Posted on 12/13/2006 4:43:50 AM PST by NoControllingLegalAuthority
What if your UPS overnight delivery doesn't come overnight?
A small item was shipped UPS overnight to me in Tennessee from Idaho on Tuesday, November 28, 2006. The shipper paid for overnight service.
The tracking number we all think is a security blanket showed the package arrived at the Nashville UPS hub at 6:45 AM Wednesday morning.
The item was a critical, hand-made prop to be used in a motion picture. I needed to take it with me on a flight to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, on Friday morning, December 1st.
The problem is when a critical item disappears, the UPS web site can tell you where it was last seen but you have no way of locating it immediately. There is nobody to call. You can't go to the hub and talk to a supervisor. You can't go to a UPS store and have anyone expedite the search for the critical item. You are just screwed.
We were lucky to have a second prop in Idaho. We had to locate it. We had to have somebody drive to get it. We had to have somebody take the item to a second individual many miles away. That second individual arranged to get it to an actor, a third individual who was flying to Sioux Falls for the movie shoot.
I flew home Sunday night from the movie shoot, still having no idea what had become of the critical UPS shipment.
The shipper got her money back but the item had disappeared.
Finally, on Tuesday, December 5th, a full week after it was shipped, the item was delivered without apology or explanation. It arrived in the same undamaged envelope in which it was shipped.
UPS simply cannot deliver a package overnight or tell you why. I won't use their service again and want to let as many people as possible know of their unreliability.
They have a huge black hole into which service falls and disappears.
UPS is a second-rate service. I had a slightly different issue with them just last week where they delivered the package twice to the wrong address.
I have decided to use only Fedex and USPS henceforth.
While not critical packages either time, I've seen twice where the package arrived at a local hub from the west coast, made it to the local delivery office, and then went stright back to the point of shipping without even an attempt to deliver.
The folks at UPS really, really need to take a look at their automated systems and their handling procedures.
As a former UPS employee, I can tell you that not 100% get through on time. But the number of on time packages for UPS is 98.3%. 98.3% of an average of 16 million packages a day. That's great. Fedex is 96% (also great)and the postal service is 78%. (not so great) I know that the folks at UPS give 100% to get the job done. As a former UPS supervisor once told me,"You can deliver a million packages to somebody on time, in perfect condition, but it's the one that's late or has a dinged corner that they remember,"and he was exactly right. You'll now go and badmouth UPS because of one service failure, not considering all the times they got it right.
As for you having no recourse if a package is lost, you DO have an out; go to a UPS center and talk to a supervisor. They'll talk to you and explain what's going on and why. It won't get your package to you, but maybe after your conversation you'll understand better the daunting task they face and have a little more sympathy.
All of the delivery services are doing their best, but nothing is fool proof.
These anti-capitalist tirades are getting out of hand.
Dont you guys realize with every large corporation
their products always have a failure rate?
Some failures are more inconvienent than others.
He is right to go to USPS. If he is a frequent shipper it will allow him to compare the failure rates.He will then be induced to try FedEx or a boy on a bicycle.
Chit happens....
I WILL say that UPS is having some problems right now with their new dispatch system, according to my friends who are still working there. Supposedly, they're scrapping the system that they spent $1 billion on, though it works perfectly. The problem is that their supervisors can't allow the system to work it's way through and keep throwing the human factor into a perfect system, thereby screwing things up. So people mess things up and a system is being scrapped. It doesn't make sense that you can't just reign in the people causing the probs, but this was always a problem at UPS.
The item was a critical, hand-made prop to be used in a motion picture.
Damn!
I thought it was a donor heart for transplant.
I feel better.
sp
I paid for a $10 shipment at the local UPS store with a brand new credit card that I had not used before. A week later, I go to use the card for a second time only to find out that the bank had invalidated the card. Seems someone was using the card to buy personal ads and geneology reports. Went back to the store to complain and the complaint taker turned out to be the dweeb who processed my card the week before. And he squirmed the entire time I made my complaint.
My wife was expecting an important delivery via UPS. We had ordered the item and my instructions were to have it delivered to our home, no signature required. It arrived, but the UPS guy refused to let my wife take delivery of the item because I was not home to sign for it.
