shipment woes...

[cjolley]

I agree

recommend you "total" the whole box. You don't want damage to show up in a month. There will be no recourse

[degrub]

wipe the disks if there is anything personal on them. or just remove them and put an old disk in.

[VJ]

Thanks guys!
I still have to wait for the missing box. It was first scheduled for delivery yesterday, but they decide to hold it back as it is one box of a shipment of 4 boxes... AARRGHH!! This was corrected, so it was then again scheduled for delivery today (even this morning), but at 10AM, the status was again changed to "exception", with again the same explanation.

Meanwhile, I have calculated the damage claim, and called UPS Poland (as per procedure). But of course, they don't speak any English there! This is really getting ridiculous! I mailed the guy I have been in contact with before, and explained him the whole situation. Idiots.

[VJ]

Ok, the support guy called, and he was very helpful. He also suggested to just claim the entire box, to rule out any possible future problems. There will be an expert coming to visit me, to verify the claim; I hope that he/she is equally easygoing.

Just curious: do they reposses the damaged goods, or do you get to keep them?

[Technoid]

usually, so get anything you want off any storage media

[degrub]

...or don't want anyone else to have.....

[VJ]

Well, yesterday a courier came with the damage claim form. This is just a basic form where one can describe the contents, the damage and the packaging. On this form, contents are not detailed, nor is a value given.
I suspect they use this to assign an expert.

The last box also arrived, and some of the items contained are also damaged. But these are details and most likely have been caused by the packaging.

Jörg

[VJ]

Just to pick this up again...
I still hadn't heard from them last Tuesday (which is more than one week after I gave them the damage claim), so decided to give them a call... The very helpful person I had before was on holiday (he told me that himself), so I had to make do with somebody else...
He looked up the shipment number, saw some notice in German, called for help, and then said: "oh, that damage claim has been canceled, with the reason 'wrong shipment number'." I got angry and worried, explained the whole situation and he said he'd have to talk to the managers about the case (but he reopenend the damage claim). They call me back Thursday or Friday...

Thursday passed...

Friday (today), in the afternoon, I decided to give them a call. I first asked for the person I had been in touch with before, but was really snubbed at for doing so! I explained the situation, after which the lady on the phone said: "You have to call the international Polish number". I replied: "They only speak Polish there". She became agited, and wanted to give me the number. Luckily I had it in front of me, so I interrupted her, said: "this is the number, right?". She acknowledged. I answered: "I called that, they ONLY SPEAK POLISH, which is way I'm asking for that guy I've been in contact with!". But again she refused, and said he doesn't deal with these matters. WTF? He arranged for the damage claim for to be delivered!
I then said to her I called on Tuesday, and they said they'd call me back. She interrupted and said: "well then you have to wait". I really got angry with her: "They said they'd call me on Thursday or Friday. It is now Friday afternoon, I don't think it unreasonable for me to inquire about it!". She then said that she can see the case is still open (could be true, could be that she just tried to get rid of me), and suggested I wait longer.

As it was obvious I was getting nowhere with her, I ended the conversation...

But it still doesn't solve my problem!

AAAAARRRRGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!
(sorry, needed to get that out of my system)

Jörg

[Dr Mordrid]

Yet I ordered some sound activated micro-security/sports/spy cams from HK and they got here early and in perfect condition

Nice: 10 day standby, 2 hr recording on internal LiIon power only (5v to their mini-USB socket runs to card capacity), micro-SDHC, 720x480 30fps (class 6 card) mjpeg video, good audio and 60db sets them off. Silence turns them off after 2 min 'til the next time. Multiple mounts. Optional continuous and computer-attached modes. 5.5x1.6x2.0 cm

[VJ]

It is the first time I have so many problems, and I have had many items shipped to me and shipped a couple of items myself... My brother suspects these companies work better for big customers...

[Brian Ellis]

I've had enormous and frequent problems with DHL here, but never with UPS (ditto when in Switzerland, where we used UPS exclusively).

