Posted by Prosperity on 9/13/10 1:36pm
Msg #352472

UPS - This makes no sense to me

Somebody please help me to understand. I "had" an account with UPS so I could easily ship packages back to the companies. On 07/07/2010, my account was cancelled due to my CC being expired. I could have easily just given them the new information, but they decided to cancel my account rather than contact me. The funny thing is that I was informed that all packages that I have sent since 07/07/2010 were billed to my "inactive" account and I needed to agree to pay everything before they re-activated my account. I was using the paper slips & was told that my account is on these slips & that's how they knew to bill me (even though I told them to bill the receiver). They said that both shipper and receiver must have an account in order to use their services or the shipper must pay in advance. Now I have to contact my Title Company and request to be reimbursed. Is this normal?

Reply by Regal/NC on 9/13/10 1:43pm
Msg #352474

Perfect reason NOT to use airbills that have your account information. I would contact UPS and get a copy of all transactions that were billed to the account in question. then I would verify with the receivers if they paid UPS for the deliveries.

Reply by Ilene C. Seidel on 9/13/10 3:46pm
Msg #352484

I stopped using airbills with my account on them and also don't sign your name so it can be read. They picked up on my signature once and charged my account. I hand write all airbills with the shipper and receiver the same. UPS is a thorn in my side. FEDEX is so much easier to work with.

Reply by JanetK_CA on 9/13/10 3:58pm
Msg #352485

That's so true! I found it interesting that when companies were deep in the throes of struggling to cut expenses, several of my accounts started switching to UPS, presumably to save $$. Somehow that didn't seem to last very long. I guess whatever savings there were didn't justify the hassle. Either that, or FedEx adjusted their pricing.

Either way, I couldn't be happier about that.

Reply by MW/VA on 9/13/10 2:40pm
Msg #352477

UPS has been having a lot of problems with people shipping from fraudulent or inactive accts.
Did you call them & speak with them? They need to bill the accts. you provided for billing, not backcharge you. Good luck on this one. What a nightmare.

Reply by BestFlCloser on 9/13/10 3:58pm
Msg #352486

Get the receivers UPS account number & zip code

I ship with both UPS and FedEx. If you want docs picked up and I do, then you must get the receivers account number AND THEIR ZIP CODE, otherwise you will be billed $8.65 for the p/u. Use the UPS Software, which will store all the necessary info and make your life easier. I do not drop docs at a UPS place unless it's a Saturday and the client needs the docs for Monday morning. Let UPS do the p/u. The client sometimes balks at the extra cost, but that's their problem.

Reply by Grammyzoom on 9/13/10 4:52pm
Msg #352495

Re: Get the receivers UPS account number & zip code

A year or so ago, one of my good clients was at war with UPS and they were in the throws of trying to resolve billing issues. As a result of that my account was charged over $200 for shipments sent out from my home on behalf of this title company. Then UPS really messed up and somehow doubled the amount due from me.

It took months to straighten out. I finally got a check from the title company to reimburse me for all the the shipments back to them. I swore that I would never again use UPS unless I had to and now hand print the airbills and never put any reference to my name or address on them. And, don't you just hate their flimsy legal envelopes!!!!

Reply by Bravo on 9/13/10 5:37pm
Msg #352503

Re: Get the receivers UPS account number & zip code

(Grammy, you are so cute!) This is exactly why I refuse to have a UPS or a FedEX account. They have tried to charge me for packages which were clearly to be billed to the receiver and caused me untold grief in straightening out their mistakes. I simply get supplies from my drop locations, both manned and unmanned and it works perfectly.

Reply by CopperheadVA on 9/13/10 5:06pm
Msg #352498

I stopped creating airbills online after UPS billed me for a shipment (I did everything right, but the TC didn't pay their bill). UPS later canceled my account due to shipping inactivity. Then I opened a new account because I needed to order supplies. Then UPS closed my account again due to shipping inactivity. I've had it with them and their hassles. Now I just order my supplies with an order form via fax, and I indicate that I'm a third party shipper and that pre-answers their question about why I need so many legal envelopes. I also order the plastic airbill pouches because I've noticed that the non-window envelopes seem *slightly* less flimsy.

Most of my clients who use UPS send me a pre-printed airbill, but I have a stash of generic airbills that I got from dropboxes and I use those when I need to handwrite an airbill. TC name goes on as sender and receiver, with their account number billed to sender. I never sign them.

However, lately most of my clients have been using FedEx, which I LOVE!!!!

