what brown can do (1 Viewer)

[Micah Cohen]

Let's talk about how much I hate UPS.

Last Thursday, the guy leaves a sticker on my door saying he tried to deliver, but I was not there. He didn't leave the box with my neighbor (the sticker says, "Needs Signature," yet I know that the sender DOES NOT REQUIRE A SIGNATURE). He didn't note on the sticker WHEN he'd return the next day (there's that little time thing they could note on the sticker, you know "After 5pm" etc.).

On Friday, I angrily write in red Sharpie on the sticker, "Please leave with neighbor," I sign the sticker on the back even tho I don't need to, but just as a bonus, and then I leave it stuck to my door when I go out to dinner. I can be home all day, and then go out to dinner, right? Of course, there's a sticker on my door when I get home a couple hours later. THIS sticker says the next try will be "Monday After 5pm."

So, when I book home in a hurry to get there at FOUR PM today, why is there a sticker on my door?

I call UPS. They are no help. You know that kind of Customer Service where the customer isn't right? That's the kind of Customer Service brown has. "Please just deliver this package tomorrow morning, first thing, ok?"

Sorry, but your only options are to come pick it up at our cross-town facility tonight between 8 and 8:30pm, even tho you paid shipping to have it shipped to you. Or you can call the facility tomorrow morning and ask them to deliver it at a certain time, but we can not guarantee that time.

WHAT KIND OF CRAPPY SERVICE IS THIS? WHY WON'T UPS JUST DELIVER THE PACKAGE WHEN THERE WILL BE SOMEONE AT THE DELIVERY LOCATION? WHY WON'T THEY TELL ME WHEN THEY WILL BE DELIVERING IT SO I CAN BE THERE? WHY WON'T THEY LEAVE IT WITH THE NEIGHBOR WHEN I TELL THEM TO, WHY ARE THEY ASKING FOR A SIGNATURE WHEN THE SENDER DOES NOT REQUIRE ONE AND WHY ARE THEY IGNORING MY INSTRUCTIONS?! MY HEAD IS GOING TO EXPLODE!

Please imagine a string of the foulest of expletives here.


Does anyone here work for UPS? Why is brown so effed up?!



MC

 

[DougR]

I had a similar problem Last Month with UPS. But I knew it needed a Signature,but I also knew that I would still be at work around the time they were to deliver to my house. Found on the Back of that "Door Ticket" that I can go to UPS Website and "Re-Direct" the Delivery to a different Address.
So after figuring out on their Website what Hoops I had to Jump thru to get that done... I had my package "Re-Directed" to my work address. The Package arrived the next day at my work place, along with all the other "Company" packages. I never had to Sign for it,but the Receiving Clerks Signature was all that was required then,I guess ?

 

[Magnus T]

I can sympathize. HOWEVER, usually I have the option to have my packages delivered by FedEx. With FedEx I have yet to be disappointed. Top notch customer service each time. What's really a bonus for me is that the FedEx drivers always calls me on my cell before delivering the package. "Not home? I'll come by your work".

 

[Charles J P]

I had a similar problem with a vendor that used FedEx home delivery. Problem is they only make 3 attempts and then they return the package to the sender. BUT unlike FedEx express/business, you CANNOT make arrangements to pick it up at a FedEx facility. Luckily the first attempt was on a Thursday so I took delivery on Saturday. If the first delivery attempt would have been on a Monday, they would have sent it back to the mfr. According to the FedEx rep I talked to, there was no way around this. I could not reroute the package because I had no where to reroute it TO!

 

[Jimi C]

Lets look at it from the delivery guys standpoint. Hes been forced to drive to your house 3 times with the same package that requires a signiture. Everytime he goes nobody is there. This guy cant get off work to go home and be with his family untill all his deliveries are made. You dont think hes irritated?

 

[Christ Reynolds]

the guy is being PAID to do his job. do you really see it that way, jimi?

i'm sure he would rather make all his deliveries on time without a hitch, but after 3 days on the job, he realized this will never happen.

CJ

 

[Christ Reynolds]

no, i've picked up plenty of packages at the local fedex facility. unless this is a new (or regional) policy.

CJ

 

[chris_everett]

The fact that you can't get through to the local UPS/Fedex office annoys me. Also the fact that they insist on those 3+ hour delivery windows, even though both seem to be at a given location within 30 minutes (one day to the next), 95% of the time.

Also, signature required residential deliveries during the day??? Who thought up that brillant plan?

 

[Micah Cohen]

OK. (Stay in control. Breath. In. Out. Stay in control.) I ask him to "leave it with the neighbor." He didn't. I have two neighbors that are attached to my house, one on the left, one on the right. Both are elderly ladies who are HOME ALL THE TIME. He's scared to leave it with an old lady?

I sign the back of the card. SIGNED! THERE, IT'S SIGNED! Now, LEAVE IT WITH THE NEIGHBOR!

The sender -- whom I have spoken with -- does not require a sig, nor do they place any restrictions on leaving the package with the neighbor when asked to do so. So, the delivery guy is MAKING UP THIS nonsensical stuff because HE LOVES coming to my house three times in a row.

And I know this because he INTENTIONALLY does NOT fill out the "time of next attempt" part of the card so he GUARANTEES that I won't be there when he makes his next "attempt."

So, from the delivery guy's perspective, I have to assume he LOVES to make me HATE him.

Tomorrow morning, bright and effing early, I am calling the UPS facility. And I am saying, nicely, PLEASE, PLEASE DELIVER THIS PACKAGE THIS MORNING FIRST THING. And... we'll see. I expect nothing.

