DON'T LET UPS HURT YOUR COMPANY PROFITS
If United Parcel Service (UPS) is rejecting your damage claims for reason of "insufficient packaging" then keep reading this article.
We are writing this article to help companies be aware of what could be the #1 problem in their shipping logistics department. That problem could very well be your own carrier, UPS.
Throughout the years UPS has enjoyed substantial growth in their company through their shipping services. This growth has occurred not through great customer service such as "what can brown do for you?". Instead this growth has happened due to lack of financially able competition. It takes alot of money to run a shipping business so there are not many companies that can embark on such a huge expenditure. This growth has enabled them to hire top shelf program developers with skills to write software programs that are on the cutting edge of the internet technology field. There's a problem though. What good does it do to have all this savvy software only to break the products when enroute to the recipient?
In early 2003 our company began using UPS to ship products sold from our internet websites, ATXPowerSupplies.Com, Gerber-Tools.Com, and SuperNoteBook.Com. UPS quickly recognized this as a substantial shipping account because our business alone ships enough products to pay for the driver's entire salary servicing our route. (Our UPS account manager told us this during a visit to our facility.)
The first six months of business with UPS was okay despite the fact that they damaged about 1 in 50 of our packages. At least they paid for the damages after we completed a painstaking, unnecessarily long-winded online claim form. We believe they make the claims process difficult so they can discourage people from filing claims. Shame on you, UPS!
As time passed we were visted a bit more by our UPS account manager. Each time he came to our facility he wanted to inspect the packages we were submitting to damage claims. We presented our damaged products to him and even demonstrated with undamaged products. We took our undamaged packages and tossed them several feet into the air before they landed on a concrete floor. The products inside the packages NEVER broke. On every occasion our account manager said he was on our side and would report to his superiors that the damages were occurring not from drivers tossing packages, but more likely at distribution centers where packages clog and fall off conveyors. (We've been told by a UPS driver that the UPS distribution facilities in both Dallas and Chicago are notorious for packages falling off conveyors. The driver stated that these distribution centers are nothing but big "engineering disasters" that tear up people's property.)
Despite our account manager's efforts UPS began rejecting our damage claims based on "insufficient packaging". "Insufficient packaging" is UPS's lingo for saying that not enough cushioning was packed in the box by the shipper. As time went by UPS began rejecting almost every damage claim we submitted. In each case we disputed the claim rejections because we believe all of our packages contain plenty of cushioning. During one phone call the UPS representative on the phone started snickering and whispered to her friend, "come here and listen to this freak". When confronted she denied snickering at our misfortune.
After numerous letters and phone calls to UPS and our UPS account managers threatening to fire UPS, we finally fired them. To recoup the money they owed us in damage claims we wrote a certified letter to their Dallas office notifying them that they were fired. They were also notified that their last invoices to us would be escrowed to satisfy the damage claims that they owed us. The certified letter we sent was signed, but no response was given by UPS.
When the invoices from UPS became past due their collections department called us asking when their invoices would be paid. In each case we told them the same information that is written above. They were informed that those invoices were used to satisfy money that they owed us. UPS said that the damage claims were rejected based on "insufficient packaging". People, please rememeber that just because ups says this it's still only their OPINION on the matter. If you get nothing else benificial out of this article please note that if YOU think your package had plenty of padding then you're certainly entitled to that opinion. Your opinion of the package's condition is every bit as valid as UPS's opinion.
After more time went by we switched to a shipping company called DHL. We've been shipping with DHL for about two and a half years now. They have shipped nearly 30,000 packages for us so far. Certainly they are not perfect, but in our opinion they are exponentially better than UPS. Their damage rate is averaging 1 in every 2,000 packages our company ships. Not only are their shipping services slightly cheaper than UPS, but their internet technology is every bit as robust. With the latest update to their shipping system it might even be a little more robust than UPS. Our account manager is very responsive to our requests. DHL's lower damage rate provided the crucial data we needed and confirmed our belief that our packages contained plenty of cushioning. Guess what UPS!? We have data to prove that those damaged packages were YOUR fault, not ours! Stop stealing and committing fraud against people by telling them their packages has "insufficient packaging"!
