UPS, again

Ed n Georgia · 09-15-2010, 07:16 PM

Well, there's more.

When I received the e-mail that I posted in the opening post, I responded with this....

There's no confusion at all. Your web-site should offer a provision to estimate the actual cost of shipment via a UPS store using their cost for declared value.. You've just helped me make the decision to eliminate UPS as a shipping resource because I cannot get accurate information from your web site.

Thank you,

Ed Woodson

Today, I received this e-mail from UPS.

Dear Ed,

Thank you for your inquiry. I apologize for any inconvenience that you are experiencing with trying to get a detailed time and cost on UPS.com.

I have submitted a customer suggestion to the proper department regarding your issue on UPS.com.

Please contact us if you need any additional assistance.

D. Hallowell
UPS Technical Support

so, maybe they are willing to address that situation.

time will tell what happens.

Meanwhile, USPS, unless it absolutely cannot go that way and I'm forced to use UPS

VaughnA · 09-15-2010, 07:26 PM

Got my lens. Went over and it was on the porch, knocked on the door and nobody answered. Picked it up and took it home. LBA quenched for now.

How can the UPS guy miss the giant letters on the porch and notice they don't match the address on the package? Brown Santa is an idiot.

Ed n Georgia · 09-15-2010, 07:40 PM

Originally posted by VaughnA

Got my lens. Went over and it was on the porch, knocked on the door and nobody answered. Picked it up and took it home. LBA quenched for now.

How can the UPS guy miss the giant letters on the porch and notice they don't match the address on the package? Brown Santa is an idiot.

Fortunately, UPS has never delivered anything to the wrong house. USPS, OTOH, has done that several times.

Glad you got your lens.

Blue · 09-15-2010, 07:41 PM

Originally posted by VaughnA

Got my lens. Went over and it was on the porch, knocked on the door and nobody answered. Picked it up and took it home. LBA quenched for now.

How can the UPS guy miss the giant letters on the porch and notice they don't match the address on the package? Brown Santa is an idiot.

UPS has done that to me before. One day I got a delivery confirmation from UPS, but it had been delivered down the road, in the rain.

I immediately got a hold of the local manager and they sent the guy back. I happened to be home that day or I may never figured it out in time, and it was a hard to find part. They guy brought me a wet box.

Blue · 09-15-2010, 07:43 PM

Originally posted by Ed n Georgia

Fortunately, UPS has never delivered anything to the wrong house. USPS, OTOH, has done that several times.

Glad you got your lens.

USPS sent my last BH order to Orlando, to Tallahassee, to Jacksonville,

back to Tallahassee. I was watching the tracking. When it hit Jacksonville, there was a "missent" code.

What got me is it was the local main P.O. that screwed up.

JeffJS · 09-15-2010, 08:43 PM

Originally posted by Ed n Georgia

Well, there's more.

When I received the e-mail that I posted in the opening post, I responded with this....

There's no confusion at all. Your web-site should offer a provision to estimate the actual cost of shipment via a UPS store using their cost for declared value.. You've just helped me make the decision to eliminate UPS as a shipping resource because I cannot get accurate information from your web site.

Thank you,

Ed Woodson

Today, I received this e-mail from UPS.

Dear Ed,

Thank you for your inquiry. I apologize for any inconvenience that you are experiencing with trying to get a detailed time and cost on UPS.com.

I have submitted a customer suggestion to the proper department regarding your issue on UPS.com.

Please contact us if you need any additional assistance.

D. Hallowell
UPS Technical Support

so, maybe they are willing to address that situation.

time will tell what happens.

Meanwhile, USPS, unless it absolutely cannot go that way and I'm forced to use UPS

Which means they put your 'suggestion' in the round e-file known as the Recycle Bin. I won't ship anything UPS for exactly this (pricing) reason. I get proper weights, go to USPS.COM, enter the information and it gives me a price. The only time it's wrong is when I give the wrong information.

seacapt · 09-15-2010, 09:21 PM

Sorry to hear all this. I use UPS frequently but I am a business. UPS was not designed to pick up at residences. As was previously mentioned if you set up an account and print your own prepaid label the price will be as expected and you can in some areas call for a pickup or go to any UPS drop site.
The UPS stores are franchises and do charge for convienience.
BTW if you live in an area considered "rural " by Fedex forget about it has to be there overnight but UPS red label will be there.

