Complaint Review: The UPS Store - Odessa Texas

Hello srq - ().

There is nothing you can do about it  >  Mail Boxes Etc at 2000 42nd Street, Odessa is the same as the UPS Office at 2000 42nd Street, Odessa.  

They are the ONLY game in town.  I'd love to have enough money to buy my own Mail Box office and compete with them.  Lol.  Although, I must reiterate how nice her employees are.  I mean, genuine, nice and caring.  They're very hard-working.  I never see them messing around and lord knows - after going to there to pick up my mail for five years - you'd think I'd have seen something.  Nope.  Always working.  She is a heartless witch.  But, I digress.

Thank you for understanding my plight.  It makes me feel a little better.  :-)

I got another renewal notice in August and paid it immediately.  I'd like to note here that it didn't mention anything about there being a $20 Late Fee on the Renewal Notice.  One of my clients is an attorney.  Maybe I should file a Class Action Suit.  Lol.  He's always looking for business.  Just kidding.  Although I needed to vent - I try not to think negative thoughts about businesses or individuals.  I prefer to spend my time in positive endeavors.  I don't think that suing anyone is a positive thing.

I agree with the attitude that I should have had extra money to pay for my mailbox.  I should have.  I did the best that I could.

 To the person who asked, "Where is the ripoff?"  Are you serious?  Any business that genuinely cares about its customers will honor the word of its representatives, especially if all that is at stake is a twenty dollar fee that is not a part of the standard pricing structure. If an employee tells a customer, "You'll be fine if you pay a week late", then that should mean exactly that, and be honored by the manager.

A customer should always be able to count on the information he is given by a representative of the business, especially when a decision involving money is riding on it.  If the employee made a mistake, then he or she can be informed in order to prevent that from happening again.  A business that does not honor the word of its representative, is a business that might deserve your patronage, but it certainly does not deserve mine.

I understand exactly what the author of this report is talking about regarding choosing between paying the dues and eating.  I have been the exact same shoes before; had I been the subject of that scenario, the information that employee gave would have certainly influenced whether I paid the dues on the spot, or later when cash was not so tight.  Anyone who scrapes bottom that hard quickly learns to think ahead when budgeting, and knows full well that it is better to go without food for a few days now, rather than have another precious $20 go up in smoke with nothing to show for it, down the road. One needs to eat down the road, too, you know.

The fact that the manager found it more preferable to lie than to accomodate the simple request of (what should have been) a valued customer, clearly reveals where her priorities are.  Any businessperson who lies to avoid accomodating such a simple request by a long term customer, cannot be trusted to deal straight, period.  The fact that Ms. Berry has not seen fit to present her side of the story in the six-plus months since this report first appeared, also speaks volumes (to me).

I am currently in the market for private mailbox in Odessa, and happened across this report while doing a Google search of PMB providers.  I need a physical address for UPS and Fedex deliveries, so a PO box won't do.  But, thanks to this eye-opening report, the UPS store is off my list. I will go to Mail Boxes Etc at 2000 42nd Street, Odessa, instead.

Many thanks to the author of this report for the heads up.  Don't pay attention to the miserable chumps who rally support lying to customers and bad business practices.

Nick1346, thank you soo - so much for being the ONE rebuttal to understand! You are CORRECT - I should have been more clear about it being the UPS Store - not a UPS Office. Package and mail delivery is not my expertise - although I am learning.

 I truly forgot to pay my bill. I usually pay it every six months and it had slipped my mind. I live far enough away that it's a slight hardship for me to pick up my mail.  I usually pick it up once a week.  That last time I hadn't gone in there (to pick up my mail) for two weeks.  I have other things on my mind besides my mail and when I saw that bill, I was in a bit of a panic (for money).

I did call the Corporate UPS Store office and their spokesperson told me that it's up to the individual store owner to decide how they run their own business.  Of course they have to abide by Privacy rules and all other laws.  It upset me that Megan had lied about it being the Corporation's fault.  I told her that I was going to call them too.  She also owns the Midland UPS Store and I had called her at that location.

I am a small business owner myself and the most important thing that one can do to promote their business is to be fair and understanding.  After all, I have been a customer there for five years and had never been late with my payments before.

 In one of my last rebuttals, I did mention the Lifetime value of a good customer at a UPS Store.  Assuming no late fees, the FIVE-YEAR value of a customer is $900 (at $15 a month). That doesn't include any packages that are sent out - or printing that is done - or goodies that they sell (for me, easily an extra $200 a year). Thus making the five-year value of a customer - roughly $1,900.

I suppose that isn't a lot of money to most people.  But, multiply that by the 200 or so boxes that are in there? Five year customer value of the store? $380,000.  That's not to mention all the people that come in there just to mail packages and to get printing done.  Don't get me wrong.  I understand that she has rent, electricity, taxes, garbage, and employees to pay.  It's a big headache to run any business.  I don't begrudge her any success.  I am happy for her and her family. I just wish she could have been more understanding.

I know a lot of people too.  I have a Facebook account of over 1,300 Friends.  I have a LinkedIn Account with over 2,300 Connections.  I won't share how many Twitter accounts or Followers that I have.  I have a customer list as well.  Does Megan Berry think that I won't recommend that people NOT do business with a UPS Store?  Hmm, I think that it was a little foolish of her not to understand my plight.

