Another UPS oops thread

Sharri,
When I shipped COD via UPS the money came via USPS mail. Now as for FedEx I like them better but not by much. Not sure why FedEx ground is different than FedEx Air. They are run as two different companies. You have to have an account for each one! Doesn't make sence to me but alot of things don't.

Hi, Sharri:

I got "cured" from using UPS COD about 9 months ago when I made a COD sale of a pair of subwoofers to a fellow in Texas. UPS delivered the subs, and got the COD payment (cashier's check from buyer, made out to me) but somehow couldn't "connect the dots" to get the check sent to me. About 6 weeks passed without receiving the payment, so I contacted UPS, and they eventually tracked the COD payment down -- they didn't know where to send the check, so they forwarded it to one of their offices in North Carolina (I live in Seattle, WA). It all got sorted out eventually, but it took nearly 7 weeks for me to get my COD payment after the buyer got his subs. Not surprisingly, that was the last time I used UPS COD -- or COD of any kind, for that matter.

I at least got an answer from customer service email stating that COD returns come USPS and take at least 10 days. Of course my UPS address is different from USPS (PO Box), so it'll be long and drawn out. At least it's not a great deal of money.
FEDEX does not do COD with FEDEX GROUND. With FEDEX Air, you get your money the next day. FEDEX seems to be a much more efficient company that knows customers are their business.

Years and years ago I got a VSP Gold power amp shipped to my sister in Texas (because the manufacturer would not ship to Canada) and then from there to my office in Montreal. You guessed it, tha amp arrived damaged. Claims person refused the claim because the shipping carton was not up to standards and the manufacturer had been warned. Went to small claims court. Won. Got a new face plate and handle, the amp was not exactly good as new but it din't affect the sound. The claims man was not very happy when I asked him to confirm that UPS stood for "ur parcel slipped". It seems it still does.

Fed Ex and Fed Ex Ground are entirely separate, and it makes perfect sense, with the one exception
being thing that they share most of the same drop off points (which also makes perfect sense).
You can't have people that are paying as little as $4 calling up the Fed Ex representatives, who are always there, 24-7, waiting to help air shipment customers that paid air pricing. The cost does not allow it.
In other words, you get what you pay for (hours of lost time and lots of aggravation to save a few dollars). Ground is the cheapest, and the worse service out there. Fed ex ground is/was RPS.
RPS we rate as one of the worse freight companies of all time with regard to damage, claims, and billing.

As far COD is concerned, Fed Ex currently is the best, but don't confuse Fed Ex with Fed Ex ground.

In 2001 we had only one order damaged in transit, and that was with Fed Ex.
We also only had one in 2000, and that was also with Fed Ex (really annoying that
a company that we ship with less than once monthly trashed our perfect ship record 2 years in a row). We have been using DHL since August 1998, and have had only *1* claim for damage thus far
(1 damage claim in 4 years of DAILY shipping!). DHL COD? Sorry, they don't offer it yet, probably because they are primarily an international shipping company more than domestic.

UPS COD? When we shipped UPS daily, which we stopped doing in 1998, and when we shipped UPS COD, which we stopped around 1995, we waited as long as 6 weeks for COD checks, although the average time seemed to be about 2 weeks from the time the recipient received his/her item.
They mail the checks to the shipper.

My list of UPS COD screw ups to follow.

Top 7 UPS COD screw ups (help complete the list):

07) Collecting a personal check when certified payment was checked off.

06) Taking our COD check payment but NOT dropping off the item
(NO, I am not joking, you want to talk about a UPS mess!)!

05) Mailing our COD check back to the recipient of the shipment
(luckily most audiophiles are honest, as was the case here, and he promptly mailed us the payment).

04) *Mailing us another parties COD check and ours to them.

03) Dropping off a COD shipment with multiple pieces, but only dropping off the items that did not have the COD tag, but not the one with the COD tag, therefore the recipient received all items but one with out paying for them.

02) Delivering a COD shipment that was 2 pieces, but only delivering the one with the COD tag
(part two of this one next).

