UPS problems anyone?

stillif

Hi, I live on Eastern Parkway, in a clearly marked building. My name is on the list, and we are the first apartment in building. My wife is almost always home in the day, and when she is not, she usually arrives a few minutes later. However, for some reason, I never can get anything correctly delivered from UPS. Whenever a merchant sends me a UPS package, it is misdelivered. Sometimes to the wrong building, sometimes it is lost at the transfer center, twice it was delivered to completely different neighborhoods. Several times packages were returned to the senders, without me receiving any notices. I've spoken to the UPS people, kindly, and eventually furiously, asking why they can't seem to get anything to me... but they claim they have no idea why it happens. Does this happen to anyone else? I am now convinced that they have some sort of vindictive plot against me, and I have started asking merchants to not use UPS.

armchair_warrior

happen to me twice over the past decade. once their computer sent the package to my brothers old work place. a year before this, i had them send a different package to my brothers work place. but some how they thought i wanted to sent it there. another time a new driver deliver it to my neighbor instead of me.


i rarely have problems with them or fedex or dhl.

but usps on the other hand i lose packages like drunk on alky.

in fact they lost my package a month ago. and found it again last week. but i already got my replacement shipment. i just refused to take the delivery of it.

only thing i can think of for ups to screw up is lazy drivers. I also send tons of packages. i used to send a friend in brooklyn tons of stuff.

only time her ups started to mess up was. i order the wrong thing. i told her to refused the package. after that one time of refusing the package. ups guy didn't bother to go ring her bell after. all the next few deliveries the ups website said that person didn't live there. cause the lazy ups driver noted that person didn't live there or something. lazy sob.

after many calls to the ups center in brooklyn, they fix the problem(that or they change drivers for the area)

emily

I had a similar problem for a few months last year and may be able to shed some light on the source of the problem.

Let's say that my name is Emily Jacobsen and I live on Park Place. I kept getting these email notices or notices from merchants saying that my packages were undeliverable, or I wasn't home, and the packages were being returned to sender. It turned out that the attempted deliveries were to Emily Johnson on Prospect Park West. Not really the same place or person. But every time I checked with the merchant, my address was correctly marked on the package!

Turns out that UPS has a system whereby each address has its own bar code, which are those square codes and numbers that look like zip codes that you might have seen on a package before. When packages get to the local outgoing depot, they get one of these barcodes attached, that's how they get loaded onto the trucks and delivered. No one looks at the marked address. It doesn't matter if the label correctly says Emily Jacobsen, Park Place--if the barcode says Emily Johnson, PPW, that's where it's going. Also, no one at UPS (and I talked to a lot of people locally and at the national office) had any idea of how to go into that system and fix the association between my address and a barcode corresponding to the wrong delivery address. Basically once the barcode is established they have no idea how to change it.

Our usual UPS guy, Johnny, is really great, and once or twice he was able to go onto the other guy's truck and rescue my package. But in the long run, the only solution I've discovered has been using my initials or my husband's name when having stuff sent to me (E.L. Jacobsen or Dan Jacobsen, e.g.). I guess UPS gets most barcodes right, so if I choose a different name or form of my name, it gets the right barcode and ends up in the right place.

homeowner

I have had several problems with UPS including the one time I chased a truck throughout CH/Bed-Stuy to get a package that they claimed was a final delivery even though I had never been left a slip indicating that delivery was attempted.

UPS is lame and every time I've spent any time at their warehouse I've become convinced that its a miracle that they get any packages delivered.

stillif

I think we need to organize a letter writing campaign to UPS to get them to sort out this system, cause they give me nothing but grief on the phone when I try to tell them they misdelivered, they claim its my fault or the shippers fault.

smokin joe

i've had problems numerous times. usually i'm expecting a package and wait for it all day and at some point, either i have to run an errand or figure it's too late for it to arrive, i finally leave the house and see a little yellow sticker saying they attempted delivery (and offering no useful options for retrieving the package).

WHICH DRIVES ME NUTS BECAUSE I WAS HERE WAITING FOR IT ALL FUCKIN' DAY!

(pardon the caps. and the f-word. but really!)

in some cases it appears that they rang the bell of the other apartment in the building, even though my address was clearly marked. in others it's actually on my door but the bell was never rung. (then i go through the same dumb routine, wondering if my doorbell's broken, so i try the doorbell, and, guess what, it's fine.)

whenever i have a choice of shippers, i opt for someone else. for some reason, as bad as usps is with mail around here, i've rarely had a problem with packages with them.

vanilla

it would be cool if UPS had a UPS store near by - like the one on flatbush - where you had an option of having the package delivered. this way, you could just go pick the package up and not have to mess around with waiting at home. might not be the best for large packages, but for the little ones -- this would be so sweet.

also, they recently charged my roommate $600 for a shipment (pick-up) that was supposed to be around $100 --- worked it out, but nothing like seeing her open that bill! :shock:

armchair_warrior

roommate should of sent it back to ups and go keep it. thats a huge bill for a item.

bkchickie

UPS either lost or mis-delivered some airline tickets of mine a few months ago. The UPS guy claimed that he had slipped them under my door (a lie, because if he had, I would have had the tickets). I suspect that because CheapTickets mailed the tickets without requiring a signature at delivery (another problem altogether), he left the envelope at the door of the building and it either blew away or got stolen.

The tickets got replaced (with no help from CheapTickets--hate them), but I was out $100. UPS wouldn't reimburse.

This was disappointing, because I've never, ever had problems with UPS before this (and indeed, would ship packages UPS rather than the black hole that is the USPS). No matter what shipper I use, it is altogether easier to get packages delivered to work.

expatnyc

Subject: incompetent rogue drivers

I've had on ongoing problem with UPS for the two years I've lived at my current place in Prospect Hts. Lately my driver has taken to falsifying delivery attempts in the UPS system. On Friday, I waited for a delivery (that was already botched by UPS--another long story) all day. Finally around 7:30 I called UPS to check on it and was told the driver tried to deliver it three hours earlier. My doorbell did not ring and there was no InfoNotice left. The same thing happened last month--it was even more egregious because he claimed to have attempted delivery at 9:30 p.m., while I was on the phone with UPS complaining about him! I've tussled with UPS many times over the past two years, and from what I can tell there is a structural issue here. UPS customer service cannot do anything about local UPS delivery problems. To address those you have to speak to the local supervisor (our depot is in Canarsie). I've done this on several occasions. Obviously it's done no good. I filed a complaint with the BBB this time. Not that that will get me anywhere. The idea about being able to pick up a package at a local UPS Store is brilliant, but I suspect the way the company is built might prevent that. It's a hall of mirrors.