CBS 5 Investigates With Anna Werner

(CBS 5)
Dave newman found our story online and sent us his own:

I came across your story on searching for UPS claim denials on Google. My wife and I visited a friend out in New Orleans, and on our last day there we bought an end table that is now pretty much a one-of-a-kind item because the local furniture shop quit making it.

Our friends were glad to take it in to have it properly packed and shipped for us. They took it to a place called Pack N' Ship N' More in Covington, LA where they live.

The told the store owner how they'd like to have it properly packed so it gets to the destination (me) without any damage. The store owner gladly took payment and said he'd be sure it was packed well, and that the legs were all secured.

I received the package just last week and it is almost un-salvageable. UPS already sent the claim denial back to this store owner (Robert) And he refuses to give a refund of any kind, nor will UPS talk to us because he is the said "owner" of the package. Of course this guys business isn't even registered with the BBB!

Hence from now on I will always be sure to pack my own items, and simply take it in to have it shipped!

Dave Newman


Patti Robinson sent us this story from Santa Clara:

I am in the midst of a 7 month battle with the UPS about a TV that was packed and shipped by a UPS Store in New York. The TV arrived damaged and I received the same shocking news as the woman in Walnut Creek, I have no rights and standing to deal with UPS claims, on the UPS Store that shipped my TV. The UPS Store owner, Sylvester has been completely noncooperative and I had to get the Mailboxes Etc. Customer Service Department (the true owners of The UPS Store) involved, with little result.

I was told that I, the non-owner, shipper or claimant, was responsible for procuring an estimate for repair of a 50" television. When I battled to no available, I finally capitulated and had a technician from the Geek Squad come out who declared the TV as not able to repair. I submitted that to the UPS store, they did submit to the UPS Claims department auditors, Crawford Auditors and they are stating that they will be paying $517.93 of the $2600 claim submitted by the UPS Store.

This is ridiculous, and a complete and utter outrage. What recourse do we have as consumers to get UPS to stop passing the buck and hiding behind this veil of 3rd Party shippers and step up to the plate and take responsibility.

I am fed up and ready to take whatever action that is available. Sick and tired of the run around in Santa Clara - Patti Robinson


John Carag sent us this story from San Leandro:

My UPS nightmare:

I sold an automotive transmission to a guy in North Carolina. On Oct. 13th, I decided to try UPS here in Washington St. in San Leandro. I handed them the item that was strapped onto a pallet and shrink wrapped tightly. But before doing so, I somewhat "torture tested" my packaging, and it seem to be ready for some normal tumbling here and there. They went head and took it in, billed me and then, they tell me that if it is damaged, most likely, UPS won't honor the claim for reimbursement, due to insufficient packaging. But my question was, why would you take it in anyway? You should have told me that before you took my money.

On the 20th, I received a call from my buyer, frustrated that he received a very badly mishandled package, from what he described to me, it seem to have been dragged around while being upside down, I mean an idiot would notice if something was on a pallet, maybe the pallet would be the bottom, right?

So, now, the buyer refused the package and sent it back to me, I recently picked it up from the location where I dropped it off at. And as described by my seller, that's exactly how it looked like. It was as if I hired a bunch of chimpanzees to ship something for me, instead of this big, reliable, well established shipping company called UPS. The transmission can take a lot of abuse, as it is found underneath a car when it is in use, but for it to look how it did, it would've taken a lot of effort to inflict the damage. that and a lack of sense on what your job is all about- handling packages and making sure they get where they need to. In one piece.

John Carag
San Leandro,Ca


Kevin sent us his experience with UPS:

In regards to the Investigative report on UPS shipping broken goods and
refusing to honor their 'insurance' claims...

I had this exact situation happen to me when I sent my sister a Christmas present way back in December 1999 from a Mail Boxes, Etc., which was connected with a gift store inside the same facility. I bought a set of dishes at one counter, then turned around to the shipping counter where the same employees packed the dishes for me. I paid for insurance and it was shipped UPS.

