A typical UPS issue as seen from the shipper

[Todd TCE]

Thought I'd post this as it demonstrates the foolish lengths UPS will go through at times to make things difficult.

Like many shippers my end of day is billed directly to my checking account. No problems there. And as expected if there are any 'mistakes' which result in a shortage, addy correction or such UPS is Johnny On The Spot to bill my checking account for "corrections". (of course they never make mistakes...but that's another topic)

So today I get my weekly statement. And low and behold I have credit! I did not bother reading exactly why or how as the whole thing took a turn for the stupid....

To get my whopping $1.26 credit I must tear off the bottom portion of the page and mail it back! To add insult to injury I must apply a postage stamp to it!! Postage is what; 42c now? So my net "credit" is down to 84c.

By now you know I'm going to do it too. I want to watch UPS waste more time and money getting me my 84c than what we both know it's worth. So far they have calculated this, printed it (sep page), supplied an envelope (no postage, darn) and will have to receive it, process it and apply it to my next bill. Or maybe if I'm lucky they will go all out and print, mail and process a full check! lol

So what's the point here? Two things. One; UPS is nearly counting on me and other small credits to not bother with it so they can keep my 1.26 I suspect. Call me a skeptic but I'm sure many refunds go unclaimed and have a time limit. Second; it irks me that this company can so painlessly bill me for 1.26 if it were on MY mistake....yet for some reason cannot simply credit my account without a half dozen steps?? Come on. BS.

At any rate, I look forward to my .84c refund and seeing you for a change spend $5-10 in time and wasted energy process it. But...in the end I'm sure it will all come back to me in some new surcharge.

 

[cachsux]

Tell them you want your check delivered Next Day Air.

 

[klein]

Teamsters ain't any better, got this letter in the mail yesterday (postage on the stamp 54 cents, plus 5% gst = 57cents)

It basically says, as of Jan 1st, 2009, there will be no longer a 50cent charge for a withdrawel card.
And it remains my responsibilty to obtain a withdrawel card upon termination, and I'm advised to call the union within 90 days to retain a withdrawel card, or I'll be subject to re-inition fee or back dues.

Obviosly, they know I have been terminated, why not just send me the darn card ?
So, now I got to call them, and they can waste another 60cents for postage.

But, same thing, they are hoping I won't and if I get another Teamsters job. Pay the huge initiation fee, again.

 

[pickup]

Thought I'd post this as it demonstrates the foolish lengths UPS will go through at times to make things difficult.

Like many shippers my end of day is billed directly to my checking account. No problems there. And as expected if there are any 'mistakes' which result in a shortage, addy correction or such UPS is Johnny On The Spot to bill my checking account for "corrections". (of course they never make mistakes...but that's another topic)

So today I get my weekly statement. And low and behold I have credit! I did not bother reading exactly why or how as the whole thing took a turn for the stupid....

To get my whopping $1.26 credit I must tear off the bottom portion of the page and mail it back! To add insult to injury I must apply a postage stamp to it!! Postage is what; 42c now? So my net "credit" is down to 84c.

By now you know I'm going to do it too. I want to watch UPS waste more time and money getting me my 84c than what we both know it's worth. So far they have calculated this, printed it (sep page), supplied an envelope (no postage, darn) and will have to receive it, process it and apply it to my next bill. Or maybe if I'm lucky they will go all out and print, mail and process a full check! lol

So what's the point here? Two things. One; UPS is nearly counting on me and other small credits to not bother with it so they can keep my 1.26 I suspect. Call me a skeptic but I'm sure many refunds go unclaimed and have a time limit. Second; it irks me that this company can so painlessly bill me for 1.26 if it were on MY mistake....yet for some reason cannot simply credit my account without a half dozen steps?? Come on. BS.

At any rate, I look forward to my .84c refund and seeing you for a change spend $5-10 in time and wasted energy process it. But...in the end I'm sure it will all come back to me in some new surcharge.

Do an experiment: put a three cent stamp on the envelope, avoid putting a return address on the envelope, and hope it gets delivered postage due.

