MP 7,1 Incompetent UPS Delivery Company

[Merlin65]

I still maintain that the package never left Germany due to a delay. It was supposed to leave Germany, it received virtual scans that said it was, but it never left Germany, and no actual scan shows that.

This is the whole point of figuring out UPS, and FedEx, and whoever's tracking data. A scan does not mean physical location.

Sorry but this is the correct sequence for the Mac Pro -

China to Korea, Korea to Germany, Germany to UK, UK to Germany, Germany to UK and then to me.

I dont have paperwork that says it was ever in Korea other than UPS tracking. UPS tracking confirms the other Germany to UK and back again. At this point you could be right and maybe the tracking was falsified and the package never left Germany. BUT it did and I know it did because it was processed by German and UK customs twice in the same pattern as the tracking information. If the parcel had never left Germany it would never have been processed by German and UK customs twice. Germany customs processed it first, then UK customs second, then back to German customs third and then back to UK customs for the fourth and final time. The dates of the custom clearances match when UPS say they moved the package between countries.

Also when the package was lost for 3 days this happened in the UK and it was found in the UK by staff at a named UPS depot and then sent back to Germany where German customs processed it for a second time.

Leaving aside my wanting my parcel on the date it was supposed to be delivered instead of weeks later, flying a 36kg package unnecessarily around the world isn't efficient for profitability or the environment.

This is just my experience of UPS which shocked me. I think it is poor whereas others seem to think it is okay. That is fine I am just saying what happened.
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Companies should not be making mistakes and the fact that people defend them is disturbing.

This is why I posted but I am regretting doing so. I have been disappointed at the number of posters defending and excusing UPS like nothing happened. Perhaps they are trolls just trying to irritate. But I wish I hadn't bothered posting and I won't be posting anything further to this forum in the future.

 

[Merlin65]

I should make it clear too that Apple themselves have been very good. If I sent an email to them about UPS I got a call back within 2 minutes and they were on the ball immediately. For the record, while many posters on here have defended UPS, Apple themselves thought it was appalling.

 

[russell_314]

I should make it clear too that Apple themselves have been very good. If I sent an email to them about UPS I got a call back within 2 minutes and they were on the ball immediately. For the record, while many posters on here have defended UPS, Apple themselves thought it was appalling.

I hate to say it but that's just how phone reps are trained. "You didn't get your package the next day?? Oh I'm shocked! That's just terrible on UPS. I will definitely fix that. Let me place you on a brief hold". That's when they tell their coworkers about the call LOL.

Any shipping company isn't gentle with packages and sometimes they get misdirected. This isn't exclusive to UPS. This is why Apple packages the computer very well and puts lots of labels on it just in case. UPS is awesome compared to USPS (United States Postal Service). I'm not sure how the government postal service is in your country but ours is the last choice for sending important packages.

 

[DCIFRTHS]

I hate to say it but that's just how phone reps are trained. "You didn't get your package the next day?? Oh I'm shocked! That's just terrible on UPS. I will definitely fix that. Let me place you on a brief hold". That's when they tell their coworkers about the call LOL.

Any shipping company isn't gentle with packages and sometimes they get misdirected. This isn't exclusive to UPS. This is why Apple packages the computer very well and puts lots of labels on it just in case. UPS is awesome compared to USPS (United States Postal Service). I'm not sure how the government postal service is in your country but ours is the last choice for sending important packages.

Watch a UPS van get loaded with packages, and you’ll know the meaning of airborne packages...

 

[defjam]

What do you call this situation? UPS employee delivers a package in the pouring rain, LITERALLY drops it on the walkway three feet from the door which is covered from the elements, turns around, and goes back to his van? A mistake?

I wasn't commenting on the situation you described so I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't apply comments I made for another situation to this one.

 

[s66]

I had 2 MP7,1 ordered in 1 order (both identical). One shipped a day before the other for some reason.

- The second one came with DHL, no actual tracking till they picked it up in Holland, and then delivered it the next day on a pallet, in pristine condition. DHL even took the pallet itself back when asked to do so.

- The first came with UPS, they had tracking from Shanghai to us. It too went via Korea, Germany (staying there from Friday afternoon till Monday around Lunch or so - no Corona fear yet then), and then came to us 1 hour before the DHL one (which departed a day later at Apple). The outer box was seriously damaged, and even the internal box had some scuffs and a dented corner. This box obviously was handled way too roughly for its weight.

