One More for the Boycott List?

Pooka · 03-02-2007, 09:54 AM

Ok… this is a convoluted situation, but hang in here with me…. I feel that if I don’t get it out there and inspire some action then my complacency does nothing more than send the message that we as consumers have no power and I refuse to believe that. So if voting with “the almighty dollar” is the only way to send a message to “big business” than I will make it my life’s passion.

I ordered something through Amazon.com… it was shipped to my address according to Amazon…through UPS. I waited all day at home for the packages arrival and when 4pm rolled around and no package had materialized I tracked the package again. The UPS website stated it was delivered and “left on front porch at 1:52 pm”. Wrong. I was home all day… no delivery was made. I called UPS customer service and was told it was delivered to ____ same street number as mine, Norma Street. What … where is that… that isn’t my address… that wasn’t on my shipping confirmation either… where do they get that street name from… not a single letter is the same as in my street name. Are they hiring illiterate drivers?
Anyway, I was outraged… where they going to redeliver? No… according to Customer Service… it isn’t their problem… I was told to report the issue to Amazon. Completely unacceptable answer from a customer satisfaction perspective, but 5pm was approaching and this was not going to wait until the next day. So I called Amazon… they had the correct address, but went ahead and ordered another for me. Well good thing it wasn’t a one of a kind.

I was still dissatisfied. I called UPS back spoke to a manager about the situation… I felt this was poor customer service. They insisted it was the contract they have with Amazon. I don’t care… still poor customer service… rethink your policy. I asked what she would do with my complaint and I was told “we don’t do anything with them”… what… am I hearing this right… so what you are saying is I am wasting time, minutes and hot air calling you? “No” she replies “we listen to you” ohhh I feel soooo much better they listen to us… and do nothing with it. If you want to have someone read your situation you have to e-mail it on line… but there is not an option for complaints… and even so.. What if you have no internet access as much of the population? So, if I am understanding this right… it would appear that they review employees based on feedback from inside UPS and does not take customer feedback into consideration (after all… they don’t track it). UPS does not care about customer satisfaction? The complaints are not logged into the system and not tracked in any way… it all seems really suspicious. I mean think about it… a driver is to deliver a package to a certain address… the package looks desirable… and so he/she decides to keeps it instead… reports it as delivered (to a wrong address) “left on front door step” customer calls to complain package never arrived… UPS washes hands of issue and redirects to Amazon. Amazon foots bill for new item. (This just like shoplifting eventually impacts pricing over time of course so it affects all Amazon customers). Driver is in the clear because there is no tracking of customer service complaint and as far as UPS is concerned job was done correctly… no repercussion for the theft. Wow… what a loop hole. It gets better… I looked up this address on Mapquest… and it doesn’t even exist!!!!

So… in the future I will go to all cost to avoid UPS…. And encourage everyone I meet not to use them either and to e-mail Amazon and let them know this policy is unacceptable to the consumer. Amazon needs to renegotiate with UPS. Amazon should not pay for the mistakes of UPS… really...we are the ones that pay for it in the end.

03-02-2007, 12:36 PM

Yeah... UPS has gone down the toilet, but the yellow truck is no better.

Sheldonrs · 03-02-2007, 12:41 PM

Try posting this letter on www.planetfeedback.com .

A lot of companies check there for mention of their names and many will respond. Ya never know.

03-02-2007, 12:42 PM

Yup, use it all the time.

barefoot serpent · 03-02-2007, 12:55 PM

the only time I had a package go astray was from F3dEx...

I eventually got it but I think it fell into some wormhole -- or perhaps it spent 3 weeks on a desert island with Tom Hanks...

it was delivered twice(!!) according to the tracking.

Shawnee123 · 03-02-2007, 01:04 PM

Gotta love customer service these days. Thanks for reminding me I've been wanting to post my Coca-Cola rewards experience, which is now here.

Sundae · 03-02-2007, 01:14 PM

I used to work for a very large retailer of mobile (cell) phones in the UK. I was responsible for branch-to-branch transfer of phones and dealing with the courier company that we employed for this. National distribution from the warehouse was handled by a different company and a different member of the team.

