UPS Shipping Fiasco

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Rangertrek

Rangertrek

Member
Joined
Sep 10, 2008
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2,108
Location
Bossier City, Louisiana, USA
I thought I would pass on my little story about UPS shipping. I had a Mico-Lux metal lathe that I sold to Martin at Martin Pens at the beginning of the year. I took the lathe to my local UPS Store in a large box and asked if they could ship in this box or did it need a re-pack.

They accepted the box and did some reinforcements, bubble wrap, etc. and charged me extra for the packaging, extra for weight, size, etc. The lathe was off to Martin. Days later we both got an "undeliverable" notice on the tracking on two days. This was strange since Martin was at home both days to receive the lathe and never saw a UPS driver!

Turns out the lathe was completely damaged in transit, the driver forged a delivery signature, and routed it back to me. The lathe was destroyed and the accessory parts were mostly gone.

Basically, UPS driver lied about delivery, someone stole the parts out of the box, the good parts, chucks, center, tool holders, etc.

I have been fighting with UPS for months to pay the claim. Finally got most of my money back from them; but, not enough to make me "whole again" (lawyer term). Filed another claim for the missing parts.

I no longer use UPS for any shipping since this claim process was a total nightmare. UPS, UPS Store, and their claim company (owned by UPS) keep passing the buck back to each other.

UPS does not seem to care that their driver(s) or handlers lied about the delivery, damaging the lathe, or about the stolen (lost) parts. This concerns me more than the claims.

Anyway, if YOU ship by UPS, please read all their info on packing, boxes, etc. If you don't pack precisely per their details, they claim "inadequate packing" and deny all claims. It's best to have a UPS Store "story pack" the item.

The UPS store never told me about this policy, so it is up to the shipper to ask all the questions, etc. UPS will do everything possible to get out of paying a claim.

Also, the insurance or value listed does not mean anything to them regarding a claim. You have to jump through a bunch of hoops to prove the value of the item. In their opinion, if you sell something to a friend for $5 and the item is worth $50, the claim is only for the $5. The insurance means nothing.

Sorry for the long rant on this. UPS has lost about 4x more $$ in shipping fees from my company and related companies in the last six months than my claim was worth. Talking with UPS "upper management" (??) they did not seem to care about this either.

Just thought you might want to know. :smile: :frown:
 
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I ship all domestic orders by UPS and have had great success. My shipping bill with UPS negotiated rates is around $600 per week so I am not a huge shipper but do a fair amount. I have had to make a few claims over the last few years and have really good success with no run around. You do have to pack to their specifications which is completely understandable. I would be really upset with the UPS Store rather than UPS since they charged for extra packing. I would think the liability goes to them. They are not necessarily one in the same. Most UPS Stores are franchises and not company owned.
 
I know this is no help, but UPS delivers about 15 million packages a day. Considering the few complaints that surface they have a pretty good track record of on time delivery.

The same for the USPS, they also deliver millions per day along with million more in letters, magazines and other stuff.

We remember the one that is screwed up, but we soon forget about the hundreds that we receive through out the year.
 
MesquiteMan said:
I ship all domestic orders by UPS and have had great success. My shipping bill with UPS negotiated rates is around $600 per week so I am not a huge shipper but do a fair amount. I have had to make a few claims over the last few years and have really good success with no run around. You do have to pack to their specifications which is completely understandable. I would be really upset with the UPS Store rather than UPS since they charged for extra packing. I would think the liability goes to them. They are not necessarily one in the same. Most UPS Stores are franchises and not company owned.
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dogcatcher said:
I know this is no help, but UPS delivers about 15 million packages a day. Considering the few complaints that surface they have a pretty good track record of on time delivery.

The same for the USPS, they also deliver millions per day along with million more in letters, magazines and other stuff.

We remember the one that is screwed up, but we soon forget about the hundreds that we receive through out the year.
Click to expand...


All that being said, you would think that they would make every effort to keep their track record clean of ANY deficiencies. Periodically, i have to use them to ship products from work and you are absolutely right, EVERYTHING has to match their standard of packing or you(shipper)is at fault. Lesson learned here, ALWAYS pay to have UPS package the entire contents so if in fact something is damaged or missing, they can take full responsibility of the loss. Now i wish i had bought that lathe from you when you offered!
 
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While I can understand that "crap" happens and..

some things are going to get really messed up (as they did for you.). It is management that sets the tone for how customers will be treated. I'm sure some of us have been put off by the attitudes of some large companies. You know, "This is what to sell. We don't care what the customer wants."

But you are doing the best you can. The only options you have are really go somewhere else. Only after they lose enough customers, do they start caring. Don't try to show them any mercy, because they will show none.

They only need to get a certain return rate to continue to remain profitable.

I have had a some bad experiences with UPS in the last few years.

Good Luck.
 
Seamus, I wish you had also. Sad to see a nice piece of equipment end up in the junk heap.

I talked to my local UPS delivery person yesterday and told him the story. He has always been great to work with. He was also sad to hear that UPS won't come clean on this issue due to a few dishonest drivers. He did say this is a problem in some states with drivers. So UPS knows they have issues, I'm just disappointed they want to pass the buck and not take care of a customer who did nothing wrong but ends up with the short straw.
 
One of the new emerging sectors is package tracking. I am not talking tracking number but gps real time tracking. You can rent units and toss them in the box and track it real time.
 
About 10 years ago I placed an order for an item ($400 value). After a couple weeks I contacted the seller to find it had been shipped and delivered. I called UPS only to find out they claim to have delivered it but never got a signature. I filed a claim. That started the harassing calls from UPS almost daily for over a month. They kept asking if I received it yet almost to the point of calling me a liar when I said I had not. They finally settled the claim. To this day I have to sign for every delivery. The funny part is I had requested I sign for everything because I didn't want to leave packages sitting in the open while I was at work especially in bad weather. They told me I couldn't do that.
Guess I finally got my way. The hard way.
 
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