I have to tell what happened with the delivery of my Athearns Genesis UP #3985 4-6-6-4 Loco.
The package arrived while I was not home and was left at my door by UPS. (that’s normal where I live.) Not being home I was not able to see that 25% of the box had been crushed on the corner. I took the box unopened to the UPS distribution center (not a UPS store). They first words out of the clerks mouth were “since you signed for it it’s not our problem.” When I told her I was not home to sign for it she huffed and turned to her computer. With the tracking number she could see that it was left at the door. She then agreed to open the package. Sure enough, the beautiful blue box inside that says Challenger was crushed as well. The train itself did not appear to be damaged, but I would have no way of properly testing for internal damage. Since this is somewhat of a collector item and most people don’t want a damaged box for something this nice, I wanted to establish a claim. Here’s where it gets ugly. [banghead]
I’m at a major UPS distribution center counter and she says that they don’t do that here, I have to call an 800 number. I called the number she gave me and was told they would have to pick it up sometime between 9 and 6 the next business day. I ask for something smaller than a 9 hour window that I would have to wait at home for the driver to show up to correct UPS’s mistake. No luck. When I said I was just at one of you distribution centers and why couldn’t they take care of it, it set off her recording voice says that “them’s the rules bud.” I then spoke to a supervisor who repeated the same thing the first clerk said. She told me they would the take it somewhere and inspect it and if it was just the box it comes in there probably would be no payment of a claim. I said “So i’m left with a very expensive damaged box” and she said “Yep.”
Soooo, I called Internet Trains and Sean answered and I explained the problem and he wen
Good thing it wasn’t the post office their sevice is worse.
I celebrate the successful resolution to this problem… As a Ebay shipper I pack my trains so thickly that the UPS cannot damage them just by throwing them 10 feet into a box. So far I have not had any complaints.
I have to agree. Internet Trains has been great to me. (No affiliation.) UPS Customer Service sucks in comparison to FedEx.
Tom
I don’t i did not have the best of time with internet trains. they took the money for my challenger and them put the money on sombody elses train, so they said i did not pay for it. once i got that fixed they said that it would be shipped. i called a week later and asked if it had been shipped, and Sean Bradly said that not it had not been shipped so i finnaly got them to ship it and now i have my challenger. Sean is the only one i have gotten answers from. now i know i am never doing a preorder agian that is a pain in the neck,
Ben
Dude…
At least it came out good in the end.
Two sides to every coin. I love “Brown” but they do have their way of doing things, and Internet Hobbies has day time staff to deal with the inspectors who will determine that the item was not properly packaged. My overall experience with Internet Trains has been excellent, including a phone call about an item that was out of stock, and that they could not locate from their multiple sources. I had told them that I was unhappy with ordering “in stock” items only to have them not be “in stock” through a post sale Yahoo follow up. Retail is extreemly difficult to master, it appears UPS could learn something about the customer service side from Internet Trains. Enjoy the new engine!
Bill
yes it did come out in the end and i am happy.
I’ve had much better service from the post office then from Brown. It’s so much better that I’ve quit Brown altogether.
Unless it is is absolutely necessary (only twice in the past five years) I absolutely refuse to do business with any company that insists on shipping by UPS.
UPS is the biggest ripoff in the shipping business for cross-border shipments, with grossly inflated customs brokerage charges.
The worst example was not a model shipment, but documents from a US government agency, which insisted its policy was using UPS. It was a noncommerical shipment of government documents. UPS however looked at the invoice in the packing slip and charged me a $30 Cdn brokerage fee based on the photocopying charge. With taxes on top of that it came to about $45 Canadian. Couldn’t get any satisfaction from UPS of course. I raised **** wth the agency and they apologized and sent further shipments by the post office, which in my view is much more reliable than UPS, since I also had great difficulty receiving that shipment.
The very same week I received a software shipment–clearly a commerical shipment --worth $230 US from LA sent via FedEx, which charged me $7 in brokerage fees.
I had to deal with UPS a couple of months ago on a piece of vital computer hardware. Again a $30 brokerage fee and taxes on top that–which in effect doubled the cost of the product. I complained to that company but got nowhere…unlikely I will do business with them again, since the hardware was to upgrade an older system.
A friend who had the same problem figured out that it would be cheaper and more efficient to have a shipment sent by FedEx, even though it cost more initially, it would actually cost less once the UPS fees were added
All of the things I’ve bought through eBay that were shipped UPS took at least a week to get to me from time of shipping. For the rates UPS charges, that’s LOUSY service, considering USPS priority mail is not only cheaper, but faster, too. Furthermore, USPS also delivers on Saturday (whereas the others do not) and if you miss a shipment that requires a signature, its a heck of a lot easier to get to the local PO than to have to find the other guys’ delivery center and guess when they’ll be open.
I live on the east coast, and everything I’ve had shipped via USPS Priority Mail has arrived in great condition in two or three days (most in two days). Here’s the best one yet; it blew me away: My wife got a Priority Mail package in the mail on Thursday 7/14. It was postmarked on Monday, 7/11*-------in Honolulu, Hawaii*. [:O][8D]
Kudos to the hardworking men and women of the U. S. Postal Service!!! [tup][tup]
You put the “competition” to shame. You have my business!