The problem in this country is that all the courier services (except Post/Mail/Datapost?EMS) are run by Cypriot franchises and not by the companies they purport to be, so they can fix their own rules.

I always use EMS for outgoing and try to persuade incoming ditto. Fast, reliable, delivered to the door and half the price!

[Fat Tone]

Can I join in with a whinge about Dell taking 2 weeks to fix my laptop? It's on 8-hour NBD warranty. The excuse was a lack of parts. The engineer was great when he got here at 7pm, he replaced the screen and the motherboard. The real problem was the continuous misinformation/lack of information during the two weeks.

Anyway, Dell are sending me an external hard drive as compensation...I wonder how many weeks that will take?

[VJ]

On Monday, I called them and I was assured they'd call me back in 24 hours. But apparently, Jack Bauer doesn't work at UPS...
So I called them (again), and this time got a nice lady on the phone. She pulled up the file, and said it she can see the previous communications (including the calls from UPS Poland to me to make an appointment) and acknowledged that it is taking too long (she said: "Jeezus!").
But then she said: "But you are calling UPS Belgium, the box was shipped from Germany". I explained that that was because they lost it: we shipped it from Belgium. Then she also understood why I could not file a damage claim (has to do with UPS now being the sender), and she said "What a big mess this is." I told her I called them a number of times, and people always tell me they will call back but they never do. Then she said something mysterious: "It is a complex case, which is why so many people are having problems with it.". I replied: "But surely I'm not the first one to have an issue like this?"... "Well, the problems you have are a combination of things that I think is quite rare.", followed by the reassuring words: "Let's settle differently, because this cannot continue like this.", and she put me on hold.
After a few minutes, she read back a text which summarizes the situation (lost box, damaged, claim impossible, ...) and asked me to confirm. I said that is more or less it, apart from the fact that she omitted that the box was one of a shipment of 4 boxes, 3 of which got lost but arrived all with a different delay. This yielded a "You are not serious!?" - I think she almost laughed. So she added it to the text.
Then she said what this text is about: she created a new dossier with an overseeing department at UPS (she claims only the CEO is higher), and basically added instructions saying - and I quote - "we caused this mess, now solve it"!, and gave me the dossier number.
She then apologized a couple of times more, and then apologized again as she said: "Even though you heard it before, that department will call you back tomorrow. They have to."

And something must have happened: today I got a call from UPS Poland, friendly guy, asking about the packaging and whether I still have it (I think it is odd they focus so much on the box and its external damage, but I assume they want to check if it had been properly packed). But of course I kept everything, so they are now making arrangements to send an English speaking courier (!) with the damageclaim form, so that he can check the packaging and help to fill out the form (what do I know about all this terminology?). Shortly after that, the same guy called me again, this time to ask about the size of the damage claim (this is not on the form, it merely contains data on the packaging and classification of contents).
So things are looking up... I had exepected that overseeing department to contact me, but maybe I misunderstood.

But something in the tone of the voice of that guy tells me they got instructions from above... Just the way he talks, the things he says... So basically, you have to be lucky with who you get on the phone...

[cjolley]

It's not luck, you just need to keep after it. And you did.
Here's hoping the the progress actually materializes.


Becky has a technique she uses:
Take up their time until it's more trouble to blow you off than it is to help you.
She's nice as pie, but if she has to take up 3 hours of their time chatting on the phone to get results, she'll do it.

[VJ]

Well, both on Friday and Monday, I got other phone operators who basically could have done the same, but just stuck to their standard answers... So I feel some luck is needed... of course, if you call more frequently, they start noticing this in their logs...

My sister in law does it similarly: she once sat at a travel agency for 5 hours until they solved their problem... And at the end she got some coupons for a free breakfast, to which she replied "I don't want a free breakfast, I want service!".
And in her typical fashion, she later booked the next trip at that same place. She reasoned that they are bound to remember her, and be more careful...