01) Refusing to pay a claim on the lost part of the above mentioned COD shipment because they showed the shipment was delivered, and payment collected! What about the missing piece? They told us the recipient did not mention this at time of delivery. Well, he obviously thought everything was in the one box, which he did not open until about a week after it was delivered, and to top if off, the item in the lost box was a part for the other item which was worthless with out it, AND both of these items were no longer made. UPS never paid on that COD screw up.

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04) *Mailing us another parties COD check and ours to them.

*When this happened, around 1992, we we were able to get in touch with the person that had the check issued. We then ended up returning it to the proper person who had received our check and had already given it back to their UPS driver.

Well, we asked UPS when the check would be returned to us, and we made the MISTAKE of telling them that we had received the other parties check AND had sent it back to them. Well, they would not send back our check UNTIL we sent them (UPS) the other parties check, which we had already sent to the the other party! Sorry we broke the red tape rules. We had to have the other party send a letter to UPS telling them they we had sent them back their check, and that they had received it, BUT, this had to be done on a form that UPS had to send them!!! It took approximately 3 months to receive payment, and no less than 15 ph calls to UPS, of which every time we had to re explain the entire thing from step one. Why don't we use UPS some ask???!

Why are we more than happy to ship you DHL 2 day or next day air for
the UPS 3 day/Fed Ex 3 day rate and lose on some of the shipping cost on 99% of what we ship?
Because it eliminates 99.9% of potential problems. NO ONE orders and insurance claim! They order hifi, and that's what they want to receive.

"UPS, the tightest ship in the shipping business"?
I think the ship they were referring to was the Titanic.

[email protected]

Why did you not use the US postal, i have had nothing but good luck

Brian,

That was great stuff! Thanks for posting

I've had nothing but good luck with Fedex, mostly air. After the other day at UPS, never again. And all those tales from Brain just confirm that decision.
Nothing is perfect and humans are humans, but some companies just do a better job.

About one if five of my UPS shipping experiences have gone awry. Yet, I must confess, even though I've sworn not to use them again, I do end up using them because the pricing typically comes out a bit cheaper. I'm thinking of really giving them up now though, following a recent debacle with them. I think one way to get back at UPS is to include the term "Will not ship UPS" in our Audiogon advertisements when we are listing an item for sale. If enough of us do this, we will likely help create a deserved perception of UPS ineptness. I mean UPS losing us as customers really has no impact on them and they couldn't care less, but if we share that perception to a wider audience then it's really embarassing for them and may be a wake-up call.

My recent UPS Oops experiences:
(1) A pair of heavy speaker cables dematerialized from their shipping box during transit - going from a weight of 10lb to an opened, empty box. (dealer had to go through the laborious claim process, but sent me replacements immediately).

(2) 6,000 two box CD player shipped to me through UPS and only one box arrived - the power supply. Had to wait in limbo for three weeks before other box showed up. Box that was in limbo did not show up on tracking and customer service got around to calling me about a week after I had received the second box (about a month after the incident).

(3) I moved about 20 boxes from NYC to Chicago - one of the boxes was all but destroyed, and I also received someone elses box. Insurance I purchased through them never came through.

(4) CD player I sent from my old address to new address was damaged and no longer worked - this can happen, and is a risk of shipping generally, however again, the insurance never came through.

I'm probably forgetting a few other incidents. Still, UPS is not the only one - last week I sent payment via USPS to a seller here for a pair of Bybee filters. Two days later, I got a letter from USPS with my check returned and a flyer saying 'sorry, your letter got damaged, this rarely happens.....' - they should have at least included a replacement stamp.

Brian @ HelloSimplymusic,
I agree that FedEx Air is the way to go but it's not the greatest if you have a claim. I don't care who you ship with if something gets damage get ready for a battle. Well that has been my experience. As for FedEx ground and FedEx Air being two seperate companies and having multiple people doing the same job doesn't make good business sense. But whatever the reason if you have to ship go FedEx and pay the extra cash and just hope if doesn't get damamged :-)