The law of averages has kicked me right in the ass.
I’ve been buying things online for at least 10 years now, and any time I have the choice, I pick UPS for shipping. They’ve been great every single time. I’ve always received my shipments on time, never damaged, and have even been able to switch delivery addresses with no hold up. Until now. Last Sunday (the 9th) I ordered my camera that my parents bought me for Hanukkah/Christmas. I paid for the shipping that guaranteed my camera would be here by Friday (the 14th), and was delighted when the UPS website said it would be delivered on Wednesday. And it was! Buuuuut, I wasn’t home. Apparently in my excitement to order the camera, I forgot to have it shipped to my office address instead of my home address. Usually, the UPS driver will take it to the office of my apartment complex, and I just pick it up from them when I get home. For whatever reason, they chose not to do that this time, and I just got a note saying they’d try to redeliver the next day. So I call UPS and spoke to a wonderful man who was happy to change the delivery address for me, and told me the package would be delivered on Friday, since it takes 1 business day to get an address correction. I was a little sad, but I agreed that Friday would be just fine.
So all day Friday I’m chomping at the bit, waiting for the UPS guy to arrive. And he does! And he has an Amazon box! I can hardly contain myself! I start to rip into the box, and notice that it’s not addressed to me. Disappointment creeps in. I ask the driver if he has anything else, but sadly he does not. So I call UPS (who’s website says my package is out for delivery) and ask them when it’ll be here. The woman says she shows that it’s still coming, and that it’s probably just on a different truck because of the address change. Ok fine, I can deal with that. So I wait. And wait more. And more. And it doesn’t come. So I call UPS again, and they say I can pick it up at their hub between 8 and 9. Great. Now I have to drive 25 miles out of my way, but at least I’ll get my camera, right? Oh guess again, my friends. I sat there for TWO HOURS while they looked for it.
Final answer? “We can’t find it.”
It wasn’t on the truck that delivers to my apartment complex. It wasn’t on the truck that delivers to work. It’s not at the hub. They’ve lost my package. But the supervisor promises to call me the next day (Saturday) with some sort of update. Perhaps it got on a different driver’s truck, and that driver hasn’t returned yet. Not a whole lot I can do about it at that point, so I leave. Does he call Saturday? Nope! So I call them, and I’m told that they can’t connect me directly with the customer center in Ontario (umm why the hell not?) but they’ll get Ontario the message and someone will call me within an hour. You can see where this is going, right? No one calls, and when I call back three hours later, I’m told no one will call me until Monday. Can I tell you how furious this makes me? All I want is a status. I want someone to say “Hey, we still don’t know where exactly your package is, but we’re working on it” or some customer pleasing bullshit like that. I don’t want to be told someone will call me, and then have to continually chase down that person, just to be brushed off.
It is now Monday, and the UPS website still says I’m picking up the package at Will Call last Friday. I tried calling again, and got the “someone will call you in an hour” deal. This time, I’m not holding my breath.
**UPDATE: It’s here! My camera magically appeared on a UPS truck and has been delivered to my office! Not so surprisingly, no one from UPS has returned my calls. Law of averages says this was bound to happen sometime, so I’m not giving up hope on UPS altogether. But I’ll be wary of them for a while longer.