UPS response to delayed shipment

(EDIT) People seem to be reading only bits of this thread and don’t get all the facts. So here’s a chronology:

I bought a bass. On his own, the seller decided to send it UPS 2nd day air.

UPS sends me a text and an email saying that the delivery will be on Wednesday. Bonus, I think – Instead of next week, I’ll have it for New Years!

On Wednesday Morning, UPS sends me a text and an email saying that the delivery will be on Friday. I get a Customer Service Rep on chat and ask why the 2nd day air was going to take 4 days.

She apologizes, and I ask does UPS feel like there’s a promise involved in 2nd day Air agreement, or does UPS feel like it’s enough to just try to fulfill the terms – and if it doesn’t happen, UPS won’t be bothered with trying to find it/hurry it - it’s just the way business goes, and a refund should be enough.

I tell her I’m interested in the UPS company line because I want to share that info with all you here on TalkBass

About halfway through the conversation, the Customer Service Rep changes her tune to say the shipment is not yet late. And keeps repeating that the shipment is not yet late, so I have no reason to be talking to her.

I tell her I’ve moved from asking about my particular shipment, and am curious about what steps UPS might take on a delayed shipment – Does UPS deem a refund sufficient action, or would they try to help move the shipment while in transit?

Once again, she says that the shipment is not yet late, so I have no reason to be talking to her.

After getting no satisfaction on that question, I give up and wish her a happy New Year.

Upon review, my guess is that halfway through the chat the data in her computer changed - because about an hour after the chat was finished, UPS sent me a text and an email saying that the delivery will be on Wednesday. The bass did indeed come on Wednesday.

I was thrilled to have the bass, but me getting or not getting it would not be worthy of a thread here.

But I felt that a thread about UPS’s general response to a delayed shipment was worthy!

And even though the title of this thread is “UPS response to a delayed shipment”, it seems like a number of people have been focused on my response to a delayed shipment.

In any event, here’s the original post:

(END EDIT)

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So, UPS has a 2nd Day air shipment that left on Monday and shows that it will be delivered to me on Friday.

I opened a chat with them:

Initial Question: How could it possibly take 4 days to get a 2nd day air shipment?
Riza C.: Hi, this is Riza C.. I'll be happy to assist you.

Riza C.: I have your initial inquiry. I'm sorry if you did not receive your package yet. Let me check the details of the package. One moment please.

Phillip: Great - do you have my tracking number?

Riza C.: Yes, I have you tracking number, thank you.

Phillip: My issue is that I'm a musician, and this shipment is an instrument to be used on New Year's eve. Jan 2 delivery does me no good for another 364 days.

Riza C.: I understand that this package is very important for you. I'm very sorry, as per the label, its shows that your package is guarantee for delivery on Friday 01/02/15 (by End of Day).

Phillip: I was under the impression that it was shipped on Monday 12/29, via 2nd day air. Is that not the case?

Phillip: Or are you telling me that 2nd day air does not mean 2 day service?

Riza C.: I understand, as of this time I am not seeing any specific reason for the delay of this package. Unfortunately the package is still in transit and the package will reach the next destination facility by Friday. I'm truly sorry about this.

Phillip: So what I perceive as a "business contract" to deliver a 2nd day air shipment in 2 business days is really just a suggestion of how long it might take if I'm lucky, not a guarantee?

Riza C.: I understand your frustration. However I can see on our system that your package is schedule for today's delivery, I would suggest to continue to track the package online, as our system tells that your package is coming today.

Phillip: Coming today? That would be great - but my data says Friday?

Phillip: The reason I ask about the company line is that on my online musician's user group we are constantly debating about the best way to ship instruments. I want to be able to warn those thousands of potential customers if the only thing that UPS offers when a 2nd day air shipment is delayed is an apology. IS there a company statement that says if a 2nd day air shipment is delayed, UPS has no responsibility beyond having "tried" to deliver it in that time frame?

Riza C.: I understand that. UPS will make every effort to meet the guarantee delivery date as how it was shipped. As showing on our system your package is schedule for today's delivery, and we will make sure to meet this guarantee before the end of the day today. I know the delivery date has been change and it has alarmed you. Please continue to track the package online.

