Did the shipper also pay the brokerage fee and GST/HST? If they didn’t you would be charged for that.
And for the duty thing to work out they need to process the transaction properly - meaning they have to tell UPS it’s DDP.
I’m curious, does this shipper ship to Canada frequently and always pay for duty/brokerage/gst/hst? Most companies shipping into Canada don’t pay for all of that stuff, it’s definitely the exception, and because it’s complex to get it right, it’s possible it was a shipper screw up, not a UPS screw up (which is not to say UPS can’t screw up, I just know all of the variables up front for this type of arrangement and if it’s not the normal approach it can easily be handled incorrectly).
The shipper told me they frequently ship to Canada and have never had this problem before. They were also quite insistent that they had already paid the charges that UPS had me pay them. I spoke with the shipper several times about this, and sent them copies of the paperwork. I have no way of knowing who really screwed up, but going by the shipper’s professionalism and UPS’s lack of it, the shipper’s surprise at the outcome and UPS’s inability to explain it, and the simplicity of the packing (one item, one box, solid, set weight and value known in advance), I really have a hard time seeing how UPS could be blameless.
Certainly it could be UPS, and they do screw up, but there are lots of ways to get it wrong on the shipper’s side. But the shipper could have called UPS and found the answer, did they try?
Regarding the simplicity of the packing - even a one line order has a base amount of complexity surrounding this type of transaction that is far from trivial. When we mapped out this process (because we pay duty/brokerage/gst/hst also, which is very unusual) - it took us a long time to talk to the accounting and import specialists to arrive at the proper model - that we were sure Canada would interpret the numbers the same as we were presenting them. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if the shipper screwed something up without even knowing it.
For example, is GST applied before or after duty?
Is it ok to call the pre-collected/pre-paid “duty” on the commercial invoice?
Do you include packaging fees in duty?
Are freight charges taxable (as in the UPS charge itself, or is that separate)?
What if you don’t put DDP on the commercial invoice?
etc. etc.
I agree. They seem to live to deliver “delivery notices” instead of packages. They seem to want you to drive across town and wait in line for a hour to get your package at one of their warehouses. And they have their little stores all over town, but it’s $5 to get a package there, which costs them nothing. Fuck that shit.
On my eBay profile it sez “No UPS or FedEX please, just USPS, thank you”.
Well, fine: let’s assume the merchant made the mistake on the financial side regarding customs. In that case, I am only annoyed with UPS for failing to record the numbers of the “missed package” slips, missing their delivery window, breaking the well-wrapped package in the first place, and having to write an honest-to-goodness twentieth-century cheque when I paid them for the no-doubt-fully-justified $20 brokerage fee. ETA: And being unable to communicate clearly about the situation to either me or to the merchant.
Fair enough, and I know I’m getting in the way of your rant, but I know these transactions and it’s unusual for merchants to cover all of those costs and it’s complex to get it right, so I thought your anger on that issue had a good chance of being directed at the wrong party.
I’m mildly curious, does this merchant assume all of those charges on all Canada orders? Or was this maybe a unique situation in which your friends didn’t want you to have to pay the extra fees on delivery and the merchant thought they could take care of them? If the former, probably a UPS prob, if the latter probably a merchant prob.
Once upon a time, I worked for a large multinational corporation in their legal department. A new employee sent me a package with all the docs I needed to prepare his (very time-sensitive) work visa. Except he was kind of clueless, and sent it to my work address, but without including the company name or suite number.
Instead of delivering it to the mailroom at my employer, UPS decided to deliver it, without requiring a signature, to my home address, leaving it in the (not at all secure) vestibule of my apartment building. If I hadn’t seen it lying on the floor when I left for work, the employee would have been fucked; it arrived the night before I was supposed to leave the country for a week and a half.
Of course, if UPS had just delivered it to the damn address it was sent to, it would have been routed appropriately for my backup to handle it.
When I called to yell at UPS, they totally didn’t understand why I was upset.
In this and the OP, how is UPS insuring that the Eva Luna or Trinopus that they looked up in the phone book is the same one that they were contracted to deliver to?
I know people that live in one town, but have a PO box in another. I know people that share names with someone else in the same town.
I would be livid if UPS decided to deliver my package to some random other location, just because a name was shared.
In my case, it’s a pretty sure bet, as I have an unusual name – i.e., if I were “Jim Smith,” it would be much easier to confuse me with someone else with the same name, but (fortunately!) there aren’t many “Arglebargle Mothballsquiresons*” in the phone book…
But, that said… Yeah! What about someone named Jim Smith? How the hell could UPS ever be sure they are delivering to the right one?
(And, as I noted above, UPS used to deliver stuff to my uncle, who has the same last name. Extremely rotten business practice! But I don’t know if they still commit that particular sin.)
Oh man, all the hate is making me sad. We have Hot Keith, the hottest UPS delivery dude…ripped legs and shorts at least 8 months out of the year. Charming personality, sparkling smile. Mmm MMMM MMMMMM that boy cheers up all the (salivating) office ladies just fine. Even stops to chat and wink a bit before he’s off again on his big brown steed. Rowr! Easy tiger.
Wow, I didn’t even notice that the package is addressed to someone across campus. Oh well!
However, it is slightly more than a mere “customer service hiccup.” It is a complaint about a business practice, something they do deliberately, not something they messed up.
If the delivery driver made an error, misread a digit on the address, whatever, I wouldn’t pit the corporation for it. I might pit him. But when they have a specific corporate practice of accepting mail that they cannot deliver as addressed…
Well, it isn’t the end of the world. It’s just the end of my doing business with them.
I think this matters. It’s like google’s intuitive autocomplete. If you’re posting something of low urgency and low importance, the “oh, well, we’ll just take a guess and deliver it there” can be very convenient. But if you’re posting something urgent, or confidential, or dangerous, etc, etc, etc, then it’s disastrous. If that’s not the business they want to be in, fair enough. But it sounds like they’re <i>pretending</i> to be a parcel delivery company, when actually they’re not (assuming “don’t give my confidential mail to a total stranger” is a prerequisite of a basic postal service, not an expensive extra) which is practically fraudulent. I don’t think “you should have known we were incompetant when you hired us, all our customer reviews say so” is a good defense
UPS definitely does things that some people would be outraged by and others would consider great customer service. For example, they brought a package to my ranch during a nasty rainstorm. We weren’t home and the rain was coming down at a steep enough angle to drench anything left on the front porch. The UPS driver checked the side “mud room” door, found it unlocked, and set the package inside. I thought that was fantastic. Others I’ve mentioned it to thought it was out of line.
UPS may have its problems, but both of these statements are false.
Not only can the office send messages to the drivers, but both the regular driver who delivers to my store and the usual fill-in driver have both given me their cellphone numbers so I can call if I have a problem or need a pickup.
Maybe they can, but I have had them claim on numerous occasions that they can not. But you seem to have a business which sends stuff UPS. UPS is very nice to business who SENDS stuff UPS, but is rude and unhelpful as possible to individuals who GET stuff UPS. In other words, UPS may be kissing your ass, but then they piss on us.
I have also had them lie to me about a signature being required at the time of delivery (in other words, the package will NOT be left at your door, even if you sign the notice). No less than three levels at the UPS insisted that the shipper had required this, but when I contacted the seller, he not only said otherwise, he FAXed me the info which showed he had done nothing of the sort. UPS just wanted me to drive over and pick up the package at their warehouse.
