I cannot stand UPS, they are horrible

Especially living in Canada, I never liked sellers that go with UPS because of the horrendious charges even if they are not customs charges but UPS has nothing good going for them, It seems like they rip off everyone.

I once ordered something through UPS with overnight delivery. According to tracking, it sat in a warehouse "waiting for pickup" for 20 hours. Needless to say, I didn't get it overnight, and they wouldn't give me a refund.

Other than losing a rifle for a few days, I've never had a problem with UPS. It appears that the American version is more efficient though.

Now USPS, there's a cluster F.

There are a number of reasons I never ship via "oops". I loathe them. USPS or Fedex are pretty much all I'll use.

You're supposed to contact the shipper. If it is a reputable shipper, they will refund your shipping, and they will (if it's worth it to them) file a claim with UPS. With the tracking information, it's a simple process.

I ship 100's of packages around the world every week, and in three years, I've never had a package lost (knock on wood) with UPS. Heck, for that matter, I can't say I've ever had a package delayed to a point where a customer would complain. Things have been hung up in customs departments several times, but that's a product of the country (at least as I understand it), and a few East coast snow storms have caused some delays.

Now DHL, THERE'S a sucktastic company. FedEx is okay, but their shipping software (aka the web) is pitiful compared to UPS's Worldship.

Here's one of my "Makes you go hmmmmm" UPS stories-

I work by contract for a company that is located in a busy urban area roughly 100 miles south of me. Instead of having me drive down there to pick up disks and hardcopies of the materials I need for projects, they usually just Fedex them to me. So, one Monday morning they ship out a package to me using UPS 2-day service instead of the usual Fedex. I shrug and go about my business for the rest of the week. On Friday morning I give my company a call and tell them that UPS tracking shows it still sitting in a sorting facility about a mile from their offices. We grumble about it and my contact decides to give them a call and see what the hell is going on because there is a looming deadline. About 2 hours later I get a call from a very cranky lady at UPS informing me in a very snide tone that they weren't going to be able to deliver my package and that I should come pick it up. I ask her it's current location thinking the tracking must be wrong and that it should be at my local sorting center. Negative, aparently the tracking was indeed correct and the package was still sitting down there, 1 mile from where it was sent.

I'm still stunned a little at this point with the tone of the call and for them to be dumb enough to ask me to come pick it up only a short distance of where it was shipped from. I asked her why there was the delay since it was supposed to be second day delivery. Once again in a snide tone she informs me that they "Have a lot of packages to deliver." I responded with a none too eloquent but fitting "I sure as hell hope so, you are a shipping company after all." Then I get a "Well, are you going to come pick it up?" To which I replied something to the effect of not in the pit of all hades and "Do you damn job and deliver the package."

Suffice it to say I spent several more minutes getting the details of how to file a formal complaint from her manager who wasn't very cooperative himself. In the end I sent a few letters via good old snail mail to their corporate HQ. I've received a couple calls now and a refund for the shipping including an apology letter but it still colors my entire view of UPS.

The great part - my contact dropped a new package off at Fedex with overnight & Saturday delivery and got it before 10:30am the next morning. The original package finally showed up on the Wednesday of the following week.

Not a fan of UPS myself. I ended up paying 80 dollars custom fees on 40 dollars worth of shirts from Think Geek.

UPS: They'll bend you over and take you to brown town.

I've found that for UPS, the offices are completely crap and actively try to be assholes and not help anyone. But if you're nice to the drivers, they will usually be much more helpful. The driver who delivers to me will normally just leave the package at the door out of sight now. They used to always leave the "missed you" note up on the door. It was great when it was a realllly windy day and the notice would blow off the door and get lost somewhere in my complex. If I was specifically waiting for a package, I'd have to go searching around for the note to sign and tape back up on my door.

(tangent) thread title: Sounds like something Imus would say.

I normally get lucky with both UPS and FedEx as both have hubs and shops/centers/whatever within about 15 minutes of my house. And air shipments come right into CVG and tend to be here super quick.

That said the few times I've had problems it's generally been UPS. I once had something shipped next day air. Packages shipped that way that aren't delayed by weather or whatever else are supposed to be guaranteed by like 10:00am.

The package got here at about 7pm that night. I mentioned it as nicely as possible and the driver just kind of shrugged and got back in his truck. They wouldn't give a refund or even so much as a discount.

The downside to using Fedex is that they tend to be pretty drastically more expensive for the quicker shipping options.

I've had a negative experience or two with Fedex as well though so I really can't claim much allegiance to either one.

Yeah I kind of paid for the morning one for a fairly important reason. That's where most of the frustration came from.

Fun fact: UPS drivers are part of franchises that 'buy' their delivery routes, or at least that's what I was told by the UPS guy I used to work with. That may explain the huge variation in service in some areas.

My only beef with them is what a PITA it is to try to pick up a package that they weren't able to deliver while I was home. The waiting room is like a refugee camp full of people gazing at each arriving truck with hungry eyes, hoping this will finally be the one that carries their eagerly-awaited parcel.

That's why I have packages delivered to my work address.

Having things shipped to work isn't viable for everyone though.

A most unfortunate fact given that I live only 30 seconds away from a FedEx warehouse and shipping facility. In addition to that, I have to pay a sales tax for Internet purchases from them due to living in TN. Pisses me off.

ps: never work as a cargo loader for a distributor. If you do, you'll spend your days lifting many 100+ lb objects over your head inside a compact trailer in blazing or freezing weather. The only amusing aspect of the job is running across conveyor belts.