Pitney Bowes ClickStamp Online - unable to print postage on Epson printer

# 21 for July 17, 2003

Complaints.com received the following on July 16, 2003:

From:

RE: Pitney Bowes ClickStamp Online - unable to print postage on Epson printer

Dear Sir/Madam, I am writing regarding my recent business correspondence with Pitney Bowes. On July 2nd, I went to the United States Postal service website to see how I could print out postage on-line. One of the companies they refer is Pitney Bowes. I went to their site located at http://www.pitneyworks.com, where I proceeded to try and sign up for their on-line postage service, ClickStamp Online. I was unable to sign up for their service because after filling out 4 pages of information, the submission page had an error. The error was recurring.

I called Pitney Bowes customer service, who referred me to the Advocate of the President’s Office. I left a voicemail message saying I wanted to sign up for their service, however, there website won’t let me. I also said that “…if my website wasn’t working right that I would want someone to tell me, so, I’m telling you.” I left my phone number. The message from that office said that calls would be returned right away. Two days later I had received no reply. However, I decided to call back. They alleged they had no record of my phone call. I told them when I left it and I told them I still wanted to sign up for their service, and, as of that morning, I could not. They took my information and said I would be contacted by a manager by the following business day. While the system came back on-line that afternoon, I received no phone call. While I was told that I could print out postage within a matter of hours after signup, I was not approved on their system until July 9th, when I received e-mail notification. This was 5 days after I submitted my information. I downloaded the software and went to print out my postage. And, it didn’t work. I then found out that there is NO phone support for their software. All correspondence must be done by e-mail. Having a minor in IT, I trouble shot all that I could from the on-line knowledge base to no avail. I called the President’s Advocate’s office 4 more times, each time being told that I would be contacted by a senior manager to resolve the issue. I never received a phone call from a senior manager. After my seventh call, I did receive an inbound call from a tech, who proceeded to take one hour with me to resolve the technical problem. It turns out that the problem cannot be remedied. And, the situation cannot be remedied because Pitney Bowes made material misrepresentations about their product. First, Pitney Bowes claims that you can print out postage. Well, not exactly. You CAN’T print out postage unless it’s on an envelope or a label. The problem is that the labels that are compatible with the on-line software are too large to fit on a legal size envelope. And, if you want to print postage for an envelope, you have to send the envelope through the printer. The problem is that the software requires that the envelope be fed small edge down, not horizontally. And, a number of the printers they have listed as compatible DO NOT WORK with the small edge down. In fact, my printer, the Epson Stylus Color 777 – which is listed as an approved printer by the Pitney Bowes site - cannot print envelopes with the small edge down.

The website of the manufacturer, located at http://www.epson.com (see below) demonstrates that the envelopes can only be loaded horizontally for printing, not small edge down. The Pitney Bowes site makes no mention of this on their website, except in the technical knowledge base. You only have access to the technical knowledge base AFTER you sign up for their service.

And, not only does my printer not work with their software, but Pitney Bowes, who released their software in 1998, has done NO testing it would seem on contemporary printers in a Windows 2000 OR Windows XP environment. In fact, the printer I have was approved based on testing done in a Windows 95 and 98 environment. Who do you know who still uses those platforms in their business? Bottom line. Pitney Bowes is licensing software which apparantly does not work with printers - it doesn't work with mine. And, their software has not been tested with contemporary printers to determine compatibility with a Windows 2000 and Windows XP environment. They fail to mention that on their website. And, when you want to get results, and they say they will have a senior manager contact you – at least 4 different times – they don’t follow through. For anyone looking to use the Pitney Bowes ClickStamp Online software, you may want to consider going to the post office. Sincerely, Glenn Schroeder 815.928.9964