Abstract · 09-15-2010, 09:59 PM

Wow thats odd, I prefer UPS my delivery guy is really nice, always on time, everything perfect....Now fedex and usps....my god, never again, losing my crap, not deliver etc....even breaking things. Must be different in some areas.

GeneV · 09-16-2010, 03:53 PM

I've come to prefer the USPS over UPS as well, though I never thought I'd say that.

I shipped some wine to someone based upon a shipping bill on their business account, which had already been approved for wine shipment. The UPS man opened the box, saw it was wine and decided (wrongly) that he could not legally take it. He left the open box of expensive wine in lobby of my building's parking garage until I found it the next day. This is not what I would expect from this company.

Blue · 09-16-2010, 04:01 PM

Originally posted by GeneV

I've come to prefer the USPS over UPS as well, though I never thought I'd say that.

I shipped some wine to someone based upon a shipping bill on their business account, which had already been approved for wine shipment. The UPS man opened the box, saw it was wine and decided (wrongly) that he could not legally take it. He left the open box of expensive wine in lobby of my building's parking garage until I found it the next day. This is not what I would expect from this company.

He opened the box? On what grounds? You should have sent his boss the bill.

moray-eel-bite · 09-16-2010, 04:58 PM

I also learned to never use UPS. When shipping across the border to Canada they charge ridiculous clearing fees. For instance, a 650.00 lens I recently bought had a 23.00 shipping charge, but then they charged 63.00 for customs paperwork. The equivalent charge from usps is 5.00 (so roughly a 1300% overcharge.) This is the subject of a class action lawsuit here in Canada right now. I always (when I can remember in time) insist that Americans shipping to Canada use USPS. Frankly, what UPS does is illegal IMHO.

GeneV · 09-16-2010, 05:33 PM

Originally posted by Blue

He opened the box? On what grounds? You should have sent his boss the bill.

I checked into it, and he said he was investigating whether it was wine.

Luckily, the wine was still there the next morning. They sent me a letter of apology.

mlatour · 09-16-2010, 08:29 PM

Originally posted by moray-eel-bite

I also learned to never use UPS. When shipping across the border to Canada they charge ridiculous clearing fees. For instance, a 650.00 lens I recently bought had a 23.00 shipping charge, but then they charged 63.00 for customs paperwork. The equivalent charge from usps is 5.00 (so roughly a 1300% overcharge.) This is the subject of a class action lawsuit here in Canada right now. I always (when I can remember in time) insist that Americans shipping to Canada use USPS. Frankly, what UPS does is illegal IMHO.

On a recent purchase from a seller in the USA,
with a 500.00$ insured value for a used lens shipped
via USPS-PM, the Canadian Custom fee/tax to pay at delivery
was 47.00$ after an 8 days delay to process thru their offices in Mississauga.

The seller e-mailed me the USPS tracking number and I easily
followed up on my package daily using the Canada Post website.

Now, the funny thing..

The exact same item/package, was sent to me 2 weeks earlier but was
unfortunately not deliverable and returned to the seller (typo in address)

The customs fee/tax was to be 62.00$, but that time the package only
took 2 hours to be processed at the same customs office!

Later I phoned Canada Post & Canada Customs, both their customer service dept.
admitted to me it's often 'it and miss' when shipping items into Canada...

I've heard of quite a few bad cross-border shipping experiences using UPS,
but I also think that Canada Customs is part of the problem too!

RioRico · 09-17-2010, 08:05 AM

My USPS Post Office is two miles away. The UPS+FedEx drop-off points were formerly 1 and 7 miles away, but have shut down in these rural mountain communities. The county seat 20 miles away downhill now has a UPS+FedEx "shipping" store that overcharges (sited next to a cigarette shop), and a STAPLES store that ships UPS or FedEx for NO EXTRA CHARGE. When big packages need return, guess where they go?

I now use USPS exclusively for my outbound shipping, and as much inbound as possible. I certainly don't trust UPS for deliveries, as their drivers either can't find my house and maybe leave packages elsewhere, or may leave packages on an exposed back porch rather than the covered front porch. Shipments of IR film don't do so well when left in the sun and weather for a few days. If shipments MUST come from UPS, we'll address them to a relative's house on a paved road a couple miles away.