I saw the invoices, and I thought we would be an important customer to them. Nope. I only ever really got to deal with the staff at the local depot and they took our bookings, complaints, claims and dealt with them as you would expect a bunch of 17 year olds working in a sandwich shop would deal with the staff of the nearby offices. We seemed to provide them with entertainment rather than any concern. Occasionaly I raised them to a sludgy form of life by copying correspondance to increasingly higher figures and getting our in-house Fraud dept involved (with mobile phones sadly you get in-house fraud) but it was never a major concern.

I documented everything - I had to cover myself - and when the contract came up for renewal I shocked the hell out of the glib saleswoman who came with pre-signed forms. She promised to look into it, and very little improved.

The above is not to discourage you. It is simply to make you aware that delivery/ courier companies seem to live in a world of their own. We finally got better service as a company when they realised we were taking it seriously and requesting protocols as well as delivery requirements. You go for it - anything you can do to highlight the situation and make the company's attitude public the better.

BTW do you have any consumer affairs/ whistle blowing programmes in the US? In the UK, people write to a TV programme called Watchdog - when they realise there are a number of complaints they investigate and changes do happen..... eventually!

Flint · 03-02-2007, 01:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sundae Girl

BTW do you have any consumer affairs/ whistle blowing programmes in the US?

Car Wash Change Thief Action Squad!

xoxoxoBruce · 03-03-2007, 05:04 PM

Pooka, I'll bet UPS has a contract with Amazon that gives them a discounted shipping rate in exchange for taking full responsibility for problems. When UPS pitches their service to a potential customer, they talk up their abilities, one being getting the package into the right hands, guaranteed. Of course if they can't find the right hands, it goes back to Amazon. That's bad for Amazon because much of what they sell in drop shipped from the supplier, and Amazon never sees it at all. Anything returned is a headache and billing problem that costs money to address. It's cheaper for Amazon to replace some orders than have to address returns and they'd still have to pay UPS for the attempt.

You can bet, if Amazon wasn't saving on the bottom line, their agreement with UPS wouldn't be in effect long. Amazon does have a great deal of clout with shippers. They're an 800 lb Gorilla.

zippyt · 03-03-2007, 05:43 PM

You can set it up so the driver HAS to get a signature ,
We live in the middle of the woods , an Off area or so they say ,
I have waited ALL day for a "Early AM " delivery only to have it show up at 7:00pm ,

I don't do that any more , if it is esential to have the part as soon as possable we have a hold for pickup at the nearest delivery hub ,
or if I have to have the part earlyer my boss will go to the main hub ( in Memphis for FedEx and UPS ) at 6:30 am and meet me half way inbetween there and here .
Oh and it never hurts that we work on ALL the scales at BOTH Hubs ( it helps knowing a few INSIDE folks

)

Kingswood · 03-05-2007, 12:45 AM

It's times like this that I wish there were such things as unions for customers. A company would improve any deficiencies in its service really quickly if a large number of their customers could all "strike" (boycott the company) at once.

xoxoxoBruce · 03-05-2007, 05:43 AM

Yes, and a large organization(union) for/of consumers, would be sure of the facts before going off half-cocked.

Flint · 03-05-2007, 04:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

Yes, and a large organization(union) for/of consumers, would be sure of the facts before going off half-cocked.

I can assure you, my Pooka has never been half-cocked.

iSellMyTextbook · 03-21-2007, 04:23 PM

boycott macy's!! marshall fields forever! =P

glatt · 03-21-2007, 04:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by iSellMyTextbook

boycott macy's!! marshall fields forever! =P

So, iSellMyTextbook, what's your story? Looking for a community you can join? Is that what brings you to the Cellar? Or, let's see, is it something else?

SPAM?

