Another UPS oops thread

Sharri,
When I shipped COD via UPS the money came via USPS mail. Now as for FedEx I like them better but not by much. Not sure why FedEx ground is different than FedEx Air. They are run as two different companies. You have to have an account for each one! Doesn't make sence to me but alot of things don't.

I at least got an answer from customer service email stating that COD returns come USPS and take at least 10 days. Of course my UPS address is different from USPS (PO Box), so it'll be long and drawn out. At least it's not a great deal of money.
FEDEX does not do COD with FEDEX GROUND. With FEDEX Air, you get your money the next day. FEDEX seems to be a much more efficient company that knows customers are their business.

Years and years ago I got a VSP Gold power amp shipped to my sister in Texas (because the manufacturer would not ship to Canada) and then from there to my office in Montreal. You guessed it, tha amp arrived damaged. Claims person refused the claim because the shipping carton was not up to standards and the manufacturer had been warned. Went to small claims court. Won. Got a new face plate and handle, the amp was not exactly good as new but it din't affect the sound. The claims man was not very happy when I asked him to confirm that UPS stood for "ur parcel slipped". It seems it still does.

Fed Ex and Fed Ex Ground are entirely separate, and it makes perfect sense, with the one exception
being thing that they share most of the same drop off points (which also makes perfect sense).
You can't have people that are paying as little as $4 calling up the Fed Ex representatives, who are always there, 24-7, waiting to help air shipment customers that paid air pricing. The cost does not allow it.
In other words, you get what you pay for (hours of lost time and lots of aggravation to save a few dollars). Ground is the cheapest, and the worse service out there. Fed ex ground is/was RPS.
RPS we rate as one of the worse freight companies of all time with regard to damage, claims, and billing.

As far COD is concerned, Fed Ex currently is the best, but don't confuse Fed Ex with Fed Ex ground.

In 2001 we had only one order damaged in transit, and that was with Fed Ex.
We also only had one in 2000, and that was also with Fed Ex (really annoying that
a company that we ship with less than once monthly trashed our perfect ship record 2 years in a row). We have been using DHL since August 1998, and have had only *1* claim for damage thus far
(1 damage claim in 4 years of DAILY shipping!). DHL COD? Sorry, they don't offer it yet, probably because they are primarily an international shipping company more than domestic.

UPS COD? When we shipped UPS daily, which we stopped doing in 1998, and when we shipped UPS COD, which we stopped around 1995, we waited as long as 6 weeks for COD checks, although the average time seemed to be about 2 weeks from the time the recipient received his/her item.
They mail the checks to the shipper.

My list of UPS COD screw ups to follow.

Top 7 UPS COD screw ups (help complete the list):

07) Collecting a personal check when certified payment was checked off.

06) Taking our COD check payment but NOT dropping off the item
(NO, I am not joking, you want to talk about a UPS mess!)!

05) Mailing our COD check back to the recipient of the shipment
(luckily most audiophiles are honest, as was the case here, and he promptly mailed us the payment).

04) *Mailing us another parties COD check and ours to them.

03) Dropping off a COD shipment with multiple pieces, but only dropping off the items that did not have the COD tag, but not the one with the COD tag, therefore the recipient received all items but one with out paying for them.

02) Delivering a COD shipment that was 2 pieces, but only delivering the one with the COD tag
(part two of this one next).

01) Refusing to pay a claim on the lost part of the above mentioned COD shipment because they showed the shipment was delivered, and payment collected! What about the missing piece? They told us the recipient did not mention this at time of delivery. Well, he obviously thought everything was in the one box, which he did not open until about a week after it was delivered, and to top if off, the item in the lost box was a part for the other item which was worthless with out it, AND both of these items were no longer made. UPS never paid on that COD screw up.

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04) *Mailing us another parties COD check and ours to them.

*When this happened, around 1992, we we were able to get in touch with the person that had the check issued. We then ended up returning it to the proper person who had received our check and had already given it back to their UPS driver.

Well, we asked UPS when the check would be returned to us, and we made the MISTAKE of telling them that we had received the other parties check AND had sent it back to them. Well, they would not send back our check UNTIL we sent them (UPS) the other parties check, which we had already sent to the the other party! Sorry we broke the red tape rules. We had to have the other party send a letter to UPS telling them they we had sent them back their check, and that they had received it, BUT, this had to be done on a form that UPS had to send them!!! It took approximately 3 months to receive payment, and no less than 15 ph calls to UPS, of which every time we had to re explain the entire thing from step one. Why don't we use UPS some ask???!

Why are we more than happy to ship you DHL 2 day or next day air for
the UPS 3 day/Fed Ex 3 day rate and lose on some of the shipping cost on 99% of what we ship?
Because it eliminates 99.9% of potential problems. NO ONE orders and insurance claim! They order hifi, and that's what they want to receive.

"UPS, the tightest ship in the shipping business"?
I think the ship they were referring to was the Titanic.

Brian@Hello.lt