United Parcel Service Insurance Fraud victimized many consumers Atlanta Georgia
I had my worst experience with UPS several years ago after the Big Brown Truck backed up to our house and ROLLED a box out for delivery. The box obviously broken and peanuts flying everywhere and the driver with just a kind of "oh well" attitude. He asked what it was because it was heavy. I said a computer.
I took photos and went thru the whole speil to get some satisfaction. They passed the buck to the moron mailbox/shipper in Temple TX who passed the buck back to UPS... The white shirt man came to my house and said "yep, it's broken" DUH #1 The shipper admitted placing the computer on the box bottom and loading in peanuts. DUH #2 no bottom padding. After threatening them physical harm, the shipper finally paid $100.00 because that's all it was insured for - thanks a lot jesse t. you moron.
The second experience happened recently. I securely packed a box with shoes and other stuff. The box arrived torn open and missing a silver-gray plastic shoe. I immediately emailed UPS in hopes of tracking down the matching shoe, which seems to me would be pretty easy to find. They instead requested I send receipts from my original purchase.
Another lost cause and they could care less cuz they're UPS and don't have to answer to anybody.
The moral of the story is don't use UPS; make it FedEx, Greyhound, or deliver it yourself.
tc
cohutta, Georgia
2 Updates & Rebuttals
Danielle
Toledo,Ohio,
UPS vs. Fedex etc ..I agree
#3UPDATE Employee
Wed, November 06, 2002
I agree wholeheartedly with Tom. I work at the Toledo, OH hub and everything he said holds true throughout the shipping industry. Fedex uses our old shipping center in Toledo and uses the same systems. Bad things happen within any system so the best way to deal with it is to make sure your packages are packed correctly.
I've seen many badly packed parcels and they are the first to go. Ask any UPSer, past or present, and they will have stories about horribly packaged thipments. We get everything from plate glass windows with no padding to flurecent lightbulbs, also without padding. After they begin to move through the system these things start to sound like rainsticks.
Management does take these things seriously and we all try to get as much of the break-open together as we can. Things do get lost, but we try our best. Finding one gray shoe in the hub is like a needle in a haystack and finding its home is even more difficult.
The best way to get the best service possible is to be smart and make sure your shipper is using common sense as well. Another tip to prevent breakage is to lessen the number of people who have to handle your package. PLEASE print your label clearly, and get the right zip code. It lessens the number of times it is handled and will shorten the shipping time, it can also save you a zip-check fee.
Tom
Vernon,Connecticut,
UPS = OOPS!
#3UPDATE EX-employee responds
Sun, September 08, 2002
I loaded trucks in Hartford for 2 1/2 years. I saw many things get damaged, and it usually happened like this:
The boxes are unloaded and sorted onto various conveyer belts routed throughout the building. The belts would get blocked in areas where there was an "L", when one belt dumps out onto another at 90 degrees. A long box can cause this jam and then everything piles up behind it because the belts are still moving. When a final sorter notices he has no flow the belts are stopped, but the damage has been done. Things that weren't packed very well get crushed. I saw some in cases the pile up was so bad (like during Christmas time) the boxes would begin falling over the barriers and land fifteen feet below onto the floor. I saw many TVs die an early death this way.
Management took this very seriously. They tried to recover items that had fallen loose and repack them.
As far as insurance claims go, that was something I was not privy to, so I can't comment on being ripped off there.
I know every shipping company will have this problem. I also know the likelyhood of damages decreases when you ship by air. The traffic is routed more smoothly and less often, in newer buildings that are next to the airports.