Do any other FFL's have bad experience with UPS?

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SomeKid

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Today was the third attempt at delivery. The thread title pretty much tells how it went.

Little backstory: Ordered a rifle from J&G Sales, Monday was Day 1. I was in the living room relaxing, and should have heard the knock, but did not. I figured I had dozed off and missed it, kicked myself and waited. (Looking back, I really wonder...)

Day 2, I was not there, such is life.

Today, Day 3, I leave a note specifically saying I am home and knock loudly. I skipped errands to be sure I was here. I go into the kitchen to get some water and hear a truck start up, at first I thought it was a truck stopping, and look out my window and get to watch the UPS truck drive off. I walk out the front door and look to see the little InfoNotice is left, right on top of my taped letter to him. He did not even knock. So I call UPS, a polite guy took some information, and sent a notice to the local center, which calls me about a half an hour later. She was far less than polite. Basically, her response was come pick it up yourself. Nevermind that it is across town from me and will take a 20 minute drive one way to get there. After all, it is not like I paid to have it shipped to my door...

Needless to say, after I get it picked up I am writing a nice letter to UPS detailing why they can rot and I won't ever ship with them.

Has anyone else had this kind of garbage customer service when shipping a rifle with UPS?
 
Not that you should have to, but when you saw him leave why didn't you get in your car and chase him down. BTW, they all have issues.
 
I absolutely despise UPS. But, I do not have any problem with our driver. For a while he would just open my porch door and toss the package in. Until the day he tossed in a 70 pound tree stand. He got a good 'ol fashioned butt chewin, and since then puts them in really nice and gently. But all in all, I do every thing I can to NOT do business with UPS.
 
It's not just about guns, UPS is BY FAR the WORST shipper in the country, and they charge more for their s*** service than any other company. They are slower, their damage rates are proven higher, and their customer service, from the guy in the truck to the girl at the desk, is horrific. Drivers generally do not want you to open the door, because it takes more time for them. I've actually watched the UPS man barely tap on my door and then run to his truck.

They do not care about you as a customer one bit. Not one tiny little bit. I ship products on a daily basis, I will never use UPS, nor will I ever choose them as an option when ordering things for myself.
 
I generally ship and receive USPS by request. The PO is just 3 minutes from the house, and the driver knows me very well. He will leave a door knocker and pull it off the truck when he gets back to the depot and leave it at the counter for me, I pick it up after 6PM that day. USP - yuk.... nothing but issues. FEDEX, better but not great.
 
Haven't had any problems with UPS, FedEx, or DHL where I live now. The USPS parcels aren't always handled as well as they could be. Had some difficulties at other addresses, though. I think a lot depends on the particular driver.

As far as I know, UPS is the only service which doesn't x-ray all the packages. There are some things I don't want irradiated.
 
hotshot, already did. No result, other than being given the gracious offer of driving across town to do their job for them.

Bill, he was driving off, I was in my kitchen sans shoes, keys wallet etc, and would have to grab them, run outside across the lawn to my truck, hop in, and flag him down. This assumes I can find him. Keep in mind, they drive off FAST. And ym area has multiple odd turns.

Mrs. AD, It goes in the mail tomorrow. Friday at the latest.

SJ1, whats that about X-Raying packages? More details maybe?

As far as this goes, I also plan to contact J&G and let them know why I may not do business with them anymore. More people complaining might rattle a few chains. Maybe.
 
I despise using UPS. They were decent when I have stuff delivered to my parents house, but if I have it delivered to my apartment, they STINK. I had some ammo delivered, they didn't knock, left one of their slips saying theyd be back the next day between 8am and 5pm!!! They claimed they showed up, but my gf never heard anything, and she stayed home all day specifically for this. :( So I had to drive 40mins one way to pick up the ammo from the hub. Made sure I had all the paperwork & ID, and they barely glanced at the paper, didn't ask for any ID. No way, never again if I can help it.

We deal with them all the time at work. The state of packages we get back is terrible, they look like cardboard sacks, not boxes.