[/Church Lady]

03-02-2007, 09:54 AM	#1
Pooka Your Invisible Rabbit Friend Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Betwixt and Between Posts: 528	One More for the Boycott List? Ok… this is a convoluted situation, but hang in here with me…. I feel that if I don’t get it out there and inspire some action then my complacency does nothing more than send the message that we as consumers have no power and I refuse to believe that. So if voting with “the almighty dollar” is the only way to send a message to “big business” than I will make it my life’s passion. I ordered something through Amazon.com… it was shipped to my address according to Amazon…through UPS. I waited all day at home for the packages arrival and when 4pm rolled around and no package had materialized I tracked the package again. The UPS website stated it was delivered and “left on front porch at 1:52 pm”. Wrong. I was home all day… no delivery was made. I called UPS customer service and was told it was delivered to ____ same street number as mine, Norma Street. What … where is that… that isn’t my address… that wasn’t on my shipping confirmation either… where do they get that street name from… not a single letter is the same as in my street name. Are they hiring illiterate drivers? Anyway, I was outraged… where they going to redeliver? No… according to Customer Service… it isn’t their problem… I was told to report the issue to Amazon. Completely unacceptable answer from a customer satisfaction perspective, but 5pm was approaching and this was not going to wait until the next day. So I called Amazon… they had the correct address, but went ahead and ordered another for me. Well good thing it wasn’t a one of a kind. I was still dissatisfied. I called UPS back spoke to a manager about the situation… I felt this was poor customer service. They insisted it was the contract they have with Amazon. I don’t care… still poor customer service… rethink your policy. I asked what she would do with my complaint and I was told “we don’t do anything with them”… what… am I hearing this right… so what you are saying is I am wasting time, minutes and hot air calling you? “No” she replies “we listen to you” ohhh I feel soooo much better they listen to us… and do nothing with it. If you want to have someone read your situation you have to e-mail it on line… but there is not an option for complaints… and even so.. What if you have no internet access as much of the population? So, if I am understanding this right… it would appear that they review employees based on feedback from inside UPS and does not take customer feedback into consideration (after all… they don’t track it). UPS does not care about customer satisfaction? The complaints are not logged into the system and not tracked in any way… it all seems really suspicious. I mean think about it… a driver is to deliver a package to a certain address… the package looks desirable… and so he/she decides to keeps it instead… reports it as delivered (to a wrong address) “left on front door step” customer calls to complain package never arrived… UPS washes hands of issue and redirects to Amazon. Amazon foots bill for new item. (This just like shoplifting eventually impacts pricing over time of course so it affects all Amazon customers). Driver is in the clear because there is no tracking of customer service complaint and as far as UPS is concerned job was done correctly… no repercussion for the theft. Wow… what a loop hole. It gets better… I looked up this address on Mapquest… and it doesn’t even exist!!!! So… in the future I will go to all cost to avoid UPS…. And encourage everyone I meet not to use them either and to e-mail Amazon and let them know this policy is unacceptable to the consumer. Amazon needs to renegotiate with UPS. Amazon should not pay for the mistakes of UPS… really...we are the ones that pay for it in the end.

03-02-2007, 12:41 PM	#3
Sheldonrs Master Dwellar Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 4,412	Try posting this letter on www.planetfeedback.com . A lot of companies check there for mention of their names and many will respond. Ya never know. __________________ Laugh and the world laughs with you; cry and the world laughs AT you.

03-02-2007, 12:55 PM	#5
barefoot serpent go ahead, abbrev. it Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Lawrence, KS Posts: 2,623	the only time I had a package go astray was from F3dEx... I eventually got it but I think it fell into some wormhole -- or perhaps it spent 3 weeks on a desert island with Tom Hanks... it was delivered twice(!!) according to the tracking. __________________ Chooses rowing vs. wading

03-02-2007, 01:04 PM	#6
Shawnee123 Why, you're a regular Alfred E Einstein, ain't ya? Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 21,206	Gotta love customer service these days. Thanks for reminding me I've been wanting to post my Coca-Cola rewards experience, which is now here. __________________ A word to the wise ain't necessary - it's the stupid ones who need the advice. --Bill Cosby

