When looking to courier important documents or require a speedy, safe and secure method of postage, one usually immediately thinks of DHL or UPS couriers. Personally I have always been fond of DHL as they are a household brand, but even though UPS is right up there, I just haven’t really given them a chance up until now. KP bless her soul didn’t want to use UPS because it sounds like OOPS and she felt that was not a good sign!
UPS however, will from now on get my business wherever they are available when I require urgent secure mail. This is why:
When KP travelled here she needed to send her passport to Italy to get a visa at the South African Embassy. Immediately and without question, we thought DHL. They are the best. The passport got there just fine, but this is the return journey:
Read from bottom to top:-
SINGAPORE?? What the fuck? Bearing in mind that you can almost see the shores of Italy from certain parts of Albania, why did it travel to the Far East and take 5 days for an overnight courier. And then via Bulgaria and Greece? This meant that she very nearly almost missed her flight to South Africa. Needless to say I was pissed however I was grateful that it all worked out for the best and she had her passport and she was on the plane. Great. No harm no foul.
Last week I decided to get all my mail shipped in from London so I called my mail handling people at the service that I use (MBE) and asked them to set it up. They asked DHL or UPS? Again, I just said DHL as they were £5.00 cheaper. All set, lets go…
First of all I get sent 2 delivery notifications via email with 2 separate AWB (Airway Bill) numbers and when tracking them I saw one just got forgotten and left behind so I figured sensibly that there was only one package (hopefully), not that I got any notification that this was the case. I then checked regularly to plot it’s progress. I was a bit nervous as it had 2 credit cards and a debit card inside. It did ok considering public holidays etc until suddenly it went on hold at 08:29 yesterday morning:
I waited and waited but the status never changed so I called DHL’s main number and got through to someone in Johannesburg. They said the package is on hold because they have “lost the paperwork, there is no AWB attached”. For fuck sake. They are the document couriers of choice and they lose their own paperwork? So I tried to call Port Elizabeth to work things out but got no answer. Now I was pissed, so I got in the car and drove down there and had to sort this out face to face armed with the Wrath and Fury of Hoox. After 20 minutes they released it to me. I asked them what would have happened if I hadn’t been aware of this parcel or hadn’t been tracking it so closely and she said, “Well you probably wouldn’t have got it until you eventually called!” Well that’s enough! 2 out of 2 in 2 months? Now I see they put on the tracking information that it was there “Awaiting collection by recipient as requested” which is bullshit. I collected it only because they were not releasing it otherwise and it was not a request, it was a demand!
UPS, you are my new baby! Don’t let me down as I will be comparing you very closely!
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