UPS SUCKS

wineau · « **on:** 4 Sep 2004, 12:36 am »

A warning for all shippers / buyers. I shipped a pair of speakers UPS insured in the ORIGINAL manufacturer's packaging. One got trashed , courtesy of UPS. Now they won't honor the insurance; they say the packaging was insufficient. Well it was good enough to get it here from Europe, but not within the USA.

UPS is very happy to take your insurance money, but they will not pay insurance for damage. It's a scam, and don't risk sending via UPS. I will not use them again. My advice is to find another carrier, UPS SUCKS!!!

SimpleGuy · « **Reply #1 on:** 4 Sep 2004, 12:59 am »

I've had problems with UPS over the years with sending
and receiving packages that they have damaged. I don't even
bother using UPS at all anymore. They still just can't get their act together!
FedEx ground is better than UPS. Would be better to just deal
with FedEx or another carrier that takes the extra care needed
to deliver packages un-damaged.

I didn't let UPS get away with it, you have to fight them, even if you have to take them to court. I made sure they paid me because they were the ones at fault, and after a hard fight, they paid me.

drunkonjack · « **Reply #2 on:** 4 Sep 2004, 01:10 am »

Stay on them . It is their policy to deny claims first time around. I also shiped Speaker through UPS and in same original box with packaging. When they investigated the order they denyed and sent speakers back to me . When I got them they were even worse than when the buyer I sold them to had gotton them. I told UPS that they didn't even repack the speakers after there little investigation and they better pay up. They did.

Bingenito · « **Reply #3 on:** 4 Sep 2004, 01:32 am »

UPS does suck.

I had an issue with them today when I tried to ship a pair of speaker cabinets using the recipients UPS account number. The person working in The UPS Store said only UPS can ship using a UPS account number for billing.

I had to point to the UPS sign over the guys head and say so this is not UPS? The ordeal goes on for 10 minutes which seems like an eternity in hell dealing with people that have the brain power of a flee and breathe valuable oxygen that a squrrial or another mammal higher up on the evolutionary chart could be utilizing.

As I attempted to understand the reasoning behind the UPS Store and UPS the clerk actually told me “I do not know I just work here”.

What kind of response is that when a customer asks a question? Is that what they teach them in training? Should you know better if you did not work here?

Needless to say I carried my boxes back out of the UPS Store because of their incompetence.

Bemopti123 · « **Reply #4 on:** 4 Sep 2004, 01:37 am »

I have had varying degrees of experience with the UPS gorillas.

The last time, they damaged the face plate of a preamp I bought...which was shipped in its original packaging.

I asked them to go through inspection and sure, they denied the claim.

After talking to the original seller, I came to a compromise and did not bother with UPS, because I knew I could get a new faceplate on the cheap when I upgraded the unit....

But from previous experiences, someone should file a class action lawsuit against their policy of charging for insurance that they will NEVER pay. Is that the same as being forced to buy something that were to use someday?

It would be the same idea as you paying for your car insurance and they dennying your claim, saying it was either your fault or the other side's fault. I think they are lucky that someone did not get the brillant idea of suing the crap out of them and there would be MANY people who would be able to get compensation out of them....I know I could be one and so can many people here in AudioCircle and let us not even comment, Audiogon. There is a hate club out there for UPS.

I do agree that Fedex is better, but still they might not be perfect.

Fight them to death.

For future reference, I would keep record with a digital camera of the piece as it is being packed, and being sent to the UPS counter...even they ask you to close the product in front of them...thus I would take a picture of it as they close it.

You will win if you persist!

cjr888 · « **Reply #5 on:** 4 Sep 2004, 02:18 am »

Shipping companies are a pain in the neck -- period. I'd have to review them again, but when it comes down to it, my understanding was that a claim (no matter how painful a process) was more positive with UPS than FedEx -- something along the lines that regardless of what total you ensure for via FedEx, that when it comes time for a claim, they act more like homeowners/renters insurance, allowing themselves to determine the true value of the product vs. replacement value. Can't recall exact details, but think I have bookmarked an explanation from AA somewhere.

