Lost package-SO mad-VENT-JAWM

[athomeontheprairie]

I ordered a box of books over a month ago. It took 3 weeks to ship. The company was very apologetic, very polite. Very helpful.

It was mis-delivered last Thursday. My dh called me to tell me where it was (the company that received the package called him-but he was out of town). UPS was called, they went and picked it back up. Then they mis-delivered it AGAIN on Friday. As of today, no one knows where my books are. UPS says it will be 8-10 MORE days before they can reimburse me. Then I'll need to reorder and wait AGAIN.

It's $250 in books. Too much for me to just bite it and reorder. I'm so upset. I'm so angry. AND we were using one of these books through the interlibrary loan. I only sent it back because I bought a copy. Now we are stuck and can't finish out because, well, it isn't here and doesn't appear as though it will be for a while!
 

Sometimes, just sometimes, I hate living in the country. The only reason it was delivered on Thursday was because the driver didn't want to drive the 30 extra minutes out to my house in the country. Dh would have brought it home that night had he been here. No idea where it went Friday.

[Happy]

I used to live over 30 miles in the country. I had to have words with the local UPS office about the driver leaving my perfectly addressed packages with some business in town so he did not have to drive and deliver. NOPE....and the UPS official agreed. The sender has a contract with UPS for them to deliver the package to you....not some where else.

 

I hope you get resolution and satisfaction soon!

 

 

[Anne in CA]

This is probably a hill to die on. Leave a negative review online and really let them have it. I'd also call the curriculum company and explain the whole thing to them and have them get the order ready so that as soon as you do have the money they pop it in the mail.

[SKL]

That sucks.  Well, I'm glad they at least admit their mistake.  I had ordered a small item for a gift and started wondering why it never arrived.  UPS said it was delivered to my home.  That was that.  I figured the neighbor's cat must have carried it off.  A month or so later, it showed up - I guess whoever received it finally decided to bring it to my house.

 

Thankfully, I can say that most items do arrive as expected.  But yeah, it kind of leaves you hanging when they don't.

[redsquirrel]

I am so sorry. I agree that it might be worth trying to get them to make it right. But, either way, I am really sorry

[J-rap]

Wow, that would be super frustrating!

 

If it makes you feel any better, I sent my daughter who lives in Europe a small package earlier this year, which first took awhile to get there because I didn't send it first class, but then the mail carrier there couldn't find her apartment, brought it back to the post office there, it was sent back across the ocean to some major post office on the coast, who then sent it back across to attempt to deliver it again (I have no idea how this all transpired), again no apartment was found, so it was then returned across the ocean yet again, this time back to our house.  (This was about 3 months later.)  I ended up sending it again (we used a different address altogether that time, sending it to her more obvious work address).  Altogether we figured that little package went across the Atlantic Ocean 5 times!

 

[JudoMom]

Have you called the company and explained what's going on?  I would see if they have a way to deal with it. 

[knoxinsox]

Generally, lost packages are handled through the shipper.  They have the contract with the carrier.  If you didn't already, get in contact with the shipper and have them file claims or get the package found.  They should be reshipping to you ASAP if its not found.  I'd be on the phone with them every day asking for resolution.

 

Alternately, if the shipper won't work with you......The other thing would be to call the 800 number for UPS and have it escalated to the manager at the call center who can escalate it to the station manager, unless you have the direct number for the station in your area.   I'd tell them that you are working on a deadline (you are) and firmly ask for escalation as far up as you can go. Whatever it takes.  Nicely of course.  Sweet as pie.  :-) 

 

According to the gal at the station that handled my last mis-delivered UPS package, the drivers have satelilte something or other now, so that they can pin-point where it was delivered, it just takes a day or so to get into the system.  In my case the neighbor brought it to me and it was a substitute driver that had no idea where he was.  

 

(I used to work at a UPS call center, then did claims for lost and damaged shipments at my next job, and Hubby is a manager for their direct competitor.  And the direct competitor doesn't like their metrics messed up, so they will do everything they can to find and deliver your package, even if they have to bring it out in their own car.) 

 

Hoping you get your box soon!! 

 

[athomeontheprairie]

(I used to work at a UPS call center, then did claims for lost and damaged shipments at my next job, and Hubby is a manager for their direct competitor. And the direct competitor doesn't like their metrics messed up, so they will do everything they can to find and deliver your package, even if they have to bring it out in their own car.)

 

Hoping you get your box soon!!

How does a claim work? They opened an investigation. What does that entail? They said they'd send me paperwork... Do they send paperwork to where it was delivered? Who it was ordered from? Edited April 5, 2016 by athomeontheprairie

[knoxinsox]

Generally what happens.......They open a claim and start the paperwork with the shipper--the company you ordered from, if they cannot find the package or if its damaged.   As far as I know,  they reimburse the company if it was insured, and the company reships to you.  Usually the company reships to you as a no cost order ASAP, or refunds your first shipment, and charges you for the 2nd, and they do debits and credits in their system to account for the lost/damaged items.  

 

But often they find it and redeliver and that's why they have launched an investigation. They will be talking to the driver and looking at all the records and sending him out to retrieve the misdelivery.    I don't think they will send you any paperwork, unless you shipped it with your own UPS account or gave them a UPS account number to bill to.   I wonder if they thought you were the shipper.  

 

There are all kinds of weird things that happen to packages---sometimes labels fall off or or it falls off and gets attached to the wrong package. Packages break open.  Driver could code it incorrectly as delivered but its still sitting on the dock at the station or in the truck on a shelf or in the QA cage with something on top of it.   Some of it is honest mistakes and some is just idiots wanting to get home and get drunk and watch football.  

 

Is there a reason it was delayed 3 weeks in the first place or are we talking Rainbow Resource type thing where they wait till everything is in stock?   I'd be contacting the company you ordered from for a reship, and you should not have to pay it.  

 

I'd try to get an actual person from the UPS station on the phone as well, and keep calling them til resolution. Get their direct number.  I'm sure the dock admins and the driver have the station managers breathing down their necks already---again metrics.  Unresolved issues, all that goes to corporate and it affects everything from how many people they can hire to bonuses to people getting demoted or fired for patterns of this stuff.  They are gunning for 100% delivery success.  But they can tell from the system who has touched your package--in the day of digital fingerprints. Don't be afraid to escalate if you feel you are getting the run around.

Edited April 5, 2016 by knoxinsox

[mamiof5]

So sorry!!! That's frustrating!!! And a lot of money in books!!! I hope it gets resolved very soon!

[Lolly]

I have found UPS to be the absolute worst. I try my best to avoid them. I haven't found that they try to do anything to find/recover lost packages. Just an "oh,well...sorry...too bad." They lost a package of mine this winter. The driver had marked it in their system as "delivered to front porch/door". There was no package on either of my front porches. I reported it as lost. I just took a refund because they wouldn't ship any way but UPS. A month later, I found the original package. The driver had walked around my house, and left it against a back door that we do not ever use (we have a lot of exterior doors). I never, ever even consider that door. It was odd that I found the package that soon. It actually bothers me that a stranger was poking around my home to that degree. This driver must not be extremely intelligent, because back does not equal front. Honestly, even if he had said back door, I probably wouldn't have looked there. Plus, the package was ruined. That door has no protection from the elements. The two front porches and the back door we tend to favor do.