Jason Kottke was home Saturday at 3:36 pm when UPS claims they attempted to deliver his copy of Harry Potter. No notice was left on Kottke’s door; the neighboring doorman saw no UPS truck; UPS’ own website shows that the package never transitioned from the penultimate status of “In Transit To Final Destination” to “Out For Delivery.” Why would UPS lie about delivering a copy of Harry Potter?
Here’s what I think happened. I think UPS’s network was overwhelmed by Amazon’s Potter-volume in some parts of the country and they had no way to deliver all those packages. (The forums for the book at Amazon and Google Blog Search are full of similar complaints from others…warning, spoilers! UPS even offloaded some of the volume to the USPS for “last-mile” delivery.) So, UPS just marked all of those packages they had no intention of delivering as “oops, we missed you, you must have been out”.
Let’s go back to Amazon’s guarantee, which states that the refund “does not apply if delivery is attempted, but no one is available to accept the package”. Amazon would be pretty angry with UPS if they cost them a bunch of money due to refunds and, more importantly, the loss of a bunch of customer goodwill…maybe Amazon would switch a larger portion of their formidable package output to another carrier, for instance. So UPS intentionally misclassifying those deliveries covers their ass with Amazon and covers Amazon’s ass with regard to the refund.
Kottke bought the book from Barnes & Noble and is asking Amazon for a refund. If his theory is correct, UPS owes Amazon and their customers a huge apology. Of course, UPS drivers also have a tendency to say you weren’t home so they can finish their routes faster. Was your copy of Harry Potter delayed by fiendish ghouls? Tell us in the comments.
Harry Potter and the Phantom Delivery [Kottke.org]
(AP Photo/Tina Fineberg)
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not troubles here as we prepaid + picked up in person @ our local Barnes-n-Noble
@jrsey:
@mopar_man: Percy was always the git of the family.
I pre-ordered from Amazon and opted to buy something else in order to get the free shipping. I was quite surprised to get home from work Saturday to find the book waiting on my doorstep since I didn’t even think it would ship until this week. After reading about all this UPS/USPS nonsense I’m really glad I went cheap.
I’m loving the fact that it wasn’t just me…
If it wasn’t for a neighbor who lived blocks away from me (in another town I might add) I would still be waiting…
My book was delivered to him – my address was on it but go figure!
I’m still trying to figure out how to make the complaint to UPS since they dropped the package off on his doorstep – no knock no nothing – and still haven’t brought anything to my door!
Yeah UPS Rocks!!!!
Jeez, I don’t understand the commenters who are hatin’ on Harry Potter. I’m not a fan myself (nothing wrong, just not my thing), but I think that any time you have people (especially kids) READING, that is a great thing. Hopefully, HP fans who otherwise haven’t been big readers will be inspired to read more.
My boyfriend preordered the book for me from Chapters, and it was supposed to be delivered to me by Canada Post between 8am and 6pm on Saturday the 21st. When I got off work at 8pm that night, I ended up stopping at Walmart to pick it up because Chapters was sold out and my original copy did not show up. It is now midnight on Monday the 23rd and still no sign of my book. If there were going to be an eighth Harry Potter, I know where I’d be getting it.
@Candyman: Uh, no it’s not. We can’t blame a company for having shitty service and stupid lazy employees? They most certainly can do something about this.
“YOU’RE FIRED!”
@eli_b: FTW!
HP – the cause of global warming.
heh
I used Amazon’s free shipping instead of standard shipping. Standard and up were guaranteed for Saturday delivery, but not their budget shipping.
It was delivered on Saturday, much to my surprise! In perfect condition, courtesy of USPS.
Even though I was busy, which is why I didn’t care when it was delivered, I was still happy to see it and at least get a little start on it.
Dang! It sucks that everyone seems to have had such bad experiences getting their copies of HP 7. The library (fortunately) had no problems.
We received our 50 copies prior to the release date (even though we couldn’t open the boxes, as per the contract). Early on Saturday morning, myself and two other staff opened the boxes, processed the books and added them to our catalogue. We then delivered the books to the branches ourselves. Public services staff tell me that the kids (of all ages
) were very happy.
