Complaint Review: United Parcel Service or UPS - Atlanta Georgia

It seems that there is a trend in America. This trend is to on the surface appear to provide good service. The reality is something entirely different. UPS has become a company that no longer cares about good customer service or customer relations. Here is the proof.

I ordered a complete computer system from Global Computer. It was ordered on July 12, 2001. Everything but the tower was shipped on that day from Global Computer. The tower has to be configured to the customers specifications and is therefore shipped last.

My order consisted of three boxes. Shipped UPS from Addison Illinois on July 12, 2001. It arrives at the Greensboro NC UPS hub on July 16, 2001 at 12:42 p.m. It is put on a UPS truck to be delivered that day. Global Computer indicated to me on the phone when I ordered to be prepared for the UPS packages to begin arriving on July 16, 2001. Our residential property is secured by a locked gate. The property is also posted no trespass. I unlocked the gate Monday morning July 16, 2001 and left the lock hanging on the gate. As the driveway to the property is 2/10 th of a mile long and there is considerable trees between the house in the gate. You cannot see what is going on at the gate. Anyone that pulled in the driveway could have obviously seen that the gate was unlocked. But the UPS driver sticks an attempted delivery notice on the no trespass sign and leaves.

My wife of course found the notice when she got in from work and gave it to me. I called the 800 number and was told by UPS they would make a second attempt to deliver the packages on Tuesday July 17, 2001. I ask them why the driver did not come on down the driveway when the gate was obviously unlocked. They said "Perhaps they felt apprehensive about the new trespass sign. We suggest you put a note on the sign telling the driver the gate is unlocked and it's okay to proceed". So that he is exactly what we did. Still no delivery. My wife gets in from work on Tuesday at about 7:30 p.m. She sees the note I left on the signed at the gate and figures UPS is not going to deliver the packages today. So she takes the signed down and locks the gate.

On Wednesday morning July 18, 2001 she finds another delivery notice stuck on the no trespass sign. So I called the 800 number listed on the second notice and find out that they came by at 7:47 p.m. on Tuesday night. After being told Monday night on the same 800 number that UPS does not deliver after 7 p.m. On Tuesday night I had already called the 800 number listed on Monday's delivery notice and asked to have my delivery address changed to my wife's work address. I called at 6:52 p.m. because the notice plainly says you must specify any address change before 7 p.m.

So Wednesday morning I call the main customer service 800 number to verify where the packages are. I'm told that the change of address request did not get entered into the system until 7:27 p.m. Tuesday night. I'm also told that the packages are now going to be delivered to my home address today Wednesday July 18, 2001. So I go up the driveway put the note on the no trespass sign and unlock the gate. Still no delivery of the packages by 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday evening. So my wife decides to go up to the gate and wait. Finally about 8 p.m. I've decided there probably not going to deliver. So I call the 800 number again to find out what is going on with the shipment. I'm told that the packages are being held at the Greensboro UPS hub with a will call status. Which means they are going to call me on Thursday July 19, 2001 and tell me I need to come to Greensboro and pick them up.

UPS did not even bother to make the third attempt to deliver here. Furthermore they had someone at the service center enter an order that the recipient me had requested that these packages be held for pickup. Absolutely not true. So we had to get a vehicle big enough to handle the three packages and drive to the Greensboro Depot 35 miles away. Round-trip mileage 70 miles. We did indeed get the shipment on Thursday July 19, 2001 at about 1:30 p.m. because we picked it up.

UPS due to their errors and not following their procedure cost me 4 days of my valuable time. Forced me to go pickup a shipment that should have been delivered to my residence or it would've been sent back to Global Computer, and worst of all their personnel lied to me and their lies cost me 2 of the wasted 4 days.

Nobody except one person at the customer service center even apologized for their error. I even related my story to the president of UPS via his email address and he didn't even bother to answer me.

A point of interest I called Global Computer and asked them if they would ship the tower a different way then UPS. They shipped the tower Federal Express residential delivery on Tuesday July 17, 2001 and it was delivered on Wednesday July 18, 2001 proving that customer service and satisfaction certainly matters more to Federal Express than it does to UPS.

The U.S. Postal Service has delivered to my residence as well as many other shipping companies. UPS is the only one I've ever had this kind of trouble with. Needless to say I will never use UPS to ship anything to anybody else or reecieve anything from anyone else. While the cost might be more to have the packages shipped via another shipping company from a dollar figure standpoint it certainly is cheaper for me when they wasted 4 days of my time a half a day of my wife's time, not to mention the metal frustration of it all. This is why, UPS will forever be known in my book not United Parcel Service, but Undoubtedly Poor Service.