Pick up date "as scheduled by UPS": September 28, 2010
Actual pickup date: September 29, 2010
Delivery date "as scheduled by UPS": October 1, 2010
Actual delivery date: October 4, 2010.
Reason for 3 day late delivery: UPS stated they "lost the canoe".
Where it was found 3 days after UPS lost it: Sitting on a loading dock in Rolla, Missouri, where it had sat for 3 days, an hour's drive short of it's delivery address(clearly noted on the outside of the packagaging).
I drive 10 miles to make it "easier" for the UPS driver to not get lost, or lose my boat again.
He has a bill that has delivery charge of $.00 due.
One day short of a month from it's "actual" delivery date the "actual" UPS bill arrives........
Wait for it..........
Wait for it..........
Original shipping quote from UPS Freight: "Under" $300.00, and that included insurance.
The actual UPS bill: $609.23.
The $309.23 difference may be associated with a storage fee; they did have to let it sit on a UPS loading dock for 3 days..........while they "looked for it"!
Stay tuned; I will not "go quietly into the night".
BOB
P.S. I know the issue will be resolved eventually.
The UPS Freight "Customer Service" personnel in Puerto Rico, that I talked to early this afternoon are "working on it"!
They said they'd call me back at 4:30 p.m today.
I'm still waiting on that phone call.
I have experience waiting on UPS.
"Nobody" at UPS who told me "we'll call you back", ever called me back. Never. Ever. Not. Nada.
At minimum, on 10 different occasions, they did not honor their verbal commitment. That includes UPS workers giving quotes, customer service?, tracking inquiries, and lost shipment locators.
That includes UPS workers in South Carolina, Missouri, Virginia, and Puerto Rico.
Maybe the work they need to do will take 3 days ? Maybe they "lost" the information & they've got to "find it" before they call me back.
I have nothing good to say about UPS Freight.
You want to use them to ship your boat?
Go for it; I wish you luck.
It's not boring, professional shipping; it's an adventure!
next time say it’s a bomb
and they’ll find it a day sooner.
so?
why didn’t you go pick it up in the first place?
Why didn’t I go pick it up?
In retrospect; the additional monetary cost, my time, my physical effort, the wear & tear of a two thousand mile round trip on me & my vehicle might have been worth it.
I talked myself into using common sense; I'll save money; save myself the physical abuse of a solo, two thousand mile trip.
Let the pros at UPS Freight transport it.
Yeah right; the pros!
One of the UPS pros told me off the record, "It happens all the time; more than you can ever imagine"! I told him on the record, "After all the hassle I've been through; I can imagine a lot". His response; "You'd still be thinking way too small"!
BOB
I think
I think the question was why didn’t you go pick it up from the UPS loading dock where it sat for 3 days.
(Perhaps the poster doesn’t understand that at the time you had no idea where, or in how many pieces, your canoe was.)
Why didn’t I go pick it up?
UPS Freight didn't know it was sitting on the Rolla, Missouri loading dock for 3 days! To them it was lost.
I called UPS Customer Service to get an update on the status of my "lost" canoe, early on the day it was actually delivered. It was "still" lost was their response.
Later that day a UPS truck driver (hauling my "lost" canoe) called me on a cell phone. He was making deliveries, and needed directions to deliver my canoe. We met at the local UPS place. I told him it would be a big hassle for him to get to where I lived in his 18 wheeler. When we met, I asked the driver where they had "found" my canoe; I thought it was still lost?
I'd been told earlier in the day by Customer Service; "it is still lost".
His response, "It ain't never been lost; it's been sitting on our loading dock for 3 days"!
He suggested I open the package in front of him, and inspect it for damage, before he left. I did so.
In my opinion, that driver made a concious effort to cover my ass.I appreciated his effort & truthfulness. After speaking with probably 20 different UPS Freight people, he was the only one I dealt with that acted like a true professional.
BOB
UPS sent the bill by US Mail,
didn’t they? Remain persistent. They’ll eventually cave.
I should have used UPS rates…
Lets see, a Blackhawk Shadow picked up in Grand Rapids and delivered to near Lake of the Ozarks and an SRT picked up in Ohio and delivered to the same address. Using UPS Freight rates, you owe me my choice of a boat from your “extensive” fleet. That should cover it. I would put LOL, but your ordeal is not funny.
Pat2
Pat
I would trust you with anything I own.
You are always welcome in my home.
You have repeatedly proven youself to be honest & trustworthy.
UPS has not.
BOB
Suggestion
Don’t pay the $609.23. When they ask you where their money is tell them you sent it by UPS and it must be lost. Tell them you’ll call them back when you track it down. Make sure you call them back the same way they called you back.
UPS Stinks Here, Too
I hate like hell to use ‘em. First baddie - when they delivered Chris’ insured, to-be-signed-for B-Pod after mods, they just chucked it on the doorstep since there was no one at home. Shoulda just laid in the back room, waited a week, and called looking for the suit…but I’m too honest to do that…
Then when my ChillCheater came back from the UK after repairs, the driver did come to the door - knew I owed about $30 on the shipment, since I’d checked online, so I had the cash. “No, we can’t take cash - gotta be a credit card - no, no terminal, just write the credit card number down a piece of paper for me…” Sure thing, Alphonsus - give drivers my credit card info on a piece of paper all the time…
The whole outfit stinks like a week-old, unrefrigerated fish. These days, if a merchant can’t send something via USPS or Canada Post, I gotta need it really, really badly before I’ll put up with UPS…
Vic
You & Pat gotta get together & work on a couple of old Abbott & Costello routines.
You guys could have been stars in the Catskills in the old days…
You’d probably still be entertaining at an Ozark Rendezvous campfire. Many of the “original” Ozark Rendezvous participants are aging like a fine wine, and many would appreciate some old school “comics” like you two.
Missed you both this Fall.
BOB
I had a good UPS experience once …
driver showed up with a package with a crushed end. He told me I should ‘inspect it’ right away and ‘refuse delivery’. I did while he waited. It was a Werner carbon foam core paddle with a blade so mangled that it flopped about.
A good UPS experience?
You had a good UPS driver, but a mangled package doesn’t say much for the over all UPS experience.
Strange. Millbrook sent a boat to me
through Roadway for about $230, wrapped in bubble wrap only, and arrived undamaged. I only had to pick it up at the truck terminal.
I have had no problem with UPS for small stuff. Looks like they don’t do so well with anything really valuable.
maybe you should send UPS a bill …
… I’m sure you can determine how much it the $$ number should read .
NM
I used…
to work for UPS back in the day when I was in between jobs. We used to joke and call it United Parcel Smashers.
I order the majority of the things I buy online and most of it comes UPS. I don't recall the last package I received that wasn't mangled.
I prefer FedEx or USPS even if it is the slightly more expensive choice.
Canoe/kayak
The reality is that no shipping company wants to handle this freight. In house it is called by a four letter word. If the government didn’t require carriers to accept it for shipment, none would. So stop your complaining and just be glad you got the thing in one piece without forklift holes.
Welcome to planet earth.
Lets fix planet earth for paddlers
Is there a way that we could establish a forum right here for canoe and kayak transport? A forum that does NOT slide?
Lots of times I go on a road trip with one boat with room for another. Probably others do too. If we could just have a way to link up. And you that need a boat going somewhere could help me with my gas bill.