We spent £1,528 on a new Neff oven and microwave online from a kitchen retailer. The heavily discounted deal required us to arrange shipping from its showroom. We chose UPS. When the items arrived, the microwave was dented and the glass door of the oven smashed. UPS advised us to raise a damage claim, and sent a courier to collect the items for assessment. While wheeling the microwave to the van, the courier dropped it. UPS rejected our claim, citing “insufficient packaging”. In fact, the vendor’s photos of the items before collection showed them intact in the industrial-quality packaging from the Neff factory. They also bore fragile labels warning they needed to be handled with care. UPS continued to reject our claim.
Then we discovered debits of more than £270 from our credit card. It turned out UPS was charging us for shipping the items back to the retailer, despite the fact we’d asked them to be returned to us. After three months, and 50 or so phone calls, UPS declared the ovens lost. We ended up buying replacements from John Lewis at much greater cost, and submitted a lost item claim to UPS. There followed several more weeks of chasing, then UPS informed us it had located the ovens and wished to dispatch to us. We no longer need them. UPS’s appalling service has cost us several thousand pounds.
K and DE, Bristol
Ordinarily, it’s the retailer who is responsible for the safe delivery of orders, but since you organised the shipping yourself it’s you who holds the contract with UPS.
A recent report by the regulator Ofcom found that less than half of customers were satisfied with the customer service of delivery firms. UPS actually came relatively high up a dismal league, with 52% of respondents satisfied after contact with staff, although 92% of Trustpilot reviews give one star.
UPS’s insistence that poor packaging, rather than its own negligence, was to blame for the initial damage is undermined by your photo of the microwave rolling off the trolley on to the pavement. And it is extraordinary that it absolves itself of responsibility for losing both items in its care. It even claimed that you had booked an inappropriate service for the delivery, despite accepting the order, which stated the weight and spec of the consignment.
At the same time that you contacted me you began an online court claim. UPS initially contested it, then changed its mind and settled on condition you stopped the proceedings. It has now refunded you the cost of the initial ovens, and the various delivery and legal fees.
It says, straight-faced: “Customer service is at the centre of all that we do. We were able to resolve this issue with our customer, and, in this instance, provided a goodwill payment. It is important that all items be properly packaged to safely and securely move through our smart logistics network.”
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