just want to give a big F**K You to UPS

[pucho812]

O.k. so I sent a holiday package to m brother and his family. It never arrived. Good thing there was nothing in their that would spoil.  I come to find out UPS sent it to the wrong city and deemed the package undeliverable as the address does not exist in that city. The reason was they made a mistake on the label. Some how falls church is exactly as fredicksburg.  With modern computers you would think they would catch something like that. oone would go hmmmm that adddress is not coming up and ask about it, which never happened.  Anyway,  I call ups and their customer service was very cold and unfriendly to me, the customer. I was calm and collected, cool but serious. They told me there was nothing I could do to get the package to the correct destination as I had originally sent the package from a UPS store. I would have to go back to the UPS store and fill out  paperwork, then the ups store gets charged for their mistake to get the package to the correct address. I suggest why don't I just pay for the blunder and give you the correct address, we could do it over the phone and my little nephews, my brother and his wife can get their Christmas gifts.  Better late then never. I was met with, no we cannot do that you have to go back to the store and do paperwork, etc. This is not the thing you want to hear after a long day. They wouldn't budge and so much for the customer is always right and that kind of thinking. So i get online to the UPS website and track the package. Sure enough it's in their system  and said to be at their facility in the wrong town where it was deemed undeliverable as that address does not exist.  I click on the change delivery address and after a few minutes of inputting information I get charged on my card but at least now, well at least maybe I will get the package to my brothers and such.

Both fed-ex and UPS have made mistakes so I can't say one is better then the other but for now It's fed-ex until further notice.

 

[JohnRoberts]

O.k. so I sent a holiday package to m brother and his family. It never arrived. Good thing there was nothing in their that would spoil.  I come to find out UPS sent it to the wrong city and deemed the package undeliverable as the address does not exist in that city. The reason was they made a mistake on the label.

Not to defend the evil brown shorts crowd, but their system is pretty inflexible as far as human intervention is concerned.

UPS is all bar code and computer scanners, so the malfunction is with the original shipping label.

You can usually generate a label yourself on your home computer, Just like you did the redirect.  And then drop the package off at a store or just hand it to any driver.

I am guessing you brought your package to the UPS store and they generated the label? From information you provided. 

That same zip code for two cites is a little bizarre, but was the wrong city printed on the label?

Also, when I generate a UPS shipping label it checks for a valid street address, so if the computer doesn't find the address, which it shouldn't have for your package to the wrong city, the person generating the label would have to manually over-ride the computer warning them that the address was not found in that city. (something like accept address as entered despite warning).

I blame the clerk in the store where your shipment originated. The poor soul on the customer service phone line probably really couldn't fix it (never helped me). That job must suck...

In general redirects must be done by the original shipper (with a business acct.). A little odd that you could redirect it as a sort of third party, over the WWW. That almost sounds too flexible for them (how do they know you are you?)

I'd be lying if I said I never experienced a similar frustration with a package tangled up in their system, but I have had isolated problems with every shipper I have used (including LTL truckers).  99.9% of the time UPS gets it done if you dot your i's and cross your t's up front when generating the shipping label.

JR

PS Merry christmas  anyhow

Some how falls church is exactly as fredicksburg.  With modern computers you would think they would catch something like that. oone would go hmmmm that adddress is not coming up and ask about it, which never happened.  Anyway,  I call ups and their customer service was very cold and unfriendly to me, the customer. I was calm and collected, cool but serious. They told me there was nothing I could do to get the package to the correct destination as I had originally sent the package from a UPS store. I would have to go back to the UPS store and fill out  paperwork, then the ups store gets charged for their mistake to get the package to the correct address. I suggest why don't I just pay for the blunder and give you the correct address, we could do it over the phone and my little nephews, my brother and his wife can get their Christmas gifts.  Better late then never. I was met with, no we cannot do that you have to go back to the store and do paperwork, etc. This is not the thing you want to hear after a long day. They wouldn't budge and so much for the customer is always right and that kind of thinking. So i get online to the UPS website and track the package. Sure enough it's in their system  and said to be at their facility in the wrong town where it was deemed undeliverable as that address does not exist.  I click on the change delivery address and after a few minutes of inputting information I get charged on my card but at least now, well at least maybe I will get the package to my brothers and such.

Both fed-ex and UPS have made mistakes so I can't say one is better then the other but for now It's fed-ex until further notice.

 

[pucho812]

John,

Yes the wrong city was on the label. Something I should have double checked. As for same zip code, I doubt it.  You are correct in that I went to the store, filled out a slip and had them generate a label.  So yes clerk at the stores fault. I agree it's not customer services fault and that he probably could not change anything however his approach could have been better or at least sounding some what interested.

As for redirects now you have me thinking if it will actually happen. I guess I was able to redirect as I had a vaild tracking number?

