crows to burnaby

Post details: Word to the wise: NEVER use UPS to Canada.

Thu January 10, 2008

03:55:23 pm, Categories: Anything & everything, 313 words

Word to the wise: NEVER use UPS to Canada.

A while ago I ordered a bunch of Switchcraft cable ends from a place in Philadelphia, which had them at a terrific price and I was mighty pleased to have found them. They ship UPS, and I didn't know any better, so I okayed them to be shipped UPS Ground.

Switchcraft right-angle plug Today my UPS parcel arrived. It has a value of about $45. Shipping was $16.

The driver asked for $35 COD.

Note that NONE of that is duty - it's an American-made product so it doesn't qualify. $31 of it is UPS's brokerage fee - the price they charge to handle bringing it across the border. The rest is just tax.

I refused the package. Where do they get off charging 70% of a package's value? I called them and complained, and they offered a "one-time goodwill" discount of 50% of the brokerage fee, so now I'm "only" going to be paying $20. Since I do need these cable ends sometime within my lifetime, and if I let them get returned I'd just have to pay another $20 in shipping from somewhere else, or a higher price on the ends, I said okay. Now I have to wait for them to redeliver the package, of course.

Rest assured I will not use UPS again in any situation where it can be avoided. The lady on the phone told me there aren't brokerage charges on air shipments, only ground. That's nice, but I've been burned by UPS once, and that's enough.

In the meantime I also had to arrange for shipping of a large, heavy package from the US, and since it was much bigger, I did my research first. It seems that UPS is notorious for ridiculous brokerage fees. There's even a lawsuit filed. So I used USPS, which has a flat rate of $5, and hopefully will not have to deal with this nuisance. Lesson learned, but too late for my cable ends.

9 comments

Comments, Pingbacks:

Comment from: Craig Stacey [Visitor] · http://robotmonkeypants.com

When I moved to the US, I shipped my Amiga 2000 to myself via UPS.

I then realized UPS stands for Uncaring 'Puter Smashers.

01/10/08 @ 16:13

Comment from: Jeremy Lim [Visitor] · http://www.marketingruinedmylife.com

They rip me off everytime on music equipment.

Here's the worst one: my freaking audio interface.

They dropped it off at my neighbor's house without a signature. That's it. End of story.

Online, it said delivered. In real life, I didn't have it. They didn't even check to see if it landed in the right hands. They didn't even dump it off at the RIGHT HOUSE.

Curses upon you, UPS! Curses that eBay users like you so much!

01/10/08 @ 16:34

Comment from: Craig Welsh [Visitor] · http://towniebastard.blogspot.com

They're damn slow as well. Apple shipped my MacBook through them. I honestly was beginning to wonder if they put it on a boat in Shanghai.

I also bought some camera equipment in the US last year. One of the secret's to avoiding brokerage fees is apparently to not pick the cheapest form of shipping. That's where they tend to nail you. Yes, you pay a little extra, but you get it faster and avoid the fees. I had a good link to it, but they've since taken it down.

01/11/08 @ 05:58

Comment from: crows [Member] · http://www.crowstoburnaby.com

I don't think the saga is over, either. I just got a call from someone asking me if I had refused the parcel, and they had nothing on record about the half-price brokerage fee. They were going to call and ask. We shall see how this all pans out. :|

01/11/08 @ 18:52

Comment from: Shawn Gommer (TRouBLe) [Visitor]

When I was working as a shipper, we would use Can Post before we would use OOOOPS (as we called UPS). There was a point where they lost a trailer on Van. Island. We were getting calls from our clients about missing shipments and they kept saying they were delivered. It took close to a MONTH before they admitted they lost the TRAILER.

01/14/08 @ 09:14

Comment from: Derek K. Miller [Visitor] · http://www.penmachine.com

I learned years ago to avoid using UPS, and to tell anyone shipping things to me (especially cross-border) to use any other service. I find FedEx works fine, as does regular parcel post.

My friend Tony has a great post about this:

http://burbaget.blogspot.com/2007/12/in-my-experience-ups-have-never-got.html

"In my experience, UPS have never got a delivery right.
Which is remarkable really, as that is the cornerstone of their business, delivering stuff."

01/15/08 @ 00:10

Comment from: Elle H. [Visitor]

Completely agree... UPS has ridiculous brokerage fees. I also bought a package from the States valued at $34 US and paid $16 in shipping, but when it got to my door - $22 COD. That's more than half of my damn package, and there were also no duty fees. It may not sound like a lot, but in total I paid $70 for something that was really only half of that. So, lesson learned; I am never using UPS again.

04/24/08 @ 15:14

Comment from: Carl [Visitor]

I just got F'd by UPS for $30 on a $100 item, its outrageous.

05/01/08 @ 20:03

Comment from: Micheal [Visitor]

Does anyone no how to get past the duty fee's from ups. I just bought a PS3 off ebay and found out that the seller is shipping it by UPS. Also heard NEGATIVE feedback about there fees!!! the total value i paid for the ps3 is $576.00 CA. I then contacted the seller and told her to mark it as a gift and right Happy Bday on the Memo. WILL THIS ELIMANTE THE FEE?

07/19/08 @ 14:47

Thu January 10, 2008

Word to the wise: NEVER use UPS to Canada.

Comments, Pingbacks: