UPS: What can brown break for you?

They can smash it, crush it, track it, break it, drop it, mislabel it, send it to the wrong state, but they can’t redirect it until it is in a hub.

We’re living in an age of technology. You’d think that when a package is en route and you call to tell UPS that you need it to be sent to a local UPS store instead of your house, that they could attach a note to the package so the next time it was scanned in at a hub it would be redirected….BUT NO.

The first time I noticed UPS was the crappiest package service was 2 years ago when they left my Tivo system outside in November in the rain. Luckily it wasn’t damaged.

My disdain for UPS really started about a year ago when I ordered a Japanese sword. I should preface this story by telling you that a real blade will cut right through the saya (wooden sheath) with little pressure. In fact, if you do not draw the blade correctly, the sword will go through the saya and your fingers. It can be very dangerous. The blade I ordered was real with a real edge on it. It was shipped to me via UPS ground. When the package came, the box looked like the truck had backed over it. It was bent and dented and very damaged. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I thought maybe the guy I bought the sword from had simply shipped it in a box that was previously damaged, but I took photos just to be safe. Then I noticed something else…there was a rattling inside.

When I opened the box I discovered how the sword had been packed. It was encased in the sword bag, and then secured in the box with foam to keep it from moving around or bashing onto the sides of the box. As I pulled off the sword bag, I quickly discovered why the box was rattling. The tsuba (hand guard), which was made out of iron, had been smashed to bits. The jagged remains of my tsuba had been rattling the whole trip and damaged the saya with little nicks and scratches.

I immediately alerted the seller with pictures of what had been done. Thankfully, my sword was manufactured commercially, so it was easy to replace. We filed a report with UPS and sent them the pictures for proof. They paid for a replacement sword, which arrived undamaged.

Because UPS manned up and took the blame I was willing to forgive them…for now. They were lucky, though, that the sword didn’t cut through the saya and stab someone. A lot of force would have had to been used to crush an Iron tsuba.

Then, a few months later, in January, I ordered a new laptop. I was heading off to work for a new client and needed the laptop. I ordered it with 2 day shipping on a Wednesday. Unfortunately they only offered UPS as a shipping option or else I would have chosen someone else. I wasn’t leaving until Tuesday evening and thought that would provide enough time for it to arrive and come with me. It was shipped on Thursday, and I did not have it yet when I left on Tuesday. I wasn’t happy, but I wrote down my tracking number and the UPS information. I thought I could have it redirected to the hotel where I was staying and get it the next day.

We get to the hotel on Tuesday night and I call UPS, enter my info, and a customer service rep answers. I tell them I was expecting a package and would like to have the address changed because I had left for a business trip and would not be home when they came to deliver. If I didn’t do something, I would not have been back in time and they would have sent the laptop back. The conversation went something like this:

Me – “Hi, I am not going to be at home when my package arrives, so I’d like to have the shipping address changed.”

UPS – “That package is currently in transit. We can’t do anything until it arrives in a hub. Try calling back tomorrow morning at about 7:00. It should be in a hub by then.”

Me – *confused* “Okay.”

How does this make any sense? You know it’s in transit, but you cant mark anything about the package so that when it’s scanned in at the hub you can adjust the shipping address? I thought maybe I just got a newbie UPS customer service rep and decided to call the next morning. When I did, I got the same reply. They cannot note any changes on a package unless it is in the hub. You know what truck it is on. You know where it is going. Why can’t you have some sort of system that, you know, attaches data to the tracking number so that when customers need to change something we don’t have to play hide and seek? You scan them in anyway so I can see where it is at with the tracking system.

I called them 3 times on Wednesday, and twice more on Thursday before they finally we able to do something helpful. The entire time I was calling, however, my laptop had been sent to another hub in another state. So, the special 2 day shipping I paid extra for was wasted on their complete incompetence.

UPS for the lose.

I finally did get them to just ship it to a nearby UPS store and hold it there until I could come get it.  Next time I’ll use FedEx.