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Main Forums => The Roundtable => Topic started by: Brad Johnson on December 14, 2021, 12:09:37 PM

Title: UPS relabeling fail... fail... fail...
Post by: Brad Johnson on December 14, 2021, 12:09:37 PM
Some time during the last year or so, UPS has suddenly begun randomly relabeling the address stickers on inbound packages do our building. By that I mean they take an inbound package label with a valid address and ATTN TO line, print a new label sticker that 's just big enough to cover that section of the original sticker, and paste it over the original address info. At least 90% of the time, the new label either has a different and usually incorrect address, or it simply restates the original address but either with a revised and incorrect recipient name or without the critical ATTN To info (both of which are now covered by the new label).

Call them to address the issue? Yeah, right. Their infuriating automated phone system is useless. It won't even transfer you to a real person unless you enter a tracking number. The "customer service" line? Just a human version of the automated system. They insist on a tracking number before they'll discuss anything with you. If you happen to get that far and do have a tracking number, they will discuss that package and that package only. Larger issues dealing with system problems are beyond their scripting. After climbing several steps up the "Can I speak to a supervisor?" ladder, I finally got someone who could go beyond the script. They are supposedly sending the issue to the local distribution center who is supposedly going to contact me later today.

I'm not holding my breath.

Brad
Title: Re: UPS relabeling fail... fail... fail...
Post by: K Frame on December 14, 2021, 12:11:29 PM
Thank you for contacting your local UPS office.

Your call is NOT important to us.

Do the letters FO mean anything to you?

*CLICK*
Title: Re: UPS relabeling fail... fail... fail...
Post by: Brad Johnson on December 14, 2021, 12:12:46 PM
Thank you for contacting your local UPS office.

Your call is NOT important to us.

Do the letters FO mean anything to you?

*CLICK*

You should go to work in their customer service center. You have the script down pat. How do you feel about moving overseas?

Brad
Title: Re: UPS relabeling fail... fail... fail...
Post by: cordex on December 14, 2021, 12:23:42 PM
If any of the relabeled packages are being shipped by a big company, you might reach out to them. If you do enough business with UPS you get an account team who can be helpful.

They may even be getting charged a reship/bad address fee by UPS and might thereby have additional reason to try to figure it out.
Title: Re: UPS relabeling fail... fail... fail...
Post by: 230RN on December 14, 2021, 12:26:36 PM
We are experiencing a high call volume.  Your call will be answered in the order it was received.

(15 seconds of lighthearted music.)

We are experiencing a high call volume.  Your call will be answered in the order it was received.

(15 seconds of lighthearted music.)

Actually, there are two outfits I've had to call lately who have the option of leaving my own number and they will call me back in "approximately N minutes." 

Wow, that was a boon.
Title: Re: UPS relabeling fail... fail... fail...
Post by: WLJ on December 14, 2021, 12:32:40 PM
We are experiencing a high call volume.  Your call will be answered ignored in the order it was received.

(15 seconds of lighthearted music.)

We are experiencing a high call volume.  Your call will be  answered ignored in the order it was received.

(15 seconds of lighthearted music.)

FIFY
Title: Re: UPS relabeling fail... fail... fail...
Post by: Brad Johnson on December 14, 2021, 12:33:13 PM
On the phone with the local distribution depot now. The first person I spoke with had way too much caffeine this morning and couldn't grasp that this was a larger issue than a single package. On hold for the Routing Services manager.

Brad
Title: Re: UPS relabeling fail... fail... fail...
Post by: WLJ on December 14, 2021, 12:35:12 PM
Are they routing stuff through the USPS? Have had a bunch of stuff with UPS tracking numbers delivered by USPS and many went weird after UPS handed off it to the USPS.
Title: Re: UPS relabeling fail... fail... fail...
Post by: Brad Johnson on December 14, 2021, 01:00:30 PM
Just finished up the call with a very helpful local rep.  There's some evidence to indicated it's tied to how the shipper(s) label requests are being electronically generated in the UPS system, a co-mingling of billing and shipping addresses. Due to that, their system flags the packages for label review. Local distribution depot clerks check and dutifully relabel the packages, but due to the HUGE number of potential addresses for campus departments, the first convenient search result gets slapped on. I'm watching more closely through that lens and am supposed to speak with the UPS rep again on Friday.

Brad
Title: Re: UPS relabeling fail... fail... fail...
Post by: K Frame on December 14, 2021, 01:04:30 PM
You should go to work in their customer service center. You have the script down pat. How do you feel about moving overseas?

Brad

Curry makes my ass look like a Japanese flag...
Title: !!!
Post by: HankB on December 14, 2021, 01:08:34 PM
Are they routing stuff through the USPS? Have had a bunch of stuff with UPS tracking numbers delivered by USPS and many went weird after UPS handed off it to the USPS.
I've received USPS tracking numbers that indicate a new package currently en route to me was delivered to a different party in another state several years ago.  I "copied and pasted" the tracking number so it wasn't a mistype on my part. (I ultimately DID get the package in a day or two.)

Curry makes my ass look like a Japanese flag...
THANK YOU for NOT posting pictures!
Title: Re: UPS relabeling fail... fail... fail...
Post by: WLJ on December 14, 2021, 01:38:49 PM
Curry makes my ass look like a Japanese flag...