Phillip: When I go to
http://www.ups.com/content/us/en/shipping/time/service/second_day.html, I see the phrase "Guaranteed second-day delivery". I guess what I'm looking for is a definition of your guarantee terms so that when I post this to the group I have all the facts.

Riza C.: Guarantee delivery, is to deliver the package, following how it was shipped by your shipper. Your package is schedule for delivery today, as long as the package will be delivery today 12/31/14, the package is still under its guarantee delivery date.

Riza C.: I'm truly sorry, I know this package is very important. Please continue to track your package online, this is schedule for today's delivery.

Phillip: Granted, but this whole thing has made me curious about UPS' responsibility and actions if the guaranteed delivery date is not met. IS there a full refund? Partial refund? My shipment shows as being in Orlando - only a few hours away. Would UPS take their guarantee so seriously that they would make a special delivery to me just to uphold the terms, or would they just offer a refund?

Riza C.: If the guaranteed date is not met, you can get in touch with your shipper. The shipper are aware how to process refund for this kind of situation, and we will make sure to work with your shipper, especially if the package was not deliver at it was guaranteed.

Phillip: So there's no specific company policy on how to react if a 2nd day shipment is NOT delivered in 2 days?

Riza C.: This is schedule for delivery today, we cannot assume that this package is not delivered in 2 days.

Riza C.: We will make sure to meet the schedule delivery for your package today. Please continue to track packages online at UPS.com, and use the Request Status Updates feature to request free texts or e-mails with the latest updates. If this package will not be deliver today, please contact your shipper, as they are aware what to process in this cases.

Phillip: Granted, but this is for the user group when I post this transcript there. I did find this info, which implies that the sole responsibility of UPS if a delivery promise is not met is to refund the shipper. In other words, "we'll try to meet our promise, but our penalty for not succeeding is that we don't get paid. UPS has no further responsibilty" Do you agree? ..."In the event UPS fails to attempt delivery within the time published on the UPS website, or as provided when 1-800-PICK-UPS® is called, UPS, at its option, will either credit or refund the transportation charges for each such shipment to the payer only, upon request, provided the conditions set forth in the UPS Service Guarantee are met."

Riza C.: Thank you for the information.

Phillip: BTW, thanks for your help - I know you can't personally get my package to me...this has moved to discussion of can we trust a shipper to do what they promise, and if the promise is not met -how badly does that affect the shipping company.

Riza C.: I understand your frustration. However we cannot assume that the promise for this package has not yet met, as we have until the end of the day today to deliver this package. I'm very sorry if you feel that your package is not going to be deliver today, as the delivery date has been change. Because of the holiday, we might have some system glitch, however guarantee delivery date is guarantee and UPS is aware about this. Please continue to track the package online.

Phillip: Do they just say "sorry, have your shipper apply for a refund" and consider it the norm of their business, or do they say"wow, we promised 2 day service - how can we go out of out way to help?" I assume it would depend on how often the promise is not met - if it's rare then UPS could afford to treat promise failures as a special event, if it's common then UPS would indeed have to limit their response to a refund.

Riza C.: I understand, however your package is not delayed, it wont qualified for a refund, unless this will not be deliver today.

Phillip: I note that you keep referring back to my package delivery. While this is how the conversation started, I'm now gathering info to post to my user group. Should I open another conversation with a representative that has noting to do with my specific package, but is instead about UPS response in general to delayed guaranteed packages??

Riza C.: Your package is not yet delayed.

Riza C.: Do you have any other questions?

Phillip: Correct. I ask again - referring to the next package I or any of my contacts might send: "What happens if the delivery guarantee is not upheld?"

Riza C.: You are free to contact us back so we can check further reason for the delay, and just to give you a heads up, only the shipper or the payer of the package can process a refund.

Riza C.: Do you have any other questions before we conclude our chat?

Phillip: No I'm OK, apparently you don't want to respond to my direct question. If you wish to follow the discussion about out discussion, it will be posted at http://www.talkbass.com/threads/ups-response-to-delayed-shipment.1124673/ Have a great New Years! And wish me luck on getting my shipment today!

Riza C.: I am sorry, if this is the response you expected. Thanks for contacting us. Bye now.

Phillip: BYe!

