Mr. Jim Winestock
UPS Worldwide Headquarters
55 Glenlake Parkway NE
Atlanta, GA 30328
USA
Re - An Open Letter Regarding UPS Package Operations and Customer Satisfaction
Dear Mr. Winestock:
I recently saw the announcement of your retirement on Forbes.com, and so I hope this letter is not too late in wishing you a very happy and healthy retirement. If this letter reaches you before you have “officially” transitioned your role at UPS I hope that you can find the time to consider this letter of comment from a customer and shareholder of UPS. If not, I trust your successor will give it adequate consideration.
I was so dismayed today by the sad lack of customer service displayed by UPS on every level within your organization that I felt, for the first time ever, the need to write this [type of] letter. While busy executives are often so “insulated at the top” they don’t get the real message that represents the experience of their company’s customer base. And, while I certainly understand that one [miserable] failure does not represent the track record for a company that handles thousands of daily deliveries without event, the [miserable] failures are often those events that lead to learning. Failures often [even in my business! ] teach us the most, and even sometimes lead to innovation.
So, I wanted you to know how your UPS “system” worked for me - or in this case failed to work for me - and point out a few areas where there may be something to learn.
On Tuesday, February 3rd, at 8:20 A.M. An automated phone call left a voice mail on my contact phone. Super start! I was advised that my [expensive] delivery that required signature would be delivered between the hours of 8:00 A.M. And 7:00 P.M. That very day. Here’s our first problem. I’m at work. My husband is as work. Same day notification does not allow us adequate planning time - especially when the voice mail is left after normal business hours have commenced. As a busy professional, I was unable to pick up the voice mail until after a morning full of scheduled meetings.
Not to worry, the voice mail said, if we miss the delivery the driver will leave a message regarding when the second delivery will be made, and leave us with other options if necessary to alter the driver’s noted second delivery appointment. Excellent! The first delivery notice left stuck to my front door indicated the second delivery attempt would be after 5:00 P.M. Today [Wednesday, February 4th].
My husband rearranged his busy schedule to assure that he would be home in plenty of time to accept delivery of the package. Arriving home at 4:30 P.M. Today, he found yet another “delivery attempted” notice on the door with a time notation of 3:20 P.M. I won’t belabor the obvious issue we have at this point. Suffice it to say, we called the UPS Pick up toll free number.
I digress here to point out that we called the 1800 UPS Pickup number three times tonight and spoke with 3 different representatives - and never got the same location twice, was never able to talk with the representative who helped us on the prior call, had to tell the long drawn out tale all over again to educate each successive new customer service representative. While each representative attempted to be polite and tried to be helpful, they couldn’t do much more than make a note in some computer system and promise the Stafford office would call “within an hour”. There was no way for us to directly contact the Stafford regional office to resolve the issue. We instead had to sit around the house waiting for Stafford to call us. Thus, we lost precious time that could have been spent in issue resolution rather than delay.
When we finally heard from the Stafford office, I spoke with Ava. As you have probably guessed by now, things took a decided turn for the worse at this point. And, if Ava is any example of the customer service representatives you have working at your regional offices, UPS has a bigger problem than first meets the eye.
It’s quite possible that Ava is simply a bad egg. There’s one in every box, and, as we all know, one rotten egg can certainly spoil one’s appetite for omelettes - if you know what I mean. So, let’s put Ava’s rude and hostile manner aside, and her unprofessional pranks of “put the customer on hold for 40 minutes and then hang up on the customer” rather than work toward a mutually agreeable solution... But then, you know all of those Customer Service credos already.
So, here’s the learning piece that I hope helps. I’m sure it’s nothing you guys haven’t thought of before, but perhaps - just perhaps - UPS will find this a useful learning tool.
First of all, let’s place the automated phone call for any package that requires a signature the night before the package is on the truck for delivery. Your system is incredible. UPS knows every package that is going to hit the Stafford regional office well in advance. That automated phone call can easily give the recipient the option of choosing a two/three hour time slot for delivery. E.G., press 1 for 8:00 A.M. To 10:00 A.M., press 2 for 10:00 a. M to noon, etc. This gives the recipient time to plan for the expected delivery or [at the very least] call the house-sitter. For every package that is not scheduled this way, your follow up voice mail/call can indicated this is the second attempt to reach you to schedule the delivery, and so forth.
My guess is that UPS could save a lot of money on gas/diesel for their delivery trucks alone if they weren’t making trip after trip after unsuccessful trip [I believe you allow 3 delivery attempts]. What a win/win! What a “green” solution! [Think of the press mileage you can get from that! ]- - All by simply getting an agreed upon delivery time from the recipient up front! The bottom line is this: If you schedule a delivery on the UPS delivery attempt note or via the automated phone system, the recipient should be able to rely on that commitment. As your customer, I should not find myself threatened by UPS that my purchase will be returned because I haven’t been able to accept delivery - - especially when I hold up my end of the deal. I also should not be required to drive an hour across town to the Stafford regional office to pick up my 105 lb. Delivery in my [small] car when I paid UPS for delivery to my doorstep.
UPS should be advised that I have complained loudly to Amazon.com. I have no doubt that they represent a sizable chunk of your business.in this difficult economic environment they can not - nor can UPS - afford a lousy customer service reputation. Word of mouth is a powerful source of goodwill. Many companies have seen it evaporate overnight when chronic customer service issues have not be dealt with adequately and permanently.
I hope your executive team will forgive the rambling nature of my letter. I would expect, as a shareholder, your critical consideration of the customer service concerns I have shared here. I hope you will raise the bar for your customer service teams while lowering the tolerance level for missed opportunities at UPS.
Best regards,
Margaret Harris
A shareholder and custome
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