This was not a scam exactly, but it was a private company
attempting to capture new customers by making it look like the U.S. Postal
Service was offering me free stamps and a new service.
Last week I
got an envelope with this letter, a “test sheet,” and what looks like blank
stamps. Normally, I have no trouble going to the Post Office—there’s one just a
block away, and if there’s a line, I can use the machine or come back another
day. But in the time of pandemic, it would help to have what looks like some
free stamps, and I thought this was a new way for the Post Office to make
money. I’ve gotten lots of e-mails about the current administration wanting to
privatize the government postal service.
So I went
to the website, www.stamps.com/GetStamps, and plugged in my “promo code.” This
sent me to a page where I had to put in my credit card info, which should have
stopped me right there. I did
Here was
where I was supposed to print my free stamps. But there was no way to do that.
Hmmm. Okay. I’ll do something about this later.
Today, I
called the U.S. Postal Service. “Longer than usual wait times” meant that I
left my phone number, and a customer service person, Keith, called me a couple
of hours later.
After I
explained my dilemma, Keith said this was not something the U.S.P.S. had sent
out. Oh, really? Had I been scammed? I looked more closely at the letter
and realized the official-looking logo at the top of the letter said “Approved
Licensed Vendor.” Aha, not the post office, a third-party company.
I went to
Stamps.com’s website, found customer service, called the number, got a
recording where I could close my account, which I did promptly. And I will now
call my credit card company to tell them to cancel any charge from this
company.
Have you gotten
anything like this in the mail?
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It’s
Slice of Life Tuesday over at Two
Writing Teachers. Check out this encouraging and
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one of your own.
