Impressed with UPS lately (1 Viewer)

[Stephen Orr]

Since my son is leaving for college this week, my wife and I decided to send a bunch of his clothes and dorm room items ahead to wait on him. He and his mother are driving his new car (gift from a VERY generous friend of his grandma's!) but there's not enough room to take the stuff he needs.

UPS delivered the first three boxes (30 lbs+ each) this week from Va Beach to Nashville in just under two days, ground, for about 8.50 a box. We established an account on the UPS website with a cc, and printed the labels right off the inkjet. We have a pak-n-ship about a block away, so dropping the boxes off was no problem. Tracking online is a breeze.

Now the only thing he has to take in the car is his computer and the clothes he kept out for this week. Everything else is already waiting on him at the college mail room.

 

[Paul D Young]

Dear Stephen,
Thanks! I work at UPS although I'm sure I didn't have anything to do with your packages. So many people have horror stories that most forget that 99.9% of the time, there aren't any problems at all.

Now, to return the favor, why don't you introduce me to this very generous friend. I think I'd like to be her friend as well.

 

[Jay H]

I've only had two or so minor problems with UPS, most of it is packages being delayed a day or two because it was misrouted. But for the most part, I'm a happy UPS customer. I've also had good success with FedEx with my bike, shipping to Alaska last year.

The UPS guy typically leaves packages in the driveway but I live in a safe place and never had a problem.

Jay

 

[Tim Kilbride]

It seemed like for a while there, everything I shipped UPS got destroyed...but in the recent past there has been a big push and the service has improved greatly!!!!
Thanks to all the UPS people who drop in here...
Tim K.

 

[Ryan Wright]

But for the most part, I'm a happy UPS customer.

As am I. I sell (err, sold, it's been a couple of months) enough things on eBay that the front desk clerks at the local UPS office know me by name.
However, I had one major problem with UPS. When we bought our new house, they claimed the address didn't exist. I could not ship anything to myself! The first few packages I ordered were immediately turned around and sent back as undeliverable. They didn't even attempt to deliver - I know because the tracking information showed them arriving at the local terminal and leaving just a few hours later. WTF? I thought they were supposed to hold them for 3 days.
So I started including my phone number on all packages, but that didn't help, either. They never called. I tried to call the local terminal to talk to them, but the people at the 800 number would not connect me and the local terminal's number is unlisted. So I went down there and talked to them. They assured me they would hold my package. A few days later, the package arrived, and they sent it right back to the shipper again.
After a few months of this, countless phone calls and in-person chats, they eventually caught up with the times and decided that my neighborhood really does exist. I can't fault them for the initial problems, as my street was a potato field three months prior, but they should have fixed it a little faster. On multiple occasions I had customer service reps tell me I didn't know what I was talking about. "Your address does not exist, sir. Are you sure you're giving me the correct street name?" Even after explaining that the street was brand new and would likely not be in their databases, they still didn't believe me. "That's not possible, sir. Can you go outside your house and look at the street name for me?" Even after giving them easy directions to my home, they couldn't do it! And the funniest part is, the guy down the street worked for UPS the entire time!
Anyway, it's all water under the bridge now, and I'm quite happy with UPS. I do make sure to insure everything I send, though, in case they mutilate it.

 

[Leila Dougan]

Ryan, I have a similar story with the company I work for. In fact, its still an ongoing problem. See, about 2 1/2 years ago they changed the streetname and gave another street about a mile away the old name.
UPS can't figure out where our building is. They attempt to deliver the package to other street that has the old name but obviously our building is there. The packages all have the new name on them but UPS insists the street does not exist. This has been going on for the entire 2 1/2 years. Finally the site director called the UPS manager and within 1/2 hr he personally delivered the packages in his personal vehicle. Its great that he does that for us, but we have to call everytime we are expecting a package.
My personal experience with UPS for personal deliveries during the past 3 years goes against the spirit of this thread. I'll just leave it at that.