I ordered a TiVO on Tuesday night from Amazon with 2 day shipping. It was too late in the day, so it counted as being ordered on Wednesday. Estimated delivery? Friday. So, I called up Verizon to order cable cards for it. They quickly scheduled a technician to come out (?!) and deliver them and install them Monday morning. Perfect.
Then, UPS got involved. Check out the shipping history of this package:
| US | 01/23/2008 @ 10:32 A.M. | BILLING INFORMATION RECEIVED | Okay. Perfect. |
| EAST PETERSBURG, PA, US | 01/24/2008 @ 5:15 A.M. | AN INCORRECT ROUTING AT A UPS FACILITY CAUSED THIS DELAY / THE PACKAGE WAS MISSORTED AT THE HUB. IT HAS BEEN REROUTED TO THE CORRECT DESTINATION SITE | Wait. What? At this point, this is 14 hours later and the first comment I get is something went wrong? Alright, but the expected arrival date is still correct. I bet they’re going to fix this screw up. |
| EAST PETERSBURG, PA, US | 01/24/2008 11:59 P.M. | DEPARTURE SCAN | Wow. Uh… 18+ hours before it starts moving again? That seems bad. |
| HORSHAM, PA, US | 01/25/2008 6:30 A.M. | ARRIVAL SCAN | Okay. So more than 6 hours travel time. Let’s check the map and see how far away these two places are. Hmm… 90 minutes away. That’s not good… |
| HORSHAM, PA, US | 01/25/2008 7:46 A.M. | DEPARTURE SCAN | Well, that’s a little better… But now the expected arrival date is Monday! Unless I can fix something, I’m going to have to cancel Verizon |
| SADDLE BROOK, NJ, US | 01/25/2008 @ 10:05 A.M. | ARRIVAL SCAN | Getting closer, but still Monday delivery. |
This is a UPS screw up. It happens sometimes, right? Nothing to worry about. I’ve seen their ads where you can fix problems and they’ll help out! So I call them and detail the problem. I need the shipment before Monday. (the customer service rep mentions the package won’t arrive until the end of day on Monday)
“I need this before Monday, can you change it to Saturday delivery?”
“No, it’s on a truck right now with 5000 other packages. We can’t pull just one package off, we don’t know where it is.”
“I need this before Monday. This is your error, I paid for delivery to be on Friday, what can you do?”
“Call Amazon and have them pay for a package intercept back to them. When it arrives (!) have them ship it again next day air with Saturday delivery.”
So, they can’t find the package unless Amazon (I can’t do it) pays them to find it. In which case they can get it back to Amazon in time to reship it to me at GREAT expense for Saturday delivery. Yes, that’s the case, although the original delivery charge would be refunded.
Awesome.
I hate you, UPS.
(Yes, I called Amazon to suggest this insane scheme, and they refused for some strange reason.)
Anonymous | 27-Jan-08 at 4:08 am | Permalink
Solution: Call Verizon, and tell them that you know how to insert a card into a slot.
John | 27-Jan-08 at 6:21 am | Permalink
I absolutely loathe UPS’s service, and won’t willingly ship anything with them (only Newegg, which always seem to push UPS over FedEx, is the exception). Internationally, I now absolutely refuse to ship anything UPS. They’re often slower than the post (!) and have lost a package, delivered a package empty of its contents, and delivered a package (which, due to weight, was extremely expensive to ship) with its contents ruined, and over a month late. Only the first happened directly to me, the other cases (and more besides) to people close to me. Go FedEx or even US Post when possible instead of UPS.
Spence | 18-Jul-08 at 9:58 am | Permalink
i fucking hate UPS too man!
Package Progress
LOUISVILLE,
KY, US
INCORRECT ROUTING AT UPS FACILITY / THE PACKAGE WAS MISSORTED AT THE HUB. IT HAS BEEN REROUTED TO THE CORRECT DESTINATION SITE
WTF
i brought fucking 400 dollars worth of Airsoft guns and bb’s and gas and they can’t even have it on time. so now I hate UPS because i was suppose to get my shit on Monday and here it is Friday- still nothing. >.<
Spence | 18-Jul-08 at 9:58 am | Permalink
bought*
Jazzi | 22-Oct-08 at 7:22 am | Permalink
I hate you UPS because I brought this really cool phone order in A MONTH in advance and waited damn there 2 months for it!!!!! The day it is suppose to arrive you mis-sort it and make me wait another 3 days for it!!!! not only that but me and my best friend order the same phone on the same day you lose mines and deliver hers and I can’t do anything but sit there and watch here play with HERS!!!! I HATE YOU UPS HATE YOU HATE YOU HATE YOU!!! I’M A FED EX GIRL ALL THE WAY!!!!
Jazzi | 26-Oct-08 at 8:42 pm | Permalink
Man let me tell you why I HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE U.P.S. I ordered a really cool phone pre-ordered it to be the first to have it.Stupis ass U.P.S stole my phone!!!!! First the phone went to oregan.then to kentucky. I LIVE IN PHOENIX,AZ !!!! So the phone finally reaches phoenix but still takes 3 days to get to my home!!!! My phone is now a WEEK late then it comes I’m so happy right?? I open my package expecting to start my new life with my new super cool phone. NO PHONE!!!!!! just an empty tore up box with instructions!!!!I was so mad I could have…I don’t know. So an employee of U.P.S stole my phone which mean the company doesn’t give a DAMN about your product.Oh then I called them do you know the first thing they ask me….IS THE PHONE INSURED!!!! What??? why does the matter one of your dumb broke ass employees stole my phone replace it you stupid fucks!!!!!
