UPS delivered to a complete stranger

foggy_lad

I ordered an item from Amazon.co.UK and it was delivered yesterday by ups. When it was delivered I was in bed asleep and by the time I got out to the door the driver had dropped the parcel across the road with a neighbour. I saw him coming back to my door and opened it just as he was posting a slip through with details of where my parcel was. He told me the woman across the road had it and she was about to go for a shower so I should be quick or would have to wait till she was finished.there was no offer from the driver to collect my parcel and deliver it properly,possibly because he had a signature and would have given the parcel to just about anyone prepared to sign for it!

The issue I have is that despite their policy of three attempts to deliver items my parcel was given to a complete stranger across the road from me who was inconvenienced and who I am now under compliment to.

Why when their own policy is three attempts at delivery would the driver not just call again when in the area? He is local and would be in Carlow daily.


Anyway I have reported this quite serious issue to Amazon.co.UK and will see what they say but I thought it very unusual and lazy for ups to behave like that especially when their own policy states that 3 attempted deliveries will be made.

Maidhci

If you were dissatisfied with the actions of the UPS agent you should have asked him to retrieve the parcel from the neighbour and deliver it to you rather than pursuing the matter through a complaint. That, in my opinion would have been a far more honourable way of dealing with this matter. Consider that he was doing you a favour - if he had adhered to their policy of three attempts at delivery, the parcel would have been returned to the depot for next day delivery. In a normal neighbourhood, it would not be considered unusual for a person to accept a parcel for a neighbour who was not at home and certainly I would not consider that you should feel under a compliment to your neighbour, that is of course if you would be prepared to do the same and not equally feel that your neighbour should be under a compliment to you! Good neighbours do these things as a matter of course and do not give it another thought.

schemingbohemia

What did the driver say when you raised this issue with them?

Shelflife

Maidhci wrote: »

If you were dissatisfied with the actions of the UPS agent you should have asked him to retrieve the parcel from the neighbour and deliver it to you rather than pursuing the matter through a complaint. That, in my opinion would have been a far more honourable way of dealing with this matter. Consider that he was doing you a favour - if he had adhered to their policy of three attempts at delivery, the parcel would have been returned to the depot for next day delivery. In a normal neighbourhood, it would not be considered unusual for a person to accept a parcel for a neighbour who was not at home and certainly I would not consider that you should feel under a compliment to your neighbour, that is of course if you would be prepared to do the same and not equally feel that your neighbour should be under a compliment to you! Good neighbours do these things as a matter of course and do not give it another thought.

I understand where you are coming from and in an ideal world this works beautifully.
However Foggylad paid to have his parcel delivers to his home address not the one across the road. Suppose the neighbour and he were at logger heads over some issue and had fallen out, supposing the neighbour was the local drunk/druggie and that was the last Foggy ever saw of his parcel.
Suppose it was of a sensitive nature and now the whole neighbourhood knows of his official membership of the beiber fan club.

I'm a retailer and we get 15-20 parcels left into our shop by couriers who tell us that the receipient asked for it to be left with us, yet then the receipient tells us that they couldn't find the house and tells us that they said they would either take it back or leave it in a local shop.

IMO the couriers are getting away with murder, they are paid to deliver the package to the proper address, not to the local shop or to a neighbour. Regulator needs to step up to the mark here and insist they do their job properly or offer a discount if they don't do their job properly.

TheDriver

an post delivered my amazon parcel to someone at the other side of town last year. When I contacted them, they asked could I travel over and look for it off the person. It took an post 1 week to retrieve the parcel (the postman claimed he delivered to my address.....it literally was the other side of town)

MeMeJK1

Had a similar issue with UPS before. I sent a parcel to a friend in the UK and when my friend was not at home at the time of delivery, to some strange reason the driver decided to give the parcel to some random person that just came out of the building (a large apartment block). No surprise when we enquired about the parcel with UPC about a few days later we were told it was handed over to a neighbour under such and such name. No such neighbour ever existed or is known to anyone in the building.
The parcel never showed up again.