The XDRs were delivered a month earlier by a tiny Dutch freight delivery service on pallets (unknown name). They too came through Holland, were delivered on pallets and were in pristine condition. Even the plastic wrap around the box and pallet was still intact from China (The shipping labels on it and inside the plastic prove it). No tracking at all from that company (which is fine by me). The driver told us he had come with his truck from Holland straight to us and back - no other delivery in the truck at all (we're in Belgium, it's not that far, but that truck will have spent the best part of a day driving back and forth from Schiphol to us) [not so green to send a proper truck all that way, but on service: one really cannot complain]

If I were to give Apple guidance: dump UPS for delivering MPs to us Europeans, they suck at transporting big, heavy boxes. Use DHL or the little companies instead, they handle your gear with the care it deserves.

 

[defjam]

If I were to give Apple guidance: dump UPS for delivering MPs to us Europeans, they suck at transporting big, heavy boxes. Use DHL or the little companies instead, they handle your gear with the care it deserves.

They all have problems. A year or so ago my frustration has been with Federal Express. So much so when purchasing something on Ebay I would check with the seller to see who they would be using for shipping. If they said FedEx I would see if they'd be willing to use an alternative. Thankfully FedEx has improved since then. Having said that I'm not sure what those calling out UPS are attempting to achieve by doing so. Things happen. It's frustrating but it appears the worst that has happened is the systems have arrived a few days later than expected.

 

[Krevnik]

They all have problems. A year or so ago my frustration has been with Federal Express. So much so when purchasing something on Ebay I would check with the seller to see who they would be using for shipping. If they said FedEx I would see if they'd be willing to use an alternative. Thankfully FedEx has improved since then. Having said that I'm not sure what those calling out UPS are attempting to achieve by doing so. Things happen. It's frustrating but it appears the worst that has happened is the systems have arrived a few days later than expected.

And these problems are also regional, making it harder to pick the right shipper for a job. I would never use DHL in the US if I can avoid it, but it seems like a good choice in Europe. I did have one problem with FedEx and my 2008 Mac Pro. They flew it California-> Washington -> California -> Washington and delivered it late on overnight shipping. But lately I have had the least problems with FedEx.

Lately, UPS tends to get hit with random delays, even on domestic two-day air because they would wait a day to fly it out of the origin airport. I had a Mac Pro due today, but it looks like it got stuck somewhere 30 mi away before it hit the local depot, and so might not be delivered until Monday? Because it sat at a Texas airport for 24 hrs? Awesome.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

I remembered a detail about UPS shipping from an incident years ago too. When you get a scan, it's often a scan of the container that the package is in, not the actual package. I had a shipment 'disappear', and talked to the local UPS manager, and remember him telling me that. The boxes are 'usually' scanned, and then are 'attached' to a container, and the container is scanned before it leaves, and the individual packaged 'attached' to the container are updated. Apparently some packages aren't scanned, but are sorted correctly, and end up in a container and aren't 'attached' to the container. Sure enough, the cross country package showed up when the package was removed from the container, and sorted for the state, or locality. It sounds like a weird way to do it, but makes sense, and explained why packages sometimes disappeared, but still showed up. Yeah, UPS screws up things, but they have gotten better. I haven't had a package play hide-and-seek in a long time.

And while we are bitching about shipping companies, the postal service is so incredibly inconsistent! I've ordered a bunch of things recently from Europe. I've had some items arrive in days, and some in a week, or longer. There is no clear reason why some packages are faster than others. It's just timing, or phases of the moon. Packages sitting at 'centers' for days, in one case. Maybe some of that is due to the 'shipping partner' they might be using, but wow... *shrug*

 

[CraigB1960]

UPS is awesome compared to USPS (United States Postal Service). I'm not sure how the government postal service is in your country but ours is the last choice for sending important packages.

I have had the opposite experience. I rarely have issues with shipments to and from USPS. I do have them with UPS.

 

[ssgbryan]

Sorry but I don't view this as a few mistakes and we should just accept that. It is pretty dumb to bounce two different orders back and forward between two UPS depots in UK and Germany. Once is a mistake. Twice is sloppy and suggests a rotten core.