 

[Todd TCE]

Do an experiment: put a three cent stamp on the envelope, avoid putting a return address on the envelope, and hope it gets delivered postage due.

Maybe I should just enclose an invoice for the postage due- to get back my own money.....

 

[Dustyroads]

Todd, I hate to disappoint you, but postage has gone up to 44 cents, so you're down a couple more cents.

 

[rod]

I spent alot of time making phone calls and one extra trip (10 miles) to to the big box store where I purchased stain trying to get Behr Paint to honor a 5 dollar rebate but in the end I got the satisfaction of getting it. It pays to be persistent. Stand up to these big companies because they will on you every chance they get Using the 800 phone numbers and e-mail all you have to lose is some time. It will cost them way more in the long run trying to screw you out of $1.26 and the feeling you get will be priceless P. S. When using an 800 number always ask to talk to a supervisor because its more fun messing with them--- and sometimes they can even help you - unlike the non english speaking person that answers your call.

 

[SHO NUT]

Thought I'd post this as it demonstrates the foolish lengths UPS will go through at times to make things difficult.

Like many shippers my end of day is billed directly to my checking account. No problems there. And as expected if there are any 'mistakes' which result in a shortage, addy correction or such UPS is Johnny On The Spot to bill my checking account for "corrections". (of course they never make mistakes...but that's another topic)

So today I get my weekly statement. And low and behold I have credit! I did not bother reading exactly why or how as the whole thing took a turn for the stupid....

To get my whopping $1.26 credit I must tear off the bottom portion of the page and mail it back! To add insult to injury I must apply a postage stamp to it!! Postage is what; 42c now? So my net "credit" is down to 84c.

By now you know I'm going to do it too. I want to watch UPS waste more time and money getting me my 84c than what we both know it's worth. So far they have calculated this, printed it (sep page), supplied an envelope (no postage, darn) and will have to receive it, process it and apply it to my next bill. Or maybe if I'm lucky they will go all out and print, mail and process a full check! lol

So what's the point here? Two things. One; UPS is nearly counting on me and other small credits to not bother with it so they can keep my 1.26 I suspect. Call me a skeptic but I'm sure many refunds go unclaimed and have a time limit. Second; it irks me that this company can so painlessly bill me for 1.26 if it were on MY mistake....yet for some reason cannot simply credit my account without a half dozen steps?? Come on. BS.

At any rate, I look forward to my .84c refund and seeing you for a change spend $5-10 in time and wasted energy process it. But...in the end I'm sure it will all come back to me in some new surcharge.

I once had UPS suspend my account ... why? I didn't bother to pay a bill that was less than the credits on my account. I called up and asked ***, just use the credits on the account to settle it? They said I had to authorize/request for them to use my credits to pay my account. I just shook my head ....

 

[Todd TCE]

Update:

I called the 800 number and was on hold for about 10min ($) and finally spoke with a customer service rep about the credit. She explained that the credit can be applied to my next billing if I just mail in the request ($$).

I requested the funds be paid back to my business via a check and not be credited back to the account by way of me mailing the paper ($$$).

A long silence...I explained to her that I had no desire to pay 35% of my own money to get my money back ($$$$) She thought about it and understood. I further suggested she might want to speak up in UPS input and explain that the consumer is not happy about paying to get what is owed and that it would appear far easier (and less costly) for the accounting software to do this on its own.

So now....their phone time, their customer service rep time, their processing time, their paper, their mailing (I'll be floored if it comes NDA lol) and then their handling of the check once I deposit it ($$$$$)

It's all so stupid. My 1.26 has now cost them about $15-20 total I bet.


**BTW, the woman was very nice and courteous. Even spoke English!

 

[bluehdmc]

Aren't computers wonderful?
The program probably doesn't understand the difference between a $200.00 credit and an $2.00 credit. I just sees a credit, it is a little ridiculous that corrections are automatically applied, but credits have to be requested. I'm sure as a customer you'd be much more impressed if the credit was applied automatically.
Blame the geeks, I really doubt there is a conspiracy to keep the credits if the customer doesn't apply for them. Although I heard somewhere that manufacturers offer "rebates" because most people dont' bother applying for them.
$2.00 rebate, 5 min to fill out form, copy reciept, ($.10 for a copy), envelope and postage $.55 (approx) so $.65 for $2.00.
I'd rather buy the item that was $1.00 cheaper and no rebate considering my time.

