Cranky Customer

I work for a very small non profit. A previous employee signed a contract with PB for a photocopier that is way too big for what we need. The lease is over 5.5 years and there is about 2 years remaining. The lease is worth over $33,000! I have tried to terminate the lease (its too tight - I had it reviewed by a lawyer).

They had tagged onto the agreement their own insurance at 71 per month!

I have had all the same difficulties in dealing with PB. They have repeating tried to fax us bills - our fax line was canceled as we couldn't afford it. We have been billed for service we have never received (one example -they billed us for paper and then sent a collection agency after us to collect on the interest of the phantom paper!) And when the machine broke down they claimed an employee from our company and canceled service! I asked that service be put back on as it was part of the original contact - now they are saying it will cost extra!

We are presently trying to renegotiate the contract to make it more affordable - but their offer right now is that we have to pay out the remaining contract - about (11,000) ROLLED INTO a new contract for a smaller machine- another 5.5 years. The machine they have proposed cost about $900 new and at the cost of the "NEW" deal we would pay about 12,000 for the lease of this machine PLUS what we own on the old lease. GRAND TOTAL $23,000 for a $900 machine.

Customers be very wary of greasy PB salesman in polyester suits!

OH BOY! PITs is an understatement. I've been dealing with this horrible company for well into 6 months now; trying to get our postage back and return their machine. Their customer service tried to explain how to return the machine, had no clue about the postage and routed me to someone else, who had no clue and I ended up with service telling me they were going to send a technician to 'fix' the unit. Then when we said NO, we don't need service, they tried to get us to send the machine back WITH postage on it, telling us the check would be in the mail. Like we haven't heard THAT before! When I've had to contact them, I've actually prepared my day to be on hold or to be speaking with an incompetent person on the other end. NO ONE WANTS TO HELP THE CUSTOMER resolve issues quickly. Very frustrating. So out of the blue, they send me a box to return the machine. Then a fax form comes (after I'd send several over this time) to refund postage. BUT... to refund postage one needs to plug the machine in and reverse charges. I'm glad they did NOT tell me this for almost 6 months!! Back and forth, faxing the form. Calling them - IF you can find a decent number to speak to someone! If I could fly banners and take out huge ads, I would BOYCOTT this company into the ground! Stay away from them. THEY SUCK!

Is there another postage provider in the biz? We've spent about 10 hours on the phone this past month with one tier of 'support' after another. We needed an adjustment to our billing cycle and they said adding a few days would be no problem. Next thing we know, they've closed that account and opened a new one with a terrible credit limit and our points are locked in the old one. If anyone showed the slightest interest in fixing the problem, it would be different, but everyone just passes us to someone else. We do $50k/month in postage with these folks!

Pitney Bowes Scam
August 27, 2009
Received email promotion:
States first 60 days free,
Monthly fee of $17.95
$75.00 Free postage
Initial phone conversation with Sandra Kassar:
Monthly fee $19.75, instead of $17.95. No reason was provided
Sandra confirmed, when questioned about promotion including envelope sealing capability, which she said it did.
Supervisor, Paula, then came on the line and, initially said Sandra was new and incorrect and the unit did not include envelope sealing capability. When told we were no longer interested, Paula then rescinded and approved the sealer at no charge.
It was stated that it would be a monthly billing, the first two months free and that we would be invoiced for cheque payment.
The conversation was turned over to a person who stated that he was confirming the details.
He suddenly disclosed, for the first time, that we were required by the Canadian government to purchase $25 worth of postage, on a credit card, in order to qualify for the $75 free postage.
He said he would have to get back to me on the envelope sealer being included, but if Paula had agreed then it would be no problem.
He also stated that we would not be able to purchase postage online via credit card.
He confirmed that monthly charges would be invoiced for payment by cheque.
No authorization was given for charges on my credit card, except the $25 for the government require purchase.
Sep 14, 2009
Credit card charges appeared for $26.25
Sep 18, 2009
Credit card charges appeared for $30.93
Sep 24, 2009
Contacted VISA and had charges reversed due to breach of agreement
Sep 24, 2009
I emailed customer service describing the credit card charges and that we were no longer interested in the machine due to too many conflicts in their statements.
Sep 30, 2009
I received an invoice from PB stating that, the first month payment, for three months down the road, was now due and that 8.98% interest would apply in 30 days from invoice date of Sep 16th. The charge was for $19.75 instead of $17.95 as agreed. An additional charge of 7.62 for a scale showed up for which we had not been told.
Sep 30, 2009
I tried to call Paula again, and her extension repeatedly went to general delivery mailbox.
I finally reached Paula and stated that we were no longer interested and that they should send a courier to retrieve their equipment. I told her that I had been trying to reach her by phone but her extension went to general delivery mailbox. I explained that I had found multiple complaints about PB on scam disclosing web sites. She stated that she hears all the time about improper charges being applied to credit cards, but that these could be reversed. She was unable to explain why her extension goes to general mailbox. She stated that it was up to me to contact another department regarding the unauthorized credit card charges. She stated that this was not a scam to get my credit card and start charging unauthorized fees. She said PB was a big company and would not do that. I reminded her of Bernie Madoff stealing 50 billion dollars and that he had a big company. Paula stated that she would get back to me with the 800 number for the department regarding false credit card charges being made, because she did not have their number. She is the customer service supervisor, who doesn’t have that number??? She never called back.
Sep 30, 2009
I emailed PB Canada again and stated we were no longer interested in the equipment and to schedule a pick up of their equipment.
October 14, 2009
Jacklin called from the “Retention Group” to try to “undo the negativity”. She was told to have the equipment picked up. Why do they need an entire department for retention?
October 26, 2009
Unauthorized charge to credit card for $22.07, $17.95, plus taxes, AND, credit to credit card for $30.93?? The $22.07 was never authorized to be on credit card, and invoice says in one place to pay upon receipt, and hand written, it says applied to credit card
October 27, 2009
Received credit note and invoice for above charges.
October 28, 2009
Contacted VISA to reverse all charges to credit card and asked for procedures to eliminate all further PB charges to my credit card.