UPS turned over our account to collection. We responded to the collection agency with a letter detailing everything I've written above. A few months later we got a letter from yet another collection agency. We reponded to them as well with the written account plus we put them on notice that they were the second collection agency UPS has reported us to. A representative from the second collection agency called us for a phone interview. Yet again I explained everything that happened with UPS. The collection officer on the phone told us we had every right to do what we did, and promptly informed me that he would reject UPS's claim against us.
Please let this article make you take a deeper look into what rights you have. You don't have to put up with a big bully like UPS using their strong arm to hurt your company. If UPS is damaging your products and not compensating you then do everything you can do to MAKE them pay! Remember, just because UPS says you have insufficient packaging does not necessarily make it so. We ignore those fancy commercials UPS runs on television making it seem like they are going to improve your efficiency and save you money. Our company has found one of the best ways to increased efficiency and profits is to make sure UPS doesn't touch any of our stuff!
We'd also be interested in hearing your horror stories about your experiences with UPS. Email them to sales@start-selling-online.com so we can publish them for the whole world to see! Check back often as we are getting lots and lots of emails from people with compaints against UPS. Read below to see the complaints we have posted so far. SAY NO TO UPS !
A message to UPS: Beware, competition has arrived. No longer will "brown" be the bully on the block!
Here are some emails we've received from people across the U.S. who know UPS sucks*:
* We are responsible for absolutely nothing that people write into their emails.
Hello... My name is Tammy and this is my story.... My husband did a transaction on
https://www.intruderalert.com/ for a Plexy Wind shield. When the Gentlemen got the Windshield it was mangled.... I mean it was in peaces, the metal bracket the went
across the lower section was all bent up. Now mind you this stuff is thick it is a motor cycle windshield, this stuff does not flex much at all.... When the claim was made United Parcel Service pulled that crap about not enough packaging... You could see the forklift tire marks on it! They claimed they did not do it, and would not reimburse us for it. We fought with them for 9 months on it, we are still out 300.00 for the windshield. UPS SUCKS!!!! GOOD LUCK WITH THE BAN ON UPS!!! You can count me in to stand up and help you with boycotting them!!!!
I have visited your web page say-no-to-UPS.htm and it is great, good job. I am fighting UPS over a damaged $4000.00 Taylor custom guitar they say was not packed properly. There agent opened it at the UPS hub to inspect and repacked in front of me. They still deny the claim. I have since found that they deny all claims of any value. Could you share any of the mails you receive with me for I am pursuing legal avenues, they may be helpful. Thanks, Kevin
I am a customer of UPS and have had several package damaged and I am not a big company just a customer that buys online . My last item was open and retaped after unloading the product I thought why would they open Vitamins ? I went to use my second bottle and found that the item seal was broken and two out of three items had the seal broken ..Puritan replaced the product with out filing a claim ..I think that UPS hopes all there customers just take it on the chin and don't file a claim..Rather they just replace the item . If you complain there start breaking things and opening the products . I am thinking about calling a lawyer about there abuse of there customers. UPS in OHIO TOO! AL
What can brown do for me? quit crushing my shipments, I would rather it take an extra day or two in transit and have product arrive in one piece. DALLAS UPS IS A NIGHTMARE, they can't even get a a local package to destination without damage, UPS does not pay claims unless an item is lost or stolen. they ALWAYS shift blame on shipper, insufficent packaging