03-02-2007, 01:14 PM	#7
Sundae polaroid of perfection Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: West Yorkshire Posts: 24,185	I used to work for a very large retailer of mobile (cell) phones in the UK. I was responsible for branch-to-branch transfer of phones and dealing with the courier company that we employed for this. National distribution from the warehouse was handled by a different company and a different member of the team. I saw the invoices, and I thought we would be an important customer to them. Nope. I only ever really got to deal with the staff at the local depot and they took our bookings, complaints, claims and dealt with them as you would expect a bunch of 17 year olds working in a sandwich shop would deal with the staff of the nearby offices. We seemed to provide them with entertainment rather than any concern. Occasionaly I raised them to a sludgy form of life by copying correspondance to increasingly higher figures and getting our in-house Fraud dept involved (with mobile phones sadly you get in-house fraud) but it was never a major concern. I documented everything - I had to cover myself - and when the contract came up for renewal I shocked the hell out of the glib saleswoman who came with pre-signed forms. She promised to look into it, and very little improved. The above is not to discourage you. It is simply to make you aware that delivery/ courier companies seem to live in a world of their own. We finally got better service as a company when they realised we were taking it seriously and requesting protocols as well as delivery requirements. You go for it - anything you can do to highlight the situation and make the company's attitude public the better. BTW do you have any consumer affairs/ whistle blowing programmes in the US? In the UK, people write to a TV programme called Watchdog - when they realise there are a number of complaints they investigate and changes do happen..... eventually! __________________ Life's hard you know, so strike a pose on a Cadillac

03-02-2007, 12:36 PM	#2
rkzenrage Guest Posts: n/a	Yeah... UPS has gone down the toilet, but the yellow truck is no better.

03-02-2007, 12:42 PM	#4
rkzenrage Guest Posts: n/a	Yup, use it all the time.

03-03-2007, 05:04 PM	#9
xoxoxoBruce The future is unwritten Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 71,105	Pooka, I'll bet UPS has a contract with Amazon that gives them a discounted shipping rate in exchange for taking full responsibility for problems. When UPS pitches their service to a potential customer, they talk up their abilities, one being getting the package into the right hands, guaranteed. Of course if they can't find the right hands, it goes back to Amazon. That's bad for Amazon because much of what they sell in drop shipped from the supplier, and Amazon never sees it at all. Anything returned is a headache and billing problem that costs money to address. It's cheaper for Amazon to replace some orders than have to address returns and they'd still have to pay UPS for the attempt. You can bet, if Amazon wasn't saving on the bottom line, their agreement with UPS wouldn't be in effect long. Amazon does have a great deal of clout with shippers. They're an 800 lb Gorilla. __________________ The descent of man ~ Nixon, Friedman, Reagan, Trump.

03-03-2007, 05:43 PM	#10
zippyt LONG LIVE KING ZIPPY! per Feetz Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Arkansas Posts: 7,661	You can set it up so the driver HAS to get a signature , We live in the middle of the woods , an Off area or so they say , I have waited ALL day for a "Early AM " delivery only to have it show up at 7:00pm , I don't do that any more , if it is esential to have the part as soon as possable we have a hold for pickup at the nearest delivery hub , or if I have to have the part earlyer my boss will go to the main hub ( in Memphis for FedEx and UPS ) at 6:30 am and meet me half way inbetween there and here . Oh and it never hurts that we work on ALL the scales at BOTH Hubs ( it helps knowing a few INSIDE folks ) __________________ "Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get. " Brother Dave Gardner

03-05-2007, 12:45 AM	#11
Kingswood Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Melbourne, Vic Posts: 316	It's times like this that I wish there were such things as unions for customers. A company would improve any deficiencies in its service really quickly if a large number of their customers could all "strike" (boycott the company) at once.

03-05-2007, 05:43 AM	#12
xoxoxoBruce The future is unwritten Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 71,105	Yes, and a large organization(union) for/of consumers, would be sure of the facts before going off half-cocked. __________________ The descent of man ~ Nixon, Friedman, Reagan, Trump.

03-21-2007, 04:23 PM	#14
iSellMyTextbook Neophyte-in-training Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 3	boycott macy's!! marshall fields forever! =P

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