When I arrived home, I called UPS to ask about the problem. The UPS customer service [sic] rep grouchily responded that I MUST have required a signature, since the UPS man said so! I told her we would pick up the package that evening at their depot. She told me it would be available for us at 7:30.
We arrived at 7:30, and they told us that the item was for redelivery, NOT customer pickup. They told me that yes, the package was in the depot, but they had no way of locating it. "It's in a huge pile with all the other items to be delivered!" I was told. According to the customer service [sic] rep, it would be delivered the next day, between 10:00 and 2:00, and that my wife would not have to sign for it. Not trusting them, I took the day off from work and watched for the UPS truck.
Next day, no delivery. I called UPS again, and they said that the delivery man attempted delivery twice, but that there was noone home! I told her that was impossible, since I WAS home, watching for the truck. She angrily told me that perhaps I was in the bathroom both times!
Delivery was now going to be between 4:00pm and 7:00pm. I told them I would stand watch on our street. At 7:00pm I called back to report no delivery. They told me the driver attempted delivery. I called BS, and said that I was standing watch on the street the entire time, and saw NO UPS truck.
The UPS customer service [sic] rep told me that she would instruct the driver to deliver the item before returning to the depot. I told her I was standing on our street watching for him. Finally at 8:00pm, I saw a UPS truck wandering the neighborhood. I flagged him down. He got out of the truck (not saying anything to me) and proceeded to walk to our house. I followed him to the house, and as he rang the doorbell, I told him that this was my house. He angrily demanded photo ID, and required me to sign for the package. I did so, and he ran back to his truck and sped away.
Never again will I use UPS...
The very day we were tracking my daughter's wedding dress the driver had a flat tire. We had great service from the UPS person we called.
That said, overnight or next day service from UPS is as unpredictable as it is on FedEx. It gets there when they get ready to deliver the package, no matter what the send paid.
Pathetic but then they are delivering millions upon millions of packages with a fairly good, but not exceptional, record.
One pet peeve. If the package has a big red FRAGILE sticker on it, I can be sure the package has been bashed on all sides.
As a side benefit, they have also forced the competition, especially the postal service, to improve.
This story is total BS. As a former employee, I know that if a signature is required, any adult can sign, not just the person that the package is addressed to. And as far as a sig being required, your shipper either put a sig req sticker on, or you live in an apartment or other multi-unit situation where a sig is required, or maybe there's been a lot of package thefts in your area and the entire area is sig req.
"We arrived at 7:30, and they told us that the item was for redelivery, NOT customer pickup. They told me that yes, the package was in the depot, but they had no way of locating it. "It's in a huge pile with all the other items to be delivered!" I was told."
When I worked there, I was pressed into service several times to find a package for a customer who came to pick up their package, so I don't believe this at all. I've had to dig through a tractor trailer looking for packages on more than one occasion to make a customer happy.
"Finally at 8:00pm, I saw a UPS truck wandering the neighborhood. I flagged him down. He got out of the truck (not saying anything to me) and proceeded to walk to our house. I followed him to the house, and as he rang the doorbell, I told him that this was my house. He angrily demanded photo ID, and required me to sign for the package. I did so, and he ran back to his truck and sped away."
If I'd ever treated a customer this way, I'd have been fired immediately. I'm not calling you a liar, but I don't believe this story. I think it's not been presented as it happened and has been embellished over time.
Excuse me? I was there pal, and this happened only about a month ago! Sorry to inform you that your old company is lousy! Everything happened EXACTLY as I described it...
"One pet peeve. If the package has a big red FRAGILE sticker on it, I can be sure the package has been bashed on all sides."
Those packages become the disgruntled employee's whipping post. Do not EVER put FRAGILE on a package because it becomes a target, but that applies to any of the delivery companies.
Nope, did NOT happen. They told me there was NO WAY they could locate my package. And the entire time I was treated as a 2nd class person who was interfering greatly on their time. UPS stinks.
"Excuse me? I was there pal, and this happened only about a month ago! Sorry to inform you that your old company is lousy! Everything happened EXACTLY as I described it..."
Call 1-800-PICK UPS and register a complaint then. Demand a call back from a supervisor and get the appropriate people in trouble. Holding their feet to the fire is the only way you'll get satisfaction.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.