We'll pass on the usual pics or it didn't happen
Title: Re: UPS relabeling fail... fail... fail...
Post by: MechAg94 on December 14, 2021, 02:00:32 PM
I have picked up packages at the UPS depot that is about 10 miles from my house.  The people there gave me the local number to call so I can check on what time to show up after the truck gets back in the evening.  The people at that Depot will help me.  I don't even try to call any other numbers. 
Title: Re: UPS relabeling fail... fail... fail...
Post by: Hawkmoon on December 14, 2021, 11:21:53 PM

Actually, there are two outfits I've had to call lately who have the option of leaving my own number and they will call me back in "approximately N minutes." 

Wow, that was a boon.

I've tried that a couple of times. "N minutes" actually means "N x infinity minutes" -- I'm still waiting for the call backs.
Title: Re: UPS relabeling fail... fail... fail...
Post by: Boomhauer on December 15, 2021, 04:49:37 AM
Automated phone systems are infuriating and nowadays you can’t get anything done without holding for 30 minutes and good luck getting anyone who’s not a *expletive deleted*ing idiot or even better, is halfway around the world.
Title: Re: UPS relabeling fail... fail... fail...
Post by: 230RN on December 15, 2021, 06:07:43 AM
I didn't have any trouble with that callback system with two different companies.  It must have been recently created and marketed, so maybe it's different versions.

Title: Re: UPS relabeling fail... fail... fail...
Post by: K Frame on December 15, 2021, 06:56:29 AM
I've recently had a lot of success with online chat.

This summer my credit card was skimmed, most likely at a restaurant where friends and I were eating. I got a bunch of small charges posted to it from Amazon web services (which AWS flagged immediately as suspicious because of the mismatch between my billing information and the information provided).

Wait time on hold to talk to someone at my credit union was over 30 minutes.

Via the web chat feature on NFCU's website I was in touch with an agent in under a minute and had arranged for a new credit card in less than 5.
Title: Re: UPS relabeling fail... fail... fail...
Post by: MechAg94 on December 15, 2021, 09:49:45 AM
My VISA got hacked last week.  A charge from United showed up.  Thankfully I had recently set up email notifications so I saw the charge pretty quick.  Just got the replacement card yesterday.  Whatever issues there are with Chase Bank, the Chase VISA people have provided good service. 
Title: Re: UPS relabeling fail... fail... fail...
Post by: Fly320s on December 15, 2021, 09:52:04 AM
Brad, UPS just delivered one of your packages to me.  I slapped a new label on it and sent it back.  Smelled like fruit cake.

 :rofl:
Title: Re: UPS relabeling fail... fail... fail...
Post by: cordex on December 15, 2021, 09:54:13 AM
Brad, UPS just delivered one of your packages to me.  I slapped a new label on it and sent it back.  Smelled like fruit cake.
Hey, you leave Brian Stelter out of this!
Title: Re: UPS relabeling fail... fail... fail...
Post by: Brad Johnson on December 15, 2021, 09:58:33 AM
My VISA got hacked last week.  A charge from United showed up.  Thankfully I had recently set up email notifications so I saw the charge pretty quick.  Just got the replacement card yesterday.  Whatever issues there are with Chase Bank, the Chase VISA people have provided good service. 

I've had good luck with them, too. Took a trip to south Texas a few years back and got a denial when I tried to fill up with gas. An "Is this really you?" message popped up on my phone as I was still standing there cussing at the gas pump. Replied with their Go phrase and the card was instantly back in service.

Brad
Title: Re: UPS relabeling fail... fail... fail...
Post by: Brad Johnson on December 15, 2021, 10:04:08 AM
Brad, UPS just delivered one of your packages to me.  I slapped a new label on it and sent it back.  Smelled like fruit cake.

 :rofl:

Messing with a man's fruit cake can get you hurt. Bad hurt.

Brad
Title: Re: UPS relabeling fail... fail... fail...
Post by: bedlamite on December 15, 2021, 10:18:34 AM
Brad, UPS just delivered one of your packages to me.  I slapped a new label on it and sent it back.  Smelled like fruit cake.

 :rofl:

That might make his ass look like a hurricane warning flag.
Title: Re: UPS relabeling fail... fail... fail...
Post by: MillCreek on December 15, 2021, 10:53:45 AM
Messing with a man's fruit cake can get you hurt. Bad hurt.

Brad

True dat.
Title: Re: UPS relabeling fail... fail... fail...
Post by: Brad Johnson on July 13, 2022, 04:49:28 PM
Well, it quieted down for a bit but the Relabel Fairy is at it again. Three so far this week.

Brad
Title: Re: UPS relabeling fail... fail... fail...
Post by: Devonai on July 13, 2022, 04:57:59 PM
This used to be a huge PITA for me doing inbound cargo as I do on a military base.  Not just the relabeling, but also the proclivity of the carriers to place "sortation assist" labels over the MSL (military shipping label) barcodes I need to scan to in-check them.  When both of our HHTs failed, without a viable replacement (the ones Big Air Force sent us require reliable Wi-Fi), I took to writing down the last 4 of the tracking number and manually clearing the shipments, and this also obviated the need to scan any part of the MSL as the physical documents were sufficient for the second part of the process.

But more importantly, my new boss (as of three years ago) dug into the regs and discovered that my section isn't supposed to be touching GPC (Government Purchase Card) items at all, and reassigned that duty to the section that actually delivers the packages on base.  So the entire relabeling and sortation assist problem became someone else's problem.  I feel bad for them, because in addition to the carriers futzing with labels, there's a huge problem with vendors properly addressing the orders in the first place.
Title: Re: UPS relabeling fail... fail... fail...
Post by: K Frame on July 14, 2022, 07:10:53 AM
Had curry for dinner last night...



(https://st4.depositphotos.com/3248189/22867/v/450/depositphotos_228676866-stock-illustration-grunge-version-japanese-rising-sun.jpg)