[R-390] UPS is Garbage

[Randy Zelick]

Hello all,

Here is another interesting tidbit about UPS, which I discovered the hard
way...

Not too long ago a business sent me an ebay purchase; their choice was
UPS. After waiting longer than the expected interval I called UPS and
learned that the package moving from the east coast to the west coast had
been scanned in Denver but there was no record beyond that. The UPS person
also mentioned that he really should not be telling me this, that they
only interact with the shipper over missing items, and that I should
contact the shipper.

So I did contact the shipper, who had basically disappeared. No phone
calls answered or returned. Figure they went belly-up.

Then I call back UPS and was told that I was essentially SOL. It was
*their* policy to only deal with the shipper and they would not give me
the time of day. I pointed out that the shipper was out of the picture for
two reasons. First they were apparently out of business, and second UPS's
own records showed that the package was to arrive to my address, that it
did not, and that it carried loss insurance. There was nothing the shipper
could do, as there was no issue of bad packing or bad addressing or value
determination.

None of this mattered to the UPS representative, so I insisted on talking
to more and more high level personnel at UPS. Always the same story. They
insist that their contract for delivery is with the shipper, and they
refuse to even give status information to the receiver.

I then talked to the legal department at work, and according to their view
when a package leaves the sender that you have paid for, it is now legally
your possession. Thus our legal department believes that the UPS policy is
in violation of federal law, insofar as they have lost an item in
transport across state lines that legally is your property, and must be
willing to deal with you over the loss of your property.

Perhaps someone on the net is more versed in such legal matters. My loss
was not so great as to make it worth pursuing further, but of course I was
not happy to give up with no recourse. I would also be interested to learn
if FedEx or other carriers have the same policy as UPS.

Cheers,

=Randy=
WB6MAI

-- 
R. Zelick				email: zelickr@pdx.edu
Department of Biology			voice: 503-725-3086
Portland State University		fax:   503-725-3888

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