UPS – Utterly Pathetic Service

Ages back, I ordered a cool thing from the US. I knew it would take some time (it was backed through Indiegogo) so that wasn’t a worry.

About six weeks ago, I got notification that it was finally pretty much ready for sending out.  I made sure they had my new address and so on, and was told when it had been sent out, although they didn’t let me have a tracking number, which was a problem.

Sadly, it was sent by UPS. Who are, in my experience, utterly fucking useless at least 90% of the time. And this was no different to usual.

Because it was coming in from the US (and emphatically Not Cheap) I knew it would get held up at Customs etc., and that was expected and fine. (Well, not fine, but… just the way it is)

What was not expected was that UPS would take three weeks (Three. Fucking. Weeks!) to send me the invoice for the VAT that was due to be paid. With no notifications, not even a “we tried to deliver, please contact us” card.  Maybe I’m meant to be telepathic and to Just Know when things are wrong/waiting.

Allegedly they tried to deliver the parcel (which is a noteworthy achievement, considering it was being held by Customs/UK Border Force until the VAT was paid) but considering I was working from home and no card was left etc. (and the delivery man agreed that he hadn’t been here before, when it finally did arrive) so we know that as well as being fucking incompetent, they’re also useless bastard liars.

Anyway, it all got sorted out in the end – although not with any help at all from UPS, despite contacts from both the sender and myself to ask what the hell was going on, and why they were being so useless. All those messages went into a black hole of incompetence, never to be responded to again.

Thankfully though, despite the length of time it took to get the invoice, I did finally get the thing this week, and I’m pleased with it.

But again, dealing with UPS has been an absolute ball-ache. And now, because it’s finally been delivered, any customer service effort ends at “But you’ve received your package, so everything’s OK”.  Ignoring completely the fact that it eventually took more than a month from being despatched to being delivered. Apparently that’s fine, and I should probably just be happy that it finally arrived. Nothing else matters.

So, in conclusion, yet again UPS are shite, and I wouldn’t ever give them money for anything.