Then there was the time I was in Antigua Guatemala and I *HAD* to express a parcel back to the states ASAP, and no UPS or FedEx to be seen. Luckily, DHL delivered! For a price, of course...

moray-eel-bite · 09-17-2010, 08:58 PM

Originally posted by mlatour

On a recent purchase from a seller in the USA,
with a 500.00$ insured value for a used lens shipped
via USPS-PM, the Canadian Custom fee/tax to pay at delivery
was 47.00$ after an 8 days delay to process thru their offices in Mississauga.

The seller e-mailed me the USPS tracking number and I easily
followed up on my package daily using the Canada Post website.

Now, the funny thing..

The exact same item/package, was sent to me 2 weeks earlier but was
unfortunately not deliverable and returned to the seller (typo in address)

The customs fee/tax was to be 62.00$, but that time the package only
took 2 hours to be processed at the same customs office!

Later I phoned Canada Post & Canada Customs, both their customer service dept.
admitted to me it's often 'it and miss' when shipping items into Canada...

I've heard of quite a few bad cross-border shipping experiences using UPS,
but I also think that Canada Customs is part of the problem too!

I'm actually not talking about the taxes, as I have no real problem paying those. UPS charges you those as well. for the 650.00 lens I purchased, the total came out to be about 170.00 in taxes and fees. You see, there are no duties on slr gear you only need to pay taxes (13% for most provinces), had the item been shipped usps it would have been roughly 110.00 in fees as opposed to the 170 and change ups charged, their fee is strictly a paperwork fee that usps only charges a flat 5.00 for. UPS has the ingenious system of charging more money (to do the same amount of paperwork) for more expensive items. That's what makes UPS such a ripoff, and is the subject of the class action lawsuit.

09-16-2010, 08:29 PM	#28
mlatour Senior Member Join Date: May 2010 Location: Montreal Posts: 197	Originally posted by moray-eel-bite I also learned to never use UPS. When shipping across the border to Canada they charge ridiculous clearing fees. For instance, a 650.00 lens I recently bought had a 23.00 shipping charge, but then they charged 63.00 for customs paperwork. The equivalent charge from usps is 5.00 (so roughly a 1300% overcharge.) This is the subject of a class action lawsuit here in Canada right now. I always (when I can remember in time) insist that Americans shipping to Canada use USPS. Frankly, what UPS does is illegal IMHO. On a recent purchase from a seller in the USA, with a 500.00$ insured value for a used lens shipped via USPS-PM, the Canadian Custom fee/tax to pay at delivery was 47.00$ after an 8 days delay to process thru their offices in Mississauga. The seller e-mailed me the USPS tracking number and I easily followed up on my package daily using the Canada Post website. Now, the funny thing.. The exact same item/package, was sent to me 2 weeks earlier but was unfortunately not deliverable and returned to the seller (typo in address) The customs fee/tax was to be 62.00$, but that time the package only took 2 hours to be processed at the same customs office! Later I phoned Canada Post & Canada Customs, both their customer service dept. admitted to me it's often 'it and miss' when shipping items into Canada... I've heard of quite a few bad cross-border shipping experiences using UPS, but I also think that Canada Customs is part of the problem too! Last edited by mlatour; 09-16-2010 at 09:56 PM.

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09-15-2010, 07:16 PM	#16
Ed n Georgia Veteran Member Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Georgia Posts: 940 Original Poster	Well, there's more. When I received the e-mail that I posted in the opening post, I responded with this.... There's no confusion at all. Your web-site should offer a provision to estimate the actual cost of shipment via a UPS store using their cost for declared value.. You've just helped me make the decision to eliminate UPS as a shipping resource because I cannot get accurate information from your web site. Thank you, Ed Woodson Today, I received this e-mail from UPS. Dear Ed, Thank you for your inquiry. I apologize for any inconvenience that you are experiencing with trying to get a detailed time and cost on UPS.com. I have submitted a customer suggestion to the proper department regarding your issue on UPS.com. Please contact us if you need any additional assistance. D. Hallowell UPS Technical Support so, maybe they are willing to address that situation. time will tell what happens. Meanwhile, USPS, unless it absolutely cannot go that way and I'm forced to use UPS

09-15-2010, 07:26 PM	#17
VaughnA Banned Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Virginia Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 1,363	Got my lens. Went over and it was on the porch, knocked on the door and nobody answered. Picked it up and took it home. LBA quenched for now. How can the UPS guy miss the giant letters on the porch and notice they don't match the address on the package? Brown Santa is an idiot.

