UPS unable to deliver in Dublin

bartlebooth

Hi,

I'm in Dublin 8, and whenever I have to receive a package with UPS it's a horrible mess: one year ago they brought me a broken empty box, and recently they again were not able to deliver during several week: the driver almost never calls, the customer support tells me they will deliver the next day between 12 and 3pm and they never do, they even pretended that 'there was a delay with the plane' 1 week after the parcel was arrived in Dublin.

I even tried to change to my work address in Trinity College, they said that there was a problem with the address and never explained what the problem was, despite my repeated attempts to give details.

Now they asked me on Friday if I want to collect from the Dublin depot, and when I answered yes they replied 'too late the parcel is being returned' :(

I don't understand what is the issue, it drives me mad.

Any advice about what I can do?

Out of curiosity, is there any legal course of action?

macvin

A "legal" course of action?

Seriously?

There's obviously an issue with your address. Simply get a Parcel Motel account and have them deliver to your nearest locker.

and it is not for the driver to call you. They don't provide a bespoke service where they call you in advance and sit and wait for a time convenient to you.

bartlebooth

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119384718#Comment_119384718

First, After 2 weeks of no delivery at my home I gave my professional address in Trinity College Dublin. During the next 2 weeks they said that there was an issue with the address. even though TCD is probably the most famous place in Dublin. They never gave any detail about what the problem was.

Second, like most residential buildings in Dublin there's no working intercom in my building. If the driver doesn't call when they arrive there's no way to know he's there. Obviously I'm not going to spend a full day waiting in the street in front of my building.

But anyway, if they don't call at least the customer service should tell me instead of pretending that the driver is going to call!! Btw the other delivery companies call me, it's usually not an issue (An Post leaves a notice, it's fine too).

Basically what I can see is that there's terrible communication between the customer service and the drivers. The driver doesn't say what is the real issue, the support just say sorry and pretends that the issue is going to disappear.

banie01

Certainly fits the TCD stereotype. This will go well and I'm sure someone will be along to give the OP advice that fits the circumstance and ensures delivery to "the most famous place in Dublin"😉

https://giphy.com/gifs/michael-jackson-6pJNYBYSMFod2

macvin

Ah, so no working intercom in your building and its the fault of UPS.

If you own the apartment get onto the management company. If you rent, get onto your landlord.

UPS do not spend time calling people beforehand looking to make an appointment for delivery - so where's the legal angle for you there?

Now Trinity - I didn't study there, but my mother lectured there and unless it has changed in the last 10 years, its a very large campus with many many departments. But I do remember a friend telling me he gets parcels delivered to a Parcel Motel within the campus. Is this rather simple and easy to do option not suitable for you?

BTW Guinness Brewery would probably be more famous.

bartlebooth

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119386574#Comment_119386574

None of the buildings I know in the city centre have a working intercom, and it doesn't bother any other delivery company. And if this was the issue, why didn't the UPS customer support tell me? I contacted them at least a dozen times explicitly asking to be contacted by phone, so the minimum would be to tell me if this is not possible.

I gave the exact specific building in TCD, of course, and even indications to reach it. And I practically begged them 3 times to leave it at the UPS parcel motel lockers they have in TCD. They said that it's not possible, no explanation.

Strumms

Courier companies don’t have the time or resources to go contacting every customer prior to delivery.

the courier arrived at the address to deliver. If they cannot access the address and obtain a signature that is not the fault of the courier. They showed up to deliver but couldn’t do so because of situations beyond their control.

o1s1n

UPS used to have me driven demented with this in my old apartment. I'd contact online retailers whenever buying something as a heads up asking not to use them as there was always an issue.

I also lived in an apartment with no intercom. To get in you'd need to ring me and I'd go down and open the gate.

Absolutely every other courier service would call when they're outside - it was just UPS who would refuse to, every time.

There really is no solution to that situation with them. If you live in an apartment with no way to contact you from the street you're fucked.

I find it absolutely bizarre to be honest, literally failing at the one job they have to do, deliver a package. Takes a second to call someone and say you're outside. Number is usually on the package too.

DoctorEdgeWild

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119387420#Comment_119387420

Just to give you the other side of the coin, from a delivery driver POV.

‘I don’t answer calls I don’t know’

’Oh great, I’ll be down in a minute’ (15 minutes later, in a job where packages have 4/5 minute delivery times)

’I’m not actually home. I told your boss that…’ shouty rant about service that had nothing to do with you.

‘Can you drop it to my work? I’m only 45 minutes across town’

…and any number of other mad requests that come with public facing jobs.

Not saying UPS are right or wrong here, just offering the other side of the coin.

Jim_Hodge

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119387344#Comment_119387344

I don't think much of the apartment buildings you know if none of them have a working intercom. Come off it!

Then you want UPS to contact you directly. Then you want it delivered to a specific location within TCD. You've a bit of a hard neck there.

o1s1n

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119387882#Comment_119387882

Totally get you alright. I suppose UPS are the ones offering the service though, to deliver packages. If the only roadblock between them delivering the package and returning it to sender is a quick call outside the house of the owner, I don't think it's too much to ask.

I suppose what annoys me is that every other courier does it. DPD send you an automatic text message on the day to literally give you the hour window that the delivery is taking place with an option to even reschedule if you want.