After that fiasko it took me nearly 4 month to get my money back from UPS and only after many phone calls, emails and, public posting on their Facebook page.

I have never used UPS again since then, and am not planning to in the future.

I since found an irish parcel delivery service that I'm a lot happier with.

schemingbohemia

schemingbohemia wrote: »

What did the driver say when you raised this issue with them?

Any chance of an answer to my query? The driver was your first point of contact with UPS.

pleasant Co.

schemingbohemia wrote: »

Any chance of an answer to my query? The driver was your first point of contact with UPS.

As the op doesn't have a contract with the driver, or UPS, it's academic isn't it?

foggy_lad

schemingbohemia wrote: »

Any chance of an answer to my query? The driver was your first point of contact with UPS.

The driver stuffed the slip of paper into my hand and said "your package is across the road with your neighbour, You should hurry as she is going for a bath". He had turned on his heel and was gone before I could reply. Any reputable company would not need to be told what to do in this situation!

ShaShaBear

Had this IDENTICAL problem with Nightline just last week. Ordered a VERY expensive phone from Carphone Warehouse as a present, and he delivered it to some other woman in my estate. Let's first be clear, I still have no idea who she is, nor does she know me - but apparently that's okay because "she has a disabled child" and that makes her trustworthy. We called the driver back and told him he had to retrieve it as he couldn't confirm the policy if it got damaged at this woman's address. He refused, and actually said "No here, hauld on a f-ing minute - you listen to me! You weren't at the house so I left it in with Mary, she's only across the bloody road sure just go and get it!"

We called the depot and complained, and 5 minutes later he showed up at the house, slammed our gate so hard that metal paint chips shook off and told my partner that he was "some sort of knacker to ring head office over this sh**e" and said "you're some lazy cnut if ya can't even go over and collect it yourself". He mumbled about hoping that we end up using them again, because he'd know to give us trouble. When my partner shouted after him saying he was ringing the depot back, the driver pegged his pen at my partner and legged it to the van!!!

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

I hope you did phone the depot again!

ShaShaBear

Khari Repulsive Suspense wrote: »

I hope you did phone the depot again!

Bloomin' right I did! Never came across the likes of it in my life! Called Carphone Warehouse too and told them the same, but really I knew they would do nothing. The woman I got at Nightline depot just said "Sorry" and said she'd pass on the complaint!

schemingbohemia

pleasant Co. wrote: »

As the op doesn't have a contract with the driver, or UPS, it's academic isn't it?

The OP's complaint is about UPS not sticking to their charter of trying 3 times to deliver, that's what he was posting about, not his contract with Amazon or whoever.

foggy_lad wrote: »

The driver stuffed the slip of paper into my hand and said "your package is across the road with your neighbour, You should hurry as she is going for a bath". He had turned on his heel and was gone before I could reply. Any reputable company would not need to be told what to do in this situation!

Fair enough but really I'd have shouted after him saying get my package back, but anyway yes it's a pain having to call into a neighbour about it and I would follow up with both UPS and the company you bought the package from.

delahuntv

The customer wants "free" delivery.

The supplier needs the delivery cost to be as low as possible.

The courier companies want the business, so they bid too low to provide a good service.

The drivers are paid pittance and are put under increasing pressure to deliver more and more parcels for less money.

And everyone want first class service!


Simply doesn't add up. - Something has to give.

Postcodes will help when they come in and new technology will also help. DPD are rolling out a "customer choice" delivery day (incl saturdays), so that when they receive a parcel for you they will deliver it on your choosen day unless you tell them otherwise. But the real culprit here is the race to the bottom on delivery charges (some companies are charged well under €3 per parcel!) which simply means decent customer service goes out the window.

Tiddlypeeps

delahuntv wrote: »

The customer wants "free" delivery.

The supplier needs the delivery cost to be as low as possible.

The courier companies want the business, so they bid too low to provide a good service.

The drivers are paid pittance and are put under increasing pressure to deliver more and more parcels for less money.

And everyone want first class service!


Simply doesn't add up. - Something has to give.