 

What I left out is that a text from UPS to tell me that they had rescheduled my delivery is what started the whole conversation:




That was the info she started with - but halfway thru the conversation she reversed herself to say that it's not late - yet. So let's not worry about what we told you...

So her reply was essentially "We told you it's going to be late, but don't fuss at me right now, because it's not late until it's late" Her Mantra became "Contact us when it's actually late...till then, we haven't broken our promise"

I agree on the 2nd comment you made - the shipper is indeed the customer. And to be honest with you, it's no biggie not to get the bass. I didn't even pay for the expedited shipping, so a refund wouldn't come to me regardless.

Anyway, once I figured out that all she was going to do is deflect my concerns with a "we haven't broken our promise - yet" set of answers, I tried to steer the converstion into a discussion that I thought that info might be helpful for us all, a "doesn't UPS care if they don't honor their contract?" discussion.

In my business, we are concerned when we make a promise and don't follow thru. But I guess UPS is such a big business with so many individual transactions that they don't sweat individual broken promises.

 

Totally understood - and when I said "BTW, thanks for your help - I know you can't personally get my package to me...". and d "Have a great New Years! And wish me luck on getting my shipment today!" I really meant it - I wasn't being sarcastic!

I probable should indeed have opened another chat with a different rep to find out the info I was curious about , so that wanting to know what the guarantee actually meant didn't come across am me being a "dick" about not getting the package.

Because in truth, the shipper surprised me by shipping via 2 day, and the only real reason I expected delivery today was because of the UPS "guarantee"

 

I "liked" this comment BTW.

 

Interesting development from 2 minutes ago:


So did the squeaky wheel get greased?

 

And to defend Riza, I think her her biggest problem was that they put her out on the front line without empowering her to do anything except follow a script.

So (unless I'm wrong about my interactions with UPS in the past!) if a customer has a legit complaint, her sum total of actions in her toolbag was to apologize and try to placate the customer. She really can't do anything to help, but still has to listen to people's frustrations.

On the other hand, my delivery date did change after I started talking to her... so maybe she did send somebody an instant message while we were chatting and say "I've got a customer with a problem. Can you help?" and then someone on the other end actually helped.

That's the way we would do it at my day job. But we are not a behemoth like UPS, so we can still offer a personal touch.

 

Phillip: My issue is that I'm a musician, and this shipment is an instrument to be used on New Year's eve. Jan 2 delivery does me no good for another 364 days.
Phillip B said: ↑
Because in truth, the shipper surprised me by shipping via 2 day, and the only real reason I expected delivery today was because of the UPS "guarantee"

I see no issue with that. I didn't expect it to begin with, but once UPS set an expectation for me, my plans for using the instrument changed based on their promise.


What I was saying is that if they had not "guaranteed it to me on Wednesday" it would not have entered my mind to expect to use it Wednesday night. But once they did, I made plans...

 

BTW, I think what really riled me up is the impersonality of the customer service response. Parroting the same phrase over and over to me means that I am not important enough even to craft an individual message.

If I had asked:

"Is the the sum total of UPS' responsibility if a guaranteed shipment is not there on time just an apology and a refund?"

And had gotten this reply:

"Oh, no - an apology and a refund is our last resort. Even as we speak I have contacted the expediter at the Orlando facility to have him track down your package, and he will explore every possibility of getting it to you when we promised. Now I suspect that he will not be successful, and your package will not arrive until Friday, but rest assured - you are important to us, and we will do everything we can to get you the package when we promised"

That whole statement could all be a huge lie, but I would have been thrilled to hear it..

 

I wasn't really looking for the legal definition - I had already quoted that to her.

What I wanted to get was a feel for "did UPS really care if a guaranteed shipment was delayed, or did they see it as a normal course of business? (as an example with imaginary numbers - UPS knows that .0002% of guaranteed shipments will be late. Changing that to .0001% will cost $2M. Offering refunds and company-line apologies only costs $65K per year, and result in a loss of customers in the .000001% range. Therefore UPS is OK with .0002% of guaranteed shipments being late)

I suspect part of the issue is that UPS sees things in gross business term like that.. whereas people that are receiving shipments have a much more personal investment, and resent being treated like a number!

As I said in my earlier post, I think having their customer service people be more touchy-feely and less "parrot the company line" would go a long way towards bridging that gap.