It's rare that I get so outraged that I go out of my way to write a bad yelp review. The business's practice or an employee's behavior has to be so egregious that it becomes worth my time to sit down and publicly write something that detracts customers away from a local business. Well, this UPS Store in Sausalito won that "I can't believe they are still in business" prize today.
A few weeks ago, I attempted to send a package to a P.O. Box in Alaska. When I brought in the package, the employee informed me that it is UPS's policy not to deliver to a P.O. Box. Fair enough. I asked what my remedies were since it was my understanding that many residents in Alaska receive their mail at the local post office. He says for me to hold on, punches in something in the computer, and then tells me he has a physical address. I walk out after having paid $35.06 thinking it all worked out. No problem.
Long story, but suffice it to say, the package was never delivered. It was actually returned back to this UPS Store in Sausalito. The recipient, whom I sent the tracking information to, tried contacting the store in Sausalito only to be rebuffed by the owner who was apparently incredibly rude to her. He basically told her too bad for you; no re-attempt at delivery would be made so have the person who sent it come pick it up.
So today, I went into Sausalito to pick up the package--and perhaps naively assumed that I would get a refund since the package was NEVER DELIVERED. Not only did the franchise owner not give me a refund, he basically informed me that it was that the "onus" (his exact words) was on me for the failed delivery. I calmly told him I was not the person who provided that street address...that it was his employee who punched that in. I told him the only thing I had was a P.O. Box address, and that if it was not UPS's policy to deliver it, that he should have rejected my package from the beginning. Instead, his employee was the one who looked up the Alaska address and charged me for the non-delivery. As I was telling him this, he kept cutting me off and said I was the one who gave them the undeliverable address, even though I explained to him that it was HIS employee (not me) who came up with the street address.
I'm mildly upset that I didn't get a refund even though it is my belief I am totally entitled to it. But what really irks me, and what truly inspires this poor yelp review, is how unfailingly RUDE the owner was both to me and the person to whom I had shipped the package. The owner, from the get go, was confrontational when I came to pick up the package and basically intimidated his employee into silence when I told him that person standing over there was the one who looked up the address. The owner barked out plenty of "TELL ME WHAT YOU DID! HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH THIS ADDRESS!" but never gave his employee enough time to respond. But even while sporadically peppering these statements to his employee, he made it a point to tell me it was my mistake and that a failed delivery does not entitle me to a refund. I've never walked out of a place of business with such a visceral disgust for a business or a human being. There are a lot of UPS Stores/drop-off locations in Marin. Save yourself some heartache and go elsewhere because should you need some resolutions at some point because something went awry with your package, this UPS Store #4414 will gladly take your money, not help you, then berate you, because clearly, it is always the customer's fault. read more