09-15-2010, 07:40 PM	#18
Ed n Georgia Veteran Member Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Georgia Posts: 940 Original Poster	Originally posted by VaughnA Got my lens. Went over and it was on the porch, knocked on the door and nobody answered. Picked it up and took it home. LBA quenched for now. How can the UPS guy miss the giant letters on the porch and notice they don't match the address on the package? Brown Santa is an idiot. Fortunately, UPS has never delivered anything to the wrong house. USPS, OTOH, has done that several times. Glad you got your lens.

09-15-2010, 07:41 PM	#19
Blue Moderator Site Supporter Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Florida Hill Country Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 17,377	Originally posted by VaughnA Got my lens. Went over and it was on the porch, knocked on the door and nobody answered. Picked it up and took it home. LBA quenched for now. How can the UPS guy miss the giant letters on the porch and notice they don't match the address on the package? Brown Santa is an idiot. UPS has done that to me before. One day I got a delivery confirmation from UPS, but it had been delivered down the road, in the rain. I immediately got a hold of the local manager and they sent the guy back. I happened to be home that day or I may never figured it out in time, and it was a hard to find part. They guy brought me a wet box.

09-15-2010, 07:43 PM	#20
Blue Moderator Site Supporter Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Florida Hill Country Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 17,377	Originally posted by Ed n Georgia Fortunately, UPS has never delivered anything to the wrong house. USPS, OTOH, has done that several times. Glad you got your lens. USPS sent my last BH order to Orlando, to Tallahassee, to Jacksonville, back to Tallahassee. I was watching the tracking. When it hit Jacksonville, there was a "missent" code. What got me is it was the local main P.O. that screwed up.

09-15-2010, 08:43 PM	#21
JeffJS Inactive Account Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Michigan, USA Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 7,484	Originally posted by Ed n Georgia Well, there's more. When I received the e-mail that I posted in the opening post, I responded with this.... There's no confusion at all. Your web-site should offer a provision to estimate the actual cost of shipment via a UPS store using their cost for declared value.. You've just helped me make the decision to eliminate UPS as a shipping resource because I cannot get accurate information from your web site. Thank you, Ed Woodson Today, I received this e-mail from UPS. Dear Ed, Thank you for your inquiry. I apologize for any inconvenience that you are experiencing with trying to get a detailed time and cost on UPS.com. I have submitted a customer suggestion to the proper department regarding your issue on UPS.com. Please contact us if you need any additional assistance. D. Hallowell UPS Technical Support so, maybe they are willing to address that situation. time will tell what happens. Meanwhile, USPS, unless it absolutely cannot go that way and I'm forced to use UPS Which means they put your 'suggestion' in the round e-file known as the Recycle Bin. I won't ship anything UPS for exactly this (pricing) reason. I get proper weights, go to USPS.COM, enter the information and it gives me a price. The only time it's wrong is when I give the wrong information.

09-15-2010, 09:21 PM	#22
seacapt Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: North Carolina , USA Photos: Gallery Posts: 2,271	Sorry to hear all this. I use UPS frequently but I am a business. UPS was not designed to pick up at residences. As was previously mentioned if you set up an account and print your own prepaid label the price will be as expected and you can in some areas call for a pickup or go to any UPS drop site. The UPS stores are franchises and do charge for convienience. BTW if you live in an area considered "rural " by Fedex forget about it has to be there overnight but UPS red label will be there.

09-15-2010, 09:59 PM	#23
Abstract Inactive Account Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: New York Photos: Gallery Posts: 388	Wow thats odd, I prefer UPS my delivery guy is really nice, always on time, everything perfect....Now fedex and usps....my god, never again, losing my crap, not deliver etc....even breaking things. Must be different in some areas.

09-16-2010, 03:53 PM	#24
GeneV Veteran Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Albuquerque NM Photos: Albums Posts: 9,830	I've come to prefer the USPS over UPS as well, though I never thought I'd say that. I shipped some wine to someone based upon a shipping bill on their business account, which had already been approved for wine shipment. The UPS man opened the box, saw it was wine and decided (wrongly) that he could not legally take it. He left the open box of expensive wine in lobby of my building's parking garage until I found it the next day. This is not what I would expect from this company.

