UPS Sends Your Monitor To "Gladys" In Wichita, Dell Tells You To Pick It Up. You Live In Boston.
Reader Bret doesn't particularly feel like buying a monitor for Gladys, a random woman who lives in Wichita, KS. Explaining this to Dell and UPS, however, is about as fun as you think it would be.
Bret says:
Thought this situation might be of interest to Consumerist readers, a short synopsis:
I ordered a Dell monitor to be shipped to Boston, MA on 7/15 with free 3-5 day shipping
On 7/18, Dell shipped the monitor and charged my credit card
On 7/21, I checked the UPS tracking which stated that the item was "Out for Delivery." Unfortunately, it was out for delivery in Wichita, KS, about 1600 miles away from where it should be.
On 7/21, I called Dell to ask about the problem and they claimed their system showed my correct address in Boston as the shipping address and UPS must have done something wrong. I asked to speak to a manager who then tells me the same thing.
On 7/21, UPS called me after Dell provided them with my number and tells me that they are looking at the box with a Dell label on it stating that the package was sent to a "Gladys [redacted], [address redacted] Wichita, KS." While I'm sure Ms. [redacted] is a very nice lady, I do not know her and did not decide to buy her a new Dell monitor just for fun. UPS said that the only way to get the package to me is for Dell to call them and make that request.
On 7/21, I then called Dell back and reported what UPS told me. Dell once again stated they have the correct Boston shipping address in their system and that UPS is lying to me. They will not call UPS to fix the package routing because "they do not do that and UPS was incorrect in saying that they could do that." The customer service representative, after saying he understood the issue, stated that one of my options was to pick the package up at the service center. He wanted me to fly to Wichita and pick up my monitor.
On 7/22, I called UPS again after seeing that the status for the package had been changed to "Receiver will pick up at UPS Facility." UPS says that someone (which wasn't me) called the night of 7/21 to inform them that the recipient (me) would be picking up the package in Wichita. Evidently, the helpful people at Dell called UPS last night to let them know that I would be picking up the package in Wichita.
At this point, the package will sit in Wichita until Tuesday, 7/28, at which point UPS will send it back to Dell. They would then process it and (hopefully) send me a replacement.
Through all this, I tried to tell them that I am the customer here and that their shipping issues are not my concern. In my opinion, after recognizing the shipping issue on 7/21, they should have immediately overnighted a new monitor to me in Boston. The incorrect shipment would then be processed by UPS and sent back to Dell sometime in the next 1-2 weeks and the issue would be resolved. Unfortunately, Dell seems to believe that pointing fingers at UPS is the best policy and that charging buyers for goods they have not provided is a fine policy.
I would appreciate any publicity you could provide on this, as everyone should know that Dell doesn't believe that it is their responsibility to make sure items reach their customers
We think its just adorable that Dell volunteered you to pick up the monitor in Wichita. Google Maps says it's only 1,624 miles away, we don't know what your problem is. Just hop in the car!
Ok, Ok, fine if you really must complain, try kicking your complaint upstairs. You may reach someone at Dell with an interest in geography.
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Comments:
@Xerloq: A certain...agitator...for privacy's sake let's call her...Lisa S. No, that's too obvious...uuuh, let's say L. Simpson has raised questions about certain school policies.
Seems to me that Dell's CSR's are just an evolutionary step above mouthbreathers these days. That's better than UPS CSRs, though.
By way of helpful suggestions, if kicking it upstairs doesn't help, the OP could try a chargeback, stating the item wasn't ever delivered.
First, though, I'd get everyone on a conference call. Call customer service, get a supervisor for Dell and UPS and let them yell at each other.
Seems to me that UPS should be capable of rerouting the package to you if Dell tells them to do so.
I'm not sure exactly how it works with a bigger company like Dell, but when I was doing shipping and receiving for a smallish company, we had to handle all our own labeling and dispersion of goods by contacting transit companies. Even if someone at Dell made the mistake of putting the wrong label on the box, it seems like it's out of their hands by now.
I would keep pestering the higher-ups at UPS until they ship the box to your address from their service center.
Take 'em to small claims court.
I agree that Dell created the issue. They should fix it. Overnighting you a replacement and instructing UPS to return the monitor sitting in their warehouse would be the easiest fix.
I've had this happen before, order confirmation and dell's system showed delivery address correctly, but the actual UPS label had address to an old apartment I used to live in. Took some convincing to finally have Dell call it in and fix it.
My question is why are you still going to accept this monitor from Dell?
If you REALLY want to send a message, cancel the order and buy from someone else. So long as you reward them with your cash, why should they change? Clearly you're satisfied enough to continue being a customer.
Dell is systematically incapable of dealing with shipping issues. I tried to get them to correct the shipping address for a monitor, and through 6 calls, they kept switching it from my home address with my work ZIP code to my work address with my home zip code. When I asked for a manager, the CSR balked and said that she could handle things - same problem. I finally intercepted the package at the shipper's office (Airborne at the time).
