Complaint Review: United Parcel Service

After going around in circles on UPS's website, I was finally able to register for UPS My Choice, a service that allows one to change their shipping location or date before the first delivery attempt. A tracking number is supplied with every shipment, but that only allows you to see where the package is going.

UPS's tracking system on the website is informative, and helpful, but when it comes to using My Choice, things become near impossible. With one shipment, it was valued at $400 and I knew I wasn't going to be in town to pick it up from my front door. Having registered for UPS My Choice, I figured it would be helpful to hold my shipment for pickup at my local UPS store.

After searching for hours on how to change the delivery, I couldn't even find a link to My Choice. Every link only led me to sign up information. After calling UPS, I got an automated system with no option to speak to a customer service representative. I had to purposely not speak my tracking number clearly to get a real human.
Upon talking to this real human, he tells me to click on the "Change Delivery" button on the tracking page. This exposes a small window with options for the shipper and the recipient. The shipper links are open, but the recipient links are only text. After telling the employee I was a My Choice member, he transferred me to that department, that basically told me there was nothing they could do. They told me to contact the shipper. My Choice was designed so I didn't have to do this!

I called the company a couple days later, and after going around the same process with the automated system, I finally got a real person. This person was much more helpful to me, and had to place me on hold for about 10 minutes while she tried to change my delivery. Eventually, I was taken off of hold, and told that there was nothing they could do. They said that, to transfer to a UPS store, I had to pay a fee (which I knew about) and they said that my billing information was not uploaded by the shipper. Why should the shipper upload this?

So, nothing happened there either. After contacting the shipper, they really didn't know what I was talking about, and said they would try to help in whatever means possible. In the end, the package was left at my door for anyone to take, and I had to call a neighbor to hold it for me.

UPS My Choice is a service that I had to jump through hoops to subscribe for, which is a problem with their website. After this, it didn't even work, and my $400 package was left on my porch for the taking. Not to mention, after a delay with the company I bought the package from, that company upgraded me to 3 Day select shipping. It took 4 days from the date it left the facility, but I'll give them the extra day.