09-16-2010, 04:01 PM	#25
Blue Moderator Site Supporter Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Florida Hill Country Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 17,377	Originally posted by GeneV I've come to prefer the USPS over UPS as well, though I never thought I'd say that. I shipped some wine to someone based upon a shipping bill on their business account, which had already been approved for wine shipment. The UPS man opened the box, saw it was wine and decided (wrongly) that he could not legally take it. He left the open box of expensive wine in lobby of my building's parking garage until I found it the next day. This is not what I would expect from this company. He opened the box? On what grounds? You should have sent his boss the bill.

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09-16-2010, 04:58 PM	#26
moray-eel-bite Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Oshawa, Ontario Photos: Gallery Posts: 154	I also learned to never use UPS. When shipping across the border to Canada they charge ridiculous clearing fees. For instance, a 650.00 lens I recently bought had a 23.00 shipping charge, but then they charged 63.00 for customs paperwork. The equivalent charge from usps is 5.00 (so roughly a 1300% overcharge.) This is the subject of a class action lawsuit here in Canada right now. I always (when I can remember in time) insist that Americans shipping to Canada use USPS. Frankly, what UPS does is illegal IMHO.

09-16-2010, 05:33 PM	#27
GeneV Veteran Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Albuquerque NM Photos: Albums Posts: 9,830	Originally posted by Blue He opened the box? On what grounds? You should have sent his boss the bill. I checked into it, and he said he was investigating whether it was wine. Luckily, the wine was still there the next morning. They sent me a letter of apology.

09-17-2010, 08:05 AM	#29
RioRico Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Limbo, California Posts: 11,263	My USPS Post Office is two miles away. The UPS+FedEx drop-off points were formerly 1 and 7 miles away, but have shut down in these rural mountain communities. The county seat 20 miles away downhill now has a UPS+FedEx "shipping" store that overcharges (sited next to a cigarette shop), and a STAPLES store that ships UPS or FedEx for NO EXTRA CHARGE. When big packages need return, guess where they go? I now use USPS exclusively for my outbound shipping, and as much inbound as possible. I certainly don't trust UPS for deliveries, as their drivers either can't find my house and maybe leave packages elsewhere, or may leave packages on an exposed back porch rather than the covered front porch. Shipments of IR film don't do so well when left in the sun and weather for a few days. If shipments MUST come from UPS, we'll address them to a relative's house on a paved road a couple miles away. Then there was the time I was in Antigua Guatemala and I HAD to express a parcel back to the states ASAP, and no UPS or FedEx to be seen. Luckily, DHL delivered! For a price, of course...

09-17-2010, 08:58 PM	#30
moray-eel-bite Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Oshawa, Ontario Photos: Gallery Posts: 154	Originally posted by mlatour On a recent purchase from a seller in the USA, with a 500.00$ insured value for a used lens shipped via USPS-PM, the Canadian Custom fee/tax to pay at delivery was 47.00$ after an 8 days delay to process thru their offices in Mississauga. The seller e-mailed me the USPS tracking number and I easily followed up on my package daily using the Canada Post website. Now, the funny thing.. The exact same item/package, was sent to me 2 weeks earlier but was unfortunately not deliverable and returned to the seller (typo in address) The customs fee/tax was to be 62.00$, but that time the package only took 2 hours to be processed at the same customs office! Later I phoned Canada Post & Canada Customs, both their customer service dept. admitted to me it's often 'it and miss' when shipping items into Canada... I've heard of quite a few bad cross-border shipping experiences using UPS, but I also think that Canada Customs is part of the problem too! I'm actually not talking about the taxes, as I have no real problem paying those. UPS charges you those as well. for the 650.00 lens I purchased, the total came out to be about 170.00 in taxes and fees. You see, there are no duties on slr gear you only need to pay taxes (13% for most provinces), had the item been shipped usps it would have been roughly 110.00 in fees as opposed to the 170 and change ups charged, their fee is strictly a paperwork fee that usps only charges a flat 5.00 for. UPS has the ingenious system of charging more money (to do the same amount of paperwork) for more expensive items. That's what makes UPS such a ripoff, and is the subject of the class action lawsuit.