 

[Todd TCE]

Pretty much my whole point. But I don't agree the computer is the problem. It sees only debits and credits, the amount should not matter. Nor when there is a credit due should the system not apply it to the next billing without making the customer request it. They don't ask me if I agree to pay for the Address Correction.

Intentional; probably not. Convenient that they don't all get taken; certainly.

Hopefully someone at UPS reads this and "get's it"- they're wasting their own money for no good reason.

 

[UPSGUY72]

Teamsters ain't any better, got this letter in the mail yesterday (postage on the stamp 54 cents, plus 5% gst = 57cents)

It basically says, as of Jan 1st, 2009, there will be no longer a 50cent charge for a withdrawel card.
And it remains my responsibilty to obtain a withdrawel card upon termination, and I'm advised to call the union within 90 days to retain a withdrawel card, or I'll be subject to re-inition fee or back dues.

Obviosly, they know I have been terminated, why not just send me the darn card ?
So, now I got to call them, and they can waste another 60cents for postage.

But, same thing, they are hoping I won't and if I get another Teamsters job. Pay the huge initiation fee, again.

you could get a withdrawl card from your shop steward

 

[Mike23]

You should've mailed it in via UPS COD

 

[hurricanegunner]

Tell them you want your check delivered Next Day Air.

 

[NHDRVR]

There was an pickup I used to cover in Derry, NH that taped a bill UPS sent them to their shipping entrance...

3 cents

 

[dannyboy]

Kinda reminds me of several conversations I had with two different docs that were seeing my daughter.

The first, everything was just fine. Never got bills from them. Went for an appointment, said they could not see her unless I paid the past due amount. I asked what past due amount, and why did they not send me a bill.

They replied that they could not send out a bill with a positive balance.

Say what??? The insurance company had paid them $490 dollars too much, so I had a positive balance. But they could not apply that balance to what I owed, and since the billing program could not bill me with a positive ballance.....

So I asked, since we no longer had that insurance company, what they were going to do with it. They replied it was theirs until the insurance company requested it back. But they could not apply it to her account.

Then yesterday, same thing. Cant see the doc unless you pay your bill from march. I was ready for this stupidity though. I asked, why would you send me this letter and the checks back for this bill saying I dont owe you any money, if I do actually owe you money. And this was in front of a crowded waiting room. Had their letter, on their letterhead, along with the checks they sent back in hand.

Ah the stupid looks, priceless.

So stuff happens in billing.

One thing to remember, its always your fault, never the fault of the company you are dealing with. Or at least that is what they will tell you.

d

 

[upandcomer]

Pretty much my whole point. But I don't agree the computer is the problem. It sees only debits and credits, the amount should not matter. Nor when there is a credit due should the system not apply it to the next billing without making the customer request it. They don't ask me if I agree to pay for the Address Correction.

Intentional; probably not. Convenient that they don't all get taken; certainly.

Hopefully someone at UPS reads this and "get's it"- they're wasting their own money for no good reason.

Couple things Todd,

The system is set up so that you can either call in and role the credit to any open invoice or request the credit be paid back to you. Now $1.26 is a silly amount I agree, but where does UPS set the line $5, $10? The problem is somebody will always complain, so we give you the choice. When you have a large credit, (more than your bill), you may want to pay all your open invoices and take the difference as a check, or an ETF back into your account. Not all of our accounts are set up with a checking account or credit card. We have net 7, and lots of other options for shippers as well. This means shippers can have lots of open invoices with us at one time, this makes the situation a lot more complex. If you would have never done anything eventually the credit would have automatically been rolled into one of your next invoices, this is because at some point we close out all invoices so they do not have open balances. It is against the law for us to "keep" the money. We actually have large bank accounts where people have over paid, or but we have no way in getting in touch with them. We are allowed to earn interest on the accounts, but can not claim the money as profit. We are not talking about $10,000 we are talking 10's of millions of dollars that we can legally do nothing with.