We stopped using our Pitney Bowes meter over a year ago, but still had to pay the lease charges. We have been using stamps.com with no problems whatsoever. Our lease now ended, Pitney Bowes just sent an invoice for $100. Once we pay the extortion fee, oh I meant "return equipment fee," Pitney Bowes will "initiate the return process." They have screwed us every step of the way, from automatic lease renewals for 3 to 5 years at a time, to extending the lease by a month or two and being very vague about it, to bogus late fees, and ultimately to this blatant extortion. I will NEVER deal with them again and will bash them every chance I get.

Well, I have also been screwed by the Mighty PB. I am using a Mailstation. I was told by a PB rep that if I would refill the meter with $49.00 per time, there would be no fee. Well there was no refill fee, BUT I soon found out that there is a new Reset fee. So after 346 refills to my machine, I get a bill with $2764.54 in Reset FEES. WTF!!! Is there any way to get them to refund me this money? I was NEVER notified of this RESET fee. I rarely see the bills and this was actually brought to my attention by a PB rep who said he could save me thousands of dollars, NO SHIT. Well he will soon find out we are through with PB and I will start the process of returning the machine. This should be fun.

I work for PB, the on site services division, and i have nothing to do with the meters, but i can tell you working here is no picnic either. management is a joke, the employees i am with are from the cantina in star wars, and it just really sucks. i have been here 5 years and every day it's something new. but, i keep my mouth shut and do my job, which by the way i get crap for that too. stay away from this company as a customer or perspective employee. if you've been offered a job here, it just means you'll work for nothing, but you probably already know that.

We just got an email asking us to renew our PB lease as it was 'soon coming up for renewal' - we all did the happy dance in the office!!!!

Once we signed on the dotted line 3 years ago, we regretted it tremendously. We are a small office, with very low usage. We had had a previous PB meter and scale and were happy with it - it cost $30 a month and everything was relatively straight-forward. Then we had to upgrade and it seems we got billed for EVERYTHING! All of a sudden our annual costs for the smallest machine (and meter) went to over $1000/year. We have to pay $150 everytime the post office increases rates - an atrocious fee for less than one page of data. We pay a $15 fee everytime we upload postage! We pay $133 for ValueMax - the biggest ripoff ever! They require us to buy insurance on this crappy machine at their usary rate. Then on the day the postage rates go up... you cannot get through on the phone lines.

Don't get me started on their ink cartridges... these are overpriced also. But, hey, they had a sale and I could get 40% off if I bought 2. So we bought 2.. the expiry date was only 2 months away - and we use less than 1 a year - what a deal!

We cannot wait for this lease to expire, and are going to one of their competitors who have quoted $276/year (vs $1,059/year).

There are other USPS certified and licensed vendors for postage meters. Hasler and FP offer certified solutions that usually have a lower price and offer much better service. Also, for very light mail volumes, there are internet based solutions. These alternative organizations are much smaller and WANT your business so they treat you differently. PB is not the only qualified provider of machines. PB tries very hard to keep businesses from knowing there are better alternatives. They know most companies dont know and they can get away with boarder line price gouging and absolutely horrible customer care. Check out the Postal Service website for a current list of approved postage meter vendors.

Pitnew Bowes pretended they would help me when I requested to cancel the lease because of the bad economy. We are paying $170 quarterly lease payment to rent the machine while we only need $50 postage each quarter.

They instructed me to write them a letter to get the price for early termination. After many calls to follow up with them, I finally got the price, which is even higher than the entire lease balance. I told them it doesn't make sense, the rep just told me to default payment and they will send my account to collector. What kind of service this is??!!