rant src="UPS"
so UPS leaves a package in front of my door yesterday for someone who doesn't even live here. i just got off the phone with a rep to make arrangements to have the package picked up. she asks for my name and i didn't think anything of it. i give her my first name but when she asked for my last name it dawned on me (after i'd already given it to her), why on earth do they need my information? then she proceeded to ask for my telephone number. that was the last straw--it was getting too personal.
i politely tell the rep i'd rather not give out that information, but then i'm told that they need it in order to pickup the package. seriously, is all that necessary seeing as how they already have my address in their system? i can't recall if i mentioned this to the rep, but we go back and forth with me saying, "i don't want to give out that information" and the rep, "well, we need a number in order to pick up the package." all the while, i'm thinking, "crap, i feel like i'm being mugged." again, i tell the rep what i don't want, only to have her repeat her line of "needing that information," again.
why am i surrounded by needy people? what about my needs for a little privacy.
now, i'm thinking i was being WAY too nice by trying to return the package, taking time out of my schedule to call UPS to get the package to its rightful owner. what was i supposed to do, let it sit here? throw it away? dropped it off at a UPS location? i sure as hell didn't find the answers in their FAQs. okay, now i'm irked that i even took the time to look there before i called them.
it wasn't my package yet somehow i made it my problem. i seem to do this a lot.
/rant
Comments
if you were to open it, is that a violation of the post office rules? since it was delivered by the post office?
i'd give them a fake name and number. seriously.
i did notice a number on the package so i gave that instead.
ack right. i meant since it was delivered by ups! anyway. i might have opened it! ha!
Then I'd write down the time I called and the person I spoke to, so they can look up the phone recording and record later when they try to do an investigation and don't find the package they didn't want to pick up.
If they still insisted on not picking it up, I'd give my name as George W. Bush, my phone number as 202-456-1111 (White House comments switchboard), and tell them to contact the presidential aides if they had a problem picking up the package at the address I had already given them. Alternately, asking to speak to a manager at the UPS office probably would have worked, as well.
i have no good advice or anything for you... sorry...
btw, i would've been SO tempted to open it. hehe...
latte, signing for a package should be mandatory. unfortunately, there was a "no signature required" sticker on the package. i took it upon myself to treat it like a baby left on a doorstep and instead of taking it to the fire department, i called UPS. i've learned my lesson!
grrrace, yes, i was pissed at their flawed "return to sender" policy. but it's in the past, for now...
I've dealt with shipping a lot of packages before (because of being so involved with accepting and sending expensive dolly packages), and I'm pretty sure I've had to give away my information whenever I go to the post office. I never really deal with the UPS system, but I know the USPS system often requires me to give my name, address and phone number whenever I'm shipping something off.
I hope that makes you feel somewhat better. =\
i can understand giving out my number if they needed to call with questions or notifications about my shipment, but i felt it was completely unnecessary in this case. there was no need for me to know what happened to the package once they picked it up, and there was no need for them to contact me either--the package didn't belong to me, and i made it very clear that it wasn't mine. they should have just said, "okay, we'll have someone pick it up." how easy would that have been considering i gave the rep the tracking number and then confirmed the address after she read it to me. *shakes head*
at least with USPS, you can write RTS on the mail and drop it off in the mailbox and be done with it. apparently, it's not that easy with UPS.
barbie, being nice, rather, assuming other's responsibilities comes with consequences!
Angela you should have just carried it across the breezeway to the other apartment. I know it is like 10 feet or whatever, but don't call UPS to come move it that far.
When I worked at the shoe store we got a package from one of the other businesses in the strip mall so I called that business and told them that I had their package and they could come get it or I could bring it over. They insisted that I give it back to the UPS guy to do it.
I worked for UPS for nine years.
The person you spoke with had a screen in front of them that needed to be filled out. Your contact info was needed because you were in possession of a package that wasn't your own. I know you took it upon yourself to notify them, but it's a standard procedure. They also needed someone to get in touch with in case they sent a driver there, and there was no package to pick up. It's an annoying procedure, but they're just covering their bases. I'm fairly certain that had you refused to give any info beyond your address, they still would have sent someone out to get the package rather than take the loss on it, especially if there was insurance paid by the sender.
Lastly, yes it would have been illegal to open the package. :)
yes, it's definitely an annoying process. oh, and in all fairness to the rep, i understand she was doing her job, and was probably just as flustered as i was. i'm sure we both felt backed into a corner and one of us should have asked for a manager to intervene. normally, i would but it didn't even cross my mind in this case. probably because i didn't think of myself as a customer, just someone trying to return a package that wasn't mine. i've learned a lot from this experience, that's for sure.
HA! i thought so.