UPS "loses" insured $8600-package, puts it on eBay, demands that customer be courteous

[DetlefK]

http://thegarage.jalopnik.com/how-ups-screwed-a-popular-youtube-car-guy-out-of-10-00-1738255686

Rob Dahm, in the US, ordered a custom-made car-engine from a company in New Zealand for $8600.

He tried to have it shipped to the US by UPS. The company insured it for a third of its value, to save shipping-costs.

The package made it to a dispatching center in Kentucky, from where it was supposed to go to Michigan.

The package disappeared in Kentucky.

Dahm inquired at UPS what's going on, but they refused to help, because only the sender can file complaints.

4 months of telephone-calls and angry e-mails from the company to UPS. The result? Shoulder-shrugs.

The company contacted the shipping-company to find the package. The result? Shoulder-shrugs.

UPS sent Dahm a bill for $30 because they had notified him at some point that they had lost his package.

Dahm put an enraged video on Youtube. One of the commenters pointed out that an engine just like his is currently on sale on eBay.

Assuming theft, Dahm called the cops and wanted to have the engine seized from the seller, at which point UPS mentioned "Oh, THAT package! No, that package was "lost package" and we legally auctioned it to that guy."

A spokesman for UPS said that the package had lost its label and was therefore declared "lost package".

Dahm asked UPS for reimbursement, because he now had paid twice for the same item: Once to the company in New Zealand and once to the guy UPS had sold the engine to.

UPS' response?
"We will ponder reimbursing you for the costs of our fuck-up if you take down the Youtube-video where you complain about our fuck-up."

The video is still up and Dahm has not seen a dime so far.

[JustAnotherGen]

1. Inside job

And as usual - UPS refuses to admit that they have employees who lift packages. Ditto Fed Ex.

If I was that guy - I would never take it down. Or - at least until they investigated and gave me a report on the last person to touch the package. The last person in the chain to touch it is the Who Who Did It.

[Enthusiast]

46. +1!

[LeftyMom]

55. Yep. Had one steal from my store on video and they didn't do jack shit.

There was a substitute driver one day (our regular guy was honest to a fault and did the work of two, no complaints at all about him) and in addition to loading the usual pile of outgoing packages on his cart, he helped himself to a $1000 box of stereo equipment sitting a good 8' away, on the other side of an aisle.

There was no conceivable way he thought it was an outgoing package.

We had it on video from several angles.

They wouldn't give us his name (the cops wanted this before they'd even look at our tape.) They wouldn't pay for our product though nobody disputed that their employee had taken it from our store. They wouldn't get it back. We never even heard if they fired the guy- if he wasn't a deliberate thief there was no disputing that he was incompetent and had hacked off a good customer.

[JustAnotherGen]

60. Fed Ex

$2.1 Million in stolen phones - 2 Drivers. Conviction was for 1.7 Million based on what I could provide States Attorney. Fed Ex - Obsructed. - Texas

1.2 - arrests on 800K. Dispatcher. She committed suicide - Indiana - Fed Ex.

UPS - Arizona - Saturday guys/crew. Knew our boxes - lifting them off the pallets at the hub. Claimed they were delivered. All had "signatures". Had to work around UPS with fake shipments to catch it.

Solution for both Carriers. Pay your people more.

That's just a snippet of what I see daily. These are three where they were initially in financial distress - working full time and couldn't make ends meet.

[McCamy Taylor]

58. Agree.

[eShirl]

2. He should keep making more videos about it, whats he got to lose at this point

[pipoman]

11. There is a movement among big companies

Of filing huge lawsuits against people who speak badly of them resulting in tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal bills....

[SusanCalvin]

27. If that happened to me,

I'd give it a try defending myself. And get a local teevee station involved - they'd love it.

[Monk06]

3. Lesson learned. Never ship a custom made hot J engine or any hot custom built engine through

Kentucky where every hill billy warehouse clerk is going to know what it is and how to make it disappear.

It's not like shipping a Mary K cosmetics order through Akron lol

[pipoman]

12. A truly stupid analysis.

[Monk06]

50. Just a way of saying southerners are knowledgeable about engines especially racing engines

[snooper2]

18. We could say the same about London Ontario but that would be a broad generalization

right...

[NBachers]

4. So, uh, I guess the company didn't put any paperwork inside the crate?

This stinks to high heaven.

[joshcryer]

5. If you watch the second video UPS didn't even open the package.

They just auctioned it off without even making an attempt to discover who owned it.

[riverbendviewgal]

20. UPS Failed

all the way to the top.