And you have absolutely no clue as to how many packages UPS handles every day, nor do you have a clue as to how few people work at UPS warehouses. (I used to work at UPS, many, many years ago - 1 worker for around every 5,000 packages per 4 hour shift.)

 

[CraigB1960]

And you have absolutely no clue as to how many packages UPS handles every day, nor do you have a clue as to how few people work at UPS warehouses. (I used to work at UPS, many, many years ago - 1 worker for around every 5,000 packages per 4 hour shift.)

So it is okay to mis-manage packages due to work load?

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

UPS is awesome compared to USPS (United States Postal Service). I'm not sure how the government postal service is in your country but ours is the last choice for sending important packages.

The USPS is NOT a governmental service. It was spun off at some point, and was even offered to FedEx at one point. (The National Weather Service was also offered to Accuweather, where we'd all have to pay for access to government owned radar and satellite weather data)
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So it is okay to mis-manage packages due to work load?

Lets dial down the trolling, okay...

 

[defjam]

So it is okay to mis-manage packages due to work load?

I haven't seen anyone say that it's OK. What I have seen people say, myself included, is that mistakes happen. It's a fact of life. If the worst thing that happens to any one of us is that our Mac Pro arrives a little later than the expected delivery date then consider yourself to have a pretty darned good life.

 

[konqerror]

The USPS is NOT a governmental service. It was spun off at some point, and was even offered to FedEx at one point.

Incorrect. The USPS is an independent government agency of the executive branch and workers are considered government employees. It holds a Constitutional monopoly on certain types of mail. It pays no taxes and no longer receives tax money.

From 1872-1970, it was a cabinet level organization. In 1970, it was downgraded.

You are also confused that certain mail types that are banned from airlines, Priority and Express, are carried between cities by FedEx, won by a bidding process. It was never offered to be sold to FedEx.

 

[amgff84]

Funny UPS story: I had a shipment coming from a Chicago warehouse to my old company in Ohio. I got the routine down, and it goes to some Chicago huge shipping/routing center, and will sit there over a day, then go to Toledo, adding a day onto ship time. But sometimes, it skips the Chicago center, and hits Toledo right off, so it gets there the next day. Okay, got it down.

The package is ordered, and it's shipped and picked up. It hits the Chicago center, so I figure add a day. The box shows shipped the next morning, so I figure the next day, it'll hit Toledo, and be here that day. So I wait. No Toledo scan. Which, surprisingly isn't entirely unheard of, but the package doesn't show. I call UPS. They don't have a clue where it went. I call the warehouse, and they trace it and say 'give it a few days'. I wait. The week passes, and it's Monday. No box. Tuesday, no box. Call UPS, 'It's coming'. Call warehouse, UPS says it's 'delayed'. Really now...

Wednesday, no box. Thursday, things get interesting. It's on a truck for delivery. Oh, wait for it...

In PORTLAND OREGON!!!

I call UPS, What's it doing in Portland Oregon? 'Um, it's on a truck for delivery.' Um, to WHOM??? I'm in OHIO! 'Oh. Well, we can't stop the truck, but we will flag the box and pull it tonight and get it back to Chicago, and on to you.'

So, it shows back in the Portland terminal, flagged as an 'exception', and I see it left there too. Days pass, and it hits Chicago. Next morning, it's left Chicago again. I wait. No Toledo scan. I wait another day, no Toledo scan. I call UPS. I give them the tracking number, and relay what happened, how it ended up in Portland. They say, yeah, it's on it's way. It'll be there in a day or so. I tease them by asking what happens if it shows up in Portland again, and am told 'Don't worry, it won't.' So I wait. DAYS go by. The next week. Then Thursday, it shows up in Portland again!!!

I call UPS, and ask for the person I had before. I ask them to track the package. I said Guess what! It's in Portland again! They act all flustered, and put me on hold. They come back on and say that they are 'expediting' this issue, and will see to it that the package doesn't go back to Portland again. I tell them that I've never been to Portland, but my package has been there TWICE!!! They don't laugh.

So, next morning, I check for the tracking number, and it comes up blank. About 20 minutes later I get a call, 'UPS is here. They have a box for you.'