Did I mention they SUCK!!
 
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one who HATES UPS!

I had something shipped UPS, I missed them the first day, no problem, I get home around 6PM and call them up. "Come get it they say" ok, no problem. I drive down there. "You can't get it today" .... what????? You just had me drive 20mins here...."It's still out for delivery"... well when will it be back? "Sometime in the next hour" Ok, I'll wait. "sorry, we're closing"....

So I can pick up my package, but then I can't and the reason I can't is that it's not there yet, but when it gets there I can't have it because you're closing before that?

Nice.

OK, can i schedule for delivery after 530? Sure they say. Great!

Next day: Delivery attempt 4:15.......

***!?!?!?!?

Call em up: You said after 530, it was delivered at 4:15.... "Sorry we can't schedule deliveries" . . . .!?!?!?!?! WHAT!?!?!?! You told me you could yesterday... in fact your MANAGER told me you could.....

LONG story short, I had to pick it up the next day in the morning at 9AM (I work at 8am) but THE B@$***** DON'T OPEN UNTIL 9!!!!! and they close at 5! I usually get off work at 6...

God I hate UPS.
 
I DON'T hate UPS, but.....

I'm going to preface this triad with the statement that I have one of the best, most pleasant UPS drivers in the country. He always stops to chat and I found out that he is an extreme distance shooter to boot. He shoots .50 BMG at 1000 yds to 2.2 miles!

(Different UPS area/driver) I ordered a shotgun to be delivered to my local FFL holder with exacting instructions to deliver it INSIDE the shop with a SIGNATURE REQ'RD. Well, the UPS driver left the box outside by a backdoor of a secondary building!
I got an email from UPS that the gun had been delivered at 11:15 AM so I drove the 35 miles to the shop to pick it up. They received no UPS shipment that day they said. We asked the other employee and the owner's wife (their house was only 100 ft from the shop) but nothing. I drove home and called UPS to express my ire. They assured me that the box had been delivered. They called the driver and that's when the mystery got solved. I asked why there wasn't a signature gotten and why there was a weapon left outside in the elements available for stealing. No comment other than to say, "Well, he should have gotten a signature."

Another trip to get the gun and now I've racked up 140 miles @ 12 MPG or $45 in gas! Thanks UPS.
 
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All of them have problems. I regularly get items shipped through the Post Office which are left tied to my mailbox by the road with rubberbands instead of dropped off at my door. I've waited on packages which require signitures upon delivery only to hear the truck backing out of my driveway and a sticker on my door saying that the driver attempted to deliver at a certain time. I had a security camera on my porch watching the door. I rewiewed the tape and the driver had not attempted to knock or ring the bell and hadn't even brought the box up on the porch. I took the tape to the post master who was not happy.
UPS is only a little better. I work nights and am home most of the day sleeping. If I'm expecting a package I'll be dressed and nap on the couch in the living room where I can get to the door quickly. I have to leave a note for the driver to ring the doorbell otherwise he will just set it on the porch and leave. I won't know it's there and it will get rained on or someone in my theiving neighborhood will pick it up.
I don't have much experiance with FedEx.
 
Yale, here is the killer.

I left a note, which the driver completely ignored. Thats what galls me so bad.
 
Might as well chime in. I do business with nearly all of them. It goes like this:

DHL: If you want cheaper shipping, then you get it through them. You sure don't get what you pay for, even at the cheapest prices around. We have about a 30% unacceptable damage goods rate. Mind you, these are sensitive IT/electronic equipment. Our customers get furious about having to pay multiple shipping and labor costs, however when we inform them of their shipping request to save money and use uninsured DHL Priority Overnight, they just mumble unintelligibly and keep paying for cheap, crappy service. They have a reputation with us for rolling 75lbs printers across the parking lot into the customer's branch.

UPS: I don't use them at work too much but the service is great from our driver and I haven't seen a damaged product yet, however, they cost a pinch more (worth it IMO). I personally use UPS for shipping firearms and ammo to my door and have had excellent service and absolutely zero problems or damage to my guns and ammo. I have yet to use another shipper besides UPS for firearms and related equipment since they have never given me a reason to.