I used to work in a trucking company doing all sorts of positions, one of them Loss and damaged. I always found who the package belonged to and who was sent to. I just had to open most and even then if that failed. I sent messages to all terminals describing the shipment to see if anyone was inquiring for it.

Sounds like a few internal people got a cut on the sale.

This is fraud or theft on how you looked at it.

I worked in fraud department after leaving the trucking company. I hate this stuff happening.

[SusanCalvin]

29. If they didn't even open it to look for paperwork,

it's on them. End of story. And even if they had and it could be proven the box contained paperwork (how unlikely it wouldn't???), end of story.

[joshcryer]

31. The guy even had pictures of the contents.

Serial numbers. If even half his story is true and he's exaggerating the rest, UPS fucked up.

[petronius]

35. The article says the original packing slip was still attached

When the package arrived at its rightful owner, with original packing slip still attached, by the way, Dahm contacted UPS to see what could be done as far as reimbursement for having to pay full retail price for something he already owned.

If that's true--and if the slip had any sort of identifying info, as is common--then it's a huge screw-up by UPS...

[npk]

47. UPS cannot open package

They would then be held liable themselves if something happened to the contents. For example if something is deemed to be missing on delivery, then UPS could be sued by the recipient. The people at fault here are the company in New Zealand which didn't put a label on the box. Their fault and responsibility for replacing the cost that the recipient has incurred. The man should be suing the company he made the purchase from.

[joshcryer]

48. If they are about to auction off someone else's property...

... I'm pretty sure they can open the damn package.

[npk]

49. Once the property was "deemed" lost or unclaimed they simply auction goods

The problem is the shipper in New Zealand filed a claim for the lost property, at which point UPS paid the claim. At that point the property becomes UPS and they auction it off to recoup their costs. The bigger problem is that the shipper only insured the package for like a 1/3 of it's value so that the could save on shipping. It's easy in this case to blame UPS, but the shipper made a lot of mistakes here that added to the problem and ultimately screwed the purchaser. UPS customer service was very deplorable though in this matter. Packages get lost all the time, but they turned an opportunity to make things right into a nightmare.

[Blue_Tires]

53. +1000

I can't believe how much of a pass people are giving the engine tuner (and of course it's not helped by the always-shitty quality of Gawker "reporting" which leaves more questions than it answers)... Did the tuner even give the lost property insurance payout to the customer? The story doesn't say...

[Dustlawyer]

6. That's why I love my job. I get to sue big companies for either accidents or intentional

conduct. Ones like this can be fun.

[dembotoz]

7. sometime video is useful i love this one

[NV Whino]

21. Love it.

I hope it got him some restitution.

[LiberalElite]

33. .

Last edited Sat Nov 14, 2015, 06:58 PM - Edit history (2)

That catchy tune is now an earworm and the chorus "United breaks guitars" is running through my head.

[SidDithers]

34. Oh, I remember that!...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x335596

Sid

[JimDandy]

40. That was creative. n/t

[avebury]

8. This is probablly not the first time something like this has happened with UPS

The guy ought to consider modifying his video to going through social media to find out what other UPS customers have had the same experience in order to see if there are enough people out there for, at a minimum, a class action lawsuit or to send ot the Feds for a potential RICCO criminal charge. If there is one or more insiders involved in hiding expensive packages long enough to get them on the auctioned off list so that people they know could low ball bid on them to win the items that would be a conspiracy.

Social media can be an excellent tool in information gathering in this day in age. Using words like class action and RICCO might go along way with getting UPS to pay up. The fact that UPS would not fully insure the package should have been a red flag warning.

[dembotoz]

9. i know the world is online but there is a nice thing about going to the store and putting the

package in your car

i know you can not drive across an ocean is this case.
but you can shop local this xmas season and avoid this

[7962]

14. YES!! I was starting to think I was the last one.

Especially with things like clothes, i want to KNOW its going to fit before I spend the money. Not to mention helping to keep the locals employed too.
And with high dollar stuff I feel even stronger about it. I dont think I've ever ordered anything online that cost over 100 bucks!

[marble falls]

10. I loathe UPS and its brown truck attitude.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

13. Post Office did something similar to me. They also maintain an 'auction' setup for 'lost packages'.

When a package I sent didn't arrive in a reasonable amount of time, I went online to track it, and found that it had gotten most of the way to its destination, then been routed to a post office facility for 'lost packages'. I went in to the post office to ask why, if they KNEW it was my package, and could still use the tracking info to tell ME where it had gone, they simply didn't return it to me. They had no clue. As close as I can figure, the contents were worth around $300, and I had only the standard $50 insurance on it that comes with those 'priority mail' boxes. Ever since, I've tried to add the extra insurance, which drives up my own shipping costs considerably.

