Not worth the effort of making it work
Written: Feb 21 '01 (Updated Apr 04 '01)
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The Bottom Line
Not worth the time and effort!
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Recently I started a small home-based business, involving quite some mailing, so I looked into Internet Postage options. First I tried Stamps.com, and was generally happy with it, but did not like the cost. ClickStamp Online seemed to be an excellent choice, with low fee, and they even were promising a free scale!
I signed up with ClickStamp. Entered all my details, downloaded the software, got postal license. When I ran the software for 1st time and had to buy postage, I got an error message. I tried again and again - error every time. E-mailed the customer support, and got the reply that I need a new activation key (you enter it on their website). They do not e-mail activation keys for security purposes, so I called Pitney Works toll-free number.
Now if you ever have to call Pitney Works customer support, better get a cup of coffee or some nice magazine, because you'll probably have to wait quite some time till you finally get through to someone.
I was transferred to a "activation key specialist" (again had to wait a while on hold), and after 3 or 4 new keys we finally got it working. By the way I forgot to mention how all of this works: I would double-click icon on my desktop, and it would open Pitney Works site in my web browser. There you have to log in, and only then the ClickStamp software actually is run. It takes quite a while, and your browser must be Java-enabled.
After I got it work, everything seemed not too bad. However slowly I found out that I cannot use window envelopes with their service, and they support only 1 size of labels. Still, everything seemed not as bad (except few misprinted labels, etc).
Then I installed a new Operating System in my computer, and reinstalled ClickStamp software. Tried to run it. Surprise: error message! It said my computer is not registered with the service. Again e-mailed customer support, once more got a reply that I have to call them. Waited for cust. support over 20 minutes, finally got someone, who told me he needed to transfer me to activation key specialist. Waiting 15 more minutes, finally the 1st person took my phone number and promised that they will call me back within 30 minutes. Nobody called that day at all, next day I spent on hold 30 minutes waiting for customer support. It works again, but I'm seriously considering canceling the service.
The low monthly fee and free scale do not outweigh all the trouble I had to go through to make their sloppy software work. I think I'll go back to Stamps.com despite higher fee.
Recommended:
No
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About the Author
Member: Renata
Location: Jersey City, NJ
Reviews written: 8
Trusted by: 0 members
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