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(Posted Monday 6-19-2000) For those of you who do not reside in the United States, there is an overnight mailing service all over the US called UPS. It's as big as FedEx, Airborne and DHL. Below is a copy of the letter that I sent to the headquarters of UPS on Friday 6-16-2000. I feel that the letter speaks for itself. Thanks for your reading, Johnny Anderson. Dear Sir/Madame, Around 10.00am on the morning of Monday 6-13-2000, I called UPS for a first time pick up from our home. Robert, a representative of UPS, took down all the necessary details and told me to stay home 'all day' assuring me that sometime before 7.00p.m that evening a UPS driver would be at our home to pick up the package. Twenty minutes later I called back again, realizing that I'd given Robert the recipients business address opposed to their home address for delivery. I wanted to make sure that a different fee wouldn't occur due to a different zip code. This time I spoke with a Kristin who again confirmed that I needed to be at home at the time of pick up. This was my only day off from work and there were a lot of things that I could have done with my time. However, following your company’s Eight and a half hours later, I started to get concerned. I had been home all day, the fly screen and the front door had both been open yet no driver had entered our cul de sac. Slightly frustrated I called your toll free number. After explaining my story to Sharon she told me that three was no way that my package was going to be picked up that day as it was a ground package and those packages are picked up the following day. Realizing pretty quickly that two of your operators had misinformed me earlier that day I asked to talk to a supervisor. Jose Oliverez came on the line and I soon learned that he was stationed in San Antonio, TX. He was very concerned about my story and listened intently as explained my frustration at being misinformed. He apologized numerous times for the foul up. I was very angry in the fact that I had wasted a whole day due to not one but TWO UPS operators' false information. He told me that he would look into the matter and call me back. Half an hour later Jose called back with some good news and bad news. The bad news was that he had tried various times to reach the Baldwin Park, CA branch of UPS hoping that a driver could come out to our home. Unfortunately the line had continually rang. But the good news was that he had upgraded our package so that it would still arrive on Wednesday as previously planned. Also, he guaranteed me an AM pick up on the Tuesday (the following morning.) Although appreciative of his time, I was still very upset with your company. The following morning I was due to start work at 08.00am. Having been assured that a UPS driver would be at our house for an am delivery, I figured I could spare a few hours and go into work late. I called UPS just to confirm the pick up. A supervisor by the name of Carolyn in South Carolina listened to the previous day's events. She then typed what I presume was an email to the supervisor of the Baldwin Park CA office, asking them to call me. She assured me that supervisors check their messages every 15 minutes. Low and behold they do check their messages and how helpful that is to the patient customer who is waiting. While checking my voice mail Linda, a supervisor from Baldwin Park called. Her message was as helpful as carpenter without his tools. She left me a message to call her back, leaving MY PHONE NUMBER as the call back number. I know this was an honest mistake but it left me totally helpless to reach this woman. I was now back at ground zero because Linda was waiting for me to call; yet she left me with no information to reach her with. At 08.29 I called UPS again, ironically enough being put through to another Linda. When I asked if it would be possible to connect me to the local office to save time, she said that it wasn't possible. She, like Carolyn, put in another request for a supervisor in the Baldwin Park office to call me. Twenty minutes later, I called UPS again and was put through to Phillip, a supervisor in Dallas, TX. He, just like Jose Oliverez seemed very concerned over my misguided run around. He told me that using an atlas he was going to utilize the California office's number for me and then call back. Half an hour later Phillip rang telling me that he had spoken to Thomas, (who incidentally was under Linda) at Baldwin Park. Thomas assured him that a driver was in the area and it would definitely be an "a.m pick up." I felt reassured again. By midday no driver from your company had come anywhere near to our home. This was now getting really old. Again I called UPS. This time I was connected to a Mrs. Maldenardo who was located in AZ. She, just like the others attempted to email the Baldwin Park, location. At 12.30 my employer called and told me that she couldn't wait any longer and I had to get to work. By this point I'd already