After five attempts to contact UPS regarding a damaged package, I have a feeling that everything stated on the Internet about UPS's bullying of customers is true. As a former Operations Director who shipped tens of thousands of dollars a week with UPS, I never thought that the claims about their failure to honor thousands of legitimately damaged packages would ring true. But, hence it does. I recently received a damaged package (1Z2X17780341518772) and was told on my first call (June 23, 2005) that there would be no problems and I should be hearing from a Rep shortly. After not hearing anything, I phoned again and was informed by an extremely unprofessional customer service supervisor, who sounded like she just woke up from a nap, that "it takes as long as it takes". She stated that it wasn't UPS's responsibility to cover the breakage it is up to the shipper of record. That is a false statement and I know this to be true because of my vast experience dealing with UPS. I then proceeded to utilize their email system for complaints (four total mailings) in which I was told that UPS does NOT guarantee packages from third parties. Another false statement. After rude responses from Quentin and Lavonne (have on file) I was told that UPS cannot help me and "have a nice day". This has been "the secret that everyone knows" in the delivery industry for years. UPS does not honor their insurance policies. I know through my corporate experience with them. They are fraudulent in their claims and continue to charge for a service they refuse to provide.Hi, I shipped a Viper TT kit to a gentleman and UPS lost the package. Then after telling me they were sending my check for the declared value, they informed me it would only be for $100 dollars, not the declared value of $10,000. They said I had not taken out the insurance when actually it wasn't my package. The purchaser had this package picked up and paid for the insurance and the delivery. So, here we are out a $25,000 twin turbo kit that UPS lost that had $10,000 worth of insurance and we got $100 so far! BEWARE of UPS! UPS cares little of you and your relationship, they only care about keeping the numbers in their favor at any cost to YOU! -Rocky
Added 11-09-2007: I work for a company that ships hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of merchandise in a week. As a "Preferred Customer" we have our PCA (Preferred Customer Associates) to answer our company's customer service needs. Let me tell you this, with all that was stated in your website, UPS treats us the same. This "Preferred" c*** and bull UPS is trying to pull, we still get the rude customer service reps, we still get denied due to insufficient packaging in every claim, and we also get alot of crap from our account manager. Today, one of the five PCAs that handle accounts like ours, screamed "Oh my GOD!" to mock my damage claim. I had a technical question about retrieving a file from one of their programs, but this customer service lady kept saying "how much is the value of the package? because if it's less than a hundred dollars, dont even bother" or "what's the tracking number again" and even " yeah you can ship it over".Her name is Linda. Linda likes to name drop and even threatened that she's close with higher management. All I needed was a little help in retrieving a file that their program screwed up because their system was not responding. I really don't have a package to ship nor was I reporting a damage claim. I was beginning to think that Linda was an automated service prompted only for reporting initial damage claims. What gave her human existence was her rudeness and her "ghetto" remarks. UPS states that as a preferred client, we get first class customer service by our team of highly skilled Preferred Customer Associates. If this is how they value their preferred clients, I can only imagine how they are with those that aren't on their A-list.
The local shipper stayed with me throughout the process. I looked up the value of similar items being sold, printed that, and the local office resubmitted the claim. This time, they paid, but for less than the consensus value. It took 2 months, 7 trips to the local office (thank heaven for those people's patience). The tactic seems to be to wear you out with forms, requests for paperwork, etc. Although I eventually was successful, I also will never again use their "service", and will not even allow anyone I buy from to ship by UPS. Brown does indeed suck.
Arthur Hoyt, Jr.
Gainesville, MO 65655
drhoyt@centurytel.net
Now I live in Puerto Rico. I still purchase goods through the internet and mail order. More than half of sellers use UPS. It so stupid how they charge only lets say $13.00 Shipping for Continental US, but to Puerto Rico it's $100.00. The strange thing is that USPS delivers the samepackage maybe for $25.00 or less. I have noticed that more and more eBay sellers are using USPS, and I appreciate them for saving the customers so much money. USPS always delivers at the same time of the day as your regular mail. They do leave a note if your package is re-scheduled or at the Post Office! The Post office now provides Tracking information and their premium services run for much less than UPS. DO NOT SUPPORT UPS RIPOFFS!!!!! They are a total Scam!!!!! I only see 1 good thing for UPS and that is their ability to handle big packages, but how good is it if they arrive broken and or missing parts from the boxes!!!!
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