I need some help

[Quilter]

First, let me apologize - I'm not a UPS employee, but a customer with a problem. I hate barging in here and interrupting you. But, I've seen a few posts regarding shipments that have gone astray, and I'm desperate...so I'm hoping you all can help me.

My tale of woe is this: on February 16, my prize-winning, handmade quilt was shipped UPS 2nd Day Air, signature required, from Golden, Colorado. It has not been seen since.

The tracking number came up as invalid when I first checked it. When I contacted the shipper on February 22 (first working day after President's Day), the shipper called UPS, who had no record of that number. The box the quilt was in was not scanned at pick up by the driver, who was not the usual route driver, but a substitute. Later, I discovered the shipper does not run their "end of day" report at the end of the day.

The shipper put a tracer on the package on February 22. Later on, my husband obtained the number for the Commerce City hub, and called asking if they could help locate the box, to no avail.

On March 10 a claim was issued by UPS. Upset, I contacted our local paper's consumer advocate, who got in touch with Corporate UPS. According to Corporate, they mounted an intensive search in Colorado and Utah, but in spite of 3 weeks of searching, the box with the quilt was not located.

The box is insured, but this is something that money can't replace - I spent 4 years hand piecing and quilting this. I want it back!

Is there anything else that can be done to find this package? Can you offer any insight on what might have happened to it, and what I can do to get it back?

Thank you for listening.

Janet

 

[packageguy]

Janet, I would hate to say it but maybe the lable fell off, or ripped off. There is a good chance that package is sitting in over goods. It would not be the first time. Maybe you could get in touch with that center in your area, or ups corporate. Good luck

Let us know.

 

[Quilter]

Thanks for your answer.

I understand that overgoods and lost and found (are they one and the same?) have been checked. According to UPS Corporate, they interviewed the driver, checked overgoods, and checked all the trucks. My impression is that they did everything except turn the warehouse(s) upside down, but this is what I've been told, not necessarily what happened. They also checked for quilts, blankets, bedding and any other category they could think of.

The shipper was sure that once they filed an insurance claim the quilt would surface, and it has not.

Janet

 

[packageguy]

I hope it turns up, Goodluck, That would be a shame if its lost for good. Let us know what happens.

 

[Tim Eagle]

I THINK pkg's of this sort go to atlanta,ga and are sold out of a overgoods location.try there good luck

 

[steward71]

I THINK pkg's of this sort go to atlanta,ga and are sold out of a overgoods location.try there good luck

You are correct they do go there and there a sale once year. I don't know when but contact corp. they can tell you.

 

[hondo]

Hi Janet, yes 'overgoods' is the co's term for lost and found. I'm afraid at this point it's gone for good. I've personally found small packages and envelopes left behind in trailers, but I can't imagine anyone missing a parcel large enough to contain a quilt, for this long. About all I can suggest now is to monitor online auction sites like ebay, craigslist, etc.

The overgoods process as I understand it: the item(s) are boxed with an inventory # created and a description entered into a database. When tracers/claims come in, someone goes through the database to see if it's in there. It can be kind of hit or miss, especially the way items are described in the dbase, but it sounds like they tried every permutation they could think of. After some period of time they put a bunch of stuff into a trailer and auction it off. I'm pretty sure Utah is 1 of the auction sites. Whomever buys the trailer then tries to recoup their money buy selling off the contents.

I am a little curious about the way you refer to the 'shipper'. Was it something like a UPSstore, or a specialty quilt shop that had it on display?

 

[Quilter]

I'm a little confused. I was told by Corporate that they checked Overgoods - they had a picture of the quilt. How carefully do they check? Is there a way I can make sure that if my quilt shows up in Atlanta, that I'm the one contacted?

It's a very distinctive quilt, and it does have a label sewn to the back with my name, address and phone number on the back. I was told by the shipper that the shipping information was also on a piece of paper inside the box.

Janet

 

[Quilter]

Hondo, the shipper is a quilting magazine. They were taking photos of the quilt for the cover. They've shipped quilts worth far more than mine, without mishap.

When you say "gone for good," do you mean destroyed? Lost in overgoods? Stolen, and by whom? I can't believe a UPS employee would risk their job for this. Oh, and Corporate said they checked eBay and Craigslist, as have I.


Janet

 

[upsssguy]

Janet,
Do you have the tracking number for this package?

 

[Quilter]

Yes, the tracking number is 1Z 2X0 008 35 4362 1044.

Janet

 

[UnconTROLLed]

First, let me apologize - I'm not a UPS employee, but a customer with a problem. I hate barging in here and interrupting you. But, I've seen a few posts regarding shipments that have gone astray, and I'm desperate...so I'm hoping you all can help me.

My tale of woe is this: on February 16, my prize-winning, handmade quilt was shipped UPS 2nd Day Air, signature required, from Golden, Colorado. It has not been seen since.

The tracking number came up as invalid when I first checked it. When I contacted the shipper on February 22 (first working day after President's Day), the shipper called UPS, who had no record of that number. The box the quilt was in was not scanned at pick up by the driver, who was not the usual route driver, but a substitute. Later, I discovered the shipper does not run their "end of day" report at the end of the day.

The shipper put a tracer on the package on February 22. Later on, my husband obtained the number for the Commerce City hub, and called asking if they could help locate the box, to no avail.

On March 10 a claim was issued by UPS. Upset, I contacted our local paper's consumer advocate, who got in touch with Corporate UPS. According to Corporate, they mounted an intensive search in Colorado and Utah, but in spite of 3 weeks of searching, the box with the quilt was not located.

