UPS...rant (kinda long)

[spyderchick]

Last week I shipped Brian Hall's spanky, shiney, new leathers all lettered and patched for his racing pleasure. This was via UPS, of course. Now, I live in Milwaukee, WI and Brian works in Schaumburg, IL. It's a 2 hour drive.

I get a call from Brian, "Hey UPS has been here, no leathers, can we track this?" So I get on the the tracking, and low and behold, they made it to the Addison depot, but there's no scan for outgoing delivery. Brian calls his UPS boys and finds they are on their way to NJ being sent "back to shipper". Huh. I don't live or work in NJ, and all the addresses were correct on the packaging.

Already too long of a story short, it turns out UPS is using a new system, that if you ask me is rife with errors. When you print the shipper label, they scan it, which then prints out another lable for the loaders to affix to the package. They don't cross check labels as they load, so if they slap an incorrect secondary label on your package, it goes astray.

Loading personnel are told to check the "pale label" when loading, not the shipper label. Nice. It's up to the driver after packages have been loaded for delivery into their truck to do the cross checking. My driver says he has 4-6 stray packages per day on average.

Mulitply this by the number of trucks on the road and that's some major, costly errors.

So, will Brian ever get his leathers? Fortunately, yes, however, almost a week late, which I find unacceptable. And I'll get reimbursed the whole $12 ground shipping cost me. Whoopee.  >:(

Bottom line, even though Fedex isn't as convenient for me, I'm going to be switching some of my biz over to them, especially the time sensitive packages.

[Jeff]

Bottom line, even though Fedex isn't as convenient for me, I'm going to be switching some of my biz over to them, especially the time sensitive packages.

Alexa, strongly consider this...  If one of my kids (or myself for that matter) needed an organ transplant and FedEx was the only way; they/I'd sadly die.

FedEx has to be the worst company on the planet.  How so, you say?  Their delivery is fabulous.  Tracking great, insurance perfect, prices competitive. However, they CAN'T BILL FOR SH1T.  I don't have time to type up my horror stories here, but I almost ended up in court with them over billing disputes where I was 100% correct.  They had no problems cashing my checks, but they had significant trouble applying them to the correct account because of their billing system and how they bought RPS to run as FedEx ground.

This wasn't once.  It was in 2000-2001.  I swore I wouldn't use them again.  In late 03, I gave them another shot.  Same deal....

I'd tell you to possibly look into DHL...

[OmniGLH]

UPS sucks.  I shelled out $150 to have my GSX-R forks overnighted to me from Traxxion 3 years ago.  The driver couldn't find my house, so he marked the package "invalid address - return to sender."  It wasn't the first, or 2nd, time that happened... and was watching UPS.com all day long waiting for them.  As soon as I saw it, I called UPS - and their response was, "Well, we'll hold the package for you at our Palatine depot (an hour away) and you can pick it up tomorrow."  Ummmm NO that's why I overnighted it. Fortunately, I barked loudly enough that they actually tracked the driver down on his Nextel and gave him directions.

Now I only use UPS to ship out ebay stuff.  And I insure it for WAY over, so if they lose it.. I come out ahead.  When I buy, I almost always use FedEx or DHL.

[K3 Chris Onwiler]

Every time Alexa ships my leathers UPS, they come to the house next door.  She's tried to fix this, but they just keep doing it. >:(

[EX#996]

Every time Alexa ships my leathers UPS, they come to the house next door.  She's tried to fix this, but they just keep doing it. >:(

Did you ever consider moving?

 ;D

[spyderchick]

LOL, it's a vacant house in his mom's neighborhood. Apparently his wife likes the house they have now, so I doubt it.  ;D

[H-man]

Bottom line, even though Fedex isn't as convenient for me, I'm going to be switching some of my biz over to them, especially the time sensitive packages.

Uhhh....  Alexa...  Now I'm scared and worried :o

So what exactly is your idea of a time sensitive shipment?  Well, so far so good.  I've been watching my leathers travel closser and closer to me.  Tomorrow... make that later today should be the day.

Not that I think you have any separation anxiety hang ups with your creations, but I'll let you know when they arrive.  Plus I has gots to tell ya just how brilliant they be ;)

  H-man

[Nate R]

I dunno, I've had less problems with FedEx than with UPS.

I use their online system for creating labels, and it's paid via Credit card automatically. No problems here with billing.

Cheaper, and I've had less delivery problems.

UPS has screwed me more than once with incoming shipments. FedEx I've almost missed because they show up so early with overnight deliveries.

I use USPS Priority for 90% of my shipping now, and FedEx for anything else.

DHL isn't great. Dealt with them at Gemini. Not worth the pennies per package savings over FedEx to me.

[Jeff]

I dunno, I've had less problems with FedEx than with UPS.

I use their online system for creating labels, and it's paid via Credit card automatically. No problems here with billing.

I honestly wish I could have worked things out with FedEx.  Maybe online billing on the credit card is the way to go.

But when they throw you in collections (3x) over several THOUSAND dollars worth of bills that you've paid on time and have proof for; a person tends to lose patience...

[spyderchick]

Uhhh....  Alexa...  Now I'm scared and worried :o

So what exactly is your idea of a time sensitive shipment?  Well, so far so good.  I've been watching my leathers travel closser and closer to me.  Tomorrow... make that later today should be the day.

Not that I think you have any separation anxiety hang ups with your creations, but I'll let you know when they arrive.  Plus I has gots to tell ya just how brilliant they be ;)

  H-man

LOL...you should be scared. Especially since I put spiders in your pants! ;D

Seriously, looks like your package is out for delivery today. Let me know how you like! :D

[MELK-MAN]

SAME story this past week, SAME item being shipped. I have never had a problem with UPS when i ship or when others ship to me. SYED leathers was shipping my leathers from Orlando to Tampa via ground. NEVER has it taken more than 1 day.. pkg does not arrive. I call with tracking number and THEY DONT KNOW WHERE IT IS!.. 5-6 phone calls to them, they called me 5-6 times.. SYED called 5-6 times. What a joke. unreal. took FIVE DAYS to get my package. When it ain't BROKE..DONT FIX IT. ;)

[H-man]

Seriously, looks like your package is out for delivery today. Let me know how you like! :D

Yeah, I saw that too.  Hopefully it'll be waiting for me when I get home (or arrive a little after I get home).

Spiders, eh?  Maybe I could convince others (read lbk and Bernie ;) ) this would be a really effective method to get you around the track quicker. ;D