Jazzi | 26-Oct-08 at 8:42 pm | Permalink
DON’T EVER USE U.P.S…EVER
Ross | 04-Feb-09 at 9:48 am | Permalink
All of this leads me to ask…how the hell does a dumbass company like UPS manage to stay in business??? To be quite honest, the USPS has better and certainly more convenient service. But if you have some beef with the good old postal service, definitely go with FedEx.
Here’s my experience: a couple of months ago, I ordered something, and the company shipped it via FedEx. On the day of delivery, I tracked the package, and found out that it was on their truck, en route to my house…but I needed desperately to run to the bank, so I called FedEx. The CS representative actually tracked down the truck, paged the driver, and found out that he would be in my neighborhood around 3 p.m. – this allowed me to run out to the bank and get back home in time for my package delivery (which I had to sign for).
This morning, I figured that UPS would be able to do something similar for me. Boy, was I wrong. I certainly didn’t expect them to page the driver or anything…just give me an APPROXIMATE time of delivery. Nope. Sometime between 9 and 7, is what the guy at their 800 number says. So I ask him if he can give me the number of the East Petersburg office, so that I can call them directly to see if they can somehow give me some information. Nope – he isn’t allowed to do that. Okay…so if I’m not at home, what happens? Can I pick up the package? Yes…Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. How about Saturdays??? Nope. What if I happen to be employed???? You know, so that I can make some money to order stuff that can then be shipped through their fucking company???? Sorry – pickup only Monday through Friday. So…I work Thu, Fri, Sat and Mon from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m….so basically, I’m screwed – looks like this package, which contains my new HTC Touch HD phone which I payed a freaking lot of money for, is going to end up being shipped back to the seller. I should’ve picked USPS as my shipping option – they give me more options for pickup, and are at least open for a few hours on Saturday morning.
How does this company stay in business????
Sarah | 07-May-10 at 8:50 am | Permalink
Ugh. I found this after Googling “INCORRECT ROUTING AT UPS FACILITY” and looking for a place to rant after a very unhelpful phone call with those douchebags over at UPS.
Mine got incorrectly routed on my end – I see that it’s in a suburb maybe 30 miles from where I live. Nice try, guys, really close. I called to ask if I could just go pick up the package myself, as I took the day off work to sign for the damn thing and will be out of town next week when the new delivery date is estimated.
This, of course, isn’t an option since you have to have one failed delivery attempt before arranging to pick it up at a facility. What the hell is with this policy? Doesn’t it seem like a waste of EVERYBODY’S time to have the driver attempt a delivery that will definitely fail?
Also, their website is garbage and the user experience there is equally bad. Same goes for their automated phone system. There’s no option there to talk to a person, but it turns out that if you angrily say “TALK TO A PERSON,” you get a customer service rep. Not that they can do anything, but hey.
Die UPS die.
Sarah | 07-May-10 at 10:09 am | Permalink
I just had the most mind-blowing customer service experience. I had to come back to revise my previous comment.
I called again, ready to raise some hell. I had come to the conclusion that it was their fault, not mine, and that since I paid for their service, they were obligated to at least try to help me out. Or at least obligated to explain why they couldn’t. I was super pissed and ready to ask to speak to managers and all that.
So I called, and I got in touch with Amber, a customer service rep in NC. I explained my situation, and SHE ACTUALLY HELPED ME. She called the facility in Minnesota where my package had been sorted incorrectly, and then somebody there actually tracked down my package. They’re letting me pick it up tonight.
Sure, I have to make a 90 minute round-trip drive out of my way and essentially do the whole delivery part of their job for them. But they really did go out of their way to make that work for me, and I was extremely surprised at how it played out.
UPS as a whole sucks, no question there. But having a few great people here and there at least turned around my “die UPS die” sentiment. So… there’s hope.
admin | 07-May-10 at 10:27 am | Permalink
Sarah, That sounds like a perfectly reasonable experience. Maybe UPS is beginning to learn the real lesson: when things go wrong (and they do) you need to allow your employees and the customers come up with a workable solution.
We can always hope.
Alex | 09-Jul-10 at 11:17 pm | Permalink
I hate UPS. They are always screwing things up. I ordered a product and the shipping was relatively simple (origin San Diego, Ca; destination Oakland, CA). For some unknown reason, the package is on its way to Louisville, KY. That seems really efficient, doesn’t it? The worst part is that UPS doesn’t give a shit. Calling them is pointless. They offer no help whatsoever. They read some standard BS about sorry for the inconvenience and the package should get to you within the next year. I hate UPS, they suck. I have NEVER had a package lost when shipped through Fedex. To top it off, I am always first on Fedex’s route when they deliver and always last of UPS’. They suck. I have more confidence in the US Postal Service.