UPS, shipping a bike and fraud: A story of monumental frustration; or, how I want to shave that f'ing hippy's head

Triathlon Forum
1

So, I take my bike down to my local shop (very well known tri shop in Chicago) to have it boxed up and shipped out to California for a week of training. Yay, fun. (For those of you who have seen my other threads I have already planned a ride on Mt. Diablo for Friday.) Well, sure enough they box it up and ship it out UPS 3 day select (thank you and weell done, local tri shop in chicago). They give me a tracking number and as of yesterday UPS.com said my package was scheduled to arrive tomorrow. Great.

Well, I am just so darn excited about getting out there and riding I double check today to see the progress of my bike. Lo and behold, there is a mysterious message on their web site, “In transit - Rescheduled.” I’m thinking maybe it will be delivered a day early. Great again. I scroll down to see that it is now scheduled to arrive Monday the 7th. Wait a second, the package was shipped 3 day select this past Monday. I do some quick math in my head and can’t for the life of me can’t figure out the numbers. As I ponder this confounding equation, the uncomfortably sweet smell of a bureaucratic fishslap begins to loom. Unfortunately, I have no choice but to call UPS…

I find it remarkably easy to get someone on the phone and am encouraged that this whole issue may quickly be resolved. Having seen that friendly-looking, hippie drawing man in their commercials I am sure they will be able to find my package and expedite its’ delivery (you know just like he does on his magic white board). Turns out that friendly-looking, hippie drawing man is a liar (that, or there is someone with a gun just off screen forcing him to read his lines). According to the agents and supervisors alike there is absolutely nothing they can do and there is no information they can give me until it is checked in at its next location. Nothing. And when it is checked in they will likely not be able to expedite it. I am officially shit out of luck.

This is why I will teach my child, should I one day have one, not to trust hippies.

PS–I apologize for the abrupt ending. I am calling every 15 minutes hoping to get a supervisor that at least pretends to give a shit.

2

You may be able to get your shipping fee back. I know that USPS’ Express Overnight Guaranteed whatever-you-call-it claims that it will deliver in the specified time frame, or you get your shipping fees back. That may be your best course of action at this point. Sorry to hear about the suckage at UPS. Good luck getting it resolved!

3

Unfortunately, I have felt your pain with other UPS shit. Next day air screw ups…etc. The one thing I can say si for people who posed the question earlier this week about airlines vs shipping.This very reason (happened to a friend of min egoing to IMlou last year…had to rent a cervelo and had the worst race of his life) is why I just take the bike with me on the plane. At least you see it right before you go into security. Yea it may cost a bit more (maybe) but I just like seeing it there right before I go…Get a good bike box Trico or triall 3 sports…its the price of doing business

4

Now that truely sucks. What size bike is it? We may still be able to salvage your trip up Diablo with a loaner.

Dave

5

Funny thing. Last time I went out to the bay area I brought it on the plane. Airline lost it for 2 days. You’re damned if you do, you’re…well you know.

6

Your frustration is 100% well founded. I’ve experienced both types of delays as well- UPS and the airlines. I have had a much lower incidence of problems on the airlines though.

7

not that its totally related, but UPS blunders happen. Last may when i was in LA at the AISC National Steel Bridge competition (a nerd engineering thing i was involved with in college) one of the teams had shipped their bridge out via UPS weeks earlier, 2 boxes around… 300lbs each, give or take.
Half of their bridge arrived on time, half did not. They participated in the event and their bridge failed- no surprise since half of it was missing.
Story does have a mildly happy ending… The team that got f’d by UPS was told to tally up the manhours put into building the bridge, a number likely well into the hundreds, and their plane tickets and all the money that they lost as a result of winning their regional competition, being accepted to nationals, and not being able to participate. A rough sum of about $10,000 was the last I heard that UPS would be forking out. One of the kids (obviously not a senior, who would not be able to participate next year) was pretty excited to have a “Corporate Sponsor” for next years competition…
Hopefully they’ll be able to reimburse you with something, if not… its a good thing i just shaved off my long hair, and my job dosent allow me to wear flipflops and shorts…

8

Sorry about your luck. But try renting one…There are some threads about Bay area rentals.

9

Absolutely lame! Sorry to hear about this! Did your LBS tell you that Ground shipping, which is about 1/2 the price of 3-day, only takes 1 day longer?

10

When they(UPS) say rescheduled, It means that someone called with the pickup order but it was not picked up till LATER
.

11

Should have checked the threads here…UPS sucks, and is more expensive than the much more dependable Fedex. I always take mine with me, tho.

12

not all the time. I shipped a bike once through UPS and when I got that message I was told “it will show up”. once it did, I later found out the bike took a little “detour” slowing it down during shipment.

13

if i were a hippy, and i read this, i guess i’d be planning to teach my kids to hate uptight, type A multisport athletes.

any reason why you had to add such personal invective to what is an unfortunate story regardless of who you were dealing with?

14

I’d recommend that you contact Karl Etzel at Silicon Valley Cycling Center. He runs Bike Concierge services in the Bay Area. His company rents Look Carbon Road bikes (and a few tri bikes) with Power Taps and the works. All you need is your shoes and they provide the rest.

Karl can be reached at (408) 221-4522 or you can find a link from his website at www.ride424.com

They are based in San Jose, but they’ll deliver to your location.

Cheers,
Jonathan C. Puskas

15

Maybe just to make it lighthearted and funny?

16

This forum is amazing. I can’t believe the topics that can be seriously taken OT by people. You are seriously running to the defense of offended hippies? What’s next cavemen???

17

When they(UPS) say rescheduled, It means that someone called with the pickup order but it was not picked up till LATER

Not necessarily. Usually it means “we left it at the depo or on truck or we misrouted it. tough.”

18

Chill the fuck out. The last thing in the world anybody I know would accuse me of being is uptight or type a. It was a joke. I work as a creative in an ad agency and am more of the liberal, artsy-type hippy than anything. I actually think the ads are great (in fact, the star of the ads is a creative director at the agency, Martin, that created them (we do similar jobs)). I’m just frustrated that they didn’t deliver on their promise so I decided to poke fun at the guy’s hair. Talk about uptight.

19

Should have checked the threads here…UPS sucks, and is more expensive than the much more dependable Fedex. I always take mine with me, tho.
Fedex just took 7 days to ship my new bike from Michigan to Tempe. It was in Phoenix on Friday night, less than 10 miles away, and they wouldn’t let me come and pick it up.

I guess they all have good days and they all have bad days

20

This seems to be an isoloated event; I’ve known a lot of hippies that were good people.