Complain about a product or service

UPS - Behind the Pine Curtain

Dennis of Nacogdoches TX writes:
After reading other experiences with UPS it is somewhat refreshing to know that I am not the only person dealing with inept idiots. I was beginning to think that UPS had something against me. For the last couple of years almost every item that was shipped UPS had problems.

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

A bit of geopgraphy lesson is in order at this point of my story. I am located in East Texas. Some call this area of Texas as being "BEHIND THE PINE CURTAIN" because of somewhat backwards social and economic situations. Many in this area fail to graduate from high school which immediately makes them qualified to work for UPS, or so it seems. Anyway, I honestly think that checking one's common sense at the door is a certain prerequisite for working for UPS.

Now back to the story. One of the first problems occured a couple of years ago. I placed a phone order for a set of floor mats for my vehicle. They were shipped to my office address, which happens to be the local courthouse. After several weeks I had not received my floor mats; when I checked with the company where the mats were purchased, they had been returned as undeliverable. The notes indicated that because no room number was listed delivery was not attempted when the driver reached the street address.

So instead of coming inside the front door and asking where I might be located (the courthouse is not that large, only two floors, and everyone knows what room number other employees work in) the driver simply marked them as undeliverable and returned them. I would hate to know what PhD program he attended. Other minor problems since then, but nothing like what has happened now.

I ordered a notebook computer through an internet warehouse. Paid extra for 2nd day air delivery through UPS. (Warning bells but decided to take a chance) Had to take delivery (according to the salesperson) at the same address as my billing address. That is about thirty miles away in another town and in another county. Computer ordered on Thursday, which would put the 2nd day air delivery on Monday. Tracked the UPS shipping number through their internet site and observed that at 3:55 p.m. on Monday delivery was attempted at my residence.

Printed out the screen from UPS internet site and went to local UPS delivery office at 5:30 p.m. Truck and driver not back. Went back at 6:30 p.m. just before the office closed at 6:45 p.m., truck and driver still not back. Young lady behind the counter told me that she would make a computer entry and talk with the driver to hold in the terminal and I could pick up the next morning after 9:30 a.m. from the delivery office, since I would never be home during their delivery hours.

Went back on Tuesday at 11:40 a.m. Computer not there. It is back out on the truck for delivery to my home address. When I inquire as to why it was sent back out after the young lady from the night before told me that it wouldn't be sent out on the truck again, and that she would make a computer entry to that effect. I am told that there is no way for the office to make computer entries such as that. With that I am rudely brushed aside. While returning to my office I realize that some things are not adding up.

If UPS can track shipments, they can make computer entries, or so it would seem. Back at the office I call the 800 number for customer service. The lady taking this call is obviously not able to comprehend what my complaint is about. So I put it in terms that she can understand, since I paid for 2nd day delivery and I would get 4th day delivery, at best, I should be refunded my delivery charge. She informed me that I would have to take that up with the company that shipped the computer. DO WHAT? The company that shipped the computer did nothing wrong. They shipped the computer the same day that I ordered it. It is not their fault that UPS can't make a simple computer entry or some other type of notation to hold a box at the delivery terminal.

That was the final straw, I informed UPS customer service to return the computer to the shipping company, that is assuming that they ever found it somewhere in the local delivery office or on one of their delivery trucks bouncing around the back roads of East Texas. I then drove 150 miles to Houston, purchased the computer at a retail establishment and drove back home all before the local UPS office closed and certainly before the truck and driver returned.

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