[wilsonbooks]

15. I have shipped over 50,000 packages through the postal service and have only had a very few lost

or damaged. Maybe 10. It does happen with USPS but it is very rare. UPS is another story. I rarely use them because they won't pay claims on damaged items even when insured. I shudder to think of what will happen if the USPS is privatized.

[brentspeak]

19. Similar here

I've shipped about a 2,000 packages via USPS, but only one got lost. Almost none got damaged.

On the other hand, in the span of about 100 packages each, UPS lost a package of mine, FedEx lost a package of mine, and both have destroyed about 20 packages each, causing me no end of stress.

[JimDandy]

38. USPS has people whose only job is to repackage damaged

packages and relabel address-less articles so they get to their intended recipients. A family member did this work and said that it is the seasonal temps the USPS hires that stole packages when she worked there. She actually observed one doing that, reported him to higher ups who trained a hidden camera on him and caught him in the act. She said there are cameras everywhere in the process to help with loss prevention.

[Rod Beauvex]

26. Why do you think they want it privitized in the first place?

[GoneFishin]

41. I am going to guess :

1) To jack up the rate of a first class letter from 50 cents to $9.00.

2) To bust up postal workers unions.

3) To refuse to transport certain materials or publications based on "religious" grounds.

[SwankyXomb]

43. You forgot

to steal the $75 billion in pensions that Congress made the USPS pre-fund.

[GoneFishin]

44. You are right. That's a big one. I also forgot: getting a contract from the NSA to record and store

everyone's correspondence.

[hobbit709]

16. I'd tell UPS as soon as you reimburse me for my loss, I'll take it down. NOT BEFORE.

[mfcorey1]

17. Report it to the police as theft and get a report. UPS hates when you

do that. I have had that "oh well" attitude from them when they lost my package when the driver supposedly delivered it to the wrong address. Reporting it will launch an investigation by law enforcement and they will have to respond.

[Johonny]

22. If I steal something, sell it, and pretend it was lost... I still go to jail.

Why aren't the police investigating this as pure and simple theft and sale of a stolen merchandise?

UPS the worlds biggest fence.

[Liberal_in_LA]

23. Wow

[Blue_Tires]

24. Some points...

1. Don't get me started on his vanity build that requires a handmade engine all the way from fuckin' New Zealand that cost more than his car -- It sounds like shit anyway...

2. The engine builder was incredibly negligent (and cheap) in under-insuring the package to begin with, and their slow response to the issue... One thing UPS was right about is the package is 'owned' by the sender until it is officially delivered, and he should have taken legal action on his end.

3. Dahm had a tracking # and learned within a few days that the engine made it to the Louisville distribution center... Trails don't go "cold", a day or two after the package wasn't delivered, Dahm should have gotten off his ass and physically gone to Louisville to have it located in the warehouse, and made arrangements to accept ownership there if allowed... And don't talk to me about money or inconvenience because if he has the cash to blow on a vanity project like this, he has the cash to go to Louisville...

4. Dahm waited waaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy too long to take legal action, and the first action should have been against the engine builder since it was possible (but unlikely) that he could have been victim of a scam. FWIW, con men in the automotive aftermarket industry have been sending empty/fake packages after getting paid for years because the operational loopholes for freight companies can be easy to exploit and it is possible to send a package that they know will get "lost and unclaimed" while telling the angry customer to blame the freight company...

5. Since we know the engine builder was legit, Dahm should be asking for proof that UPS made an attempt to deliver the package to the right destination, and contact the recipient when the package couldn't be delivered... Dahm should have then filed a police report for stolen merchandise, claimed the insurance and never have done business with that tuner again.

6. Right now Dahm needs to quit fucking with youtube, whining to those clowns at jalopnik, AND CONTACT A FUCKING ATTORNEY. Until he does, there is *NO* motivation whatsoever for UPS to do right by him... "Bad publicity" is easier for corporations to endure now more than ever given the public's inattention span...

[SwankyXomb]

45. Wow, that is an amazing amount of detail

that you've put into your victim blaming.

[Blue_Tires]

52. Ah, yes... Another low-count poster with comprehension issues

If you go back and actually read what I said, the lion's share of the blame is at the feet of the engine tuner... If he does the common sense thing and insures the package for its true fucking worth, then the tuner gets it's money back to either refund the customer or build another one and there's no story to write...

But yeah, let Dahm keep doing what he's doing because it's worked so well up to this point... That's why he's trying to beg and plead for a little hush money from UPS and still suffer a net loss when had he done due diligence, he could be getting a full refund...