lost over $58 in earnings and the most stupid part about this whole scenario is that the items that I was returning were worth $50. If I'd have foreseen such bad service like this to begin with I assure you I'd have simply gone to the Post Office and mailed the package off, never giving the incident a second thought. Having heard nothing from Baldwin Park for four and a half hours now (and might I remind you that three separate supervisors had also emailed them for a supervisor there to call me back) I decided to call Jose Oliverez once again. He told me the night before to call him if I didn't get an a.m pick up. He, just like the rest, emailed Baldwin Park for a call back. He said someone WOULD call from there within an hour. He also pointed out that if I had to go to work, that I should leave the package and a check on the door stoop along with a note for the driver. I left shortly after the call. I arrived home later today to find a tracking number had been put through our mail slot. I can't lie and say that I was enthusiastic over the matter. Putting it all together I'd actually put some thirteen and a half hours of my time waiting because I was informed that I must be at home for the pickup to only find out I didn’t have to be there at all. I checked our voice mail to see if Baldwin Park had called and they hadn’t. I've had numerous items delivered over the years from UPS and have never given it a second thought as to what others might have gone through before mailing an item/s out. Now I begin to wonder. I had full faith in your company up until today. Now I'm completely lost for words. How can one ever reassure my faith in a company like yours and assure me that this isn't simply an every day occurrence within UPS. I can safely say I will choose to use other shipping company’s before wasting my time to use UPS again. I’m sure that you would be interested to know that your company is being represented in this way. I await your comments on this matter; Johnny Anderson. Within a week of this letter being sent a "Niles Hatchers" called me from the headquarters. He asked if there was anything else that I would like to say about the letter. My main request was a simple letter of apology. He said he would get right on this. UPDATE Today is Wednesday 7-29-2000. Over SIX WEEKS since Niles called me. I've never received a letter of apology yet! UPDATE (Thursday 6-29-2000) You’d have thought that the above story was enough to put anyone off of UPS for life. Well the plot only thickens my friends. Six days after the shipment arrived, I’m told that the contents were all smashed up (according to the recipients at Rock Art Picture Show. That’s another ball game in itself, click on the highlighted area and please feel free to read that mess of a story/company!) So after finding this out, I called UPS to file a claim. This was on Tuesday 6-20-2000. On the phone I spoke to a Vershan Sherril at High Point, NC. He assured me that the paperwork for the claim would be mailed out the very next day. A ‘week’ later I called UPS again explaining that no paperwork had arrived. Dee, in San Antonio, TX now informed me that there wasn’t any need to fill out any paperwork. According to him, the recipients had been contacted about the matter and they had verified my claim. Because of this, no paperwork was necessary. He then assured me that a check was ALREADY on its way to me in the mail. On Thursday 6-29-2000, I had a feeling that something wasn’t quite right with the above run around. So, I called UPS again and spoke with Adiana in Tucson, AZ. She told me that nothing was in the computer regarding any kind of paperwork being to be sent out to me. Also there was nothing on file regarding a check being sent either. She told me that I would have to fill out some kind of form in order to conclude any claim with UPS. I couldn’t believe it. What a complete waste of nine days eh? Does that sound familiar so far? If you’ve read this story up to this point, I think you can understand anyone’s frustration with this company. I finally received a check from UPS, but it certainly wasn't easy. Also as stated above, six weeks after a phone call from a Niles Hatcher, at the headquarters of UPS, I still have never received a letter of apology yet. Surprised, I'm not! CONCLUDED In the first week of August I received a letter of apology from the headquarters of UPS. (Might I add that Niles' name was nowhere to be seen on this document.) Enclosed with the letter was a gift certificate for $50 to be used at a restaurant near to where we live. As much as I appreciated the gift (and I don't want to sound ungrateful), I still cannot forget what lengths I'd gone through just to simply get a letter of apology out of UPS and the amount of wrong information I'd been given about various parts to my claim since the beginning. I still wonder to this day how many unreported cases such as the one that you've just read happen within the UPS framework? Thanks for your reading, Johnny Anderson. |