Why Doesn't Anything Arrive Perfect Anymore?

[Dougster]

I know I'm in rant mode, so please bear with me and let me get this out. In the past several weeks, everything I have ordered and received has been damaged and/or flawed in some way. Why is it so hard to order and receive something intact and made correctly these days?

I order new tires for my car and at least one... and possibly a second one... arrive with factory defects. One won't hold air at all... one is merely leaking at this point. Even before I fully describe the problem, the eBay seller automatically says: "tough luck... must be "installer damage"! No replacements, no refunds, no warranty!

I order various parts from different sources for my hydraulic thumb project... and almost all the parts arrive either a) all banged-up, and/or b) factory defective.

I order warranty replacement cylinders for my root/rock grapple (because the originals were both defective)... and they arrive in a torn apart box absolutely beat to a pulp.

I have a courtesy replacement part sent for my FEL and the box arrives in complete tatters with the part barely still in it with half the powdercoat scraped down to bare metal.

My GF orders some crystal stemware and, despite extreme cushioned packing, it arrives here with three of four items smashed apart by UPS.

Okay... My Bad for ordering the unmounted car tires via eBay. I should have my head examined for that. Absolutely horrible tires... hundreds of dollars lost there. But why is ordering parts and other items to be delivered to your home so difficult? Is it just me? Or are others out there in the same boat?

Historically, at least half of what arrives here via Internet order and either UPS or Fed-Ex Ground arrives defective, incomplete and/or badly damaged. I am ready to tear out my hair! There must be a better way.

Rant mode off. Resuming normal communications.

Dougster

 

[Bedlam]

poor customer care generally. . I accept the fact that some things from HF will need to be welded right or what ever, that comes with the territory. (cheap)
As fro the others, I will get some flack for this, but when you have employees pushed to the breaking opoint at UPS and the others what can we expect. Some no longer treat the goods as i they were theirs.One thing they now do is no signatures.
You come home to find things missing, and As I did call and have the usual run around. I filed the claim just as the rep told me to, got a reply with a 'complaint' nimber etc. waited patiently for a month and then they said not much longer, and then three months later, I email and ask if there was progress. and they say they dont have a number.
I call them and they say I dont have a complaint pending. Explain it all, and then email them their original emails with comfirmations
and get a reply that they have no record of any complaint.
LOL
Too funny. really.I know there will be people to come here and attack me for telling my story, and I know there are good workes . but they are in short supply these days.I will contiunue to 'bug' UPS. its been almost 2 years now. and the emails go back and forth.
Thats just where things have gone. We accept it that way .

 

[curly]

Is it just me? Or are others out there in the same boat?

Hey Doug, I woulda never known it talking to you on the phone recently, but you are apparently under a LARGE black cloud.

But seriously, I order everything online, ordered tires for the harly once also. Rarely ever have a problem, but on that rare occasion (chair from China ) it was replaced.

Hang in there, the wind will eventually blow those clouds away.

 

[Dougster]

Thats just where things have gone. We accept it that way .

God help me when I need to go into UPS's damage claim system. Been there, done that so many times it hurts just to think about it. In particular, on that broken stemware, we are hoping that the seller will handle it somehow on their end instead of putting us through h*** for several months.

Dougster

 

[curly]

...I know there will be people to come here and attack me for telling my story...

Dude, it's your story, how can you be attacked for telling what happened to you. All I can say is...do you live really close to Doug?

 

[Dougster]

Hang in there, the wind will eventually blow those clouds away.

Hey Curly - Yeah, maybe just a bad cycle. But I definitely need to think more before I order stuff. I ordered those dang tires (Falken uni-directionals) simply because I could not buy them around here and wanted to try them.

Why didn't I stop to think what would happen if they arrived defective? No local source means I am at the mercy of the long distance seller. And as I should have expected, they take zero responsibility for their product.

Hope that new Mega-Beast of yours is performing up to snuff! Remember my offer to buy it off you if you decide you don't like it!

Dougster

 

[Dougster]

Dude, it's your story, how can you be attacked for telling what happened to you. All I can say is...do you live really close to Doug?

Hey, hey, hey!!! Watch that stuff Curly! No making fun of the poor, old Dougster just because your tractor is bigger than mine!

Dougster

 

[Skyco]

I've had some things arrive damaged but in every case it was the shippers fault for not packing it properly. Ordered a range hood for a camper I'm working on- arrived all dented up because it was simply put in a box and shipped with NO protection whatsoever. Emailed the company and they sent another packed exactly the same way and also dented up. Emailed them again and the sent yet another one, yep no packing and dented.
So I emailed them again and this time a guy called me and complained they were losing money trying to send me so many range hoods Well, DUH, how about packing one properly and lets see if THAT works. Finally got one in surrounded by bubble wrap and in a proper size box instead of one it would just fit in with no packing. What a concept!
So I finally got a good one and have 3 spares if the fan motor ever burns up, they never even asked for any of the damaged ones back...what a way to do business

 

[texbaylea]

Something to remember with UPS. They designed their system with a 75 lb package limit then got greedy and doubled that. Just think of an 150# package going down one of their slide systems with a package of crystal glassware at the bottm. The shippers need to find way to beat them over the head.