In situations like these I like to just put them both on a conference call and let them fight it out. It worked quite effectively in an insurance/rental car situation I had. They both initially told me it was the other company's responsibility. So I managed to get supervisors on the line for both companies and suddenly they were tripping over themselves to help me. I guess it's one thing to tell the customer that the other company is lying to you when the other company can't hear you, and quite another to call them a liar to their face.
I must blame the Bret. There are not enough women left these days named Gladys and those that are deserve to receive free random computer equipment from strangers. His demand to receive the product he bought and paid for strikes me as self-indulgent douche.
sarcasm/off
Regarding the issue, Dell is 100% wrong on the shipment issue. Dell contracts with UPS and UPS will only follow the shipper's instructions for what UPS calls a redirect.
If Bret is being charged for shipping, to me, the minimum compensation due would be to have the shipping charges credited in full. More would not be unreasonable.
And if Gladys does NOT get her monitor, at least send some cookies. You might want to send them Fed-Ex.
@Smooooth: I think it's funny how companies, not just consumers, assume that other companies are lying scumbags.
@Joseph P. Hillenburg: Don't get me started on UPS customer service. I work as a CSR for a decently large retailer who ships exclusivly with UPS. To compare UPS csr's to mouthbreathers is an insult to highly productive mouthbreathers everywhere.
I've actually made it a game to see if I can get these corporate automatons to show ANY emotion. I've gotten one or two to actually laugh at a joke, and you could hear the fear as they chortled for repercussion. What's better, when I call to trace a lost package, you have to get transferred. Even though I ask to be trasnferred immeidiately, they insist on taking the tracking number (which I have to repeat after when they do transfer me to the trace team) to check that yes, the item is showing delivered.
Dell is REALLY stupid when it comes to shipping. My laptop had to go into the depot and have a part replaced. The FedEx guy came back with TWO boxes. One box with my laptop, and a second box with someone else's laptop but my repair sheet. So 90 minutes, 23 transfers, a conference call between Dell, FedEx, and myself, the box is on its way to the right person.
Oh, and I didn't get anything from Dell, FedEx however allowed me to overhear Dell's account number. Feel free to contact me if you want to ship and have Dell pay for it. ;)
Can you do a charge back and they buy a monitor from a different company?
Years back I worked tech support/customer service for a small (now dead) monitor company. I received a call from an irate corporate buyer that his monitor was missing. I check the FedEx records and inform him that it was delivered to the business address, 2 days prior, and signed for by "Steve".
There was a moment of silence...then he said that he'll go have a talk with Steve about what happened to his new monitor. He sounded pretty pissed off.
Hot stock tip, FEDEX. A couple of weeks ago I ordered a pair of running shoes and they were ship UPS ground. The company shipped the shoes that afternoon and they slowly made their way across the country. On they day they were to arrive the the truck pulled up to my house the drive got out but there was no package. The drive told my wife that was the 15th one of the day. UPS's solution keep updated the delivery date to the next day and insisting that it isn't late yet.
I was overnighted a second pair of shoes. Just before delivery UPS add 3 days to the delivery schedule. A call to UPS got the delivery changed back but I have no faith that anything shipped by them will be delivered.
Since Dell charged his credit card, not UPS, they alone are responsible for getting him the merchandise he paid for. If there's a UPS issue, let Dell fight with them.
Seeing as how they refused to do so, I would have cancelled the order (chargeback if necessary). Here's how it works: I pay you money, you give me stuff. If you're not going to give me stuff, I'm not going to pay you money. The OP is far more patient and forgiving than I am.
@Daniel Beahn: I agree - cancel the order/chargeback if they won't let you cancel - it's ridiculous that they want you to wait until the monitor sits in the UPS center for a certain amount of time, and is then shipped back to Dell, then you... ugh.
You might want to remove Gladys' surname from the article. There's still an instance of it in there.
UPS and Dell "customer service" together sounds like a vortex of fail, by definition.
To the OP, one word: chargeback.
@hungryhomer: Dell can always call to reroute the package. It's just that UPS charges for it. I've done it on several occasions.
@Smooooth: I work Tech/Customer support for a company that provides a third-party online service. I've been on that conference call a few times with a CSR for a client, and the client's customer where the client CSR is indeed trying to blame our service for something that is clearly the client's responsibility. It can be fun to explain to them exactly why they are wrong, since the other CSR usually has no clue how our system actually works, and quite often are a monumental ass about it. I feel bad for the poor customer caught in the middle, though.
@Xerloq: My dad used to say (in reference to Wal-Mart, BTW) "When you're a crook, you think everyone else is a crook.
Is it possible that Dell have just supplied you with the wrong tracking number (i.e. they've supplied you with Gladys' tracking number). They may have supplied the correct one to Gladys hence why the status of the package has changed.
What has happened to your package though may be another matter...