I'm paying too much for shipping for this bullshit.



MC

 

[DaveF]

UPS caters to businesses. Home deliveries are an afterthought. If possible, I avoid shipping with them or purchasing items shipped by them.

I prefer FedEx now. FedEx is cheaper for small packages and their office is more customer-friendly.

 

[Bill_D]

I've given up on UPS for home delivery. As soon as I get the tracking number, I call them and tell them to hold for pick up. That is what I am going to end up doing anyway so let's get it over with.

 

[MarkHastings]

and you want cooperation from the UPS guy?

 

[MichaelBA]

Does UPS recognize customer color codes? Correspondence in red means "anger." But I like the vivid image of you scrawling this note with rage-shaking fist clutching the pen, and muttering imprecations.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

My local office must employ unusually smart drivers. I live in a condo, a 3rd floor walk-up. Everyone on my floor works, nobody is at home during business (which is to say, delivery) hours. As a formal postal worker I can tell you that delivery drivers usually follow roughly the same route everyday, they work the same geographic area, they leave the office at around "x" time, and reach your neck of the woods around "y" and are back in the office (for unloading, paperwork, etc.) by "z". They don't wander around aimlessly and they generally don't turn around and go back to an earlier part of their route to try to "catch" a stop they've missed.

Each of the condos in my building has a small storage closet outside in the breeze-way with a metal door keyed the same as the apartment door. I don't keep anything of value in mine, so I normally leave it open. When UPS has a delivery for me they put the box in my storage closet, lock the door, and tuck the delivery notice into the gap between my condo door and the doorframe, just above the lock - where I'll see it and nobody else will. I unlock the closet, grab my package and I'm done. I've never spoken to any of the drivers, never discussed this with the office. They just figured out what to do and did it.

When I have to have things delivered by other means (USPS, FedEx, Airborne) I'll more often than not have them delivered to my office address because I have far more problems with all of them. (All of our mail is delivered to locked mailboxes in the parking lot. Parcels up to a given size used to be delivered to one of four over-sized lockboxes. When you had a package in one, the key would be placed in your regular mailbox and you'd take your package and leave the key in the parcel box door. Unfortunately that set of four boxes was taken out by some drunk driver last year, and we're still waiting for a replacement. So anything bigger than a couple of DVDs can't be delivered and they just leave a pick-up slip in the regular mailbox and we have to get are parcels at the post office.)

Regards,

Joe

 

[Michael Warner]

It all depends on your delivery person. My old UPS guy was great and went out of his way to get my stuff to me -- I even gave him the code to open my garage to put packages in there if I wasn't home. My FedEx guy was always a hassle to deal with as he would leave a "not at home" sticker even though I was home -- he just never bothered to ring or knock.

At the new house FedEx is once again a pain in the rear while my new UPS lady is smokin' so UPS is getting all of my business.

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

I have an FFL and get rifles delivered via both UPS and FedEx. As you might expect, my signature is required in person: I can't just sign the slip and have them leave it unattended. UPS is a pain to deal with because their offices are only open 8-5 weekdays, whereas FedEx is open until 9 PM most days. I am able to check "will call at your office" on either slip but obviously I'm much happier dealing with FedEx.

 

[Paul D G]

Never have a problem with UPS or FedEx. It's USPS that bothers me. Just recently... (wavy screen ) Not only do I work from home but on this particular day I happened to be glancing out the window to see the mail truck pulling up to the mailboxes. I continue on to the kitchen, do what I was going there to do, then wandered out to pick up the mail. There in the box is an Attempted Delivery slip for a package that required signature (a cd, so it's not like it was heavy). So, now, because some lazy bastard can't walk up my driveway to knock on the door I have to take an hour out of my day to go down to the post office, and wait in line.

Yeah, I could have asked for it to be delivered again but what were the chances he'd get out of his truck the next day?

I was all set to rant but the lady at the post office actually remembered me from the last time I was there and asked how my kids were. Dammit.

At the apartment I used to live at the mailboxes were big enough for the Express boxes to fit in. That is, when the main door was open. When you open your individual door you can see the package, but the box won't come out. Oh so many times I found myself storming back to the apartment for an xacto knife, then back to the mailbox to slash open the box, pull out whatever was inside, then ripping the box apart to get it out...

I should have just left the box in there, empty, but our mailperson was one who would just cram more mail in there. Such was the case when they failed to hold delivery while I was on vacation. i returned to a six by six mailbox with two weeks worth of junk mail and bills shoved in there.

-paul

 

[MarkHastings]

Definitely. One bad apple doesn't equate to the whole company sucking.

 

[Micah Cohen]

One bad apple, huh?

7:30am. I just called the local facility. I asked to speak to someone who can help me, and the guy on the phone said, Go ahead.

ME: "Please (pllllleeeeeze) deliver this package this morning."

UPS: "Sorry, we can't guarantee a time. You'll have to call back about 9 and ask to speak with Jerry, the supervisor."

Oh. Thanks for your help.

This whole company is a bad apple.



MC

 

[Kirk Gunn]

I'm a pro FedExer here. When UPS had a signature required delivery for me, I practically printed up a contract and left it on the door. Had my express permission to leave the package, with my signature, tracking number, date, cell phone number, etc....

No way.

Fed Ex missed us on an earlier delivery and was back at 7:30pm on Dec 23 (was my daughter's digital camera). We gave the driver 3 boxes of girl scout cookies and always had prompt deliveries since