Utterly Pathetic Service - a.k.a UPS

You know UPS, the "Ups Man" as we used to call him. I thought UPS stood for United Parcel Service, but after today I have a new name for them!

You see, Today my beautiful and rather expensive crib was delivered. I have been waiting for days, so when I went to let the dog out, this bitterly cold Minnesota morning, I was thrilled to see it had shown up. Thrill turned quickly to horror when I realized it was not in my breezeway like all the other boxes ever delivered to my house have been, and the note on my front door clearly asking all items be left in the breezeway, had been ignored. (Something I had been told by UPS at one time was unneeded because they always do what they can not leave boxes in plain sight or outside in poor weather to avoid theft and damage.)

Where was my crib you ask if it had not been safely placed in the breezeway? Well, it was leaned up against the side of my garage, in a load of snow. You would think that the combination of Fragile stamps, the words Carters and Classic Crib and the fact the box was not water proof all, would have been indicators that leaving it in a snow bank was not a good career move. Not to mention how easy it would have been to steal it from where he left it sitting.

I kind of stood there in shock at first. Why had the box made it within inches of the door to the breezeway but not in it? I had no choice but to haul it in myself. I grabbed one of the plastic yellow straps around it and lugged it into the breezeway then into my kitchen. Then I picked up my phone.

When the local office reached me through a message given at the customer service line of the issue at hand, the woman running the shift said this:

The package was well over the weight limit of what the driver should have been handling, and somehow this package of over sized proportions and weight "slipped by" them in the office and ended up on his truck. (HTF does a 70+ lb box slip by anything!?) It should not have been on his truck, in fact maybe UPS Freight could have done this, but it should not have come through regular UPS at all. The driver delivered it in good faith, though he didn't have to, and did what he could to get the box as far as he could. Her tone indicated she thought I was an idiot for sending the box through UPS in the first place, and I should have known better...hello I was the recipient for crying out loud!

At this point she paused as if I was going to break into a speech thanking him and understanding, Ha! She obviously doesn't know me at all!

I calmly said back to her "I'm sorry, but that excuse seems rather lame to me. I'm 127 pounds and 5 months pregnant and I managed to haul the over 70lb box up the 2 steps into my breezeway, which were inches away from where he left it, so I'm fairly certain that it was doable by a man who carries large items all day long. Not to mention that if he could not get it inside, the car in the driveway indicated that someone was home he could have knocked to let me know of the issue and that my item was sitting in snow. It was clear what was in the box, and that it was fragile and where he left it was irresponsible, and he knew it because of his lack of care to inform us. I intend to put the crib together tonight and if there is any damage I will file a claim and expect you replace it asap. And I also will be contacting Babies R Us, who I believe usees you for all their shipping and explain this to them and how you handle their customers items, because I had no choice in how the box got to me - I simply ordered it online."

Silence on the other end of the phone.

She apologized again and said she would further look into it. I doubt very much she will call me back today - but you better believe that I will be calling her back and contacting her boss as well if there is even a ding in the wood or slight wetness to the wood pieces!

This says "Classic Crib" at the top, with the word Crib, Toddler Bed, and Bed used at least 10 more times in large print!

Now I know this doesn't exactly say "Don't F-ing leave the box in the snow because cribs are made of wood and water and snow are bad for it" but COME ON!