Now as far as the Address Corrections go, I assume you are not using Worldship? You are probably using some kind of Vendor System? If you would use our free Worldship shipping software, it automatically checks your delivery addresses, and suggests fixes so you never receive an Address Correction. Of course the downside is you can't rate shop which is probably why you are using the 3rd party software to begin with.

 

[toonertoo]

While your feedback is great,
I have to interject.
The customer doesnt care how the system is set up.
Just like when they cant get a consistent delivery time, they dont like to hear, "well our system is set up to cut runs, based on volume, blah blah"
They do not care, nor should they. We are the service provider. They are who we service, without them we dont work.

Couple things Todd,

The system is set up so that you can either call in and role the credit to any open invoice or request the credit be paid back to you. Now $1.26 is a silly amount I agree, but where does UPS set the line $5, $10? The problem is somebody will always complain, so we give you the choice. When you have a large credit, (more than your bill), you may want to pay all your open invoices and take the difference as a check, or an ETF back into your account. Not all of our accounts are set up with a checking account or credit card. We have net 7, and lots of other options for shippers as well. This means shippers can have lots of open invoices with us at one time, this makes the situation a lot more complex. If you would have never done anything eventually the credit would have automatically been rolled into one of your next invoices, this is because at some point we close out all invoices so they do not have open balances. It is against the law for us to "keep" the money. We actually have large bank accounts where people have over paid, or but we have no way in getting in touch with them. We are allowed to earn interest on the accounts, but can not claim the money as profit. We are not talking about $10,000 we are talking 10's of millions of dollars that we can legally do nothing with.

Now as far as the Address Corrections go, I assume you are not using Worldship? You are probably using some kind of Vendor System? If you would use our free Worldship shipping software, it automatically checks your delivery addresses, and suggests fixes so you never receive an Address Correction. Of course the downside is you can't rate shop which is probably why you are using the 3rd party software to begin with.

 

[upandcomer]

While your feedback is great,
I have to interject.
The customer doesnt care how the system is set up.
Just like when they cant get a consistent delivery time, they dont like to hear, "well our system is set up to cut runs, based on volume, blah blah"
They do not care, nor should they. We are the service provider. They are who we service, without them we dont work.

I agree we are the service provider, the problem is we can't automatically roll the credit onto the next bill because customer A may love that, and customer B might think it is the worst thing ever invented. I think we are serving the customer in the best way by giving them the choice!

 

[Todd TCE]

I do use Worldship and have for many years. In fact I was forced to upgrade that too, but that's another topic. So please don't make too many assumptions without knowing what you speak.

Please forgive me but I see some of this differently than you do. It's much easier when you hold the upper hand....

I have no issue with paying for my own mistakes; incorrect address, residential, oversize yada-yada...it's the cost of doing business. I don't like it but I take responsibility for the mistakes. When this happens UPS has no difficulties whatsoever to make sure I know there was a mistake- it's clearly billed on my weekly invoice. I'll tell you what; you let me make mistakes and I'll settle up with you in the future too.

Now for a moment put yourself in the shippers chair....UPS makes a point of have the shipper request a refund of what they are owed, have to pay to request it, and only after what is probably 5-7 (working of course) days does the credit appear on my NEXT invoice.

I'm glad there are ample other ways to do business with the company but when the company has no problems billing me for something there's no reason at all they should have a problem issuing the credit. First I should not need to "request" it. Nor should I have to even wonder when it would be sent back if I did not. And I beg to differ; you CANNOT verbally request it be applied to an invoice- I asked. You either MAIL the request or ask for the CHECK. Why should there be a limit- within reason of course I'd not expect anyone to credit an account to six figures without an audit review....

I'm not here to argue it. The whole thread was to point out the foolishness your company is going through by its own making to get me something I'm owed. You can put a company spin on it if you wish but I suspect if I owed you some money from a purchase (retail is what this is really) and told you I'd let you have it back if you asked, for a cost...you might take a second look.