UPS UPS Freight shipping, UPS, inflated prices Atlanta, Georgia

The small business that I work for in Florida recently purchased a very large item from a seller in Michigan who put us in charge of the shipping. The seller estimated the weight and size of the shipment for me and I called UPS to set up shipment--the first of several calls that went nowhere.

I had never set up a shipment from another location to come to me, but before I could barely explain, I was told to go to the UPS website, and that was just about all the person was willing to tell me. So I did, and ended up setting up a ground shipment that, of course, wouldn't work because the package was way too big. That was my mistake, I admit, but I had no idea I had another option AND the website form let me put in that the package weighed 200lbs with no qualms.

So I then found out I needed to ship freight. This was new to me and I didn't want to make any further mistakes, so I called UPS Freight. Again, go to the website, they said. So I do that. Then I decided I still needed to call someone. On my third try I actually spoke with a very helpful woman who took my information and actually listened when I said, "I've never shipped freight before nor have I ever shipped TO my location." She set up delivery and gave me a quote for a little over $300 which I thought was a lot, but I didn't complain--I was just happy to be finally on the road to getting my shipment. I asked her if I needed to do anything else because I was wholely in charge of this shipment and the people at the shipping address were not involved beyond putting the thing in a box. She assured me she had everything taken care of and the driver would just have the shipper sign.

The next day I get a call from the shipper--UPS freight came, but wouldn't take the box because he (the shipper) had no paperwork. NO ONE SAID ANYTHING ABOUT PAPERWORK. I called UPS Freight again and, you guessed it, they told me to go to the website. This time it made sense because I needed paperwork, but the person on the phone rushed me off. I printed out what I neded and started to fill it out, but I was unsure what I had to declare on the paperwork exactly--there were numerous fill in boxes for hazardous materials and so forth and I didn't want to miss anything vital. So AGAIN I called UPS Freight. I told them I was filling out their "Bill of Lading" and needed some help because I wanted to make sure I was doing this correctly and to their standards. The person on the phone simply said "put the addresses on it" and that was about it. I told her I had been given a quote, but she insisted the addresses were all I needed. After doing this and checking "COD" which no one explained, but I figured out on my own, I faxed this paperwork to the shipper. It finally shipped.

A few days later I got a voicemail from UPS that I had missed my delivery and I needed to call them to set up another one and I would need to pay $765 upon delivery. I thought I must have heard wrong, called them right back. I spoke with someone who told me there was a $40 notification fee and $90 redelivery fee for missing the delivery which I had an issue with to begin with because our office was open that day and nothing had come. Since 327+40+90 does not equal 765, I asked where the extra fee came from. I knew in my quote that they had given us an "introductory discount" so I figured it hadn't been applied since I couldn't make note on the bill of lading that we had been given that. The person I spoke with told me the package had been reweighed, it was 70lbs heavier, so now it cost me apparently ALMOST DOUBLE. She told me if I had an issue I'd have to call UPS Frieght, and gave me the generic 800 number. I did, spoke with someone who barely spoke English, and said she would put in a complaint for me and that UPS would call me back by 1 o'clock the next day--on their time, of course.

So I waited. At 12:50 the next day I got a call--on time, I suppose. The woman that I was now speaking with was annoyed right off the bat. I imagine her job is not terribly fun, but I started out VERY pleasent with her and basically told her I was upset with how my entire experience had been handled. She retorted with heavy sighs and a very pissy tone that she was "sorry" but I DID miss the delivery and they had it on GPS that the driver was there. I tried explaining politely that I was both in the office that day (one suite of many which they could have mistaken), and that I was really upset by the fact that no one ever helped me when I called and now this price was more than double my quote and wanted to know how that happened without notifying me.

She acted like I was totally out of line, "Well, it was reweighed!" So I got upset and was not very nice right back. I asked her how was I supposed to pay the driver when he showed up to deliver the package more than twice what I was quoted? How was that ethical? I didn't own the company and it wasn't my money to spend. She said, "You JUST told me someone called you about the delivery." I felt like I was speaking with a preteen. I then had to explain again that that was the call that I had missed it--no one EVER called me to set up the initial delivery. She got very quiet, I could here her clicking around on her computer, then said she was sorry and that it must have "slipped through the cracks" that we didn't get the initial call to set up delivery and let us know about the increased price. She then told me her hands were tied and the price was what the price was. And she was basically done with me. Even though THEY messed up and never called me, we were still getting charged the added fees.

The driver came the next day and we shelled out $765 for them to ship a 250lb package from Michigan to Florida. And get this, someone along the line said that without the discount for being a first time user, it would have cost OVER $1000! At least they made SOME of that back by "accidentally" not telling me about the shipment and then charging me an extra $130 dollars to "redeliver" it. Lovely.