UPS: Useless Pathetic Shower

What a useless courier company UPS is. I ordered something from Martin Lynch on Tuesday afternoon and was informed that it had been shipped an hour later by UPS. At 7.45 on Wednesday morning the UPS tracking site showed the package had arrived in the depot at Carlisle and was marked as in transit for delivery that day. I waited in all day and nothing arrived. Later that evening I checked the site again and found the message at 6.45pm: THE PACKAGE WAS MISSED AT THE UPS FACILITY, UPS WILL DELIVER ON THE NEXT BUSINESS DAY / DELIVERY RESCHEDULE. The delivery date was changed to today (Thursday.)

So I waited in all day today and still no UPS man. Again I checked the UPS tracking site this evening and the same message had been added, this time at 7.48pm. The delivery date is now rescheduled for tomorrow (Friday.)

We have had poor weather conditions and the roads have been icy but FedEx called as usual around lunch time to the neighbour across the road who has a regular delivery. And Interlink Direct called to pick up two packages of items I’d sold on eBay the shipment of which I’d arranged online yesterday. (Tip: use the code XMAS10 to get £5 off a delivery before Christmas.) So I don’t think that’s a valid excuse, really.

I wonder what the chances are that I will actually receive my new toy tomorrow? I just hope that when it does arrive I don’t find they have lived up to the other meaning of their acronym: United Package Smashers.

Julian Moss, G4ILO, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Cumbria, England. Contact him at [email protected].

5 Responses to “UPS: Useless Pathetic Shower”

  • Alan WA4SCA:

    A few months ago, someone in normal clothes and his personal car arrived at my back door late one afternoon. He works at UPS, lives about a mile from me, and brought a package which had somehow slipped into a corner and not been placed on the truck/lorry. He didn’t want me to wait another day because of their mistake. Sometimes, they do an excellent job.

  • John WB9JVM:

    I have a HATE relationship with UPS..Over a year ago I sold an Yaesu HF rig to an east coast Ham. He lived at that address for well over 17 years. He had received TONS of packages there over the years.
    Radio was sent and clearly well labeled and packaged with a very valid STREET address. Well, UPS tracking of package showed clearly that the package WAS undeliverable due to NON EXISTENT street address in that town ( was triple checked for correctness and readability)!!! I called UPS customer support and WHAT A waste OF TIME..I called the buyer and he was at a loss also watching the tracking site, he called UPS was was told HE DID NOT live at the address listed AND HIS ADDRESS DID not exist in his town!! I got the radio back and DEMANDED a UPS senior supervisor, ANOTHER waste as this person right out of the gate was RUDE immediately and DID NOT want to look at any printed info I had to prove who and where IT was shipping.He said if the STREET did NOT EXIST then that was IT! The buyer also filed a complaint on his end. HE was lucky, UPS east coast contacted me direct and had me take it to a UPS store and had them call him…He ordered the item shipped OVERNIGHT at UPS expense with a special tracking # and other info…Package was shipped…AND PROMPTLY DELIVERED TO THE WRONG ADDRESS WITHOUT A REQUIRED SIGNATURE ( LEFT at a DOOR )!!!! It took 12 hours to get the package from the wrong address ( driver was NOT sure where he left it!!!) and delivered to the buyer, who was as totally great with this BETTER than I was, as he was able to watch this nonsense as I was via the tracking website…We NEVER got a “WERE SORRY” or an EXPLANATION from the worst service I ever had from a shipping company, UPS…Brown means CRAP ( I used the CLEAN version)…That Yaesu had a HELL OF A ROAD trip!!! I WILL NEVER use UPS as my shipping choice…I ALWAYS ask anyone shipping to me NOT to use UPS…I FOUND the U.S. Postal Service far easier and more reliable and FASTER than UPS to this date… UPS is WORTHLESS and CARELESS, I will NEVER trust them with my business…YEAH, I know a lot of people have nothing but great things to say about them…Good for you! Prior to this they, UPS, left a $600.00 monitor, that required a SIGNATURE, on my front porch in a rainstorm…When I complained, UPS said I SIGNED for it and I LEFT IT ON MY PORCH!! Funny, signature WAS NOT EVEN mine… UPS sucks!!!!!!!!!!! If your happy with there “service”, again, good for you.

  • Jeremy KB7QOA:

    I had similar issues to John’s with Airborne Express (which is now part of DHL) a number of years ago. I shipped a package (a DSS Satellite receiver) across the country, and it was completely smashed to the point that the recipient refused the shipment. It came back to me, and not only was the box completely crushed, but the receiver looked like they had to have removed it from the box, dropped it on the ground a few times, then put it back. I tried to file a damaged shipment claim, but they refused it because the package had come back and the claim wasn’t being filed by the recipient. I never did get my money back for the shipment, let alone for the damage they caused to the now worthless receiver.

    Not too long after that an Airborne Express driver showed up to deliver a package at my 2nd floor office. Upon arrival they determined they had the wrong address, and wanted the office building a block down the road. The driver then proceeded to set the package down at the top of the stairs, gave it a swift kick, and watched it tumble down the flight of stairs. They picked it up, literally threw it back into the truck, and drove off. I called the Airborne office, but nobody seemed to care.

    Its no wonder Airborne was forced to sell to another company, I just hope they’ve put some better quality control measures in place to prevent this sort of thing from happening in the future.

    I think we’ve all had horror stories with the various shippers. My wife has had packages literally take 2 months to get from Idaho to the east coast via the USPS. I personally have not had any unresolved issues with UPS and they’ve always been very helpful when I’ve had minor issues. I think it just depends on whether you get somebody who cares on the other end of the phone, or just a wage slave who was looking for a job when they found this one.

  • FRANk DEDOMING WB9VKZ:

    Been with UPS for many years, have not experienced any problems as you described. Then again i live in USA,could that be the problem?
    Frank

  • alan scarisbrick G7ELG:

    Ordered from the Lynchmob on Monday of this week around mid-day UPS delivered here in Linconshire by 4.p.m Tuesday as promised, can’t all,be bad.

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