UPS STORE

It went terribly, On 9.22.2012 I visited this location to ship personal items back to my home in California along with 2 of my local resident friends. The items included some new clothing, handbags, 2 religious statues and a Crystal 18" tall statue of the Empire State Building. The statues were all in their original boxes when originally purchased. Before arriving at the store I checked all the items for damage and all were intact. I gave the shipper the items which he placed in the box and put on the scale to weigh to calculate shipping, at this time there was no packing material in the box, just the items. I had asked The shipper at this location packed the standard box and taped it up. I had asked what the cost was for timeframe to keep the cost low. I never asked to keep the cost low on protection of my items either from loss or damage. Once we signed and paid the bill he took the box to the back of his store which was then the last time we saw it. When the package arrived the box was damaged (Dented) on one corner. When I opened the box all was good except for the Crystal statue which was damaged. I filed a claim and the main UPS number was not helpful at all. they took the claim and I waited about a week or so. They asked me to send pictures which I did to both pictures@ups.com and I also copied the store owner as well to include the origina l purchase receipt of the item also. They kept me updated on email and then my wife received a voicemail from the store owner that CRAWFORD who is the insurance company was denying the claim because the package was not packed correctly which he had packed and mentioned nothing about compensation. But asked if I could get an estimate for repair and send to him. I found this to be unacceptable to do being the collectible has been damaged and lost its value. When I realized the main office and this store were not going to do anything I reached to UPS corporate who conferenced me up with the store owner to try and work through this, and they at one point tried to side with the store about trying to get it repaired, I made my case using common sense being poor customer support and the audacity to ask me to get a collectible repaired which had officially lost it value from this damage and then the store told me they had little luck getting anything reimbursed by Crawford and that he complains to them all the time and that he is not very popular with them at this time which raised a flag for me. I was instructed to take more pictures of the box to share the dent damage only to find out that Crawford still won't overturn their decision. I shared all the correspondence between me and the store owner with UPS corporate and they even agreed what he said on the conference call was inappropriate and that had little impact. The store owner acted very unprofessionally and clearly had no intention of working this out in any way and was clearly not going to absorb the impact of the reimbursement of the cost of my collectible and left me in the cold. He then told me he did not pack the item and then told me that if I had purchased PACK and PROMISE it would have been covered. I told him it was fragile but he denies I did, so no fragile tape was on the box, but that does not even matter because UPS Corporate said that the box is handled no differently than any other of its type which defeats the purpose of marking it fragile. At no time during the transaction did he mention PACK and PROMISE as an option and expected me to know the full terms and conditions and at no time ever explained it to me and again assumed I should know better. This option should have been common sense to advise of especially when I insured it for $1500.00. One would think he would have mentioned, suggested or guided it. I made it clear on the call that at the time I did have a concern for shipping timeframe cost yes, I want to keep it low. But clearly based on the contents would have paid whatever to assure its safety from damage and loss, but this made no difference either. Then he told me he did not pack the items in the box yet when the box arrived there was 1 sleeves of green packing bubble which was useless and not even wrapped or place anywhere in the box that would have protected the contents in any way. So I question if he did not pack the box then how did that packing material get in there as he claimed I put all the items in the box and all he did was sell me a box and he taped it up and that's it. So again where did the packing material come from? UPS corporate tells me it was a courtesy from recycle from other customers. So I guess because they did not charge me for the courtesy I have to accept a damage item from an incorrectly packed box that was also damaged? Well who put the green bubble material in the box? The bottom line is, the customer is suffering for something out of their control and from lack of guidance from the store owner who should have done his job better I am now I am denied the $200 and an intact collectible that now has no value. Absolute poor deplorable customer service not only from UPS corporate but also from the UPS store. The store owner is unprofessional and discourteous and does not care about customer service and not at all willing to do what is right by the customer. But when I asked him how he would feel if it were him on the other side of this, he gave a cheap excuse and then gave me statistics and tried to sell me on his credibility and his experiences with other customers. Mistakes happen, but he clearly had no intent on righting this wrong the way the customer expected it. 1. Make sure you watch the shipper pack the item and make sure you check all items with the shipper before you hand them over in any form and assure their condition before they are packed. 2. Take pictures and keep all copies of receipts 3. Make sure the person servicing explains everything in full and clearly as it pertains to protecting contents from damage and loss or anything else to assure you are covered in case of either. 4. Note that UPS Stores are not actually UPS, they are authorized individual shipping store owners of UPS and USPS and whoever else. They are just extensions of the major shipping companies. 5. MOST IMPORTANTLY, DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THIS UPS STORE. USE THEM AT YOUR OWN RISK. Even if you do everything right, just the fact that he has no luck getting any reimbursement back from the insurance company and that he is not very populare with the insurance company because of mulitple claims he has made and gotten nowhere is a MAJOR RED FLAG for not only doing business with him but also with a UPS Store PERIOD! His attitude and poor customer service is another major red flag, if all was created equal with all UPS stores as far as customer service, then avoid this store because of the owner.