As for the mention that FedEx Ground is better -- again, maybe I'm mixing things up, but I thought FedEx ground exists as an acquisition and wasn't originally FedEx (or is is Air?). Can't remember which, but one one the two branches is filled with horror stories worse than UPS.

As for general customer service -- courtesy, availability, followups on lost shipments and reshipments, I find FedEx head and shoulders above UPS.

In general, if something is traveling a distance, expediting a shipment always seems better if you can guarantee air -- less package handling.

As for original boxes -- I think all carriers say that your claim is useless if its not in the original box, but they obviously have the way out to say that the packaging is still not up to their standards. I do my best to go overboard with shipping materials, and double box original packages if I question their survival. Reading the requirements is a bit frightening on what they expect a package to go through -- drops from XX height, etc.. Some items rediculous to the point that you have a hard time conceiving of how a package could go through some of the scenarios with the exception of if say truck loading occured by using catapult from 50 yards away....

...A few months back, I ordered a pair of Mirage Omnisats and stands for a TV system. Shipped UPS. Tracked. Midway through I saw a tracking status message I hadn't seen before...but that wasn't positive. When I called customer service to find out what that meant, they said that they didn't know the exact details, but it usually meant something literally along the lines of it falling off a truck and either ending up missing, or destroyed beyond recognition where they throw it away instead of returning the sender. Frightening. Luckily it was from a dealer who cares about customer service -- I contacted him. He was on vacation in Florida, called me via cell phone, immediately refunded my money and followed up on the claim on his own.

One thing if you run a business, but if you are an individual, and a seller, pack like crazy, as its YOU, the shipper that has to followup on the claim, and ends up being you that has to provide the refund...don't go spending your money until you know it arrives safely....and be prepared to be out that money while you fight with a company not looking to give money back for their own errors.

Also keep in mind another clause -- sometimes its stated in the insurance terms. Sometimes if you go to a branch location, like The UPS Store, and they see that you are shipping electronics, they will ask you to sign a waiver that essentially says that since UPS can't guarantee that they unit was working at all prior to shipping, if its damaged and no physical damage is seen, they won't honor insurance claims. So if you pack too little and its dented, in theory they would cover it....but if that happens, they will aim for the "you didn't pack well enough." If its packed "pretty good" but can be damaged by shock and vibration, you are are off to the repair shop and without a claim... So pack your stuff with the expectation that it will be dropped from a satellite to earth.

Preference for shipping companies is based on experiences and not unlike cars... Are you a Toyota guy or a Nissan guy? Two people both with great and horrlble opposing experiences, but everyone eventually gets a bad experience....

So when you buy your boxes, buy the thickest you can....to wrap around your original packaging...

When you buy bubblewrap....find yourself the largest box you can find...

Its a lot cheaper and less painful than fighting with the company for months.

bundee1 · « **Reply #6 on:** 4 Sep 2004, 03:24 am »

I hate U.P.S. and my dumbass brother in law. I ordered VH Audio's 1M pair of Pulsars on Tuesday with 2 Day Air. Chris squeezed my order in and messed up the shipping, sending it ground. He made up for it by free overnighting the second pair I ordered. (Chris is the f*$kin' bomb, great products, exemplary customer service!!!!!)

I put my mother in law's address as the recipient and call them this morning to tell them to accept the package. There are 2 people at home because my chump bro in law is currently unemployed. So Im all excited about receiving my cables and having a 3 day weekend to play with them. I call him up to see if the cables came in and he tells me the U.P.S. guy rang the bell, waited about a min(while my idiot bro in law put some pants on) and left a note right on the freaking door. He was in the building so they obviously let him in and then he freaking leaves! After Chris goes through all the trouble of soldering late into the night (I know he started work at around 12am because that was our last email) and overnighting them.

