Anyone had the pleasure of having goods sent from the EU via UPS recently?

[Nuvo]

I placed an order for car parts from Germany which was shipped on the 9th August, the parcel arrived at UPS main hub the following day and I paid the import duty within the hour of receiving notification.
The day after that I get a notification that delivery will happen on the 12th.
Nothing arrives so I check the parcel tracking online which now says "The delivery date will be provided as soon as possible".

The customer service telephone number just puts you through to an automated message system which tells you to use their web tracking. Each day passes with this box just sitting in their fricking warehouse and I can't speak to anyone to find out what the problem is.
I bought a load of parts from the same supplier in January and they came via UPS without delay.

Has anyone had similar experience with UPS recently and can maybe offer some advice or insight please?

Thanks,
Rob.

[K Simmonds]

I recently ordered new Opinel pocket knife from a UK tool's vendor, that was supposed to be next day delivery via UPS and it took ten days, my tracking simply said at local depot for a week before it arrived with no change to the tracking details to let me know to expect it. As it wasn't terribly expensive or vital I didn't worry about it too much but still that's pretty rubbish in this day and age.

If you know what warehouse/depot it's at try getting the phone number for there as opposed to UPS general inquiry's, that's what I do with Parcelforce when they occasionally **** something up.

[Nuvo]

Thanks Kit, this order is relatively high value which is making me nervous.

I'll see if I can find a number, the main hub is Stanford le Hope, Essex. I did a quick search online about delays and there is a fair bit of chatter with some blaming driver shortages, and earlier posts mentioing brexit and covid.

I'd like to hear what they have to say for themselves and try and establish a firm delivery date without lame excuses .

I'll try to maintain my calm in the meantime.

[Nuvo]

So far I could only find a number for my local hub, so I'll try them to begin with.

[K Simmonds]

That should be a good start, as a rule I find as soon as I can speak to a human progress is made or at the least one gains some useful info, they will almost certainly be able to put you in touch with the main hub or have better tracking info than you get.

I have had one prolonged argument with a Parcelforce depot manager who refused to send my parcel out to the recipient on a Saturday despite it being two days late on a supposedly guaranteed 48hr service. His answer was you haven't paid for Saturday delivery. Which given he'd acknowledged it was sat ready for delivery really pissed me off, I did manage to keep my temper which for me is quite an achievement. I even pointed out that I could claim more in compensation for each day that it was late than Saturday delivery would cost and indeed the recipient would be within their rights to refuse delivery on the Monday and they'd have to return to me for free. No, even that didn't work, it was like speaking to a droid, in the end I gave up an put the phone down.

However, that really was an exception I find most folk are happy to help.

[Nuvo]

Well, I called my local hub and they can only transfer me to a call centre, you know, the one that doesn't have any representatives to speak to only automated messages.
I also tried selecting a unrelated menu option to at least see if I could speak to someone. Nope! More messages. Gah!

[Tractor Dave]

If you paid via PayPal or credit card, start a claim for not having received your goods. It's amazing what that does to suddenly get results.

[Nuvo]

Thanks Dave, I paid via Paypal, so I'll pursue a claim to see if I can push them into action.

[K Simmonds]

Well, I called my local hub and they can only transfer me to a call centre, you know, the one that doesn't have any representatives to speak to only automated messages.
I also tried selecting a unrelated menu option to at least see if I could speak to someone. Nope! More messages. Gah!

Oh God, that sounds like a nightmare, at least with Parcelforce one can get hold of human!

As Dave say's if you've paid via PayPal that does give you a fair amount of protection and starting a claim will almost certainly help get their backsides into gear.

Hope you get the issue resolved soon!

[Nuvo]

Okay then, well I finally got the parcel delivered by UPS 1 hour later the estimated 4 hour window, the box was a little bashed up and had been opened and resealed with "home office border force" tape. So the parcel sat idle with them for ~10 days before being despatched. Thankfully the parcel survived the journey.
I think I should be refunded the postage costs but apparently this isn't possible for standard delivery. I still might try all the same.

Buying goods from the EU has become an expensive game of Russian roulette which makes me wonder if it's really worth all the hassle. Testing times indeed.

Thanks for the help fellas.

[K Simmonds]

Glad to hear it's finally shown up and whilst the box has taken a bit of a beating the contents are okay

Sending stuff is just as bad, I've dispatched four packages to members in the EU this year all with Parcelforce who you'd hope would be somewhat proficient as they're far from the cheapest, only one arrived without serious complications and then the recipient had to pay 30 odd Euro's extra.

I recently sent some hubs to a member in Australia and that was less hassle then any of the EU packages.

[steve briance]

Well, happy days its turned up.

I share your dislike of UPS and my heart sinks whenever a seller provides a ups tracking number.

Ive had so many problems with them i can't beleive anyone still use them, surely disgruntled buyers end up bending the ear of sellers due to their courier choice??

The ups call centre is worthless, the missed delivery cards are a joke. They give you options for rearranging for next day but that needs to be sorted by 5pm for it to work, how many people get home from work by 5pm in order to do that?!

Their finest hour was delivering a part, they failed. i rescheduled and finally tracked it down to an indutrial estate 5 miles from home with a different address and postcode, the tracking system in that occassion proudly announced it had been delivered!!!!

What the hell??