I had to wait ’til today to find out what was what. Because it was being sent UPS, I opted to have it sent to work (since UPS usually tries to deliver when I’m at work). No book at work. Checked Amazon’s site to get the tracking number and UPS says it’s delivered. It’s not. I’ve written Amazon to get a freakin’ explanation.
I guess this is my karmic punishment for not buying at a local independent bookstore like I should have.
Personally, I don’t trust either UPS or the post office for time-sensitive deliveries…
Preordered mine at the local Books-A-Million, got off work a little after 11pm, got to BAM just in time to miss the costume contest (sob) but just before the checkout line formed…
Out the door, book in hand by 12:05!!!
Mine is still sitting 100 miles from me.
I love being able to track parcels.
I’d say I trust UPS about as far as they usually kick the packages I have delivered to my home, but that would imply that I would trust them quite a bit. Oddly enough, the boxes addressed to my office arrive just fine.
In short, I fully believe any story involving UPS drivres claiming to have attempted delivery, but really just didn’t even bother. I haven’t had to yet, but I fully intend on not accepting any package that they “attempted” to deliver three times in a row, resulting in them keeping it in their warehouse.
The UPS issue isn’t isolated to Harry Potter. I’ve had other shipments listed as “Out for delivery” and then the online status is updated at the end of the day to claim I was not at home.
In each case I was home and not distracted. I was consciously aware and waiting for the package. More importantly, in the five years I’ve lived in my house, UPS has never knocked or rang my doorbell to obtain my signature. UPS always drops the package at my doorstep, and doesn’t ring the door bell or knock. My only clue to a package arrival is if I hear the truck drive up or drive away. As a result, I check my front door step every half hour within a two hour window that I expect the UPS van to arrive.
I simply conclude that when my UPS driver is running behind schedule, he falsely marks some recipients as being not at home. I can’t think of another explanation. Is there one? I now use USPS whenever I can, FedEx second.
I receive literally dozens of packages from Amazon every year, and about half of those are left at my door, which is inside the apartment building. I’ve never had anything stolen. I’ve never once been left a note that an Amazon package couldn’t be delivered unless I was home.
Except for this Harry Potter book. It never arrived, as I was gone for most of the day.
For the first time ever, the mailman left a note on my door saying that they were expressly told NOT to leave these books at anyone’s door. Which surprised me in part because I was told this was coming via UPS. Which would have been less a pain in the ass to pickup, since I’d have to wait an hour in line at my local post office vs. 5 minutes at the local UPS center.
Alas, after whining and bitching, Amazon has comp’d my entire order. Thats right: they’re refunding the full cost of the book. However, I already ran out and bought another copy, so I don’t need it, and told them I’d be returning it anyway.
I usually love Amazon – but I won’t be using them the next time I’m relying on a delivery.
I was kicking myself for not pre-ordering, then for not going to the release parties in my city, but then my husband showed up at 10am with a copy he had picked up for 20 dollars. I have an awesome husband.
To AluminumTulips: What in gods’ names makes you think we don’t read other books? What is with this condemnation of adults who read 800 page sagas? And I have to say, Deathly Hallows is REALLY not for kids. There’s even a swear.
I’ve read almost every suggestion you listed. You have unfortunate taste.
wow. at first I was like, well at least UPS hasn’t lied yet on their site, even though my book is mega late. But sometime between midnight last night and 7ish this morning their tracking added “notice left” for 7/21 1:55 p.m.. I’m like you’ve got to be kidding. I was home all day saturday and plus all packages go to my apartment’s leasing office which i’ve gone 2x to and both times they haven’t gotten it. What irks me is the lying. I mean they updated to “notice left on 7/21″ on the 24th!! So yes, UPS is covering their own ass, and yes they are fiendish ghouls. Amazon better collect money from them for having to issue so many refunds. I already got my refund on saturday when I called them, so I’m a semi-happy camper.
Mine was delivered USPS on Saturday morning. It even had a note to leave it in the event no one was home.
My beef is that I ponied up for the standard shipping (I ordered a CD as well so I was over $25) thinking that was the only way to get delivery on the 21st. My sister is slightly more frugal than I and had it shipped super saver shipping but received it Saturday as well. So I paid the $5 or whatever shipping was for nothing.
@Scott: You had to pay for standard shipping to guarentee it for Saturday delivery. Your sister got lucky.
There’s even a swear.
