Long post.. sorry!
Okay so here is my story. The company I distribute for just got their batch of demo units (biometric door locks) in a bit late because of customs hang up. 2 weeks ago, the company had my demo ready to ship express, which is guaranteed delivery by 10:30am the next day. This would have gotten me my demo by Tuesday which was fine because I had a meeting to show the lock on Thursday.
The company is located in Vancouver BC and had spoken with a UPS rep to get the correct customs code to ship it to the US. The package was picked up correctly on Monday so we thought all was good. He gets a call from the UPS dist center on Tues and told him there was a problem with the customs code and they couldn't ship it. This is after the UPS rep GAVE THEM THE CODE! Anyway, this was cleared up and it was now guaranteed to be here on Wed before 10:30 am on Wed. I go to pick it up from my business address which is located in a mail box inside a UPS store, and the package is not there!
I then notify the sender and they get on the horn with UPS in Canada who evidently does not have direct computer access to the US system. Come to find out, the box was put on the wrong truck and was temporarily lost but they said it would be delivered by the next day. Well, it wasn't and I didn't have it for the meeting so I had to cancel.... who knows how many potential $ I lost because of it.
Onto Friday..... I see the tracking notes at 8:30am and it says "tried to deliver at 7:55 but the business is closed" or some such thing. This is funny because it supposed to be delivered TO A UPS STORE! I then called up the UPS store and they guy was a total dick and said he couldn't do anything about it. He did say that he was there at 7:55 and saw no truck.... also said that he would have seen a note if they tried to deliver something.
I get on the phone with the sender and he starts raising hell with UPS. About 2 hours later, I get a call from the distribution center which is across town. The gal on the phone tells me that they found the package and her tone was such that it seemed like they were doing me a favor that they found the package that THEY had lost.... Gee thanks for making me lose money. She then tells me I can go pick it up at the dist center.... ummm WHAT? Here is the conversation as I remember it:
Me "I'm not interested in driving across town to pick something up that should have been delivered to me, why don't you put it on a truck"
Her: all of the trucks have left for the day
Me: put it on a truck for tomorrow
Her: was it express?
Me: (thinking to myself that this shouldn't matter at this point) umm, yes
Her: (BIG SIGH) well I guess I can bring it up there and go out of my when I leave for the day and put a note on it.
Me: are you kidding me? Put a note on it? You know what, I don't want this getting lost again so I will just pick it up.
End of conversation.
You would think it's over.... NOT. I go pick up the box and it looked like they used it as the puck in an NHL game. It was completely ripped open like someone had slashed it with a blade... foam packing falling out, etc.. I didn't have any energy left to make a stink because what's the use at this point. I take it home and the mount that the demo unit on was cracked but the lock still worked. I did get a bunch of styrofoam bits all of the freshly vacuumed car that I was selling too... LOL.
So... UPS and other shippers are in the business of shipping so you think they should be good at it, which they are 99% of the time. I understand that logistics can fail on occasion, but the problem I have is, through the whole ordeal there was never an apology or ANY empathy used.... ZERO CUSTOMER SERVICE SKILLS! The tone in their voices was that of "so what dude, shit happens". Completely unacceptable IMO!