I've been trying to get a tea pot to my son, Chuck, in LA since January 5. Today is February 10.
The first effort was a box I packed myself and sent via UPS from a local UPS store. This isn't what it sounds like though because they are a separate contractor and UPS doesn't consider them one of their own.
There's no way to know that unless you ask. That package got there on time but the tea pot was
shattered. I had $100 insurance on it so we were told to put the box back at the drop off location,
Chuck's landlord's front door, and the driver would pick it up and UPS would review it's condition and I would get a check. That was Friday and Monday was Martin Luther King day. We were told to put it out the following Tuesday for pickup. Unfortunately the driver started attempting to pick it up on Friday and Monday. We didn't know this. So on Tuesday it was put out but it wasn't picked up and that was the final attempt. After three phone calls to get
help they said the driver would attempt it again the next day. No such luck. Then the landlord
took the box in and it never got returned to me.
Fast forward four weeks...I bought another tea pot, had UPS wrap and send it again. It was
to be delivered on Thursday after taking 8 days by ground. The first notation on tracking was
that the suffix was wrong and they had to figure it out. Remember they delivered another box
less than a month ago with the exact same address, which is in their computer and printed by
them. They then sent it out yesterday, Thursday, at 3:15 pm. I had designated that it needed
no signature since Chuck works during the day and the landlord isn't around either to sign for it.
The driver has the authority to decide otherwise and therefore, since no one was there to sign, he
didn't leave it. Another attempt was to occur today. I spent several phone calls with UPS and emails with Chuck last night to decide what to do. We were going to have it held for pick up but it was 14 miles away and in LA when someone works all week that's a real pain. So I requested they re-address it to his work address. The guy on the phone checked to see if he could do that and said it couldn't be done. The only choice was to have it returned to me, or rather to the
"UPS store" from which I sent it. So perhaps by the end of next week I will have it back again.
That will be 7 weeks and about $80 not to mention the aggravation that has been spent on this.
This has become a mission for me. As I said to Chuck, little battles keep the edge sharp. I'm not giving up. There will be a beautiful white tea pot in my son's home even if I have to carry it with
me the next time I visit!
