I did get a call from them yesterday (Indian guy, dot not feather) regarding the lost package. This is their first contact initiated by them 2.5 weeks after the package went missing.

There was absolutely no point to the call, apparently besides letting me know they are looking for it (can take 2-8days lol), and to apologize (only after going off on the guy about situation), but I only deduced this later. The guy just asked if it was my package, and I think I told him more about what was going on than he himself knew.

Ridiculous. Why even call without information, course of action, or offering a refund?

wish I could have, my company is kind enough to let me use a company vehicle while my Miata awaits its part. Long trips in company vehicles are NOT advised as my boss said.

Last year they lent out one of our trucks to an employee, and he proceeded to put over 800 miles on it in a weekend. Plus he used the company gas card to fill it.

O.K.? I'm not sure if you and UPS have some sort of ------------ agreement with each other, but lots of people have had nothing but headaches and bad experiences with them. And by lots I'm not being so naive as to only use this thread as an example, I'm talking about all of the parts suppliers I deal with as well as the company I work for. Everyone I know is anti-UPS because they're fucking stoopud and it's shit like this that just reinforces everyone's view on them.

Just giving my experience and that of others I know locally who use UPS. I must have an area with competent people, and just get lucky or something.

I'm with NA6C... I have shipped well over 50 packages with automotive parts exclusively via UPS and have had NO problems out of them. I usually package everything myself and conduct a 'shake and drop' test. If I hear anything, I open it up and repackage.

My complaints, as a Canadian, would primarily be of the stupid brokerage fee type. I bought my turbo kit off someone on this site and the duty ups wanted was approx 95% of the claimed value due to an error in package labeling in their system.

They have otherwise been decent, I have had mildly damaged items which were labeled fragile but you can't expect someone, being paid to transport something safely for you, to read the labels. UPS Charged $30 for shipping for a 5lb item 100km away and it took 3 days. I would've picked it up but that wasn't an option at the time.

My dad was once charged $80 in duty on $30 of accessories (those little fender circle thingies, 1 for each cylinder) for his Buick.

USPS has been typically cheaper, all in, and a bit quicker.

Damn, I need to move to the States then. Any sort of UPS garbage incoming or within Canada is unreliable as shit. I just think that it's bullshit that UPS was the option at hand and they managed to fuck up a simple task such as filling out paperwork. Oh, and NA6C, the people who did the paperwork were in the States, so I guess your area is singled-out a bit. I mean, who can't copy a consignee name properly or follow very specific instructions?

I say fuck UPS, too.

I buy a lot online, and I always have one condition.. Send it by USPS, or no deal.

Those fuckers come to your door with a piece of paper and shamelessly collect about $100 from you for some form.
Then you go to their bullshit warehouse, where they milk another $100 from you just to show you what you have received.
Actually picking up your package costs you maybe another $50, which is - get this - storage fee!
Go with USPS, and your package comes to your door.
If it's large/heavy/expensive, you go to the main office, pay them $2, and pick it up.
The only extra you may have to pay would be the 18% VAT over a certain limit.

I live in Istanbul, and have to buy almost everything online for my Miata.
(brake pads at the dealer cost about $240 here. I can get them for... well you guys know what you pay for pads, right..)

But yes.. Fuck UPS.
Fucking highway robbers.
I certainly hope they go tits up. Soon.

Ugh, I always see fuck UPS rants on every forum I've been a part of. It boggles my mind that they can stay in business like this. I guess you can't do anything else but use them most of the time.

I've got a couple stories from dealing with them.
They delivered a package to the back yard of an abandoned warehouse 3 houses away from mine.
They bent a 27mm solid sway bar in half.
There were boot prints on top of the fragile stickers on a set of race seats.
The guy that used to deliver to my area used to always drive by my place and not stop and then my tracking would update that I wasn't home.
If it had rained my packages would always be soaked.

On the other hand everything I have been shipped and shipped by USPS has been flawless. The tranist times are about half what UPS's are.

UPS stays in business because they have software/support/etc that integrates well with businesses large and small. have you ever used the USPS software? its fucking HORRENDOUS. if i had to ship with that crap all day long i would be pissed. i worked in shipping for several years using UPS worldship everyday, it works great IMO. they even came in and set up a script that pulled addresses in automatically, straight out of our sales order database. streamlining/cost reduction is the most important part for most businesses, USPS hasnt figured it out yet.

One also has to take into account how much more stuff UPS moves on the ground. FedEx wins in the air, but UPS absolutely dominates package moving on the ground. When you move 4 or 5 times the stuff FedEx does, you're sure to have quite a few more problems. Not saying it's an excuse, but it's just a fact.

Jesus... I can't believe so many of you have had problems with UPS. I don't like USPS as they charged me $3 extra to get tracking information on a package I was sending because the person buying wanted it shipped through them. Now I only ship UPS and tell the buyer that. If they don't like it, they don't get to purchase the item... Plus UPS is always open and convienant in my area. USPS doesn't have a drop-off here and they close DURING lunch! WTF is that about!? And yes, this is the actual full post office that closes, not just some off-branch. :facepalm:

thats why I prefer FedEx. Plust the drop things off on saturday.

With UPS if that is the only option you are offered and you want to try to mitigate their BS you have to inform them ahead of time that you want to broker the shipment yourself. Many of you probably have heard this, but I have friends that done this and its a night and day difference in fees. However you are put out by having to complete your own documentation and having to meet with customs.

However, my personally favourite option is to use a service like:
http://www.cbiusa.com/Services_02.htm

They charge around $5 US to store your package (no limit in the time) until you drive down and pickup. They are litterally just across the bridge for you Ontario guys. The other benefit of this option is that you can get the free shipping option with a lot of ebay purchases.

This!

I use www.freeportforwarding.com. 5$ for a pallet and 2$ for box. Plus you can forget that you have some boxes in your car when you cross the border, or have receipts with wrong value.

But yeah UPS is total shit. I remember when I had to pay the broker fee for my (50$) clutch line and the seller marked it as a 200$ value. Good memory

Another win for UPS (and Amazon). Ordered my Bosch 15730 O2 sensor early AM hours on the 26th, and now it's the 27th and I have the sensor in my hand, no issues on either front. $4 standard 3-5 day shipping and I get it in only one day from the time I placed the order. Win!