Vernon

 

[Gator6x4]

My thoughts on ordering and having items shipped UPS. Ordered a computer system, CPU, CRT, Keyboard and Mouse. Complete system. System shipped, was not home at delivery time, had to pick up at UPS. Noticed a small hole in side of box did not think that much about it. Upon arriving home and opening the box found the small hole in the box made by something that broke the glass in the CRT. Called UPS (After spending considerable time locating a phone number to call) was told I should have inspected the shipment in the presence of the delivery person and noted any damge. Long story short after several days of back and forth got a promise of refunding the purchase price of the CRT. Completed and claims form and waited six weeks for the refund. Computer useless during this time no CRT (Monitor) Ordered another monitor, told the supplier not to ship UPS. One week later got home and found a note on door, UPS attempted delivery. Pick up of merchandise required. Went to the UPS location the next day and upon receiving the package proceeded to start opening the box the monitor was shipped in. Clerk told me I could not do that. I asked why? She advised that did not want packages opened in the facility. She summoned supervisor and security. I informed supervisor and security of the problem I had with UPS over the previously broken CRT and advised if I could not open the package to please provide me with the forms for shipment refusal and they could return the CRT. After much noise making they agreed to let me open the package in their presence to check and confirm no damage was present. I still request that items I order not be shipped by UPS.

 

[AndyMA]

Seems to me we are only hearing of the bad regarding UPS. UPS handles millions of packages daily and the vast majority arrive in perfect shape. Personally I get many UPS packages over the course of a year and have not had a damaged item in years.

Andy

 

[sandman2234]

Well, your odds of getting a damaged one are rapidly getting stacked against you. One of those 150 pound boxes is going to take out one of yours soon!
When you do, you will understand just what it means to get the run around with the ups insurance, if there was any.
I recently shipped my first package in years with them, at the buyers request. I went over there, at 7:20 pm after calling and being told they were open till 8:00. They told me they don't receive packages after 7:30, even though I was in there 10 minutes before that deadline. I left and told the customer that he would have to pick a different way, but decided to give it another try, since the customer had been great about his end of it.
I had packaged it up very well, but dropped that whole thing in a box and packed it again. They didn't screw that one up, but I was surprised. I also took pictures of it during each stage of the packaging so they couldn't say it wasn't packaged right. $1000 worth of insurance would be hard to get out of UPS, so I figured I better cover all my bases.
I still have a drill press in the garage purchased by a privous employer that UPS broke the base on, and refused to make good on, since I signed for it before the internal damage was found. The manufacturer finally sent another one, but UPS never paid for it, dispite it being insured and getting a phone call 5 minutes after it was signed for. I avoid them if at all possible.
David from jax

 

[Skyco]

So just how is one supposed to note damage since in my case they just drop the stuff at the door and ring the doorbell and run The guy is back in the truck and gone usually by the time I get to the door

I still think they do a great job compared to the others...I get really torqued when a shipper uses the USPS...now they are bad. At least UPS lets you track it along the way- I've had priority mail packages take 8 days to go 500 miles. Between the wife's hobbies and mine we probably average 2 to 3 packages a week.

Speaking of arriving perfect I find plenty of stuff in stores not perfect either...I usually won't buy something that appears to have been returned unless I really, really need it and inspect it in store before buying....

 

[cp1969]

quotes from original post:

I ordered....

I ordered...

I have courtesy replacement part sent....

My GF orders....

What going to a store and buying stuff has going for it is that you can look at it before you pay and walk out the door.

I don't plan on buying much of anything off ebay any more. Not worth it.

FWIW, I would rather use ANY delivery company other than Fed Ex ground. Lately, they cannot get anything right. Latest example was a piece of fairly heavy equipment that, when it was shipped, was bolted to runners on the floor of a base-and-sides crate. When it arrived, the crate had been penetrated with a forklift tine. When we took the top off, the item rolled off the base onto the floor, upside down, with the runners still attached but torn loose from the base.

 

[Egon]

This summer I have replaced truck and trailer tires, rebuilt the front end of the truck including brakes, new muffler, new alternator[that was a bummer], new shocks and rebuilt the trailer suspension. Only complaint is my feet are getting sore from walking the roads picking cans and bottles to pay for the repairs! Probably wear out a pair of shoe in the process!

 

[Reg]

Wanna hear about the horse I picked up at Logan airport from Hawaii, that came by FedEx ?

 

[Robert_in_NY]

At least now I know why my luck has changed. You caught the LC

I did get a package from UPS that I ordered for my daughter. It was only a stuffed animal but the box was crushed as was the box the stuffed animal was in. But since the box doesn't matter and the stuffed animal was fine she will be happy come Christmas

UPS is terrible for shipping anything now. I have had much better luck with the US post office and have even shipped tires via my local post office. So now I have no reason to visit the UPS shop.

 

[texbaylea]

I have generally had good service from both UPS and USPS, at least on the local level. I think a lot of the problems stem from the management/employee relations in each area. If they are beat upon to do more in less time ( so a manager can look good), the employees cease to care how they do their job.

Vernon

 

[Bird]

Maybe it's just the luck of the draw. Some say use USPS instead of UPS; some say not to use USPS; some like Fed-Ex; some don't. I worked for the USPS 1959 to 1964 and I told family and friends if they sent a package through the mail to package it, then throw it as hard as they could at the nearest wall to see if it was packaged well enough; lots of packages got busted. I've seen everything from florescent light tubes thrown in gondolas followed by boxes of encyclopedia on top of them to a fetus being mailed in a broken glass jar to a pathology lab, to a busted glass gallon jug of cologne going to Neiman Marcus. Perhaps the worst packaging was the thousands and thousands of sample pills and capsules being mailed by pharmaceutical manufacturers to every doctor in Dallas. We had loose pills and capsules all over the Post Office.

But in spite of all that, percentage wise, very few packages were broken. Of course if a fraction of one percent includes your package, it's far too many.

How many remember the UPS strike a few years ago? Before that, I thought UPS was simply great. And since then, I won't use them at all if there's any possible way to avoid it; nothing but problems every time.

Personally, I've never had a problem with anything I sent or received via USPS, except two lost checks I mailed; one in 1995 and the other in 1998. The first one arrived at its destination a month and a half later and the other was never found.

And so far, I've never had a problem or complaint with FedEx at all.