UPS

[deaner]

Very bad experience with UPS today. When I am expecting something from them I use the online tracking like it is a religion so with my new MK dragonfly Custom on the way, I made no exception to my habit. After watching it online all day about every 1/2 hour I began to get worried. At 7:15am it left West Carrolton Ohi to be delivered to me. I went to work at 2:30 and still no mandolin!! Finally I called UPS from work at about 9:00pm and gave them my tracking number. There response was "It was delivered" I asked them where and when and they said where and when and I informed them that the "when" was fine but the "where" was not my address!!! Wow, what a shock! They did not seem to concerned until I got a little loud with them. I called my wife and she did some investigating and found out the "where" did not excist. Them boneheads were not even close. After about 45 min of searching our neiborhood, she found the mandolin sitting on a porch about 1 mile from our house. In the cold since 5:00 pm. Well, everything worked out and I got my mando but no thanks to UPS. Moral of the story is hmmmmm, UPS...Teach your drivers to read!!!

[Brookside]

That's a helluva coincidince. I just had some crazy lady steal my mandolin off my porch. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[Dioptase]

Fedex left my A9 on my front porch. They knocked once, but did not wait to see if anyone was home. The box was marked in LARGE print "GIBSON - FINE ACOUSTIC INSTRUMENTS".

Living in Daytona Beach, the theft capitol of America, I have no doubt that had I not been home to receive the package, I would never have recieved it. Absolute Stupidity. Best bet is to pick it up yourself from their mail center.

[John Flynn]

We used to have a saying in the Navy to describe those sitautions where all of a sudden, everything goes horribly, irreversably wrong with disasterous consequences. It was "My whole world turned brown." You can guess what "brown" was a metaphor for. So I always laugh at UPS' slogan: "Ask what brown can do for you."

[mandobob]

When I was bartending, a regular told me that UPS tried to raise quality by instituting a catchy, uplifting slogan.
The phrase was "Like I care". The point being to handle everything work related 'like they cared'. Hats and shirts were printed up and everything.
This guy said everyone at his hub found this hilarious. I can't type with a sarcastic tone, but it's pronounced
"Like EYE Care?"

[wannabethile]

sorry for the stress man, i know how you feel. i had a violin stolen off my porch a couple of months ago thanks to fed-ex. talk about frustrating. well im glad that you got your mando and that its still in good shape.

[doanepoole]

The only carrier I still trust as years have gone by is the good ol' USPS. And only because if I'm not home, they'll take the package back to the post office.

UPS generally hasn't been bad that bad for me. I've had one HORRIBLE experience with Fed-Ex, where I saw the guy literally heave-ho a package onto the conceret stairs leading to my apartment. Didn't ring the doorbell, knock or anything. I'm sur emost Fed-Ex stuff goes through smooth, but I will not accept deliveries from them after that.

[Christine W]

Mando Johnny, ""My whole world turned brown." You can guess what "brown" was a metaphor for. So I always laugh at UPS' slogan: "Ask what brown can do for you."

That is funny I'll have to remember that. THe whole brown marketing campaign is all wrong. It totally makes you think of the other brown stuff illuded to in your post. I wonder what bone head thought of that one.

Deaner , glad the mando is safe and sound let us know what you think of it.

[Lee]

Big Suggestion: Use a corporate shipping address, NOT residential. If you don't work someplace that gets UPS deliveries on a regular basis, find a friend who does and ship it there instead.

If USPS didn't try to rape everyone with their $1 per $100 #insurance charges more of us would use them. UPS charges .35 per hundred so if your shipping $2500 mandos it adds up quick!

Lee is right, plus there is a extra charge for residential deliveries.

[Bob A]

I've had only two bad experiences with UPS over several years. Once I watched the tracking trail as my stuff went all over the eastern seaboard before they figured out where it had to go. Lost 3 days. The other was when I opened the front door, having heard the Man In Brown come up the steps, in time to watch him (not my regular driver) toss a box marked "FRAGILE" at a chair, which fell over backwards, dumping everything onto the floor. That was a bit annoying, but as the instrument was well-packed, was a non-event.

Another time, I'd been waiting and watching, and when I looked at the tracking program for the third time that day, in which my package seemed to have stalled somewhere, it announced that my package was "delivered". Went outside and there it was.

[doanepoole]

Chalk my USPS recommendation up to consumer ignorance...I had no idea they charged so much to insure, as I've only gotten relaively inexpensive packages delivered through them.

Another vote for Lee's method. UPS and FedEx both come to my place of work multiple times per day, and their service to businesses, where they know someone is home, is very good.