Anyway as usual you do make a good point.
Cheers,

 

[emrr]

At least you solved it yourself to some degree.  A fine example of what goes wrong with outsourcing.  At least for you.  UPS gets to pass the buck on to the franchise, never mind they provide the tools used by the franchise.  I seriously doubt they provide the franchise with lesser tools than the customer gets online.  There is a manual override available online, so I'm sure the store has it too.  They must have blown that part, and as acting as the agent, it's on them.  But they're not really the agent, they are a third party with a UPS sign on the shingle, and not to be trusted like UPS itself.  Really not as much as you yourself processing online and dropping it off.  We have addresses near hear that are listed as in my city, but are physically in the next county, as is the zip code.  A similar 'impossible' situation.  I'm sure it exists many places, and it's their job to know these things, right?  They deliver to all of these places every day. 

Another clue about any UPS store:  many won't take packages insured over a grand.  You have to put them directly in UPS hands, because they won't accept the third party liability.  What does this imply about UPS's response when one of those goes missing, or gets damaged? 

UPS and FedEx both totally hose it when I get anything sent to my studio address, so I stopped sending things there.  They never deliver, I look online and find 'multiple delivery attempts' (I get no door tag, and I'm there waiting for them), I end up going to the local depot to retrieve my packages.  Both for some reason find that address too much of a hassle to service, so the delivery people lie and say they tried. 

 

[hodad]

I had such a bad experience with my UPS Store that I quit going there.  They (intentionally) overestimated each dimension on a dim-weighted package by 2 to 3 inches.  I walked out of the store before I looked at the dimensions on the receipt.  I went back & forced them to remeasure.  They still overestimated by an inch+ in each direction, but it dropped the cost by 5 or 6 bucks.  I'm pretty sure they had done the same thing to me before & I simply hadn't noticed.  I called UPS & they were surprised but basically said, "Oh, well.  We don't own the store so we can't do a thing about it."  From my perspective, the bad stores are dragging UPS's name through the mud, but UPS doesn't seem to care. 

I'm lucky enough to have a real UPS counter about 20 minutes from my house, so I generally take any UPS stuff there.  They have no motivation to screw me, and my package goes straight into a truck, which is somewhat reassuring. 

 

[okgb]

You're out time and money and it's your responsibility to police them to get their job done right ,
reminds me of the self service model more retail stores are going to . [ can't find a clerk to help you  ]
I'll use the self check out's at the grocery stores so avoid slow rude cashiers  . More and more often
we seem to be  [ paying more ] for things we done get  [ less value ]

Feel your pain brother , I NEVER use UPS across the border , that's for sure .

 

[pucho812]

Well thinks took a turn for the better this morning. I called UPS customer service again to check my new tracking number etc. John you planted that seed in my head about how easy it was to change it so I decided to check up on it.  I was met with a person who was most pleasant named Steve. He was very polite and informed me that I didn't have to make a new tracking number and pay anything.  He then asked me for the correct address of which he put into the system for the package. He then refunded money on the new tracking number. So as it stands now, the address was corrected and the package should arrive tomorrow and I didn't have to pay any extra $$.  Now my behavior was no different then last night so I guess this goes to show you that it's all up to the guy on the other end. Maybe I caught the guy last night at the end of his shift or something cause he was no help but the dude today was all full of help.  Time will tell if my package arrives. But at least I am feeling better about it this morning. 8)

 

[emrr]

Good outcome

 

[JohnRoberts]

Happy it worked out... do you have Steve's direct number?  ;D ;D

I do not mean to defend UPS, but they are in a fiercely competitive business so human touches requiring intelligence and decision making are engineered out of their system. Steve may have been a super service rep.

I suspect the "UPS store" is in fact a sub-contractor or is only loosely connected to UPS the shipper. Anybody with a computer and printer can originate shipments.

The UPS system works very well, when the label is correctly generated and AFAIK, their software should have flagged the address inconsistency with your package.

I could tell horror stories about customer service failures... my worst experience was a subtle line problem affecting my DSL, and honestly answering the service menu, kept dumping me to some puke in bangalore who repeatedly told me to unplug my modem. I finally got it repaired by lying to the service rep, and accepting liability for cost if my troubleshooting was wrong... After much drama, they found where a squirrel had chewed through the wire insulation on their line.  arghhhh

JR

 

[pucho812]

Yes I also have is star sign and likes and dislijes ;D

 

[emrr]

I believe the UPS Store is a franchise. 

It used to be that anyone offering UPS services had to offer the entire product line, and take drop-offs.  That is no longer the case, yet they look more official all the time.  Whenever I have anything over $999 to ship, I have to drive to the official UPS depot.

 

[Andy Peters]

I believe the UPS Store is a franchise. 

Yes, UPS Stores are franchises, and yes, quality varies wildly.

-a

 

[okgb]

The  " main  " depot in my city was hit or miss [ large warehouse ] last time I ever used them .
have not for years , never will again .