Now I have to go through this again 4 days later on Tuesday, the earliest they can deliver. And is there ever a freaking chance in hell they can ever deliver early instead of having crap sit in their wherehouse a whole day, even when it gets scanned in at 8am?
I am assed out of cables until Tuesday, after work, and pissed as hell!

My heart and patience goes out to you who have suffered more.

cjr888 · « **Reply #7 on:** 4 Sep 2004, 03:40 am »

Quote

Now I have to go through this again 4 days later on Tuesday, the earliest they can deliver. And is there ever a freaking chance in hell they can ever deliver early instead of having crap sit in their wherehouse a whole day, even when it gets scanned in at 8am?

Don't know if you are in a remote location or not, but I'm within 5 minutes of the UPS and FedEx distribution center. Home is quite set back from the road, so have no issue with packages being left without a signature. Usually ask shipper to mark no signature required if they are comfortable, and if not, leave a note on the door to tell them to leave it if no one is available...

In the cases where that's disregarded as well (FedEx usually wants a signature regardless, UPS doesn't seem to care), I just show up at the distribution center with the slip, pick up my package, and head on home. At lot better than waiting for redelivery, which is usually next day, but you never know... If you're not too far from it, give them a call, give them the package information to confirm its available (usually a few hours after attempted delivery) and head on over if you don't want the delay....[/quote]

bundee1 · « **Reply #8 on:** 4 Sep 2004, 04:17 am »

I think the NYC UPS distribution center is in Maspeth, Queens. I went there once as a kid. Not a happy place. The freakin' boonies, only accessible by car or bus and kind of creepy. My brother's car was towed from my friends workplace parking lot. I left it parked there because the battery died. Anyway Im stuck waiting.

GUNN · « **Reply #9 on:** 4 Sep 2004, 06:47 am »

I see UPS as one of those truly evil organizations.

I had a C.O.D item sent to my house at one time and gave the UPS guy a money order, about half a year later UPS contacts me saying that they need the money order reciept because they wanted to trace where it went. The person in UPS's loss prevention I talked with came to the conclusion that the carrier had forged the money order and cashed it in for himself. I had kept my money order transaction stub and sent it to them. I got this stub back from UPS a few weeks later saying that only the person who purchased the money order is the only person that can inquire about who cashed it in. I wasn't able to follow up on this because this money order had to be sent in by mail and the inquiry never got back to me, there was no phone number to call. I was told that it could take 4-6 weeks and it wasn't on the top of my 'to do' list. It may have even gotten lost in my junk mail pile, I really don't know. So a few more months pass by and UPS then sticks the loss on me. They had gotten a collection agency to stick the loss on me because I did not follow up on something that they screwed up on. That $200 transaction got stuck on my credit report and I am amazed by how I got it. I wonder if I can build any kind of case against them since it's been a while. It's not like I held the carrier at gun point and took my C.O.D item off his hands.

djbnh · « **Reply #10 on:** 4 Sep 2004, 10:57 am »

Highly dissatisfied w/UPS - Unbelievably Putrid Shipping. I've had five (5) amps/preamps damaged in shipping, including their respective replacements!

FYI - I have gone the pick-up @ the distribution center route, too, but I'm in a rural location and it's about 1/2 hour away.

Re: Fed-Ex, an A-goner shipped me a turntable via normal FedEx that was damaged enroute. Also, I had a CDP shipped Fed-Ex Ground, and they would not leave the package at the house because a signature was required on the receipt. Iad to take off an 1.5 hours off from work to drive to Fed-Ex ground's distribution center to get the package, due to the Fed-Ex ground's limited office hours did not extend past my work hours. Furthermore, my understanding is that Fed-Ex Ground contracts out deliveries to local drivers, who make their own respective delivery times. Obviously, this did not work at all for my circumstances; at least the CDP arrived in non-damaged condition.

I marvel that our military can hit a target within 2 inches from a few hundred miles away, we can put a man on the moon, our doctors can do heart and liver transplants, but companies can't ship a f@ck1ng package 800 miles without beating the snot out of it!

