Problems with U.P.S.

We have not sent a UPS COD since 1994, and for good reason. We shipped over 1000 packages in 1998 and only used UPS 3x's, and for good reason. The UPS problems you mention are not unusual, but are infact rather common. For COD use FED EX 1, 2, or 3 day (same price as UPS 1, 2 or 3 day). For next day air no one is better (or safer) than DHL (www.DHL-USA.com). We finally grew tired of the problems with shipment with UPS and the (over) billing problems with FED EX (23 over billings in 1998!). We now simply pay for half of the DHL next day air cost. Instead of east coast shipments (we are in Calif) taking 7-10 days, they take less than 1 day. With such a short time in transit, the chances for damage are very low. Spending hours on claims, searching for lost packages that UPS can't track, and the other problems just aren't worth the time vs the extra cost for air service. Anyway, you get what you pay for, and UPS ground is the bottom of the barrel. Goodluck. thanks, Brian@HelloHiFi.com ph805.527.9739 fax805.527.9808 www.hellohifi.com eCatalog available. New equipment demo’s by appointment. All quotes are good for 30 days. Customers in every state, & 26 countries (angol/ingles/englisch/beszelunk magyarul!/ hablamos en espanol/wir sprechen deutsch).

Well, I am sure if you have browsed the for sale section of AgN you have seen hellohifi's ads where it states: "NO UPS, NO UPS, NO UPS"? We have used UPS 1 time this year, just once, and we have had 1 problem. Customer told us he wanted his shipment shipped with his UPS service on his acct. We offered to ship it DHL 1 day air and only charge him half the regular rate (which ends up being about 10% more than UPS greound!), but he insisted that his UPS service pick it up and ship it on his acct. We told him if he would like this done, we will not be responsible for any problems resulting from UPS and will address the shipment to AND from him, the recipient, to avoid any entaglements with a possible UPS claim. He told us he had never had a problem, had shipped several hifi items with UPS before, and wasn't worried about it. Well, surprise! Unit arrived damaged, so he claims, and now he wants: us to file a claim, he wants us to take the unit back, and is searching (reaching) for any loop hole he can find to make this happen. Hmm. Well, lets see, we agreed to one thing, his shipping service damaged the item, and now he wants us to absorb this problem? If he would have picked it up, and dropped it on the way home, would he be asking for the same? Funny how when you agree to one thing, and if it doesn't work out for the other person, they decide they would like to alter the agreement. We ship it with our service, we are responsible. Someone wants to have an item picked up and shipped with their service, and are even told in advance that WE will not be responsible if they make that decision, then they are responsible. There's much more to this story, but those are the basic facts. Yes, if he's reasonable we will help him with his claim, but that will be it. UPS strikes again, this time on an $8,450 item. We will NEVER use UPS again, on anyone's acct, for any reason, to ship anything, anywhere. Please don't ask. For the record, just last month an item was drop shipped to a customer of ours, with one of our shipping services on our acct. It arrived damaged. What did we do? Asked the customer to return it, and already sent him a full refund and have even just mailed him a check for the return shipping charges. We shipped (had the item drop shipped for us), so we were responsible for getting it there. It's that simple. Remember this: NO UPS, NO UPS, NO UPS, and this: www.dhl-usa.com . You get what you pay for.

Well, I am sure if you have browsed the for sale section of AgN you have seen hellohifi's ads where it states: "NO UPS, NO UPS, NO UPS"? We have used UPS 1 time this year, just once, and we have had 1 problem. Customer told us he wanted his shipment shipped with his UPS service on his acct. We offered to ship it DHL 1 day air and only charge him half the regular rate (which ends up being about 10% more than UPS greound!), but he insisted that his UPS service pick it up and ship it on his acct. We told him if he would like this done, we will not be responsible for any problems resulting from UPS and will address the shipment to AND from him, the recipient, to avoid any entaglements with a possible UPS claim. He told us he had never had a problem, had shipped several hifi items with UPS before, and wasn't worried about it. Well, surprise! Unit arrived damaged, so he claims, and now he wants: us to file a claim, he wants us to take the unit back, and is searching (reaching) for any loop hole he can find to make this happen. Hmm. Well, lets see, we agreed to one thing, his shipping service damaged the item, and now he wants us to absorb this problem? If he would have picked it up, and dropped it on the way home, would he be asking for the same? Funny how when you agree to one thing, and if it doesn't work out for the other person, they decide they would like to alter the agreement. We ship it with our service, we are responsible. Someone wants to have an item picked up and shipped with their service, and are even told in advance that WE will not be responsible if they make that decision, then they are responsible. There's much more to this story, but those are the basic facts. Yes, if he's reasonable we will help him with his claim, but that will be it. UPS strikes again, this time on an $8,450 item. We will NEVER use UPS again, on anyone's acct, for any reason, to ship anything, anywhere. Please don't ask. For the record, just last month an item was drop shipped to a customer of ours, with one of our shipping services on our acct. It arrived damaged. What did we do? Asked the customer to return it, and already sent him a full refund and have even just mailed him a check for the return shipping charges. We shipped (had the item drop shipped for us), so we were responsible for getting it there. It's that simple. Remember this: NO UPS, NO UPS, NO UPS, and this: www.dhl-usa.com . You get what you pay for.

0 UPS shipments in 2000 = 0 problems. 1 UPS shipment in 1999 = 1 problem. 3 UPS shipments in 1998 = 2 problems. 1989 - 1997 had several problems (mainly with packages shipped to us). If you're not willing to double box and quadruple pack your hifi before sending it, you shouldn't use a ground service. BTW, "but that's the box it came in" is a very poor excuse.

Another damaged item arrived via UPS (ground) today (Marantz receiver). Our driver is great, but we can pass on the rest of the company.

Fed Ex:....... as far as Fed Ex goes, we have had one damaged item with them (total, to and from) in the 8 years we have been using them. If we would have known the repair amount we woudln't have even bothered with the claim (*$35*). We haven't used them much in the past two years, except for CODs, but I am sure they are just as good as they were when we used them daily (we now use DHL, but they do not offer a COD service).