UPS has a wide array of services. Everything from ground, to a service called 'Sonic'. Sonic is same day shipping. It's insanely expensive, and they get stuff done. They Sonic'ed the box from Portland to Detroit, and a small van from there. I call UPS to thank them for finding the package, and getting it here. She said that 'It was in the pilot's lap the whole trip to you.' which sounds creepy, but wow, they weren't kidding around. They skipped all the parts in between Portalnd and me. It had a new tracking number which was why it disappeared.

So, yeah, UPS can really screw some stuff up.


Yeah, shipping issues... I feel your angst. I didn't use UPS again for a couple of years after that mess. Yikes...

This is Gold!

 

[ssgbryan]

75% of UPS workers are college students working part time. The 1st line supervisors at the distribution centers are also part time college students.

The only full time folks are the executives and most of the drivers.

 

[Krevnik]

I have had the opposite experience. I rarely have issues with shipments to and from USPS. I do have them with UPS.

I have to agree. At least with packages I've received over the last year, I'd rank things like this:

- USPS / FedEx
- UPS / Amazon Logistics
- DHL

FedEx is up there because when they did have a delivery slip, they delivered it on a Sunday rather than wait until Monday. Despite it being a cheap FedEx ground package. Add the ability to do local pickups using the old Kinko's stores and they've come a long way in the last decade, IMO. Dealing with them around work schedules/etc is probably the easiest of the bunch in my neck of the woods. They used to be near the bottom of my list, just above DHL.

UPS and Amazon both seem to be pushing the "just in time" behavior to its limits and wind up with shipping delays because of it. They are fairly competent most of the time, but seemingly overloaded and unwilling to expand capacity despite not making their SLAs as it is. And I think it's partly because they both know the market won't evict them for this, making them more complacent.

DHL in my area is about as close to garbage as you can get. I've had them forge signatures on packages that were "must sign for" and leave it on the doorstep while I wasn't home. Even better, they used the apartment manager's signature and said it was left with them on the tracking. When it wasn't.

 

[MisterAndrew]

I have had the opposite experience. I rarely have issues with shipments to and from USPS. I do have them with UPS.

Same. USPS is usually solid. I use them for all my small parcel domestic shipments. If they mis-deliver something they can look up by GPS to see where it was delivered. They've showed me on a satellite image at the post office before. Service has been more consistent with them since they are a regulated government entity. I've had issues with FedEx too. They've damaged some items. I like DHL for international because they are super fast. Like overnight from Europe fast. I use all the major couriers on a regular basis. You just have to expect mishaps. To reduce mishaps package items very well and make sure they have all the correct forms and labels. If the OP's shipment was going back and forth between countries then perhaps there was a paperwork problem. It could have been an issue with customs. Nobody knows. It's going out on a limb to say UPS is incompetent. The OP's position just comes across as entitled and impatient to me.
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Also, this thread should probably be moved somewhere else like the 'Politics, Religion, Social Issues' forum since courier issues doesn't really have anything to do with a Mac Pro.

 

[konqerror]

FedEx is up there because when they did have a delivery slip, they delivered it on a Sunday rather than wait until Monday. Despite it being a cheap FedEx ground package

FedEx is two different operations. FedEx Ground, in my experience is the worst of them all; I've had two Apple packages randomly "disappear" in shipping. They show up in worn out trucks with a different worker every time. It was no surprise Amazon banned them last Christmas.

The issue is FedEx Ground relies on third-party contractors in the last mile, just like Amazon Logistics. Those contractors often hire the actual delivery employee on a gig/contractor basis. So you're often two contractors away from the company. Guess why my Apple shipments were never delivered? At minimum you have a highly variable experience.

Your local Ground contractor decides to deliver them on Sunday because they figure it's better than the fines and penalties that FedEx is imposing on them.

FedEx Express is different and fully company-owned like UPS is.

UPS and Amazon both seem to be pushing the "just in time" behavior to its limits and wind up with shipping delays because of it.

Almost never had late UPS packages, both sending and receiving. I monitor this stuff because even if they're 1 minute late, you can get your money back.