Val · « **Reply #11 on:** 4 Sep 2004, 12:24 pm »

I agree with the general trend here, I have had problems with UPS and I don't do business with them anymore. I also pass the word along, hit them in their pocketbooks!

Val

lylefan · « **Reply #12 on:** 4 Sep 2004, 01:06 pm »

The entire shipping business is a scam. What kind of crappy business charges you to deliver an item, then charges you insurance and then charges you extra to make sure it gets delivered and undamaged? Isn't the entire point of a shipping compan suppose to be to get your item from point A to point B without damage?

Talk about a great business model... "Hey Bob, let's charge money for a service, and then get the customer to pay again to make sure we actually do what they originally paid us for."

Anyone use that new shipping service... DHL or something like that?

Val · « **Reply #13 on:** 4 Sep 2004, 01:13 pm »

I have used DHL for a long time and without problems, even overseas, and it's much better than UPS. I haven't had problems with FedEx the few times I've used them either.

Val

ampgalore · « **Reply #14 on:** 4 Sep 2004, 02:03 pm »

The postal service uses the same model. Insurance is extra.

cjr888 · « **Reply #15 on:** 4 Sep 2004, 02:35 pm »

Quote from: Val

I have used DHL for a long time and without problems, even overseas, and it's much better than UPS. I haven't had problems with FedEx the few times I've used them either.
Val

Have to agree that with my limited usage of DHL that experience has been positive, but then again most experiences with them involved international shipments such as Denmark to NJ in which case you figure air travel to NYC-area, then one truck delivery -- certainly less possibility for issues vs. a package switching trucks and getting routed through multiple distribution centers...so really more of a reflection of AirMail than the actual carrier.

Carlman · « **Reply #16 on:** 4 Sep 2004, 06:37 pm »

I like UPS for 2nd day air service only. If it ships ground, chances are good that it will be abused. The place where I drop off packages is the worst looking facility I've seen in the U.S. I worked at UPS for 3 years and helped staff a new air hub in Columbia, SC.

What I considered barely adequate back then would be considered exceptional at my local center... and those folks make up less than half of what I've seen.

I've stood and watched for several minutes on several occasions... because there's no security, it takes them 10-15 minutes to find the package I'm there to pickup... etc...

This particular UPS really does suck. They stop the belts at least every minute, their load rates are likely in the 1-200 per hour vs. the minimum of 700... packages are falling off the belts, people are sitting in feeders/trailers, throwing packages, etc... pretty much everything that would have gotten me fired, they did. If there is a manager, he or she doesn't give a rats ass about what they're doing.

Centers (the little places that service small areas/towns) have always been more slack than the hubs (where the big trailers go to and from the centers) but this is one is ridiculous.

I double and sometimes triple box things now if I can't afford to send via air service.

DHL is OK but not convenient in any way for me. I have no idea where FedEx is in my area... I have had 10 times better luck with USPS but a lot of people specifically ask that I not use it when shipping. They want a tracking number... I guess so they can track a soon-to-be damaged package...

-C

Rob Babcock · « **Reply #17 on:** 4 Sep 2004, 07:09 pm »

I guess I'll chime in with my UPS advice- if you choose to ship by UPS, make sure your package is waterproof.

Carlman · « **Reply #18 on:** 4 Sep 2004, 08:04 pm »

Yes, the ways for UPS to screw up are seemingly neverending. I shipped a DVD player to Rob... I figured it'd be OK in the manufacturer's box but, I didn't realize UPS would hide it from the recipient where it would get rained on for days. Contacting UPS revealed the secret location... the info wasn't available online.

UPS amazes me that they can falter at every possible step. From now on, everything gets sealed prior to shipping.

The next step is to seal things in concrete.

Rob Babcock · « **Reply #19 on:** 4 Sep 2004, 08:24 pm »

Maybe next time I'll try one of those rail canisters made for shipping spent nuclear waste!

No doubt, UPS are a bunch of jerkmonkeys!