Reply by Joan Bergstrom on 9/13/10 10:40pm
Msg #352544

My local UPS Store doesn't give out air bills anymore

I dropped off a loan package and asked the employee where I could pick up a couple of air bills because they were not located where they usually were?

She said I could send a package after I wrote out the information and she would create an air bill for me.

I almost never send anything UPS and fortunately when I got back to my office I had a number of air bills that I hadn't noticed.

Thank goodness that FedEx is so much easier to deal with and that is who we mostly have to deal with.
UPS Stores are franchised and it could be it's just this one owner that is doing this.

Reply by Hugh Nations Signing Agents of Austin on 9/13/10 11:19pm
Msg #352546

Re: My local UPS Store doesn't give out air bills anymore

***UPS Stores are franchised and it could be it's just this one owner that is doing this.***

It is corporate policy. UPS stores will no longer accept packages with handwritten waybills with the recipient designated as the payor, so they don't give them out.

I dislike UPS.

No, that's not correct.

I *really* dislike UPS.

No, that's not right either.

I HATE UPS.

I hate their logo, I hate that crap-brown color, I hate their skimpy hours, I hate the sorry-assed attitudes of their employees, and I utterly despise their crappy crappy service. Should I be more explicit?

Reply by Susan Fischer on 9/14/10 1:18am
Msg #352552

Ditto, and well-said. No residential pick-ups, and allowing

"Authorized Dealers" to charge a 'drop off fee' - limiting return demands.

FedEx picks up, plus. by popular demand, has finally put in drop-boxes to by-pass the 'Mail-box Dealers' surcharging we return shippers. UPS? Not so much.

Love my drivers, but love FedEx serivice more.

Reply by MW/VA on 9/14/10 9:40am
Msg #352582

LOL, Hugh! I sometimes can't imagine how UPS Express is

surviving in this business climate. Fedex has superior service! I never have any issues with Fedex.

Reply by Mary Ellen Elmore on 9/14/10 1:34am
Msg #352554

I abhor UPS.

Had them literally pull up the hill of a circle driveway and throw a box of very expensive homeschool books, in the rain at my door. The driver never stopped, The box hit the door and busted open! Thank goodness I was watching the rain out the window and saw it all and was able to rescue the books.

Had an account with UPS so I could order supplies-the local drop boxes never have airbills or legal envelopes. I got a bill for $60+. Had never put my name/address on packages back to TC's.

Called UPS. Thie package had been sent from Illinois to Louisiana. The account number was unreadable so they just started adding it to accounts until someone did not complain.

They credited my cc back the amount charged to it after admitting what had happened. Then charged me $15 for complaining and having them remove a false charge!!!!!

Oh, they also lost a shipment of 100 pounds of rice milk powder that had been donated for my very allergic child. The shipment required a signature!!!!

And the UPS Store places are rude--if you do not have cash in hand, they will not provide you with supplies or allow you to leave a package with a pre-printed label with them. You have to take it to a drop-box.

Reply by HARRY_PA on 9/14/10 8:34am
Msg #352569

A matter of perspective

As an operator of a shipping store and a notary for over 20 years I have a different perspective than most of the above posters. I accept drop off packages for all carriers and charge no fee per my agreement with UPS, FEDEX and DHL. For the most part the folks who drop off their packages are pleasant and are happy to find a location to send their package. For others their is almost a sense of entitlement that they are special and I must drop what I am doing with another customer. That will not happen.

Only UPS provides a system that provides a receipt for a drop off packages. If a customer demands a receipt for DHL or FEDEX I cannot help them. Even their drivers have no way to issue receipts.

I know that is is frustrating to have a charge back on a shipment that is to be billed to another (receiver or third party), but think how tired the carriers are of bad debts from the very folks who provide us with their account number. I have been a signing agent for longer than the term has been in existence but never have gone full time with signings. I do understand that it is in each company's tariffs that the shipper is responsible for the shipping charge if the billed party does not pay. Look at the back of the airbills. UPS and FedEx consider it fraud for the sender does not use their name and return address. You may not think it fair but that's the way it is. The sender is a party to the transaction. Just another viewpoint.

Harry

Reply by jba/fl on 9/14/10 12:05pm
Msg #352610

Re: A matter of perspective

Harry - I get receipts from FedEx all the time - packages are scanned and receipt is generated.

Reply by HARRY_PA on 9/14/10 2:56pm
Msg #352649

Re: A matter of perspective

Not provided for independent shipping stores.

Harry