UPS dumped the box on my sister's doorstep with completely shattered plates inside. It was so obvious something was wrong because the pieces were rattling and the dishes were so broken, that porcelain SAND was leaking out of the side of the package!

I fought with UPS for 2 months while they persistently denied the insurance claim and never paid it.

Kevin


JB sent us this story from San Jose:

Those YouTube videos speak volumes for the type of "service" UPS provides. Case in point: UPS freight truck pulls into our delivery yard to drop off some heavy-gauge, steel mesh storage lockers. The wire that makes up the mesh is about 3/16" in diameter and the lockers are welded together to stand about six feet tall by two feet by two feet, so these aren't exactly light duty. They're designed to hold heavy tools and other construction-related gear.

As the driver moves the load to the edge of his truck, he shows us some damage done during shipping. On the side we notice one locker had a fist-sized hole punched in it. The other easily-noticeable damage is on one of the doors, which is bent and crushed beyond repair. The driver's suggestion was that we take it as-is and just order a new door from the manufacturer and replace it. Fine. And that would be a good suggestion provided we have the time and resources to spend repairing a brand new storage locker that we paid thousands of dollars for. Never mind the hole in the side. He was adamant about the ease of repair (being that he's an expert at repairing items he's damaged, I'm assuming) and seemed bothered at the notion of having us refuse the delivery, which we did.

My question to UPS: if your drivers realize they've damaged something, why do they bother trying to push it off on the customer instead of calling the customer and explaining there was a problem? They waste time and fuel shipping obvious damaged goods instead of doing the responsible thing. But wait…are we NOT the customer since we didn't ship the item? What does that make us? Isn't anyone that is serviced a customer? UPS should really rethink their policies.

JB in San Jose


Hanson spotted the story online and sent us this from Massachusetts:

Hey I noticed your story when visiting the United Parcel smashers dot com blog, I operate one of those independent store and I agree with you that UPS job is to decline all liabilities, this is typical of all carriers I deal with. The reason why I am emailing you is to share a recent experience that we have with FedEx, we operate an Authorize shipping center for FedEx in MA and we shipped an aquarium for one of our customers, we packaged it well, shipped it via FedEx Home delivery from MA to NY less than 300 Miles away! Customer wanted to insure it to recover at least his cost of $400.00. We are take photos of all shipments leaving our shop. The following day the recipient called very upset that FedEx Managed to break the aquarium. They refused to talk to recipient and directed him to us. We filed a claim right away and sent photos of shipment: the before and after shots. I still don't understand how they managed to damage this aquarium, it was double packaged in two boxes and surrounded with foam. Three weeks later we received a denial letter stating it was not packaged well. We argued the point and referred the claim rep to review the photos. A week later we receive a check for $100.00, we thought that it was an error and were shocked to hear that FedEx stated they are only responsible for $100.00 of coverage on all glass shipment and they referred me to their 55+ tariff policy booklet!

What they did is unethical! They love to take insurance premiums and they push customers around. They accepted payment of the $400.00 of coverage, admitted damage of shipment but not willing to do the right thing by the customer. We escalated to FedEx President desk who simply blamed us for shipping the parcel!

We cut a check for our customer, we wrote off the entire transaction and refunded, shipping and packaging fees out of our own account. This was the moral and ethical thing to do.

These big companies hide behind their tariffs that nobody reads and if they do, the co has the right to change their policies anytime and without notice.

I appreciate the fact that you educated your audience about these issues, this is the season to remind them to ship carefully and tell them to be aware!

Regards,
Hanson - MA


Keith Headman sent us his thoughts from San Francisco:

Anna, I just wanted to send a note to let you know that I was disappointed with the presentation of your story on the damaged package. While I fully understand the woman's frustration and concern with the items getting broken and also how it was handled, that is not typical of how things are handled in THE UPS Store environment.
While you were accurately portraying her specific experience I don't feel you went far enough in explaining there are significant differences in where you choose to pack and ship your parcels. I know that you have received answers to your questions from Corporate UPS and they have explained such things as our "Pack and Ship Promise" but it also goes a bit further. We are required to pack to a certain standard and that is why we can make those promises.

