Lately, because I have bee away from home for extended periods, I have used Canada Post’s online tools to set up mail forwarding to may folk’s place until we come back. The first few times I could do it without having to visit the post office at all. The second last time they had asked me to drop by a post office branch to verify my identity with a bar code of the transaction I made online. Ok, that was a bit annoying but I am ok with it. However now…
Now for step five they added some online tool for added security. Enter “Bluink.ca” eID-Me. Oh what a cluster this is.
Try number 1. I get to step 5 and I get a message that Canada Post is now using Bluink for added security. Press continue when done… Ok… What? The web site is now dead. I cannot finish the transaction. The web site just has at most two paragraphs that explain nothing. I thought there was an issue. So I…
Try number 2. I get to step 5 and again same result. This is madness. I read very carefully the instructions. I am pretty tech savy, being a programmer and all. And I am stumped here. I expect maybe the page will update itself or present a popup with Bluink to temporarily take over and get beyond this point. Nope. It just sits there in perpetuity. Maybe my ad-blocker is causing a problem. Turn it off and…
Try number 3. I get to step 5 and same result. Ok this is messed up. Maybe I have to manually make an account with Bluink. The instructions or lack there of do not say anything about that. There is no clear steps a client should take or anything. So go to the Bluink web site on my desktop and try to create an account… Nope! Has to be done using a iOS or Android App and there is absolutely no web based option for the desktop which I was using to do all this work. So now I need two devices to get something done. This is starting to get me very annoyed.
Set up my account with Bluink and put in my drivers license. Tried to include my passport but that failed. You do need a modern phone with a chip reader but it seemed to have issues reading my Canadian Passport. At any rate, got one of 2 things working.
Try number 4! I get to step 5 and FINALLY it works!
So many fail points here.
- Canada Post does not mention at all before you go through all this crap that a Bluink registration will be needed.
- Bluink does not have a method to fill out a registration via the web site from a desktop. So you HAVE to download their useless app which will only ever be used by one corporation ever.
- Step 5 is utterly broken with the anemic instructions/directions. I am a native English speaker. I write software for a living. This step in the process is a fail beyond belief.
- I am teck savy and I have serious problems. I cannot fathom someone who is maybe any less savy going through this mess of a system. They will not be able to complete it at all. Not to mention anyone who does not have a smart phone or a smart phone that can be used with Bluink app. I do not know how new a phone you need for the app. Thankfully mine is not that ancient so it worked. But let’s put this in perspective. My parents have a computer. They are just savy enough to maybe attempt this. They will utterly fail because they do not have a smart phone. They still live with only a land line. I really hope Canada Post still has the ability to set this up in person at a post office location. Because if not they will have alienated a good population of the country.
- The HUGE issue I have is that step 5 is AFTER you paid for the service. So I found out after the fact, checking my VISA, that Canada Post has 4 transactions from my visa card where only 1 is valid. I am keeping an eye on it and I fully expect them to catch their mistake or I am going to instruct VISA to charge back those $100 transactions. How do you take someone’s money before you VERIFY everything is in order. That is a HUGE fail!
- The kicker. I still need to go to the post office with a bar code to ‘verify’ my identity. THEN WHAT WAS ALL THE NONSENCE WITH BLUINK FOR IF YOU ARE NOT GOING TO TRUST THEM!
Canada Post! Did you even test this system? This is garbage! Who let this fly?