FedEx: The most pricey of them all I believe. We use them at work for our customers that understand the nature of IT equipment and don't feel like throwing money at the problem over and over again. FedEx has been our most reliable shipper and will usually correct shipping errors free of charge. When some of our more stubborn customers get three failed DHL deliveries in a row, we normally can convince them to fork over the cash and just do it right the first time through FedEx.
 
I like my UPS delivery driver here - I leave my front door unlocked when I know I have a package coming in and I'm going to be home, he just quietly opens the door, puts it inside, and closes the door. Never had to arrange it with him, after a rainstorm where he stuck a package inside because there's not much cover on the stoop he just started doing it every time, and I not only have no problem with it, I'm considering the creepiness factor of calling his supervisor and commending him. (I also don't know if it's against their rules, so I don't want to get him in trouble.)
 
Somekid,

Where in SE TN are you? I have issues with UPS just leaving notes on the door, too, even if I am home. In the Chatt. area....
 
USPS won't deliver anything to my apartment, they just leave notices in the mailbox to pick it up at the post office.

UPS just drops stuff in front of the door unless a signature is required, then they just leave notices on front of the door.

FedEx will knock and if you don't answer they will leave it with a freakin' neighbor, then they put a note on your door that says which neighbor has it. I had a box of ammo left with a neighbor. She signed for it and then figured out it was ammo because of the big [ORMD Small Arms Ammunition] sticker. She apparently freaked out and gave it to another neighbor. He took my package from her and then later decided that he didn't feel comfortable with a box ammo in his living room so he left it with the guy under him. I go to this guys apt. and ask him for my package and he tells me he didn't feel comfortable with it either and gave it back to the original woman who signed for it. So now after three hours of playing phone tag and leaving notes on each others doors almost all of my neighbors have had their turn waiting for the crazy gun owner to come pick up this "dangerous" package because of a stupid FedEx policy that lets them leave my stuff with someone else.
 
passintime, I too am Chattanooga area. I am writing a letter to corporate. Perhaps multiple letters from different people can get someone fired. I encourage you to write one as well.

Bear, that is an interesting story. Did you complain and if so, what results? Part of what has me so steamed over UPS was the attitude when I complained. She might as well have told me to go F myself over the phone.
 
USPS is best for me. Always great service for cheaper than the other guys.

UPS is cool too. I personally know the guy who was the Director of Security for the Eastern Time Zone. UPS kisses my ass all the time.
 
My UPS driver knows that if I'm not home, the packages go to the office package closet - he has to get one of the office girls, they get a key, unlock the closet, put the package in there, and lock it back up.

Haven't had an issue yet.

USPS is similarly fantastic, only the packages go to the post office if I'm not home. Delivery is ~10am-~2pm, so by the time I get home it's already at the PO. :)

FedEx, however..... the ONLY shipment of C&R guns I've lost was with FedEx. Three 1895 Nagant revolvers and two CZ-52s "disappeared". Mysteriously, as soon as I called the FedEx hub and explained that it's a 10yr/$250k felony PER GUN STOLEN from an FFL, they were dropped at my doorstep not an hour later. Funny how that happens... because the package disappeared after it got to the local hub, they were simply going to inform the authorities of every single person that touched the box - and told the employees just that, too. I'll never use FedEx again.
 
freakshow10mm: no I didn't complain but I have not used FedEx since and I won't order from anywhere that sends FedEx exclusively. Next time you get a notice from FedEx read the ticket and you'll see the box they check for "Left with neighbor". I much rather them do like UPS and just leave it lying against the door.
 
I have had a similar experience but with a different turn. The wife turned off the door bell as I was on night shift. I had sent my AR15 to get fixed and the UPS guy rang the bell but of course nothing happened. I heard the truck and realised what had happened and called UPS and they contacted their guy and he came right back, and made the delivery. :)
 
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