Complaint Review: UPS Store #6778 - Los Angeles CA 90045

I got my first mailbox at UPS Store #6778 back on 10/6/17 (I can still provide my original receipt if requested). And I loved it. It was an absolutely great service and I never had a complaint.

This changed around June of this year. New owners, one of which is Jesse Wang, took over unannounced. Shortly after, I got a notice in my mailbox for a $15 “overflow” fee and if I wanted my mail I’d have to bring this to the counter. I had no idea what this was so when I brought it over, they told me a large envelope didn’t fit in my mailbox and that if I wanted my mail I’d have to sign an addendum. If they did they’d waive the $15 fee as a one-time exception.

I informed them that the previous employees would just fold the large envelopes in a U-shape so they’d fit before and there was no need for this. I’ve also since learned that they can’t withhold my USPS mail for any reason like they did here. Finally, I’ve also been informed since that this represented contract fraud because they knowingly misrepresented the facts by telling me I had to sign the addendum because it was UPS Store policy (afterwards I called 4 other stores in the area and none of them were charging these fees).

Not knowing my rights, things were still relatively quiet until 9/27/21 when I ordered a tent from Amazon for a camping trip I was going on. It was delivered and I went to pick it up within 5 hours of them receiving it. Lo and behold I had another notice in my mailbox for a $10 fee for an “oversized” item. I had no idea what this was referring to, so when I brought it to the counter they said any box over 2’ receives an extra charge. When I told them I’d pursue this legally the lady said that was fine so I paid it then left with my package. After I opened it, I realized Amazon had sent me the wrong item. So I was charged over something that wasn’t my fault. When I got home I wrote UPS Store #6778 a negative Yelp review.

The next day, Jesse W. (the store owner) wrote me an e-mail telling me the review was slander and driving customers away. He also requested I remove it and told me it won’t be tolerated. I responded that I would not be removing it because it wasn’t slander then explained how everything in it was true. The day after that I received a mailbox termination notice e-mail because of my disruptive behavior and that all my mail would be marked “Return to Sender.” When I asked what my disruptive behavior consisted of Jesse responded that it was my negative Yelp review.

Not knowing how to resolve this and panicking because I had a package worth more than $1,000 sent to me from Peru on 9/27/21 which couldn’t be redirected, I filed complaints with the FTC, Los Angeles County Department of Business and Consumer Affairs, the California Attorney General Public Inquiry Unit, Better Business Bureau and Los Angeles District Attorney’s consumer complaints office.

It wasn’t until that Saturday when someone suggested I file a complaint with The UPS Store’s corporate headquarters customer relations department which I did (both by phone and e-mail). On 10/7/21, I spoke with Paige Basar who said that the owner understood he couldn’t mark my USPS mail as Return to Sender and he had to hold on to it for forwarding purposes for 6 months. She also explicitly told him that I had an expensive package sent by SerPost from Peru which was going to switch to USPS once it entered the U.S. Jesse said he understood and agreed.

Paige told me that the store owner said I had been causing scenes in the store but I told her that wasn’t true. If it was, I would’ve received something indicating so either verbally or in writing, that the store had cameras and they could check the footage and that if I really was they would’ve terminated my contract then since they ultimately did so for much less. She said she agreed and that she didn’t believe him. Paige also informed me that this store already had multiple complaints against it in just the few months the new owner took over which is more than it had in the years the previous owner was in charge so she was going to notify the area manager. She also refunded me for most of the remaining time on my contract.

When I checked in at first 2 then 3 weeks later and it still hadn’t arrived I had the sender look into it. It turned out the destination did mark it Return to Sender and it was on its way back. Because of this I had to pay an extra $98 to reship it.

I reported to Paige that the store owner broke his agreement. But she never wrote back this time. So I started over and filed a new complaint with UPS Store customer relations. This time the lady was very rude the second time we spoke. She said that unless I had a written letter that the UPS Store in question marked it Return to Sender that it would just be my word against his. I told her there was tracking and to please contact SerPost but she said that wasn’t good enough.

This is absolutely crazy to me. The store owner said he was going to mark my mail as Return to Sender, did just that, I have a tracking number to prove it and neither Customer Relations nor the UPS Store will reimburse me.

If they contact SerPost either by e-mail at [email protected] or by phone (+511) 533 30 82 they’d be provided either oral and/or written proof that it was marked Return to Sender at the destination.

They should authorize the reimbursement of the extra $98 I had to pay for shipping.

Also, now that the store owner was called out on what he did and he’s started hearing from some of the enforcement agencies he has agreed to forward my mail but wants to charge exorbitant fees such as for “packaging material, UPS Ground shipping, and a $7 forwarding fee.” But if you check my original contract it says $0 to forward my mail for 6 months. I’m not expecting any packages again. He should be instructed to just mark my USPS mail with my forwarding address Paige and I provided him at my new UPS Store mailbox for free. He had no problem doing this illegitimately to my package so I don’t see why this should be a problem here. I don’t need any fancy packaging, etc.

I wrote a letter to Randy Bennett, the VP of Customer Experience (CX) over a month ago about the situation but I still haven’t heard back from him.