If this isn't the right forum, please direct me...

thailen

New Member
I'm NOT a UPS employee, present or past, but a former customer who has been sabotaged by UPS. I had a notebook PC brought by a friend to a UPS store to package and send to Hawaii from New Orleans. The 2-day priority shipment arrived in 4 days(my friend was not told the weekend involved doesn't count). Fortunately, the recipient received it prior to his flight to Asia, so no harm done. The cost, however, was outrageous. In additin to the $61.48 cost of delivery, he was charged $27.00 for wrapping the PC(Christmas gifts seldom are charged more than $10 or $15!), but that cost notwithstanding, he was charged an ADDYIONAL $98!!! So the total cost was $159!
I called UPS's tracking number(there is no way to send UPS a E-mail , complaining and get someone to answer) and the phone rep told me UPS has no control(they don't own) these UPS stores, so I'm out of luck. How does a company like UPS just allow anyone to use their name and have no responsibility for charging anything other than"whatever they want"(his phrase, not mine)?
I have tried, unsuccessfully, to reach someone in UPS's management structure, specifically to their marketing/pr department, but no luck so far.
Can anyone here help?
 

User Name

Only 230 Today?? lol
My wife went to a store to send something to another city in the same state and was charged 2x what it would have cost me to do it online. Lesson learned..

But you need to remember, you can always walk away, nobody made him ship it thru a ups store. Plus those are not run by ups but franchised out.
 
I'm NOT a UPS employee, present or past, but a former customer who has been sabotaged by UPS. I had a notebook PC brought by a friend to a UPS store to package and send to Hawaii from New Orleans. The 2-day priority shipment arrived in 4 days(my friend was not told the weekend involved doesn't count). Fortunately, the recipient received it prior to his flight to Asia, so no harm done. The cost, however, was outrageous. In additin to the $61.48 cost of delivery, he was charged $27.00 for wrapping the PC(Christmas gifts seldom are charged more than $10 or $15!), but that cost notwithstanding, he was charged an ADDYIONAL $98!!! So the total cost was $159!
I called UPS's tracking number(there is no way to send UPS a E-mail , complaining and get someone to answer) and the phone rep told me UPS has no control(they don't own) these UPS stores, so I'm out of luck. How does a company like UPS just allow anyone to use their name and have no responsibility for charging anything other than"whatever they want"(his phrase, not mine)?
I have tried, unsuccessfully, to reach someone in UPS's management structure, specifically to their marketing/pr department, but no luck so far.
Can anyone here help?

1)Two BUSINESS day priority shipment. Always has been business day. Just because people in the world are not taken by the hand and treated like children does not mean someone is trying to pull the wool over their eyes. I'll out money on the fact that it is in print somewhere at that UPS store as well as in the paperwork with the words "business day".

2)UPS stores are franchised owned. The franchisee pays UPS shipping costs but is free to charge what the market will bear. Back to the "child by the hand" theory did you friend say "How much will this cost to package, insure, and ship?" when they set the computer on the counter before giving the Ok to proceed or did he just give it to them and then act surprised after the fact? I bet it was the latter.

3) You answered your own question. We do not own the franchise (directly). Much like thousands of other companies do not own their franchises. When you do business or act as a consumer you do look at the menu or ask the price before you purchase,don't you?

4) It's not just a UPS store thing either so don't proceed to bad mouth UPS as "sabotaging" your shipment. If you would have gone to a FedEx/Kinko's franchise you would have paid market price for their packaging services as well. Whether you would have felt the price to be fair after the fact is speculation.
I believe you mentioned we delivered it to it's destination as paid for. UPS (the company) fulfilled it's part of the bargain. If you're unhappy with that particular UPS Store then take your displeasure directly to them. Direct your friends from doing business with THAT store.

5) Can anyone help? Sure. Accept personal responsibility when it comes to what happened. The cost was not negotiated up front. Do so next time or don't complain after the fact.
 

thailen

New Member
Your replies are well-thought out. Remember, I didn't complain about the two-day delay. I'm relieved it got there in time. Re franchises, one size does NOT fit all. McDonald's is a franchise and the staff are trained at McDonald's college in the midwest to meet McDonald's standards. And they are monitored to make sure they do. If they don't, the franchise is yanked. Franchise or not, the UPS name means something to UPS. If a franchise store rips people off, it ain't the store that suffers; it's UPS. Maybe you don't appreciate that, but if I could just reach the UPS PR Dept(no one has given me that contact yet), I'm sure their take would be somewhat different than yours. I'm still waiting to make my case to them.
 
Your replies are well-thought out. Remember, I didn't complain about the two-day delay. I'm relieved it got there in time. Re franchises, one size does NOT fit all. McDonald's is a franchise and the staff are trained at McDonald's college in the midwest to meet McDonald's standards. And they are monitored to make sure they do. If they don't, the franchise is yanked. Franchise or not, the UPS name means something to UPS. If a franchise store rips people off, it ain't the store that suffers; it's UPS. Maybe you don't appreciate that, but if I could just reach the UPS PR Dept(no one has given me that contact yet), I'm sure their take would be somewhat different than yours. I'm still waiting to make my case to them.

Ok, to take it further. Let's pick Midas Mufflers. Franchises all across the country. You roll your car into one store and it's $300 for an exhaust. The store in the next town over it's $400. Prices set by the franchisee for "labor and fabrication,etc". If ,at either store, you ask upfront for an estimate you can give the ok if your are satisfied. If you look at the bill after the fact and are unhappy would you go on a Midas employee website and proclaim your car sabotaged by unreasonable labor costs at that one particular store and expect satisfaction from the parent company? You mentioned McD's. Part of their franchise is the across the board pricing consistency across the country. Not every company has the same pricing built into it's franchise contract. The cost of the shipping might be the same, the cardboard box the same. But the cost of my "expertise" in packaging your item is set by myself and I'm not cheap. As I said, I'll put a paycheck on the fact your friend did not say "How much will it cost" beforehand. Plus, if the cost was so outrageous, why was it not disputed at the time of payment? Their arm was not bent behind their back. They are responsible in the actions they chose.

As an example I placed an order with a company since my first post. The prices of what I ordered are consistent across the country. The shipping however is set by the store that I ordered from. I could choose between free shipping that'll take a week to get here (thanks FedEx surepost) or for $21 I could get it in 3 BUSINESS days. Now what I ordered altogether weighs less than 2 lbs and a small box is only a dollar so $21 is outrageous for that level of shipping. Obviously the rest is profit. I chose the free shipping before I hit the submit button on the order. Now when it takes a bit longer than what I want to get here I'll just have to accept responsibility in my choice.
 
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