UPS Store 174 Price gouging for special services. BEWARE! Federal Way, Washington
Be VERY wary of shipping with this UPS Store if you need Special Services over and above the basic shipping. Be warned that the UPS Stores ARE NOT UPS. Some are independent franchisees of UPS. So, the phone quote you get from dialing 1-800-PICK-UPS MAY NOT be the same if you need these special services. Also, the staff at this location does not know this, or does and misleads you.
I had a package that needed a large amount of insurance. I phoned UPS at the above toll free number and got a quote on Thursday April 15. The next day, I went to UPS Store 0174 to ship it. The shipping charge was going to be $65.83 higher than the phone quote Id gotten the day before. I asked the staff why. They said often phone quotes are incorrect. I then asked if the charge they wanted would be the same if I went to the UPS Service Center in Fife. They said yes. Based on this, I shipped the box. Thinking that Id been ripped off, a half an hour later, I again called 1-800-PICK-UPS for a quote. I read the information off of the receipt Id gotten from Store 0174, and got the same quote as Thursday April 15!
Complaints via eamil to the owner of this store resulted in him defending his right to mark-up.
Subsequent phone calls to the UPS Store complaint line (which is answered by MBE. Mail Boxes Etc, which is what they were before UPS became involved) reveal that the policy is that basic shipping must be same as a UPS Service Center. Other Special Shipping Services are open for mark-up. Mine was the high insurance I needed; yours might be Proof Of Delivery, Expedited Delivery Time, etc.
My complaints to MBE got me nowhere, and complaints to UPS itself are equally frustrating and fruitless.