Two incidents the past six months:
Most recent involves a shipment I'd been waiting for. I didn't have the tracking number ahead of time, but after I knew it should have arrived (assumed it'd take a week), I contacted the sender who was told I'd refused the package. True to form, UPS claimed they'd tried to deliver the item twice in one day, and to have been told that "I" had refused the package and so had sent it clear back across the USA (Calif. To NYC).
Turns out, some idiot driver must have gone to the wrong address, and most certainly the wrong street. Aside from this error, he did not bother to ask whoever he spoke to (wrong person) if that person was even the addressee, or if it was the right address. Apparently, just another UPS driver without a brain or enough care to do his job.
Instead, he chucks the package immediately back across the entire country. Never once questioned if he'd made an error. Nor his supervisors — if there are any.
Truth is, I was home at the time and nobody came to the door. My neighbors know me, so they would have re-directed the driver. What sort of delivery company with all the directional devices around has drivers that can't even find an address? And one that is 2 miles from the UPS center. I suppose, the driver could have done worse and just dumped the package in the wrong driveway and it'd be lost...
So the item I need to conduct a workshop (thought I had plenty of time by ordering more than 3 wks ahead) I won't now have next week.By the time the thing reaches NYC and can be re-sent, that'll be days too late. I contacted UPS customer service which was also clear across the country. It wasn't even 5 pm here, but you can't talk to the local center that hires the bozos who made this mistake. Of course, there's no way with all the tracking that UPS has, to get the package turned around, perhaps somewhere around Oklahoma, and re-routed back. It has to continue its journey by ground ALL the way back to NYC and then be re-sent ALL the way back to Los Angeles.
This is the trouble that ONE idiot driver causes. And apparently, there are no back up procedures to circumvent that. I mean, is there even a supervisor who questions sending something all the way back after just ONE attempt at delivery? Can't UPS find addresses or drivers who can read or think for themselves? Most of the time, UPS leaves packages beyond my gate and nobody asks me to sign for anything. So I can't imagine why this package was "refused".
Of course, UPS only works M-Fri, so they already cut off two days of service. So far, anything I've ordered that came through the regular postal service has gotten to me five times faster. I can't understand why any retailer would bother with UPS.
The other UPS screw up was six months ago. I had two packages from an expensive electronics retailer to be delivered. The first was delivered to my doorstep (nobody even rang the bell or knocked) with a note from UPS that the driver had forgotten the second box but was coming "later" that day. The first package was worth about $20. The second, much more expensive one that I should have been required to sign for didn't show up that day or night.
However, the next morning, I found the package dumped more than 100 feet from my front door, beyond my driveway and gate. The merchandise was worth $2500 and it was just dumped out where anyone walking by could have taken it. The driver also set it down near all the sprinklers (that go off in the early morning) so it was wet, plus it could have been run over by neighbors' cars in the dark. I was amazed at the carelessness. And the package was clearly marked as something that would be recognized as being an expensive laptop. It was a miracle nobody stole it or ran over it.
I will note here that, as a teacher, I have had several teenaged students (17-20) who have gotten themselves jobs at UPS. They've all told me they got their jobs due to having a friend or a relative who "got them in". They start out doing the lower level jobs, like loading the trucks and learning how to "build a wall". They hope to be able to "move up" to the more desirable position as driver. I will report that ALL, and I mean ALL of these students were the worst of any I've had in the past ten years. They were already dropouts, and in our easier program could never get their work done. They eventually dropped out, opting instead for the UPS career. Apparently, UPS doesn't have much criteria for hiring. Neither does their promotion of people "up" to driver show much difference.
How can UPS help? One, screen who it hires —use some kind of testing or have procedures to follow. Two, don't route calls about problems with a local center two miles away clear across the nation to some center to some bored, uncaring, after hours worker who will "file a complaint" for you. Three, be brave and let consumers have the names and addresses of the supervisors or management to allow us to lodge our own complaints directly. That they don't even do this indicates that the top echelons "don't want to be bothered". A local problem should be dealt with locally. (This was the illustrious Van Nuys UPS depot.) Even the post office does that.
Other than this, I think that UPS should find out the drivers who were the culprits and demote them. Also, find out why and who supervised these bozos and didn't question their competence? I want to know why they'd take the word of just one driver who only tried one delivery. Why would a company want such losers in charge of making deliveries that customers want? In general, I'd like some answers. But I'll bet that the best UPS does is re-deliver the package — about two weeks too late, and basically just say "take it or leave it... At least you got the darn thing."
Now that's service in capitals. Consumer satisfaction doesn't figure into UPS, that's for sure.
To have a much worse track record that the Post Office doesn't say much. I will be lodging my complaint as well with eBay and/or any other retailer that uses UPS. I'll tell them I prefer to do business with companies that don't use UPS.
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