UPS - Damage to Small Businesses

UPS • Damaged goods, claims problems • Lost shipments • "Lost" computers • Phantom delivery attempts • Billing Problems • Small business nightmares • "Lost" or damaged artwork and jewelry --- News • Big Brown Goes Hybrid

Michael of Chicago (10/1/04):
UPS has been making mistakes in billing us for over 10 years. We now have to spend an average of two to four hours a week to inspect their bills; every week we find overcharges but never undercharges. Having to inspect these bills costs us $60 per week ($3120 per year) worth of wasted time.

Tammy of Alsip IL (1/15/02):
The problems have been going on for months. We have no alternative but to use this shipper since they are who our distributors ship through. We have sent back thousands of dollars worth of merchandise and had too many upset customers to deal with this any longer. Every shipment we get is damaged in some way. Everything from headlight covers to leaf springs. How can a freight company damage a LEAF SPRING!!! That is a 200lb peice of solid steel.

I have complained to the warehouses and to UPS, I have refused entire shipments and ordered new items to satisfy our customers only to have the second batch damaged worse than the first set. Seems like corporate UPS is paying people to damage OUR merchandise. I would classify it as vandalism. No one wants to do anything about it since the whole claim period takes so long it's hardly worth the wait. Warehouses across the country are cancelling the accounts with UPS and going to FedEx or USPS.

Incompetence is what it boils down to plain and simple, poor management, no pride in the work they do. We trust them and they abuse that trust. How do we know that the dock workers aren't stealing the products that are classified as "lost" and then UPS pays a claim, then jacks up the rates and we wind up paying more for shabby service. Then the workers turn around and sell that stuff and make even more.

Roger of Port Charlotte FL (12/22/01):
My wife and I own a retail store and had placed an order with a vendor for additional Christmas stock which was scheduled to be delivered on Dec. 18 by UPS. We received 4 boxes out of a shipment of 6 on Dec. 18 as scheduled. The driver told my wife the other two were on the truck, but way in the back where she could not get to them and asked if she could deliver them later that day when she could reach them. No problem, my wife thought, we can wait a couple hours more, and accommodated her.

So we took delivery on 4 out of the 6. The rest of the shipment never showed. When we tracked it, the info on-line read that the driver said the business was closed and would be delivered the next day (input at the exact time of delivery of the other 4 packages!). The next day she told us we were mistaken, that the other packages were NOT on the truck, but were a missing part of the shipment.

Now it hasn't been scanned in 4 days, it's the Saturday before Christmas (3 days) and our shipment is sitting in town here yet after 3 phone calls to UPS they won't even try to service a customer and of course you cannot contact a local branch of UPS or else they would be too busy listening to complaints than carrying on with their less than mediocre work. What good is it to track something if they refuse to deliver it to you anyway? I cannot think of any other company which I am more digusted with than UPS.

Purchased inventory promised 1 week before Christmas including special orders for customers wanting our products for gifts. Their (UPS) incompetence cost us sales, the confidence of our customers, and the integrity of our business.

Walter of Kevil KY (1/20/01):
I'm in the process of trying to start a small auto repair business, along with my brother in law. We're in the middle of our first job, which required that we order a part from AAA Auto Salvage in Evansville, Indiana, who sent the package to my home address C.O.D. UPS picked up the package on January 25, for which there was supposed to be a 1-day in-transit time.

It's now January 30, and the auto part has yet to arrive. I checked the tracking number on the UPS web site, and it appears that it will be at least two more days before the item arrives. I've called the Customer Service line several times, each time getting a different story as to the whereabouts of the package. When I asked for a telephone number to call to register a complaint with someone with more authority, I was told that no such number exists, and that I would have to take it up with a local supervisor. Unfortunately, the local supervisor has little to do with the matter, since the package never arrived at the local delivery center.

When I asked what could be done about this terrible level of service, I was informed that there was nothing I could do, since I'd had the package delivered to a residential address, rather than a business address, and UPS makes no delivery guarantees to residences. While I understand that it's impossible to guarantee fast delivery to all residences, due to the fact that many people live in very isolated areas, I do feel that I have a reasonable expectation of fairly prompt service if I'm expected to pay the full price for that service. In short, I expected to receive the auto part with reasonable expediency, but when I checked the tracking number on it, I found that the package had spent three days at one of their delivery hubs in Whites Creek, Tennessee. I have no recourse, other than to avoid using their service in the future, but this does absolutely nothing to help me now.

As a consequence of UPS's incompetence, the person for whom the auto repair was to be done has been without transportation for his work as a concrete finisher for nearly a week. Also, my and my brother in law's reputation for timely service as shop owners has been injured before we had a chance to establish it.

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