They'll then ring you when they're outside.

UPS give you no information as a receiver. You literally view the tracking on their website and you'll just see 'failed delivery' over and over with absolutely no indication of them arriving beforehand or trying to contact you.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119387960#Comment_119387960

Absolutely loads of apartment buildings don't have intercoms or have broken ones. I've lived in loads over the years and only one actually had a decent intercom system. I'm actually currently a landlord renting out a Dublin city centre apartment in a fairly decent location and the intercom system has been broken for the 7 years I've owned the place. Have tried to get the management company to fix it for years. (Its actually the same place I had all that trouble with UPS as I lived there for years myself before renting it out)

Gamergurll

I have had issues with ups myself but I'm in Donegal so must be a country wide thing 😂

I had parcels take a while to be delivered and the company said they had called I wasn't home but eventually they were delivered. I moved house and the first delivery from Ups the driver said he couldn't find me because my eircode was wrong but he asked some locals where my house was. My eircode is definitely correct, DHL never had an issue and anyone coming to visit me has used my eircode no bother, even the GPS system pinpoints at my house but for some reason UPS are the only ones to have ever had this problem? Luckily I live in the back arse of nowhere and it's always the same driver so he remembers my house now 😁

Anyway mine is only a minor issue compared to the above I suppose but Ups for some reason always find some problem somewhere.

Gamergurll

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119387882#Comment_119387882

I completely understand and I can only speak for myself but a phonecall to me would have been "Turnaround, my house is the one there with the trampoline in the garden", two minutes job done surely would have been easier than bringing a big box back to the depot and having to repeat again the next day? Of course you will get people being rude but it just seems easier to call? Maybe I'm wrong I can't obviously judge from a couriers point of view 😅

To quote Oisin also DPD give an email and a text the morning of delivery with an expected time of delivery, they have always arrived within the hour window so I have always had someone there to keep an eye out for them and I know they will be there at that time, they are a pleasure to deal with and I don't know why UPS can't have a similar system.. But then again no doubt there would still be problems for them 😏

DoctorEdgeWild

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119388235#Comment_119388235

It might be a quick phone call for you or me, but as you know, a lot of people out there are absolutely mad. 😂

Among the requests my places had were:

Unmarked van so the neighbours don't see what they are getting (this was a furniture delivery firm)

Driver to do a half hour induction before being allowed on site, to hand over a package that was the size of a shoebox, security weren't allowed to sign for packages as one went missing from the security office once.

Driver to be in casual clothes, non-uniformed. (I have no idea why, this was to a regular house

To give you an idea of package/parcel delivery work, some firms use a scanner thing, like a tablet, and it literally counts down by the second the times between deliveries, all via GPS, all tracked, recorded, timed. Sometimes linked to your pay too (I have never had this bit personally). I agree that a phone call will solve 80% of re-delivery problems, but those 20% must cost the company or else they would do it. A company like UPS would have a million different forms of analysis of every aspect of what they do. It's why they are so successful I suppose.

I'm in England and find Royal Mail and DPD are brilliant, like you said, that confirmation text makes a big difference. I wonder if UPS focus more on business to business delivery than private customers?

whiterebel

I used to have a regular driver with UPS, who told me that were up to 75 deliveries a day at one point. UPS wouldn't be the busiest around either.

Now, add a minute onto each delivery for phoning the receiver? Thats another hour and 15 minutes, which means 15/20 are coming back to base for delivery tomorrow. They may not have the phone number included? There is a space for it on the booking, but you can make up the number.

UPS uses a global system and are far bigger than DPD, so introducing the system worldwide is probably extremely difficult. DPD have their difficulties too - their Parcel Wizard change delivery address/date/location has never worked. Not once for me.

Gamergurll

People have some outrageous requests wow, some of that is straight out of Mrs Bucket territory! 😂

It's nice to hear the flip side of the coin from drivers point of view, it's easy for me to point at solutions but another thing to implement them, I just know that my phone number has always been printed on the form on the box and giving a fake number would be pointless,

There is just nothing more frustrating than checking the tracking, seeing its in your local depot and no delivery appearing, I do love my online shopping! But majority of deliveries I get are Dpd or Anpost so it's rarely an issue anyway :)

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058255938/ups-unable-to-deliver-in-dublin

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bartlebooth

For the record, I don't complain about the drivers: if they can't call for any reason, it's fine. But the fact that UPS customer service repeatedly tells me that the driver is going to call me doesn't make sense, all they do is say "sorry the driver is going to call next time". Apparently there's zero communication between drivers and customer service, and that is completely unprofessional.

whiterebel

As far as i know UPS's CS is in Poland. I don’t think they can contact the drivers. Not directly anyway.

Kalyke

I had a notice from UPS, dropped through the letter box saying they could not deliver. It said I should nominate another address, fill out the details and leave the notice where I found it... Honestly!

o1s1n

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119388468#Comment_119388468

How much time are they losing though by calling to houses when nobody is home and then having to return with the package again?

Surely the additional time a phone call adds is negated by getting the package to the person on the first attempt and not having to reattempt deliveries?

whiterebel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119494654#Comment_119494654

I don't think they have the customer number most of the time. My driver at the time asked me for my number so he could ring from the depot to make sure I was home. The shippers didn't put my number on the labels.