UPS Store

My life partner and I have recently relocated from North Carolina to California, and sought the services of a UPS Store close to my partner's work in San Jose. We contacted the franchise owner by email from NC and made arrangements to get a mailbox set up for us before we got to San Jose. Once we arrived, he informed us that unless we had a signed domestic partner agreement that we would have to pay an extra $45/quarter (almost double) for both of us to be able to receive mail. (His reason? We had different last names) North Carolina does not have ANY provision for this kind of registration, so we were forced to pay extra for the box to which we'd already started having mail sent. We understood that though this was not technically illegal, it was very certainly an unfortunate choice for him to make. Then when we went to close the box, we were informed that they would not forward mail unless we continued to pay the extra fees. This, according to Avtar, was according to UPS store corporate policy. Though I understand this may not be actionable or illegal, I must say I can not understand how this is good customer service. I was humiliated in front of other customers in the store when I asked to come to some resolution, perhaps a cheaper rate for forwarding mail for 6 months if we did not have keys or access to the mailbox. I was told that the only service they were willing to provide was either full cost and keeping the mailbox open in both our names, or they would return the mail to sender. I am deeply disapppointed with my experience with this company and can say that I will never recommend their services at any location.