@superberg: Which would explain why they were reluctant to do it. They shouldn't have told the OP that they couldn't, and didn't do that sort of thing though, because they can and should have. Cunts. :P
Sounds like a situation where the label that got slapped on the package wasn't the label the OP's account generated. I'm a little surprised he hasn't gotten a box of cables or whatever that Gladys or the customer after him ordered.
He's right, the shipping issues are not his concern. He should just cancel the order or do a charge back.
Dude, should have gotten a .......oops, guess you did.
My guess is Dell has the OP's correct address, but someone mixed up shipping labels or more likely put one on top of another. It seems like UPS & Dell need to cross reference tracking numbers.
If I was Gladys, I'd keep the darn thing.
@Xerloq: Something I've learned recently is companies do not like doing conference calls like this. It often devolves into them angry at each other and company policy shouting matches.
I ordered new tires from an online retailer about a year ago. When I got my tracking numbers, I saw that my order had been split into two shipments... and that one of the shipments was being sent to a town in western Kansas. Naturally, I called the retailer and asked them to fix the error. They CSR I spoke to told me that she'd have UPS reroute the errant package to me.
Shortly thereafter, my tires arrived... all four of them, in one package. Naturally, I was a little confused, but that was nothing compared to two days later, when UPS a seven-foot-long steel bar to my front door.
@Xerloq: thank you for your comment. rest assured the editors of the consumerist take this issue very seriously and will be handled accordingly.
[redacted] fail on the lady's last name, since it's used again in the same sentence...
@Joseph P. Hillenburg: Hey, take that back, we mouthbreathers have made great strides in science and the arts.
@Starfury: I work in a shipping department and I love when this happens.
"I didn't get my box!"
"It says it was delivered and signed for by Mike."
"That fucker. I'm gonna go have at talk with him."
Happens more often that you would think.
Though generally not a statement of angry, or possible theft, more like bad communication between employees.
If the tracking number (looking like this: 1Z XXX XXX XX XXXX XXXX) Dell gave you has the Boston address in THEIR system but physically has a Wichita address on the label (actually printed out, on the box and in the UPS tracking system - the system they see on and the one you see on UPS.com are different), then UPS is not at fault here - they have to go by what they SEE on the label and what's in their system.
What probably happened is the person at Dell's shipping facility probably scanned the wrong tracking number against the wrong order number after it was picked and printed in the warehouse. I've seen this happen A LOT. UPS can only deal with the shipper (those first 6 Xs after the 1Z are the shipper number) because you might've paid Dell for the shipping but Dell paid UPS to ship it so they are UPS's paying customer (shipper) in this instance.
I would climb up Dell's tree some more about this.
In October 2007 I ordered a computer from Dell Outlet for a really good price for the specs with a coupon code from their Dell Outlet Twitter account. An hour later I thought better of it (didn't want to spend the money) and cancelled the order online via chat with a CSR. I got an email confirmation that it was cancelled. The charge showed up on my card, but was refunded the next day. All well and good, I thought.
I came home two days later to find a Dell box sitting on my doorstep.
I checked the serial on the box online, and it was the computer I'd originally ordered. I sighed and picked up the phone and called Dell, whereupon they told me that "it's not possible" that I have that computer, the system showed that it was in inventory and the order was cancelled. I told the CSR that no, in fact, it's sitting in the floor of my wife's home office in the box, shipped to me, big as you please. He said he'd do some research and call me back the next day.
I talked to my wife about it that night, and we decided that we should just tell them that since it's here, just charge my card again for the computer and we'll call it well and good for everyone.
When I told the Dell rep the next day, he said he had to talk to his manager. He came back on the phone and said they can't do that. The price for computers in the outlet at those specs had gone up and couldn't honor the coupon code anymore because they had all already been used, but they'd gladly let me keep it for $200 more than I'd paid for it. I told them that wasn't acceptable, it had been shipped here on the pretense that I'd paid $X for it, not $(X + 200), so I expect to be charged $X.
The rep said if I didn't want to pay $(X + 200), then they could send me UPS labels so I could ship it back to them at a UPS store. I told them I cancelled the order it wasn't my responsibility and I wasn't going to take it anywhere. They can come get it as far as I'm concerned. Being only 2.5 hours from Round Rock, I told them that if they left then, they could be home by midnight. The rep said that he'd do more research and call me back the next day.
Two days went by and finally I called. This time they sent me to someone in Round Rock, who said that when an audit was done they'd connect the shipping records to the sales records to the customer service records. They'd see the computer was shipped and I'd be charged the originally agreed price, if I wanted to keep it. I told him yes, we'll just keep it, go ahead and do that.
Fast forward to now. Computer runs fine, I've never been charged for it and if I look up the serial on their website it comes back with an error; they just purged the machine from their systems. I'm not going to argue with them anymore, especially almost two years after the fact; I spent more time than the cost of the system arguing with them over it.
Long story short: Dell has some real problems, and I think it's very gameable.
What's the point of redacting Gladys' surname if you call her Ms. Surname a sentence later?