it up. But this wasn't the case. This was done at the post office. THey never sent the letter till 2 days later.
When I went into the post office to get a refund, and from the same lady who claimed she was the post master who was the one who told me if I wanted guaranteed shipping, then ship express. Express isnt cheap, its $24.00. I also coppied my reciept. When I asked for my refund, she informs me that though I paid for express service before the deadline, they didn't get to scan it in till 6:30pm, and claimed my recipets time does not count, its when they scan the letter in? So basically what she just told me, no matter what day, what time I bring an express letter in. They can choose to scan this letter in 3 days later if they wanted to, and their express guarantee means nothing.
I did not get a refund from them, but my bank was on the phone with me when this took place and is doing a charge back. I at least get the satisfaction of knowing that not only will I get my money back and that the USPS will be not only out $24, their bank will mosy likely hit them with a $35 return fee like a check.
Reason I'm writing this article, is to warn everyone, it doesnt matter if its express or priority service, or whatever they want to call thier services. If they advertise a service, they are required to fufill that requiremnt. Don't let them scam you. Never pay them cash. Use credit card, so if they pull a stunt like they did to me, and if your bank is good, they will get the fees back for you.
Something the USPS will never tell you, and hope you won't know, is that even if you happen to pay them cash, if you have a reciept, they in most states, can be taken to small claims court. And trust me, most judges will not rule in their favor. As for collecting a judgement if you win, that I will have to get back with you on. My bank is dealing with the above issue, but I am doing a small claims in regards to another issue, and I'll let you all know what to do once I do this, unless they decide to settle prior to the court date assigned.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Can't do tutorial on taking USPS to small claims, at least this time
#2Author of original report
Wed, October 25, 2017
For those of you who have followed my articles now and in the past, I apologise for not being able to complete this one with a turtorial on how not only to file a small claims against your local post office, but how to collect on one as well. The reason for this is because the matter has already been settled and as much as I was looking foward to doing this article, by my states laws, I can't.
Filing a small claims subpoena in the state of california has some really great benefits. For people who live here who have never dealt with court, or may have and have had the unfortunate circomstance where you ended up paying a lot more in civil court or arbitration, what I am going to put here can help you a lot to hopefully not just get your money back, prevent you from getting caught in one of the arbitration scams most fall victom to. I may not be able to take the USPS to small claims, but at least I can show you the process I went through to got me my money back from them.
Why and when should you file a California Small claims? You should file a small claims whenever the disputed amount falls under $7500, $5000, or $2500. Business types and situations effect the maximum amount you can sue for, plus the amount of times per year you have filed and how much total you have won. Filing small claims subpoenas in California is the best thing you can do to try protecting yourself, because in California, Attorneys are not allowed in the court room to represent either the plaintiff (One doing the suing) or defendant (One getting sued) When huge companies use their cut throat attorneys in court, trying to fight them even with evidence is next to impossible prose (Prose is doing your own case yourself without any representation by an attorney) Because these big time companies can't use their attorneys, they are basically crippled. This puts both parties on even ground. Going to your local law library to look up state and federal laws pertaining to your issue is not required as you dont need to know the law codes like you would need to in a civil court, but doing so can help your case greatly, so stop by and photocopy what you can use for small claims if you want. Most small claims cases you never get a decision for the day you go because most of the time, the judge has to look these up themselves to decide the outcome. Doing this for them not only makes it easier for them, doing it right impresses the judges too.
So why did I not have to go to court with the USPS? It's because I sent them a courtesy small claims subpoena. This is where you fill the subpoena out but instead of paying the fees to file, you mark the papers (Courtesy Warning) Put it in writing on the subpoena that you are giving them time to rectify the issue otherwise once the date passes, the fees will then be paid and the county clerk once stamps that subpoena, you will not settle till the matter goes to court. Let the person/company know how much they owe you, and how much it can possibly be should it go to court. My issue was $23.75. I made it clear to my post office not only showing them a copy of the recipet, I showwed them a copy of the records they altered to evade paying me a refund and that if I have to pay court fees, the amount is going to include the due processer service fee as the courts will most likely not allow a certified return recipet due to the issue and conflit of interest of the post office already getting in trouble for tampering with records. I then emailed everything to the main office. I then got a call on Monday to go to my post office and get my refund. It was that easy, and also why I can't complete what I wanted to show you, because the 3rd thing on the small claims paper asks (Have you asked them for money or property first?) You have to ask first, and if they offer you a full refund, then thats it. Trying to still go to small claims court when they already offered you a refund is the best way to irritate a judge into deciding in the defendants behalf. The only exception to this rule is when there are real damages. I'm not talking pain and suffereng like they allow in civil court. I'm talking real damages. For example, lets say you buy a pet from a pet store and paid $100. Next day you end up at the vet with a $500 bill because the store knwoingly sold you a sick pet. The store most likely will offer you a $100 refund but you want them to pay the $500 vet bill. This is one of the few times where a refund isn't good enough and why when a Judge asks if they offered you $100, why are you here. You let them know its for the $500 vet bill and show recipet.
A courtesy subpoena says a lot and most companies you send them to will most likely refund your money if they get one then having to battlle it out in small claims where they know full well what a judge will most likely decide. Always when sending a courtesy subpoena to make sure you state on it exactly that, that this is a courtesy warning and would like my money back, otherwise it will be filed and the next one will have the clers stamp and have to deal in court. Don't fill out the judgement part aking it look like its a filed court paper, that can get you arrested. I had a dishonest company once try turning a courtesy warning into an attempt to get me arrested by telling their local PD I tried to serve a fake subpoena on them. Once they saw my copy, and yes you make a photo copy, they saw the paper was modified by them in an attempt to get me in trouble instead, and that case went to court and the company lost miserably, so make sure to put "COURTESY WARNING BEFORE PAPER GETS FILED". Taking the time to do this works much better and gets the job done, most of the time. Telling them over the phone your going to sue them will get nothing done. They get calls like that all the time and most of the time their empty threats. When they see court papers that are filled out but not filed, they know they are very close to having to go to the court and try working with you instead. Any questions, feel free to respond. I'm not a lawyer so can't give legal advice but I can help if you have a question in regards to most small claims court forms, especially in California =)