@spiderjerusalem: HAH! Seriously, this so isn’t for little kids.
I pre-ordered the book in February from Barnes and Noble. It was shipped via Lasership since I live in Manhattan. Their tracking says that they attempted to deliver on 7/21 and 7/23 – my roommate and I were home at both times. When I called Barnes and Noble, they gave me the option to cancel the order, which I did. I tried to get some sort of remuneration for the problem (when you order a book in February, you kind of expect it to be there on time, not 4 days late). They implied that I was lying about the shipment, I spoke to 2 supervisors and even as a very frequent customer and a BN member, they refused to do anything. I definitely will not order from them again.
As a side note – has anyone ever noticed that the Lasership delivery people look like they’re 12 years old?
@remthewanderer: LaserShip is a local courier B&N uses in Manhattan for some reason – it’s fun sometimes making them deliver a DVD from the 21st & 6th ave store to our 22nd & 5th offices eheh
Almost the same thing happened to me, but not with Harry Potter, and there wasn’t any kind of rush at that time. I ordered a game from buy.com, and it was shipped by UPS; UPS said they delivered it at a time when I was home, but obviously they didn’t. I contacted UPS, and they “determnined” that “no delivery attempt was made”. However, when I contacted buy.com for a refund, it turned out that UPS told them that they did deliver the game(so they wouldn’t give me a refund).
The moral of the story is: UPS is just shady, regardless of whether they are overwhelmed. Oh, also buy.com has a pretty crappy customer service system.
@Rectilinear Propagation: Yeah, I know I paid for the guaranteed Saturday delivery but saver shipping said it wasn’t going to be delivered until a week or so after the 21st. And I think it’s pretty obvious that Amazon didn’t make any distinction between shipping methods when they actually shipped the book to pre-order customers.
Saturday:
9 am: Accio Deathly Hallows. Nothing.
12pm: Accio Deathly Hallows. Still nothing.
7 pm: Accio Deathly Hallows. Nada. Phone call to Amazon.ca. Refund issued to the giver of my copy.
Sunday: there’s no mail on Sunday. What was I thinking?
Monday:
10 am: Accio Deathly Hallows. Nada. No mail, just bills.
Tuesday:
9:30 am: Postie tells me that he saw my copy at the mail depot and it would be around later today. It was apparently “too big” to go by normal mail carrier.
10:30 am: Accio Deathly Hallows! Package postie brings my book to my door and we have a laugh over how Amazon.ca handled the promise of delivery in Canada on the 21st. Canada Post is union and although I know a lot of the carriers would have loved the overtime, the union might not have gone for it.
So now I have my book. Time to barracade myself in my a/c’ed bedroom away from the children…
@cindel: Actually, the deal Amazon and UPS have *is* for Saturday delivery, specifically. And because that’s the *only* thing they have to deliver that day, you’d think they’d get them all delivered!
I didn’t do this for this book, but I did it the first year they did it (book 5, I think) and it worked fine. Of course, there will be a percentage of problems in any process where humans are involved. I’ve had spotty success with UPS over many years, for a variety of reasons, but almost always because of human error.
But I agree, you’d think with a very high-profile event such as this, they’d do everything they could up front to minimize the problems and there do seem to have been more this time.
At least there’s no “next time” for them to worry about.
I didn’t get my copy in the mail by the Saturday promised delivery, so a call at 10pm to Amazon got me a nice refund. The nice lady there told me they offloaded the delivery to USPS, which should have delivered the book by Saturday.
It’s Tuesday, and the Amazon lady told me to call back to get another copy of the book (rush delivered and all for free) if I didn’t receive it by today.
I couldn’t wait, so obviously I went to b&n right after I called Amazon on Saturday night to get a copy for about the same price.
I’m tempted to call for another copy, but given USPS’s suckiness, I’m thinking that if I call back for another copy, I might end up with three (one I got on Saturday, and two from Amazon for free).
Not only didn’t my package arrive, but UPS claimed it was delivered! (left at front door.) When I called UPS, they had multiple stories (It was left with a neighbor; It was re-routed to USPS; It will be re-delivered when I am home, [I was at home all Saturday]) — I got nowhere with UPS. Amazon, however, refunded my money AND sent me a free HP7. Amazon knows that it will make the $19 back on me this month alone!
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