It was obvious from the photos you showed that the package was very poorly packed and that is why the items were damaged. I feel bad for the woman involved because she definitely did get the run around from that store. When we ship a package for a customer we give them the tracking number and our phone number and advise them to call us if there are any problems as we will act as their advocate in any dealings with UPS. We will file and follow up on any claims necessary and we will keep them informed at all times.

There is a dedicated staff to assist all UPS Stores with investigations and claims and we have all the necessary information to assist our customer.
One final point, and I admit this may be a misperception on my part, when you stated that The UPS Stores were not even a part of UPS but were in fact individually owned businesses, it appeared as though you were saying that was a negative instead of a plus. As an independent business owner I take great pride in the customer service we provide and in fact it is this level of service that helps make our business grow. We have been told time and time again that people much prefer dealing with a small family run business as opposed to dealing with large company owned locations.

I appreciate your willingness to take on stories and help people get resolution to their issues, I would just ask that you might look a little deeper as there is frequently more than just that which was reported. I appreciate your time and your professional effort.

Keith Headman,
Owner, UPS Store #5182
1559B Sloat Blvd., San Francisco 94132


Elisabeth Moore sent us this story from Los Gatos:

Hi there,

I almost cried last night while watching your "Damaged Goods: The Truth Behind Your Package Deals". I am in the same exact situation as this lady in Walnut Creek. I shipped an appliance to Florida for servicing via the UPS store in Los Gatos. The package was fine when I dropped it off 9/11/08, I had followed the UPS guidelines. An employee and the owner of the store were both present when I dropped off my package. I told them that this was a fragile unit worth $1,000 , that it was been sent in for service and could not be replaced. (This unit is no longer been sold in the U.S) I explained how I had packaged it inside, in details, to both of them. Then I told them that I needed to insure it for $1,000 the value of the unit. I paid $50 to ship this package to Florida ground and insured.

The package delivery was delayed due to weather conditions in Florida but when it got to the receiver he called to tell me that it was damaged. I was told to initiate a claim with UPS via an 800 number. By the time the package made it back to the UPS store the claim was denied due to "Insufficient packaging". I was called by the store and told to pick up my package. When I got it home and opened the package, there was about 75% of the bubble wrap missing. That resulted in motor damage since it only had one piece of bubble wrap under the unit and another on top. I have pictures of all this. I sent a letter dispute the denial by certified mail (with receipt, which I have) to Atlanta Georgia, the headquarters for UPS.

I got a call on 10/21 from Shawn at UPS Headquarters telling me that the "store " would file the dispute on my behalf, that he was in charge of making sure that the store was doing what it is supposed to do. He said if I did not hear from the store within 10 days to give him a call which I did on 11/5. He called (as he called it "MBE" which stands for Mail Boxes etc") and said that all the store needed now is an invoice for the unit. He suggested I fax the invoice to the store which I did that morning.

What is next? I do not know and I am greatly concerned. I have been very patient with this matter but I was told the same nonsense that Ms Garay was told. Her situation fits mine to a "t" and we are not alone, there are many others on the internet. This insurance is a fraud, they do not intend to pay on claims. So why insure? Not only did I lose my appliance which is now broken but I also had the privilege to give them $50 to do it.

I quickly started realizing that there was some sort of conspiracy between The store and UPS and that they were passing responsibilities from one to the other. I got no support what so ever from the owner of the store from the comments he was making, that is why I decided to send the denial to Atlanta myself.

I would appreciate hearing what your team might suggest. What should folks like us who are stuck in a situation like this do?

I have documented absolutely everything related to this case.

Thank you so much for exposing this type of problem.