[bratsche]

Where I live, I always prefer people to send me stuff through the Post Office, as the mailman/woman is the only one 99.8% certain to knock on the door if there's anything too big to fit in the streetside mailbox, or leave it with a neighbor if nobody's home. Other carriers are way too likely to simply leave something in front of the front door without knocking or ringing, even when given specific instructions to get a signature and/or when there's obviously someone home (garage open, cars in driveway, etc.)

bratsche

[Brookside]

I despise the 'leave it with a neighbor' bit. My neighbors across the street are never home and always having packages delivered. Once a month I've got a driver trying to dump a package on me to deliver to them when they come home. Believe it or not I once had a 'left it with the neighbor' card on my door and found my package in the neighbor's bushes. The house was vacant and on the market. If they are going to shove it in the bushes why not at least shove it in MY bushes? Whether it's UPS, USPS, FedEx or other, someone will have a horror story. It's the luck of the draw.

[Michael H Geimer]

" Big Suggestion: Use a corporate shipping address, NOT residential. "

Not always foolproof either ...

When I ordered the Mid-mo I tracked the shipment with UPS, but the same thing happened - the website read DELIVERED, but no package was here. ?

Then I got phone call from a past coworker. Somehow my name linked up to my old office, and in contradiction to the writing on the address label - that's where the package went.

Luckily for me when I switched jobs, I only ended up a block away from my old desk. So, no harm done. I just walked over and got the box. Not like searching the 'hood for a missing package. Sheesh

- Benig

[Tom C]

Wow, These are truely weird stories. I will either have a package shipped to my office or at home. I ship it to my home if it is not a big purchase. I will leave a
a note on the inside door to please leave the package. If I do not do that, they leave a note saying that they were there and when it will be delivered next.
If it is not your signature, it's not your problem.

[delsbrother]

I HATE dealing with UPS home deliveries.

When I ordered my A9, it was left on my doorstep - about 20' from a bus stop on a busy street. Even though the shipping was "signature required". I've always wondered what would've happened if I said I never received it..

When I ordered my Mandochicken ™ - i.e. my Dean Flying V that I keep fifths tuned - it arrived double-boxed in a rectangular Dean plywood case. That sucker must've weighed 25+ pounds. It was over 5' long. Of course I wasn't home. They delivered it to my 80 year old neighbor and she had to horse it around her house all day. Nice. Plus, her teenage grandsons all now know I have an electric guitar..

When I ordered a Shamax solidbody Indian mandolin, it arrived with the dreaded peghead whiplash crack. OK can't really blame UPS for that one, as the box the mandolin was shipped in was suspect.. But in any case, I needed to return it. NO PROBLEM, says UPS, BUT WE HAVE TO COME PICK IT UP. I can't drop it off at a UPS station? NO. So OK, when will you come? SOMETIME BETWEEN 8AM and 7PM. Great. Can you be a little more specific? NO. JUST LEAVE IT OUTSIDE YOUR DOOR. Um. No, I'd rather not do that; if it gets stolen then I'm out my money and my mandolin. Alright, it's my day off, I'll wait. And wait. And wait. Hmmm, getting late. I'll call. And call. And call. WE ARE COMING. JUST WAIT. Ok. Time passes. I call again and again and again. Get different people every time; every time they say they're still coming. On the last call (now 7:15pm) they say they don't even have the job order in the system. I scream bloody murder. They make some calls on their end, end up giving me AN APPOINTMENT where they'll pick up the package at 11am the next day (not even an apology for wasting my whole day waiting). I just want the whole episode to be over. Next day comes. I get a call from UPS - WE CAN'T COME UNTIL 2PM IS THAT OK? It's OK as long as you really come at 2. So if I leave my house now (10:30am) I won't miss the driver, right? He's really coming at 2pm now? YES. ABSOLUTELY.

Driver came 10 minutes later; he caught me as I was backing out of my garage.

[neal]

About FedEx, if you go with FedEx Ground (green), those guys are all independant contractors, formerly RPS, even though they have the FedEx logo, etc.., so I personally wouldn't ship anything precious that way. If you ship, and it must be FedEx, go Express, those guys are all company. It might just be a personal thing, but I feel safer with "The Company". (ymmv)

[mandoplayer15]

My Mandolin I just recieved Tuesday was sent by the USPS and they left the box right by the door right next to a busy higway(Route 206 in Lewiston, Maine)And they never even knocked (Im sure of it)

[MANDOLINMYSTER]

I have received many mandolins via UPS, but I always have them shipped to my place of work. It is a bit nerve racking though, waiting a wondering http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/cool.gif

[beachbum]

I had my MK Evolution shipped from FOTW via USPS (what is it express?). I wasn't home when they tried to deliver it so they took it to the main post office in town where I could pick it up 24 hours a day. Of course, I went right away. After picking up the lobby phone and calling several times and waiting 20 minutes. I finally heard a loud "thump" at the door. It was the guy dropping my package labelled fragile on the floor. Fortunately it was well packaged in it's hard case plus and wasn't damaged. My kids said they couldn't believe I didn't yell at him!

[Steve]

One thing to consider is sending via FedEx and having the package held at the receiving Fed Ex office. You can check the tracking to find out when it's at that office and pick it up first thing in the morning rather than waiting on some driver to make it to your place. I always deliver with a signature required when sending Fed Ex. Doesn't seem to work with UPS. I just hate that they'll leave a package insured for thousands of dollars on the porch in full view of anyone who happens by...

Steve