UPS Service or lack of

[Bud]

(Rant on)

 

I've lived in the same house for over 9 years, same address. Get US mail delivered there 6 days a week, get UPS packages 5 days a week.

 

Ordered something I really needed, with overnight delivery, due at my house by 1:30 PM today. Not here by 4:30. Check web site and they say they can not deliver package because my address is not valid.

 

I call the local terminal (25 miles away) and ask why. They say it was because the driver was unable to locate my house and it wasn't in their database. The regular driver will deliver it on Monday.

 

Great customer service would have been to ask how to get to my house and bring it ASAP. All they wanted to do was defend their non-delivery.

 

Of course I will get my money back from the shipper and they may or may not get a refund from UPS.

 

In this instance, UPS delivery service sucks.

 

(Rant off)

[Joel]

My experience with Brown is usually good on regular ground, but expedited, not so much. OTOH, one of my worst customer service experiences ever was several years ago when UPS sent me a postcard to tell me they couldn't make a delivery because the didn't have a valid address. Really??? And this was a few weeks after Xmas, when they'd already been to my house several times. When they insisted that they could not try again and I had to go fetch the package at their depot, I believe that my parting words to the CSR were "Tightest ship in the shipping business my a$$!"

[REVz]

And as a hijack, sort of, UPS using USPS on their last leg. Been going on for awhile (~2003)...UPS using "UPS Basic" drops to the USPS using "Parcel Select" to gain discount on some packages while adding bulk to USPS. FedEx started the same thing with their "Smart Post" in 1998

 

Some of the rural packages are dropped at the local Post Office and they have to finish the delivery, saving UPS money.

 

Interestingly for me it has been the smallest of the packages that are dropped from UPS to USPS.

 

But, I have a friend in rural Maryland, think the farthest west possible almost WV, in Accident, MD who receives all deliveries by UPS truck...go figure.

 

I know weight is part of the equation, but would be interesting to see the whole strategy laid out.

 

Bottom line is that sometimes the smaller package is delayed by 1-2 days. Just received books that way yesterday...

 

 

[Lmar]

I had a similar situation with USPS. I ordered an item from Amazon, it was sent from an Amazon distributor using USPS. It was supposed to be delivered to our home in Arizona in 4 days. After the sixth day I contacted USPS tracking. They said that they could not deliver to the address and the parcel was returned. Well, the address was correct.

 

It must have been some glitch in the system. USPS at least to me has been pretty good in the past.

 

Of all the items that I have shipped by USPS, UPS and Fedex over the last three years, this was the only one that didn't arrive. With all the items they are dealing with, errors can happen.

[Glenn Reed]

I have had bad experiences with UPS and FedEx. I understand that people make mistakes, but you learn what the company is really like when you give them an opportunity to fix it.

 

Customer Service just isn't in that high a supply these days.

 

OTOH, when one Amazon shipment was delayed by the storm that went through OK, and my package disappeared within the UPS system, Amazon had another delivery sent out that day, overnight. That's what we all look for in a Customer Service situation.

[Bob Palin]

UPS service seems to depend a lot on the driver, which can be both a good and a bad thing depending on how interested the driver is. I get 2nd day shipping packages every week from Amazon and they have only failed to deliver on time once in the last 6 years, that was weather related. They get here 50 miles across the mountain on days when I wouldn't try to drive my 4wd Tundra over there. We have a new driver in the last 6 months and he seems to be a gud'n, if he can't find somebody, and addresses here are often mysterious, he asks around until he finds somebody that knows. The previous driver was a local hero, when he retired some people put on a party for him and half the county turned out, he liked Wayne County so much after driving it for 30 years it wouldn't surprise me if he moved here.

 

The final delivery by USPS is infuriating because we don't have street delivery, if I wanted to use USPS I would have specified that! I was reading about the program recently, it loses a ton of money because it didn't occur to the USPS that UPS an FedEx would use it. They intended it to be competition with them for large mailers like Amazon, but it turns out they can't deny any legal private entity the use of it, typical USPS. The program expires sometime soon and I expect it will go away as quietly as it appeared.

 

FedEx here is absolutely awful, I don't even get the driver who used to read his cowboy poetry when he made deliveries any more.

[Lmar]

In response to:

Poster: Glenn Reed

Subject: Re: UPS Service or lack of

 

I have had bad experiences with UPS and FedEx. I understand that people make mistakes, but you learn what the company is really like when you give them an opportunity to fix it.

 

Customer Service just isn't in that high a supply these days.

 

When I compare customer service in Canada to the US, I wonder what is the matter with the service here in Canada.

 

No matter which store I go to in our home town in Arizona, employees are very helpful. You walk down the aisle at Home Depot; Is there anything can I help you find sir? Let me know if I can be of assistance. Back here in the Canada, your lucky to find someone to ask, and when you ask, they don't know.

 

In a grocery store an employee walks me down to an aisle half way across the store to show me where an item is located. Won't happen here!!

 

The best and most recent example is the one by Qwest that happened this December when we got back to Arizona. I was trying to access my answering machine but kept getting a busy signal. I thought our cordless phone was off the hook. When we got there it wasn't, everything seemed fine. I phoned Quest Customer Service at 7:30 PM Sunday evening. Talked to a representative that asked me if a repairman could come by Monday morning (between 8 and 9 am)? I said that's fine.

 

When my wife and I returned from a walk we had a message on our answering machine. (Good morning, this is Jim from Qwest repair, your phone is working fine now. If you have any questions, please call me at _______ . have a nice day.). To get a repair with Telus here, we would probably have to wait for a couple of weeks!

 

These are just my observations, but what a difference!!

 

[Nomad Indy]

I have had FedEx leave a note on my gate saying they could not find my house.

How did he find my gate, I have a large storage box at the gate for package delivery. Large dogs inside the gate.

 

Sent a copy of this to FedEx and they sent me a check for $50.

[4wheeldog]

FedEx here is absolutely awful, I don't even get the driver who used to read his cowboy poetry when he made deliveries any more.

 

I have found packages "Delivered" FEDEX when the spring thaw finally came, that were tossed in the snow bank next to the clear driveway. The driveway is 300' long, but the UPS guys always come up to the house. The UPS driver is excellent, except when he is replaced while on vacation.......