Businesses are starting to get 'wise' to people using the UPS Store as a physical mailing address (instead of using a PO Box). There is now software that can figure that out. It warns businesses that the "Street address" is not really a street address. Dunn & Bradstreet - for SURE knows it. Google - for sure knows it!  I've seen the software in action.  There goes the benefit of using the UPS Store as a physical address.

I have to say this for Megan Berry - she sure does hire the nicest people!  The employee was awesome & understanding (lord knows this didn't come from the boss).  The employees couldn't be nicer every single time I go in there to pick up my mail & packages.  If I have a lot of stuff, they always offer to help me to my automobile.  (They don't make me ask! - they insist.)  When I broke my foot two years ago, they helped me in and out of the store (again - just insisted on helping me). She is lucky to have nice people to work for her.  Or, maybe it's that people in Odessa are just super nice.  IDK.

Thank you again, Nick1346 for your advice and for your rebuttal.

I am the manager of ANOTHER UPS Store, not the one you are mentioning.

 Let me correct you on the fact that the business is The UPS Store, not a UPS office. All UPS Stores are individually owned by people, not a corporation.

 This UPS Store is by the books. The individual "Megan Berry" owns multiple stores, and is run by other individuals, whereas most stores are run by close-knit families so they know the rules. At our store, we are very loose on the late fees. We allow you to not pay for a month before we charge you a $10 late fee. You ran into a person who isn't too lenient. We also understand that the economy is in a horrible condition now, so we are even more understanding. 

Megan Berry lied about the rules being set by the corporate office, all rules by the corporate office are just suggestions on how to run your store, the owners make almost all of the final rules.

If you don't need a street address then a PO Box is probably for you. All UPS Stores allow for 24HR access, most won't allow 24HR access for new customers, only existing customers for security purposes.

First of all, thank you for reading my RipOff Report.  I appreciate your concern.  ;-)  Evidently you don't know me very well.  I would DEFInitely paid them on the spot & then worried about food later. 

Anyone that says that twenty bucks is no big deal - really hasn't suffered much strife in their life.   You are indeed lucky! I hope that you continue to live an idyllic existence & never know how the other half lives.  Good for you.  (I mean that sincerely too.)

I am grateful to them for charging me the late fee.  I would not have thought to check the prices at the Post Office had not this happened. Mail Boxes Etc. = $200 a year -- Post Office = $44.  Money saved per year $136.  Money saved for five years = $680.

How would you have handled the situation if the employee told you that there would be a $20 late fee? Would you have paid the current bill and starved for the next eight days or would you have held off paying until you had the money to pay the bill? It's unlikely that you would have chosen starvation so the end result is the same.

The service was fine for five years until they held you accountable to the agreement. Then you complained and decided to promote the US Postal Service.

Pay the bill, because hey, it's no big deal.

The ripoff here is that the owner should be responsible for what her employees tell the customers.  This isn't surprising for me that you don't think that an owner should be responsible for what her employees tell the customers - because this is an era when the president of the United States doesn't take responsibility for his actions - nor his employees' actions.  It's always someone else's fault.

I contracted with the local Odessa, TX UPS office over five years ago to get my mail there.  I have not been late in more than five years.  I never intended to be late.  When I asked the employee if it would be a big deal to be late - they responded that it would not be a problem.  They should have told me that there would have been a $20 LATE FEE.  As you can tell from my tale - $20 is a huge deal to me.  If I had known that there would be a late fee - I would have paid my bill & worried about eating later.

I agree that it's not up to the UPS Office in Odessa, TX to worry about if I have any food to eat or not.  Not their problem at all. The fact that the employee didn't tell me what was going on & that Megan Berry told a lie and said that it was the "Corporate Office's" decision to make the fees & she had no part in that - make this situation a complainable offense.

Megan Berry in the Odessa UPS office should have considered the fact that I was a long-term Mail Box Renter & cheerfully waived the fee on that alone.   Secondly, she should have apologised for her employee not knowing about the late fee and not informing me about the late fee.

Since she refused to do anything about it - I am warning others to read the fine print & not listen to what the employees tell them.  Yes, I signed a contract.  Five years ago.  I didn't read it before I signed it.  What they in fact do - is take your money - have you sign on their little machine & give you the contract to read later.  Would I have signed the contract knowing about the late fee?  Yes, I would have.  Perhaps I would have remembered about a late fee had a written contract been given to me beforehand - before I gave them the money the first time.  Five years ago.

So where EXACTLy is there a ripoff or scam here. It sounds pretty cut and dry to me. For any service that a business provides there is normally a pamphlet or contract stating the terms of use. You didnt pay your box on time and got charged a fee. Guess what, thats how it works. Your age or fiancial situation are of no concern to the business you are going to. They have a job to do. It sounds like you got off easy in this. As most mailbox businesses would have had your box already onto another customer after just a few days. I would suggest that NEXT time you use any business or service that you fully read the terms and conditions provided to you and atleast once a year ask them if their T&C have any addedums or modifications.

Sorry to say this, but EVERYONE has a sob story of some form or another. Stop trying to screw a legitimate business out of money that is rightfully theirs because you were late. Take some responsability for both your actions and your debts.