[Dawson Leery]

25. The UPS CEO should go to jail.

If you steal something then sell it, you are considered a criminal.

[B Calm]

61. My thoughts too!

[xloadiex]

28. I actually worked in that department for 12 years

Last edited Sat Nov 14, 2015, 06:43 PM - Edit history (1)

I worked for 7 years in the UPS department called over goods that would handle all the "lost" or damaged packages that came into the hub, CACH in Il. When I first started we would move heaven and earth to find the rightful owners of a package such as looking up shipper numbers, calling shippers, searching for invoices, looking for every little scrap of evidence we could track down to find the owners. If there was no label, or anything to identify the owner or shipper, we would fill out a sheet describing the item in detail and put the sheet in a pile. If someone called looking for the item we would then have to go through papers looking for the part or item.

Then word came down from upstairs, no more holding and looking for owners, it's taking too much time. Anyone who has worked at UPS knows you work, work, work. No time to dilly dally. Keep moving. We were now to catalog the items and that was it. All the "lost" or damaged packages (and there was A LOT) were just cataloged and shipped off to Atlanta. Items were then put into lots and auctioned off. They really didn't concern themselves with finding owners. I think they banked on people not having insurance or underinsuring. Even with insurance I heard it took a really long time for reimbursement. There were only 5 of us in the department on the day shift. UPS's only concern was getting the items shipped out to Atlanta ASAP. It didn't feel right to any of us that worked in that department. Especially when we knew with a couple extra steps we could find the owner.

ETA.. I worked for UPS for 12 years and in that department for 7.

[SusanCalvin]

32. Thanks for this info. Explains a lot. nt

[petronius]

37. Seems like a very foolish place to pinch pennies, for a company in that industry

I remember a year or two ago we left some fairly insignificant property on an American Airlines flight--there was no obvious identifying info and we didn't even know where we'd lost it--and AA made a pretty tenacious effort to get it back to us. I'd expect at least as much diligence from an actual delivery company...

[PowerToThePeople]

30. this is so dumb

Just call your bank and dispute the charges because you never received what you purchased. Get your money back.

Let the two other companies, UPS and engine shop, hash it out.

[Generic Brad]

42. He waited more than 90 days

Depending on how payment was made, the bank most likely cannot get his money back for him if his initial report was made 4 months ago.

[Babel_17]

36. I think this is the video

[hedgehog]

39. Because dreaming about torture is such a great response to a lost/stolen package.

[Blue_Tires]

54. I can sympathize with Dahm even though he's been a major choad

and has handled this with the maturity of an 11-year-old...

[davidpdx]

59. That's one of two

Here is the other one, though a little long winded:

[Babel_17]

62. Very absorbing tale (watched it all)

UPS won't even refund the shipping! That is sad.

[Liberal_in_LA]

51. Update:Internet wants justice

It’s bad enough when the internet gets mad at a company for poor customer service, but when you upset the greater car community, that’s never a good thing for PR.

UPS is finding out the hard way that you can’t piss off someone on the internet whose not only a car enthusiast but has a loyal fan following. Less than 24-hours ago, Rob Dahm, entrepreneur and minor YouTube celeb, posted up a video chronicling how he lost his 4-rotor Mazda engine, found it online thanks to a fan and recounted his tale of how UPS screwed him over. Since then his video has garnered 861,990 views as of today, hit the front page of reddit with 6580 upvotes and 4166 comments, got Rob Dahm a bunch of press (with Art of Gears being one of the first) and has gotten pretty much the entire car community upset at the billion dollar corporation all thanks to a $6500 engine and a $1000+ shipping cost. Rob posted up this update shortly after his video went viral.
http://artofgears.com/2015/11/14/internet-wants-justice-over-rob-dahms-4-rotor-ups-shipping-snafu/

[Blue_Tires]

56. The internet also has a short memory

If John Freakin' Hennessey is still in business, that should tell you everything...

[nilram]

57. I've had more (mix)ups with UPS than with any other shipping service.

I never, ever use them if I can possibly avoid it. (Fastener) 'em.

[GoCubsGo]

64. I have found FedEx to be worse.

More than once, they've made deliveries to the wrong STREET. I can see getting the house number mixed up, but completely different street names? I'm lucky that the woman who lives in that other house with the same number as mine is honest. They need to pay her for completing their deliveries.

[Ilsa]

63. GOPers want onky THESE CROOKS to deliver all of our mail.

They would love to have a private operation like brown or fuckd-x to exclusively handle our mail-order medicines, birthday cards with money, valuable items needing shipping, etc.

We need to make certain our postal operations are never privatized.