I’ve noticed UPS isn’t the best either, if you watch their “package tracking” they don’t even start counting the days until it get’s shipped off from their shipping depot. even if it’s “3 day’s shipping” they seem to like to add a couple of days. I however have not had problems with their overnight service but I’ve only had 2 packages sent thru them overnight and my breeder(I breed leopard geckos) only ships with them but he pretty much covers every side of the box with warning stickers about live animals and harmless geckos/reptiles.
internet trains did right and their the guys wanting a satisfied customer.
They will most likely take back the damaged box and challenger no matter what condition and perhaps return it to the maker who may diddly with it, fix it and resell it.
Or internet trains may have a special sale on damaged goods…
or examine the challenger make sure its in good order and find a new box.
But IT most likely will badger UPS on the damaged goods…
i had troubles with fed ups i had order tires for my corvette from tirerack .com .i payed for 2 day shipping but the dilivery happend to fall on a saterday. i tracked the tires to my local fed ups locaton but the web page told my that monday was the dileviry date.
i called and asked why thay told me the week ends dont count as part of the 2 days. so i said you mean i payed for 2 days but get them in 4 thay said yup thats right so i askes if thereare f#@*in nuts. so after i got nowere i dorve to my local fed ups and told them i wanted my tires .thay told me if thay were in the back of the contaner i would not get them i told i was not leaving till i got them i paid for 2 day i wanted 2 day shipping. so the guy walked out back and a few mins later came back with the tired and told me i was lucky i told them no your lucky and walked out with my tires .
i once went on holiday for 4 x weeks overseas… i had my mail held at the local post office and when i came back i found a parcel had been left on my door step for 3 x weeks and the cardboard box and the contents were soaked (rain)… i got very angryyyy just like emt49 above… and when i went to the post office they gave me my mail… i showed them my package and showed them the train gear inside they said it was not their fault as the parcel was delivered by a contractor… guess what… the contractor worked from the same store… i hate poor service…at least the shop did the right thing for you and i hope they read tis… peter
It’s always interesting to read the horror stories you folks provide about the various shipping agents. Could be UPS, USPS, FedEx, or some other, but there’s no end to the accounts on this and other forums.
I’ve shipped and received literally hundreds of trains over the years. I generally use–and prefer–UPS, although I have also used FedEx, the U.S. Postal Service, and others. In all those years, and with hundreds of items both received and sent, I’ve had maybe two problems relating to the shipping agent–a misrouted package or some such. Both were resolved to my satisfaction.
Most of the train retailers I buy from use UPS, for very understandable reasons, although some use FedEx, and an even smaller number use USPS. If I was to stop buying from dealers who only use UPS, I would probably have far fewer trains in my various collections (ranging from Z scale to Large Scale). Perhaps that might even be a good thing, depending on how one looks at it!
Perhaps I’m just far luckier than some here. If so, I hope that luck continues because I’m perfectly happy with all of the major shippers.
Good for internettrains! I’ve ordered several things from them without a major problem, the one little problem I had was quickly taken care of.
I had an interesting circumstance with Manhattan Trains. I ordered three Life Like subway sets, two of the silver and one of the red. I got the two silver sets within a week. I knew the red set hadn’t been release yet and looked forward to getting it. I will point out that Manhattan Trains only charged my card for the two that were sent. A few months later I learned that the red sets had been released and a few weeks later saw the charge for the red set on my card (I do not believe I was charged extra shipping for the backorder). I didn’t receive it and I called Manhattan Trains. The gentleman that answered the phone checked his computer and told me what the shipping date was. I told him I hadn’t received it. He took my number and said he’d call me back. Less than 30 minutes later he called and said he got with the shipper and ran the tracking number. Apparently it was lost somewhere. Before I could ask what we should do he told me he would ship a new set to me and he would work with the shipper to determine the status of the first set that was shipped. He did seem very upset that things didn’t go correctly (not upset with me - upset with the shipper). Less than a week later I had the red set in my hands. Yeah - I was big time happy!
Good service sometimes is hard to come across in the world of discount stuff. Do I expect a perfect transaction everytime? Hardly. I know that mistakes can happen and will give a person the benefit of the doubt. What I care about is how mistakes are handled. Both Internet Trains and Manhattan Trains have shown me that they care about my business and will make things right. This is why they get my business - even if their prices might be at times a little higher than other folks.
My other job aside from the fire dept is working for a company that ships a large amout of packages via Fed Ex and UPS. It is true if you order anything on say a friday and want 2 day air you will not get it untill teusday if you order it on friday and you want it saturday you have to order it next day air with the saturday option. Also you have to look at where you are in relation to the company that is shipping you the goods if they are in California and you are in Ohio it takes 5 to 6 buisness days by ground. ship that same pakage by USPS pacel post and it can take 14 days. Fed ex Ground the same 5 to 6 days but they deliver on saturday for no extra cost, the down side they do not deliver on monday.
Based on the number of claims for damage that I see neither is actualy any better.
A little hint that will always help you with both is if you recieve a damaged package call the shipper let them handle the claim, since they ship large amounts of goods by these carriers they have more clout and can get faster and better results and they will probly send you a replacement. If your home and you notice the package is damaged refuse delivery and call the shipper.
Neither UPS or FedEx will tell you there lost or damage stats but we have figured our totals to be somewhere in the area of 0.5% which is not bad considering the number of items they handle everyday its in the millions.
i am not defening either of them just offering some facts for you to review.