The box is insured, but this is something that money can't replace - I spent 4 years hand piecing and quilting this. I want it back!

Is there anything else that can be done to find this package? Can you offer any insight on what might have happened to it, and what I can do to get it back?

Thank you for listening.

Janet

Sorry Janet,

First concern is that you said "your quilt". It is not yours until you sign for it and it is in your hands.

 

[QcyBrown1]

This is what tracking gave me

Last Location: Hudson, NY, United States, Thursday, 03/03/2011 Signature Required Signature Required
At the request of the sender, UPS will obtain the recipient's signature. The sender will be provided a printed copy and may also review the recipient's signature online.



Change Delivery
Add Notification
Report a Claim

Additional Information


Shipped/Billed On:03/10/2011TypeackageWeight:6.30 lbs

Shipment Progress


Location Date Local Time Activity What's This? Hudson, NY, United States 03/03/2011 1:20 P.M. Tracer request. / Claim issued. Hudson, NY, United States 02/22/2011 4:59 P.M. Tracer request. / Lost package tracer. United States 03/10/2011 12:49 P.M. Order Processed: Ready for UPS

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

Sorry Janet,

First concern is that you said "your quilt". It is not yours until you sign for it and it is in your hands.

If you had bothered to read the thread you would have found that "her quilt" was being returned to her after it had been photographed for the cover of a quilting magazine. "Her quilt" made it to the magazine OK--it was the return journey that is the issue.

BTW, I hope that this is not indicative of how you talk to your customers on a daily basis.

 

[hubrat]

Sorry Janet,

First concern is that you said "your quilt". It is not yours until you sign for it and it is in your hands.

She made the quilt herself! Somebody, either the magazine that had possession or ups, acted irresponsibly. A hand-made quilt is large and way hard to lose unless it came out of the packaging and was eaten by a belt and completely discarded. I have a hard time believing it actually made it to ups posession with no package scan. I'm wondering if it was actually shipped by the magazine in the 1st place.

 

[Anonymous 10]

She made the quilt herself! Somebody, either the magazine that had possession or ups, acted irresponsibly. A hand-made quilt is large and way hard to lose unless it came out of the packaging and was eaten by a belt and completely discarded. I have a hard time believing it actually made it to ups posession with no package scan. I'm wondering if it was actually shipped by the magazine in the 1st place.

This is a good point and worth a look.

 

[UnconTROLLed]

If you had bothered to read the thread you would have found that "her quilt" was being returned to her after it had been photographed for the cover of a quilting magazine. "Her quilt" made it to the magazine OK--it was the return journey that is the issue.

BTW, I hope that this is not indicative of how you talk to your customers on a daily basis.

She owns the insurance. The item is UPS's

 

[hondo]

Hondo, the shipper is a quilting magazine. They were taking photos of the quilt for the cover. They've shipped quilts worth far more than mine, without mishap.

When you say "gone for good," do you mean destroyed? Lost in overgoods? Stolen, and by whom? I can't believe a UPS employee would risk their job for this. Oh, and Corporate said they checked eBay and Craigslist, as have I.

Janet

I'm a little confused. I was told by Corporate that they checked Overgoods - they had a picture of the quilt. How carefully do they check? Is there a way I can make sure that if my quilt shows up in Atlanta, that I'm the one contacted?

It's a very distinctive quilt, and it does have a label sewn to the back with my name, address and phone number on the back. I was told by the shipper that the shipping information was also on a piece of paper inside the box.

Janet

Hmmm, well to me that sounds like a pretty trustworthy shipper. With the extra information on a piece of paper in the box, if the label had fallen off, it would still be identifiable, not overgoods. It should have resurfaced a long time ago. So now I'm thinking:

• Box destroyed, possibly quilt damaged and the packing slip lost. I'm not sure it would have been unfolded enough to find your handsewn label (unfortunately our facilities are often rather dirty and dusty and don't have clean space for this). I think if it was damaged, but still identifiable, I'm pretty sure policy is to send it on its way or back to shipper. So either it went into the overgoods system/process, or was so horribly destroyed and unidentifiable, it was disposed of. But I'm not a clerk and unsure of how damaged/disposed items are kept track of.
• Stolen. By whom? I could think of several scenarios, but it's all speculation.

I think the picture is useful to corporate when checking auction sites, I've never seen anyone take pictures to enter into the overgoods dbase, but perhaps they do at the Utah/Atlanta salvage facilities. What I've seen is a description like: quilt, red white blue (or whatever colors), under a category like 'household goods' or 'textiles'.

Unfortunately, it ts kind of suspicious that there was no end of day report, and no pickup scan. I was under the impression that without a pickup summary bar code with a piece count to scan/sign, then the individual pkgs get scanned and # of pkgs of the different service levels manually entered into the DIAD. While of little consolation to you, I bet that the driver was more than 'questioned'.

 

[Richard Harrow]

I'd bet my paycheck that the magazine still has it there at their office. Most customers have a common pickup point at their location. Its possible that the package was moved away from this location by accident or not placed there to start with. Even the worst of our runner-gunners scan end of days and/or the packages at stops. It takes about 2/10ths of a second to do. I hope that your quilt turns up, Janet.

 

[Quilter]

I have a hard time believing it actually made it to ups posession with no package scan. I'm wondering if it was actually shipped by the magazine in the 1st place.

I'm amazed that it wasn't scanned, too. We've had several discussions with the shipper, but they insist the package was picked up and that it is not in their office now. I'm in upstate New York, they're in Colorado, so for now I'm taking their word for it. The regular route driver routinely scans the packages.

Janet