In the battle of the overnight shipping, which service reigns supreme? Is it FedEx? Or UPS and its long-haired whiteboard dude? Or the folks in blue at the Postal Service?
ups
How To Get Past The UPS Phonebot
By 10.6.08
Luke writes, “I recently had a package delivered to me by UPS, and by ‘delivered’ I mean that they left a little yellow slip stating that they showed up and left.” Thanks to a burst of anger, he figured out how to get past the phonebot that intercepts calls. It turns out you don’t even need to add the curse word to the end.
UPS Randomly Delivers Unordered, Damaged TV, Charges You For The Pleasure
By 8.30.08
Matt didn’t order a broken 42″ plasma TV, and he didn’t ship one either, but that didn’t stop UPS from plopping a big box with a broken TV on his porch, a service for which they charged $120.12. UPS explained that the TV Matt didn’t ship was being returned to him by the recipient because it was damaged, and it was now his responsibility to arrange for re-delivery. “If I was the shipper,” asked Matt, who lives in Ohio, “why would the package have come from Ontario, CA, not Medina, Ohio?” The TV sat in the rain overnight, and it wasn’t until Matt reached the local depot, where his father worked for 27 years, that he convinced someone to take back the mystery box. Two weeks later, a bill arrived…
J.Crew Apologizes For Bad Website, But That's All They Do
By 7.30.08
A dozen readers (and probably a couple of PR flacks) must have forwarded us J.Crew’s email today, in which the CEO and president of the company extend a mutual apology for the non-workingness of their “enhanced” website and call center. Oddly, the email simply asks customers to “bear with us” but doesn’t offer any discount or sale. Well, maybe they figured driving more traffic to a broken site would only make things worse.
J.Crew's New Website Does Everything Except Fulfill Orders Properly
By 7.14.08
Kimberly, a frequent J.Crew online customer, placed an order on June 30th for five items from their newly revamped website. In the past, writes Kim, “it usually takes 2 days at the latest for me to receive any shipment that is not backordered.” This time it’s been 2 weeks, and not only has nothing arrived, but the UPS tracking number they’ve assigned her order is invalid (it doesn’t even follow the UPS numbering style). The unhelpful J.Crew customer service rep told Kim that they had her correct address and to wait 10 days before calling back. In the meantime, one of the items has already been returned and refunded to Kim’s credit card—although about $200 worth of merchandise has still been shipped to some as yet undiscovered location.
UPS: Please, Please Stop Forging My Signature
By 7.1.08
A mysterious sounding reader known only as “sonic boom” emailed the tipline today, asking for advice on how to get UPS to stop forging his (?) signature when leaving packages with the local florist. We say Mr. Boom should consider himself lucky… we can’t even get UPS to ring our doorbell. Ever.
The 10 Most Reputable Companies In The U.S.
By 6.18.08
The Research Institute has compiled a list of the most reputable companies in the U.S., “calculated by averaging perceptions of trust, esteem, admiration, and good feeling obtained from a representative sample of 100 local respondents who were familiar with the company.” (Then they do some statistical stuff to it.) Coming in at #1 is Google, which we think is remarkable considering how much data the company has managed to collect over the past several years, and continues to collect with new record-keeping initiatives like Google Health.
By 6.7.08
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UPS’ horse, Big Brown, failed this afternoon to deliver a much-anticipated Triple Crown victory. Maybe he’ll try again tomorrow from 2pm-5pm. [AP/Chicago Sun Times]
America's Most And Least Admired Products And Services: Budweiser Is Good, Coors Is Not
By 5.28.08
Each year Fortune magazine does a survey to determine America’s most admired companies. We took a look at their data and found the top 10 most admired companies for the quality of their products and services. We also found the least admired.
UPS Can't Find Your Lost Computer, So They'll Honor Their Insurance Policy
By 5.25.08
Remember Nick? UPS smashed up his insured computer and then refused to provide any compensation, even after mysteriously shipping it to a stranger. UPS’ public relations folks reached out to us after we posted his story and recently sent us an update: “…after a search of all UPS’s facilities we were not able to recover his computer.” Bummer, but all is not lost.
UPS Tells Customer To Pick Up His Package At A Construction Site
By 5.24.08
UPS told reader Jason to meet their delivery truck at a construction site to pick up a $600 microphone he spent $40 overnighting from New York. Bad Brown aborted its first delivery attempt after being scared off by a menacing buzzer at Jason’s office guarded by five smiling receptionists. When Jason called to find out how he could retrieve his package that night, he was told he could meet the truck en route. He didn’t realize that UPS was about to send him to a construction site. Try to guess if the driver showed up…
UPS Won't Deliver Woman's Envelope Until She Shows Her Green Card
By 5.13.08
Caught somewhere between post 9/11 security concerns and personal rights is Cristina Bustos. According to the Palm Beach Post, her relatives from Mexico shipped her an envelope that contains the birth certificates for 2 of her relatives that live in Florida. But instead of receiving the envelope, Cristina, a legal resident, received a phone call saying that her envelope was being detained in Louisville and that “she needs to identify herself further before receiving them.” Later, a UPS employee told Christina that she had to email a copy of her green card if she wanted to get her envelope. Details, inside…
I Was Blacklisted By UPS For A $30 DVD That Was Never Delivered
By 4.29.08
Reader John is an Amazon Prime member who can’t get anything sent to his house via UPS without a signature after he filed a claim over a $30 DVD that never showed up. He really likes his UPS driver, but the guy says that because of the “blacklist” he’s powerless to leave packages when John isn’t home. Period. Does anyone know how to get off of a UPS blacklist?
By 4.28.08
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Copies of the new “Grand Theft Auto” game are being stolen by UPS drivers en route to retailers. Guess this game causes crime after all. [ArsTechnica]
Halve Your Shipping Costs With Amtrak
By 4.26.08
Express shipping from Amtrak is a cost-efficient way to ship packages between cities, sometimes costing half the price of UPS or FedEx.
UPS Breaks, Steals Computer
By 4.12.08
Nick paid the UPS store in Woburn, Massachusetts $600 to ship his computer with insurance to and from England. UPS smashed the computer somewhere along the way and insisted that Nick would need to wait 4-6 weeks for a decision on his claim. After a month, Nick called the UPS store and was told that they needed additional documentation. Another month later, Nick decided to get a new computer and asked for the damaged computer back so he could use it for parts, only to find out that the UPS store had inexplicably shipped it to headquarters, which then delivered it to a stranger in New York named Ken.
UPS Heaps 25 Boxes At Your Door In Messy Pile
By 2.26.08
There’s no better way to say “we don’t give a damn about your business” than to deliver 25 boxes stacked against your door in a slovenly pile. A reader writes:
The Worst UPS Store Employee In Brooklyn
By 2.19.08
Seen and heard on Friday at the UPS store in Park Slope, Brooklyn:
