As of right now, this blog is still not "Live." No one other than me knows that it exists. Google has not indexed it yet (I will not bother trying to get it on yahoo or MSN. Seems pointless, though probably is not).
Yet someone has already taken notice of my first post. According to sitemeter, I have had a grand total of four visits since my first post. Three have been from me. The other; well if you read that first post you can guess.
So to follow up, this is my letter to UPS:
Dear UPS (and any other company that provides customer support):
As you have read, I was extremely pissed off when I wrote that initial post. The fact that you sent my package to CA when it was supposed to go to VA sent me off into a white hot rage. Your job is to deliver to packages. Why you failed at this task for the one package I had sent with you in the last four years frustrated me to no end. When I looked up that tracking number and saw where my package was, I was livid.
You see, this is why you cannot outsource customer service (not UPS in general (you do not even have customer service), but companies in general). You do not call customer service when you are happy as a pig in shit. You call customer service when you are about to explode and the poor underpaid rep on the other side [of the ocean] has to deal with it. It is a terrible situation for all parties involved, the provider and the customer. You put me on a line with "Steve" who is actually Indian, you are not getting the customer service experience off on the right foot. You lie to me from the outset, you think I trust you for the rest of the conversation. No it just gets me more pissed off.
But back to UPS. Thankfully, when my overnight package arrived four days late, no harm was done. As soon as I found out, I contacted the recipient, who understood the situation and was very understanding. So no harm, no foul.
But not really. I spent fifty bucks for overnight service, not week service. But by the time I went in today to take of my situation, all the venom I wished to spew had been swallowed into, "eh." So I very calmly explained the situation to the dude at the UPS store and that was that.
Now, the one thing that does piss me off is that the UPS Store Franchise does not have authorization to issue refunds for an obvious fuck-up such as this. See, I do not have my fifty bucks back in my pocket right now. I have to wait ten days to get a check. And what will the number on that check be? Today, I would have taken forty dollars, maybe even thirty, just to have that cash back in my pocket. Now, if you are mailing me a check, I expect all fifty dollars back. You fuck up my package, then you make me wait for a refund, shit it almost makes me wish this whole situation screwed me into a hole so I could sue for consequential damages (which I would get FYI. You overnight a package, obviously it is of utmost importance and should not be sent 2,000 miles in the wrong direction. Second, the only contract I made was with the UPS Store franchise, which specifically disclaimed consequential damages. You (UPS) would obviously know that I am a third party beneficiary of the contract I made with the Franchise and as such, privity is no defense for you).
In closing, UPS, thank you for taking stock of my site. There is no need for your CEO to contact me. As I told the franchise clerk after he said he was sorry that my package was delayed, "Shit happens." Granted my story has a happy ending (once I get my $50), but the fact that you have no customer service phone number on your website still pisses the shit out of me.
But in the end, it is you, FedEx, or USPS. So when I went to the UPS Store today, I also shipped out another (albiet, much less important) package. You can bet I will be checking that tracking number more often (but because it is going only 60 miles, I do not expect any problems. Though that is when problems occur).
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