The UPS Store

On Saturday, December 26, 2015 I walked into the UPS Store in Hendersonville, TN with a package containing perishables that I wanted shipped and delivered as soon as possible. The man said that the USPS would take 12 days for delivery but UPS could get it there by Monday. He never gave me the cost or shipping options for USPS. I know that UPS does 2 day deliveries and I believed it would be the fastest service even for ground service. On Monday I looked at my receipt a little closer as I was looking for the tracking number so I could track package online. Then I realized that my receipt gave a ship date of Monday and that the package would not be delivered until Wednesday. I phoned the UPS store. A lady answered the call and said that she could not even find my tracking number or package. But, she reiterated that based on the time I brought the package into the store that it would go out that day (Monday) and be delivered on Wednesday. When I let her know that I was very angry about being lied to about this ship and delivery date then she said that she "could not continue this call" and she hung up on me. She did not want to be bothered with this huge mistake. That night the tracker showed no information at all. The next day the tracker showed only that a label had been created but the package still had not been shipped. So I again phoned the store. I asked "Why" had my package not been shipped out? They claimed that I said that I was going to pick it up the previous day (on Monday). I said "Why would I have said that when I have been telling you that I need to get it shipped out as soon as possible?" I was then told that the package was setting on their counter waiting for me to pick it up at 'my request.' Now I was even more angry. I immediately drove over to the store, picked up my package and received a full refund. Then I took the package to the USPS, paid for priority mail which was half the cost for a 3 day service and tracking number but because of the coming holiday my package is still being held up. Altogether my package will have been awaiting delivery for a full week and a half "with parishables" in it! If I had known what horrible service UPS was going to provide I could have taken my package directly to the USPS on Monday and had it delivered to my friend before New Years. Now because of these irresponsible and rude people my package is ruined. Late on Tuesday afternoon the manager of the store phoned me in order to apologize and appease me for what happened. Her words were empty and did nothing to salvage my package which was a Christmas gift for a good friend. She defended her lying workers and stated that the lady whom I spoke with on Monday told her that I requested to pick up the package. This was an outright lie when I stated from the very first day that I needed the package sent as quickly as possible but this manager was obviously inclined to believe whatever her workers told her. Second, the man who initially accepted my package lied about the ship and delivery date and about the USPS service. I looked at the websites for both Hendersonville UPS stores before going into the store and the manager said that the pick up times on the website were incorrect, or rather she believed that "I" was incorrect in what I read on the website speaking to me as if I were too dumb to know how to read the store hours and pick up times for our local store. When I looked at the website I saw a 6 p.m. pick up for ground shipping. Whether I had made a mistake or the website was wrong the store employee needs to inform a customer who walks in wanting to ship something right away. The store employee should be able to give a customer all the relevant shipping times and rates for the type of service the customer is seeking. If they cannot handle that then they need to find another job. The manager said that the guy who initially took my package was supposed to call me the previous day (on Monday), apologize for the mixup and ask me what I wanted to do with my package but he never phoned me. Instead to keep from confronting me about the error he made or having to apologize he lied to his manager and told her that I was coming in to get the package before I ever made the phone call on Tuesday to ask why my package had never been shipped out. If I had never phoned the store to inquire about my package then it would have sat there until they threw it away and never gone anywhere while keeping my money for a service that was never rendered. After having spent an entire exhausting day on Christmas(one of my few days off from a full time job) baking something special for a friend in another state these people at UPS ruined my gift and all of my hard work including the cost of what I baked. I guarantee you that I will never again walk into that store while careless, lying employees like that are working there. The cost of the baked goods that these employees ruined should come out of their own paychecks. I have absolutely no tolerance for people who outright lie and seek to destroy things that belong to others. It would have been mature and professional for the man to phone me on Monday to straighten out the error and then ship my package off that day but since he chose to avoid me then lie to his manager about what happened he caused the entire situation to be compounded into fury. As for the lady who hung up on me, she needs to learn how to communicate in business. You do not ever hang up on a customer unless they are making threats or cursing. All of these employees need to be put through some professional business and courtesy training in how to handle difficult situations, upset customers, and dealing with people. These employees have no people skills. I have nothing good to say about the inexperienced manager either. UPS has a store full of incapable and unskilled people who know nothing and care nothing about how to conduct business. Neither are they learned in their own product services. Obviously these people are related or good friends and that is how they expect to make it through life - always expecting someone to cover up for them while they do whatever they want to. Now there is absolutely nothing that would ever bring me back into this store but the residents of Hendersonville, TN need to know what kind of people are working in this store, how rude, careless, and irresponsible they are and how they lie. Maybe these people have enough friends and family who will support this store. Perhaps those are the only people who receive respect and consideration.