Postcodes will help when they come in and new technology will also help. DPD are rolling out a "customer choice" delivery day (incl saturdays), so that when they receive a parcel for you they will deliver it on your choosen day unless you tell them otherwise. But the real culprit here is the race to the bottom on delivery charges (some companies are charged well under €3 per parcel!) which simply means decent customer service goes out the window.

The low cost of delivery doesn't excuse this. It's only gonna make the problem worse, as it's the delivery company that will end up footing the bill for missing parcels as they were negligent when delivering it.

I can't imagine it's company policy to do this, not without first asking the person they are delivering to anyway. I've had a few parcels delivered to neighbours myself, but they always called first to find out if it was ok.

pleasant Co.

schemingbohemia wrote: »

The OP's complaint is about UPS not sticking to their charter of trying 3 times to deliver, that's what he was posting about, not his contract with Amazon or whoever.

So as the op doesn't have a contract with the driver, or UPS, what he said or didn't say to the driver is academic isn't it?

goz83

foggy_lad wrote: »

He told me the woman across the road had it and she was about to go for a shower so I should be quick or would have to wait till she was finished.

foggy_lad wrote: »

The driver stuffed the slip of paper into my hand and said "your package is across the road with your neighbour, You should hurry as she is going for a bath". He had turned on his heel and was gone before I could reply. Any reputable company would not need to be told what to do in this situation!

Now i'm curious. Which was it?

delahuntv

Tiddlypeeps wrote: »

The low cost of delivery doesn't excuse this. It's only gonna make the problem worse, as it's the delivery company that will end up footing the bill for missing parcels as they were negligent when delivering it.

I can't imagine it's company policy to do this, not without first asking the person they are delivering to anyway. I've had a few parcels delivered to neighbours myself, but they always called first to find out if it was ok.

can you please point out to me where I suggest that it does excuse it?

The fact is the customer wnat cheap/free delivery and costs are squeezed everywhere especially on the courier drivers. Its no excuse, but unfortunately when people are under pressure they tend to care less.

Sulla Felix

This is why I get stuff delivered to my work address (with permission!) or parcel motel. Packages have been left with any of six different neighbours or since the local shop closed, with a Maxol three miles away, by various couriers!

foggy_lad

goz83 wrote: »

Now i'm curious. Which was it?

A bath in the shower in the bath:pac:

Skid X

Maidhci wrote: »

In a normal neighbourhood, it would not be considered unusual for a person to accept a parcel for a neighbour who was not at home and certainly I would not consider that you should feel under a compliment to your neighbour, that is of course if you would be prepared to do the same and not equally feel that your neighbour should be under a compliment to you! Good neighbours do these things as a matter of course and do not give it another thought.

It's 2014 and nobody is living in Sesame Street. Courier companies should not be picking random addresses to offload expensive packages.

If they ring and get permission from the customer to leave it with a neighbour they know, fine. Otherwise they should do their job properly and return the undelivered parcel to the depot.

goz83

When given the option, i add a note that they can deliver to the neighbour lets say, on my right, because I wouldn't trust the one on my left. Parcel motel has been my preferred choice, but I haven't had any real issues with couriers yet. I hate when it is Fedex coming outside of the EU, because you are guaranteed to be hit with an inflated customs bill.

whiteandlight

Had this problem two years ago with UPS. They delivered my bridesmaids dresses to the neighbours. When they hadn't arrived I rang the company who said UPS delivered. I said they certainly did not. UPS ring me to say they have my signature and they did deliver. I'm like I am the only girl living in my house and I did not sign for that package so there's no way you have my signature. They asked me to check with the neighbours in case someone had signed (my name??!) for it. Duly did and both denied it. Eventually after many phonecalls they sent the delivery guy back out. Turns out he had delivered to my knacker neighbours who had signed my name for it and denied they received it. He retrieved it. I was livid! I get things delivered to work now

goz83

whiteandlight wrote: »

Had this problem two years ago with UPS. They delivered my bridesmaids dresses to the neighbours. When they hadn't arrived I rang the company who said UPS delivered. I said they certainly did not. UPS ring me to say they have my signature and they did deliver. I'm like I am the only girl living in my house and I did not sign for that package so there's no way you have my signature. They asked me to check with the neighbours in case someone had signed (my name??!) for it. Duly did and both denied it. Eventually after many phonecalls they sent the delivery guy back out. Turns out he had delivered to my knacker neighbours who had signed my name for it and denied they received it. He retrieved it. I was livid! I get things delivered to work now

Isn't that fraud? I would have had the guards onto them for that.

killbillvol2

goz83 wrote: »

Isn't that fraud? I would have had the guards onto them for that.

Getting the guards after your knacker neighbours always works out well.

goz83

killbillvol2 wrote: »

Getting the guards after your knacker neighbours always works out well.

:pac::pac:

I haven't taken the OPs description literally, but rather took it that the description was an implication of the action and not of their potential ethnic minority.

I do wonder why they were holding onto the dresses and if they were opened.

whiteandlight

goz83 wrote: »

:pac::pac:

I haven't taken the OPs description literally, but rather took it that the description was an implication of the action and not of their potential ethnic minority.

I do wonder why they were holding onto the dresses and if they were opened.

I still wonder didn't appear to have been opened and were still in the plastic. We were about to move house and I just didn't want the hassle once I got them intact! Oh and it was the action not the ethnic minority!

markad1

OP I can see your point.
On the other hand if I wasn't able to receive a package I would be delighted if the driver left it with one my neighbours....I'm very lucky to have good neighbours.
Parcelmotel works great with Amazon as I can collect the package on my way to or from work.

Odyssey 2005

ShaShaBear wrote: »

Had this IDENTICAL problem with Nightline just last week. Ordered a VERY expensive phone from Carphone Warehouse as a present, and he delivered it to some other woman in my estate. Let's first be clear, I still have no idea who she is, nor does she know me - but apparently that's okay because "she has a disabled child" and that makes her trustworthy. We called the driver back and told him he had to retrieve it as he couldn't confirm the policy if it got damaged at this woman's address. He refused, and actually said "No here, hauld on a f-ing minute - you listen to me! You weren't at the house so I left it in with Mary, she's only across the bloody road sure just go and get it!"

We called the depot and complained, and 5 minutes later he showed up at the house, slammed our gate so hard that metal paint chips shook off and told my partner that he was "some sort of knacker to ring head office over this sh**e" and said "you're some lazy cnut if ya can't even go over and collect it yourself". He mumbled about hoping that we end up using them again, because he'd know to give us trouble. When my partner shouted after him saying he was ringing the depot back, the driver pegged his pen at my partner and legged it to the van!!!

Had a problem with nightline today. Was out all day but left the windows open inthe house,(small ones on top). When I came home the alarm had gone off and a parcell from nightline was on the floor in the front room where the muppet currier had thrown the parcel in the open window. Fookin thing wasn't even for me,different estate altogether. Will call them tomorrow.....

_Kaiser_

Have had this happen once or twice - ridiculous nonsense really considering that many people these days don't know their neighbours at all (especially in apartment complexes)

What's needed here is more Parcel Motel type services where you just get everything sent to a location that's convenient to you. Let's face it, most people aren't available between 9 and 5 at home, delivering to the office isn't always an option, so IMO there's a real gap in the market for this that PM is only partly filling... I'd wager most people are using it to get around the extortionate direct shipping charges or in cases where the seller won't ship to ROI (eg: many on Amazon UK)

If you could get a PO box for a reasonable amount per month/year, that any courier/delivery agent could access and which was accessible 24/7, with enough of them around to make it handy then there's a fortune to be made.

Tiddlypeeps

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

What's needed here is more Parcel Motel type services where you just get everything sent to a location that's convenient to you. Let's face it, most people aren't available between 9 and 5 at home, delivering to the office isn't always an option, so IMO there's a real gap in the market for this that PM is only partly filling... I'd wager most people are using it to get around the extortionate direct shipping charges or in cases where the seller won't ship to ROI (eg: many on Amazon UK)

In what way does Parcel Motel fall short of filling this need?