A faithful viewer
Elisabeth Moore


Megan Jones-Smith sent us this story from San Francisco:

Dear CBS5,

After seeing your report on UPS and their attitude towards shipping damages, I just had to write . I had the experience two years ago where I shipped a box through a UPS 'authorized' outlet, I purchased insurance, the box was lost, the items inside were damaged by UPS (which they claimed were necessary to confirm that the contents were mine after the box was found), and they still denied my damage claim. Why? The reasons were many. First, it was that I shipped from Canada to San Francisco, so Canadian UPS claimed it was the US's responsibility and vice-versa. Then it was that the damage didn't actually occur in shipping (that they deliberately caused the damage was of no consequence). Then it was that the items were 'antiques' (they were used items, which I listed on the customs form as they were not new goods). And then? Because too much time had passed since the box was shipped (it took them almost a month to find it once it was lost in transit). In the end, I had to pay $80 out of my own pocket to repair the damages. And I will never ship UPS again.

I am still not sure if I was reassured or disappointed to see your story, to see that I am not alone in my frustrations with this company.

Best, Megan Jones-Smith


Khushru Wadia and Melinda Tran sent us this story from San Francisco:

Hello,
My wife and I moved to San Francisco from Ohio 2.5 years ago. We had done some travelling through the years and bought all kinds of crockery from overseas. We had a large number of le creuset cast iron cook ware and some beautiful dishes, cups and plates that we had been saving for years to bring with us to San Francisco when we finally moved. Two and a half years ago, we made this decision to move. My wife packed all our beautiful things in bubble wrap as well as in layers of newspaper, wrote fragile on the boxes and took them to a UPS store in Reynoldsburg Ohio to ship them out to us here in SF. We drove out here and waited for our stuff to arrive. I saw the UPS man unloading our boxes from his truck and he threw each and every one of them out of his truck in spite of them saying "fragile" on them. The boxes looked like they had gone through a hurricane. They were all smashed and I expected the worst. UPS broke each and every thing we owned. Every plate, every cup, every bowl, every serving dish. They dented all our le creuset pots so bad that they were unusable. They had smashed them so hard that the ceramic lining on them had disintegrated to powder, rendering them totally unusable. All our beautiful stuff from Italy and other countries was in pieces. We tried to save the bigger pieces and threw the smaller pieces in the trash. They demanded we dig it out and I had to dig my stuff out of a filthy trash can and ship it to them so they could investigate. They refused to discuss it with me as we had gone to a UPS store. I threw so much of the broken stuff away, it was just impossible to save it. After breaking all our precious stuff, they made us pack the pieces of our misery into boxes and send it back to them like we were some gold digging liars. We lost thousands of dollars because of UPS. They were rude to us. My wife cried for days…we had put so much love and time into selecting our kitchenware with the hope of someday owning a house and having it in our kitchen. They determined that all our stuff breaking was our fault. They said we had not packed it right in spite of there being a thick layer of bubble wrap and newspaper. They refused to pay us a dime for all our beautiful stuff which I had to undervalue when I made my claim because I threw so much of it away…it was in pieces and crushed to a powder. We really lost thousands of dollars and more than that. As we had no jobs when we moved here, we were in no financial state to sue. We just had to accept our fate as victims of a corrupt organization that realized we were the little fish they could stomp on and they did this and got away with it. I wish I knew that we could have turned to you. Some weeks ago, I found the receipts still on our refrigerator. It brought tears to my eyes and I threw them away in a fit of rage. UPS took away years of hard work in a flash and were so cold hearted that they refused to give us a dime for the pain and suffering they caused us. They told us it was our fault. We didn't pack it right supposedly and didn't buy insurance. I trusted them to take care of my stuff, did I have to buy insurance? We didn't know we had to . You break my stuff and refuse to pay me because I didn't buy insurance? Didn't I trust you for a service? How can this be right? How can they get away with something like this? I know it's too late for us. We have no proof anymore but I can tell you from the bottom of my heart that every time I think of those days that we would go down to the basement of our home in Ohio where we stored all our beautiful stuff to look at it and gloat and dream of things to come, it brings tears to my eyes. Can't someone punish UPS for their cold and callous and totally unprofessional treatment of a customer whose money they took for a service and then a whole lot more money in our beautiful lost items and even more importantly, they took away a chunk of our dreams. Please help if you can but if you can't, at least let them know that they did us wrong because they never acknowledged any wrong and nor did they ever apologize. Thanks for hearing me out.

Best regards,
Khushru Wadia and Melinda Tran

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