UPS Sucks. I hope they all shrivel up and die.
Not sure if many of you are aware of the sneaky underhanded tactics that UPS uses to extort money out of people, I thought I’d share a little bit from my experience. UPS for one, seems to be no better than ANY of the alternatives Purolator, Fedex, Canada Post, United States Postal Service etc. However they will cost you almost THREE FOLD MORE if your sending a package out of country. However this isn’t fees to the shipper, these are fees passed on through UPS’s own “brokerage center”. Let me explain…
My wife had bought a tiny miniature Yule tree from some place in the United states, we paid 25 dollars for it including shipping which was fine. We received it, just fine. However many months later I get this envelope from UPS stating I owe them $30USD for brokerage fees. I called up UPS who stated that since they had to carry it across the border they have to charge fees to do so.
I’ve sent and received a LOT of packages to and from the United States, and at no time was I ever charged any outrageous fee such as this. Keep in mind this is NOT a customs fee, it’s NOT being paid to the govt of Canada for taxes and levies. It’s a fee solely made up by UPS to gouge money out of unsuspecting people. I now boycott all places that ship UPS exclusively as they are horrendous and I really hope they are the first courier to shut down due to the failing US economy.
The amount of time I spent fighting this fee was insane, but I refused to pay it, nor should I have to pay it. I made no agreement that I’d pay any fees, they give you no prior notice that you’ll be charged this fee and they don’t tell you when they deliver it so you can refuse to accept it. I even told their representatives that they can come take the item back.
They eventually gave me the credit, but this by no means absolves UPS of it’s practices. They screw over a lot of people, people who probably would pay the fee instead of fighting it or letting it go to collections. I really don’t care if UPS adds fees to my credit, I’ll just attach a letter stating how they tried to scam me out of the fee. I’m not the only one to complain about this either:
http://www.rossde.com/UPS_sucks/index.html
http://reviews.ebay.ca/UPS-sucks-about-shipping-to-Canada_W0QQugidZ10000000004423543
http://www.reverendcolin.com/UPSSucks.html
http://www.holycow.com/joe/archives/2005/11/24/ups-sucks/
Or simply Google ‘UPS Sucks‘.
Congratulations United States Parcel Service, you’re now on my shitlist.
Just had a large box delivered today from Canada to myself in California. I had paid all my shipping. UPS shows up and says pay up sucker, $31 dollars for “Brokers Fee” or you don’t get your package. I had to pay.
I’m writing a letter to Obama and UPS. What did you do to get your credit, despite the amount of time and effort it took?
Hey Matt,
To receive credit I had to call them several times, insisting that I was NOT informed in any way that there would be charges for the recipient (me) and that I found it only fair that I not have to pay the fees. After dealing with three or four agents I convinced them that it was not fair that I pay the fees this time since I didn’t know, but all fees afterwards would be valid. Eventually they agreed and credited me (this took two calls alone, as I got another invoice a month later).
I would expect the second charges to be valid, but luckily I don’t ever intend to ever use them twice.
Hope this information helps, be sure to check back here when your issue has been resolved (one way or another). I’d like to know how it works out for you.
-Jon
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