Open Letter to D Scott Davis, CEO of UPS
Dear Mr Davis
I have just given instructions that your company be removed from the list of courier companies that we use.
In addition, as far as we are practically able to do so, we shall, henceforth, avoid placing any orders with companies if they propose to use you for delivery.
Why have I taken this Draconian step? The answer is that we do not deal with companies that mislead.
Specifically in your case, by recording parcels as having been delivered whilst they are still en route.
Please see the extract from the Proof of Delivery shown below.
I have the original screen print of this (as I expect it may change, and you can see for yourself what the current realtime status at gg.gg/17pp including the green bar and “Delivered” tick mark.
Tracking Detail
Updated: 21/01/2013 8:45 Eastern Time
1Z92R13F0440029102
Shipping Information
Delivered
To: GUERNSEY, GG
Delivered On: Monday, 21/01/2013 at 9:24
Shipped By
Request Status Updates »
Signed By: FWD TO ALDERNEY
As you will seen, it clearly showed today that the package concerned, given over to you in England on the 17th, was delivered 09:24 this morning.
But you will note, that instead of a signature, the signature field appears to contain routing information.
Needless to say the package has not been delivered, and now that you are no longer tracking it and seemingly are not able to locate its whereabouts, from past experience, I have no expectation that it will be delivered anytime soon.
In fact, it’s my belief that it will not be delivered before Friday or Monday of next week, despite the timescale you agreed in your contract with our supplier (which calls for delivery by today). I do however, hope to be proved wrong.
But I’m less than concerned about exactly when it gets here. Unlike some shipments, this one is not terribly time critical, although I’d be disappointed if it didn’t turn up before the 24th.
What bothers me is the misleading ‘Delivered’ status on the tracking.
Your colleagues on the phone attempted to persuade me that black was white, and that “Delivered” in a Delivery Report should not be construed as as “Delivered to customer” but sometimes means “delivered to the next delivery stage”
Of course, if that were true, why just not put “Delivered” on the tracking system as soon as the sender delivers into your custody on despatch? That way you will get a 100% on-time, same-day rating. Job done!
As you can imagine, this is neither the service, nor care and custody we expect from UPS.
I do expect you to track packages at every stage in their journey.
I do not expect that you will always deliver on time. There might, for example, be adverse weather at Guernsey and/or Alderney airports.
I never expect your company to record something as Delivered (and stop the clock) when it has not yet, in fact been delivered.
Should your office wish to contact us about this issue, I’d be delighted if you (or someone with sufficient nous to understand what it is that has exercised me) should email to discuss further.
Nigel Roberts, CEO Island Networks
http://www.channelisles.net/about-us/contact-us/telephone/
Update: Managed to speak to a more senior manager in the UK — who while sympathetic confirmed that for ‘Highlands and Islands’ it was policy to mark packages as delivered when handed over to subcontractors. I impressed on him why I thought this was a bad idea, and suggested if it was ‘the computer systems’ making this happen, UPS ought to fix them.