posted on March 25, 2014 05:22:28 PM new
I quit using UPS over a decade ago after they fought me tooth and nail over a claim I submitted. They didn't get a signature (which was paid for) and subsequently left the acoustic guitar outside on the customers porch in the frigid cold of Connecticut winter and it cracked because of the extreme cold. They claimed I packed it incorrectly. I had it packed inside of the fitted, padded lined hardshell guitar case inside of a box that gave 2" padding on all sides of the case. The guitar was tuned down to prevent the strings from tightening.
About 8 years ago I started receiving freight billing from UPS because a customer of ours refused to pay their freight bill. A local package company picked up a table from our store and took it to their location to pack. In the process they used our business as the shipper even though we had nothing to do with who the buyer chose to handle the shipment and were not involved with UPS in the process. They shipped the table to his billing address instead of the delivery address, then decided to charge him more for not having a dock. Additionally, they had given him a 50% discount which they backed out of and tried to charge him full price. When he didn't pay, we started receiving the bill and I found out the story after I called the customer to discuss it with him.
So... forward to the present. I recently signed up for a UPS account and then inquired about discounts. I told the rep about my experience with UPS, and all they could assure me was that I could call him to have him try to push the claim through. Not exactly what I wanted to hear. I know nobody will guarantee payment, but that wasn't the reassurance I was looking for.
I also discussed this with a friend who ships wine. He shared his recent experience this winter with UPS which apparently included thousands of dollars of damaged wine that UPS stored in trucks in freezing weather. He said they denied the claim, first stating they didn't pack the wine properly and then changed it to "defective" corks. The only positive he offered was that his building was next to a UPS shipping center and their driver was great.
A micro-brewer in Portland sent me an email about their frustrations with UPS as well. Apparently UPS decided to no longer ship beer... but will ship other alcohol.
I'm pretty much leaning against contracting with UPS, but wanted to see if anyone else had experiences to share.
[ edited by shagmidmod on Mar 25, 2014 05:27 PM ]
posted on March 25, 2014 07:15:29 PM new
sorry,cant help you,I ship exclusively USPS.
May be post this on Ebay seller forum,there are some brick and mortar dealers active there
posted on March 26, 2014 07:12:16 AM new
I've used UPS for years.
When I was full time in Jacksonville, Fl. there was a UPS store about 2 block from my home. (here's it's about 25 miles away).
You do need to pack to make items UPS proof. Normal packing will get your item there in pieces.
However, in the past year or so, every claim I've made (about 3 claims I think)- they have paid in full. They didn't even inspect the item.
I even had one claim for 2 glasses that arrived broken out of a order of 20 or so glasses. The buyer had really only wanted the water goblets but paid $225 for all of them (different stems etc.) Of course, one of the broken stems was a water goblet.
I used Replacements LTD's price for wine stems as I couldn't find the water goblets anywhere. They had them listed at $65 each.
UPS paid it plus shipping. My customer got a $130 refund on a $200 order. I got an invitation to her home in Texas for a glass of wine.
posted on March 26, 2014 08:51:04 AM new
ebabe - i appreciate the input on your experience.
I can tell you that the sales rep for UPS seemed quite frustrated that I wouldn't just sign up, but after my experience and that of my friend's, I just couldn't see where it would work for me.
Rates seem similar, but I also realized that they may have quoted me out at a higher volume discount than I would normally be at, except for the holidays. I will check with the rep on that.