Keep in mind, if you're getting packages from a major shipper, they have a special deal with UPS. Amazon in particular is paying a tiny fraction of what everybody else is paying (90% off I heard). As a result, they are explicitly foregoing UPS's guarantees, and so if something needs to be delayed, Amazon, Wal-Mart and such are last in the line.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

Incorrect. The USPS is an independent government agency of the executive branch and workers are considered government employees. It holds a Constitutional monopoly on certain types of mail. It pays no taxes and no longer receives tax money.

From 1872-1970, it was a cabinet level organization. In 1970, it was downgraded.

You are also confused that certain mail types that are banned from airlines, Priority and Express, are carried between cities by FedEx, won by a bidding process. It was never offered to be sold to FedEx.

Funny. Then my congressperson is wrong. He said it was totally separate. Figures. He is about as functional as a doorstop anyway...

And YES, in the reign if George W Bush, there was a bill floated that would disband the USPS and offer the services to FedEx. I remember it because of the screaming in my office at the possibility of paying tens of dollars for letter service. It died rather quickly, but there were plans to try to kill off the post office. The bill might not have been submitted though. (I think it happened about the same time congress required the post office to prepay ALL retirement funds, which is why they are 'losing money'. I was disappointed that Obama didn't end that. It was ironic considering that the GOP congress wasn't a fan of retirement accounts, and social security, and still aren't, but they apparently thought it was a way to kill the USPS) Same with the NWS. I believe it was Rick Santorum, an Accuweather paid congressperson, that was trying to earn his contributions. Neither happened, but it showed how toxic money is in politics.
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This is Gold!

It sucked at the time. I had to reorder from a local distributor to get the client job done. I'm just glad it wasn't hideously expensive.

Oh, another shipping story.

I ran a computer networking company out of my house for a few years. I had a client order a gigantic server, something like 6u, if you know what that means. It was coming on a certain day, and was being delivered by a freight company. I had to run to the bank for about a half hour, and the better half was going to be arriving shortly after I left (I ran long, and she was late, but you knew that already, right). So she calls and wants to know what to do with 'the thing' in the driveway. Um, WHAT thing? OMG!!! They didn't!!! OMG!!!

The damned freight company dropped an $8,000 server IN MY DRIVEWAY! And left... And faked the signature... Nice...

I'm just glad it wasn't stolen or damaged. And it was really literally in the driveway. Neither one of us could get around it to get into the garage. I was so pissed, but I hear it's common. They want to 'dump and run', and the guy didn't want to have to come back apparently. And the box was a minor mess, but was all there, pallet and all. Good grief. I almost had a stroke.

 

[Krevnik]

FedEx is two different operations. FedEx Ground, in my experience is the worst of them all; I've had two Apple packages randomly "disappear" in shipping. They show up in worn out trucks with a different worker every time. It was no surprise Amazon banned them last Christmas.

The issue is FedEx Ground relies on third-party contractors in the last mile, just like Amazon Logistics. Those contractors often hire the actual delivery employee on a gig/contractor basis. So you're often two contractors away from the company. Guess why my Apple shipments were never delivered? At minimum you have a highly variable experience.

Not too surprising, TBH. But as I said before, it seems to be somewhat region-specific as well. I have had better luck locally with FedEx Ground in the last year than with Amazon. I wouldn't even be surprised if FedEx Ground improved in my area partly because Amazon stopped using them.

Keep in mind, if you're getting packages from a major shipper, they have a special deal with UPS. Amazon in particular is paying a tiny fraction of what everybody else is paying (90% off I heard). As a result, they are explicitly foregoing UPS's guarantees, and so if something needs to be delayed, Amazon, Wal-Mart and such are last in the line.

Also not surprising. It's not like I'm gonna get my 0$ back from UPS or Apple for the free 2-day, so there's nobody really incentivized to hold to the schedule.

 

[CraigB1960]

I like DHL for international because they are super fast. Like overnight from Europe fast.

DHL is excellent. I have used a broker to get things overnight to UAE using Fedex as an add-on to another shipment for low cost. Have not had a problem with Fedex under those circumstances.

30 years ago I used UPS for my company, but they are not my first choice now. I was a director for a tech manufacturing company that shipped large qualities of expensive product solely with Fedex worldwide, we rarely had a problem. Fedex Ground can be a hit or miss. I trust UPS over Fedex ground and usually for a better rate.

Bottom line, there are many more shipping options today then just 10 years ago. Now is not the time to let quality slip.