I'll never use UPS again - and suggest you don't either as you can't depend on UPS to deliver what they promise - and are paid for.
My story:
I needed an oil painting to be delivered to a Vancouver Island B.C. address in January 2011. I thought I would use the local UPS store in Kanata, Ontario for the first time (and last time). I took extraordinary measures to box the painting with a protective wood frame and fiberboard covering the front and back of the painting. I asked the manager at the UPS store if it would be better if they packaged it for delivery or if I would use brown paper. He recommended the UPS cardboard packaging (for a price) and I agreed. I explicitly requested he put a FRAGILE and HANDLE WITH CARE labeling to ensure it would be delivered without damage. The UPS manager told me that if I paid extra UPS would ensure that a person over the age of 18 would sign for it. I paid $75 for packaging and delivering the 6 pound package and left.
About a week later the recipient called to say he was surprised to receive the package. It had been laid by the gate exposed to the road where his wife happened upon it by accident. There were no labels as to the care that should be taken. I went back to UPS and the result of their investigation was that had been no attempt to deliver the package to the house and that the driver had just put a squiggle where the signature was supposed have been. The UPS manager said "he's sorry about that." He also said that the drivers are supposed to handle all packages as if they were fragile so he's not concerned that he neglected to put the requested labels. To appease me, UPS indicated they would remit $3.75 for the missing signature.
As far as I am concerned it's a miracle that someone passing down the road didn't pick up the package and it's also a miracle that, thanks to my own efforts to package the painting, it wasn't damaged.
In summary, I'll never use UPS again.
0 comments