The repair company had told us it would be there on Saturday, but guaranteed no later than 10 am on Monday -- at the very latest. When it didn't arrive on Saturday, we thought we could save time by picking it up at the UPS Terminal in Denton. Mark tried calling UPS customer service Monday morning before 7 am. He actually found the automated system more helpful than the person who finally came on the line. But because he had to leave, I took over the wait on the phone. I could see his point. It seemed that the only English phrase she'd been taught was "I understand" and then she repeated what I said. It was becoming pretty clear to me that she in fact did not understand, or at least understood very little. I was able to determine that the individual I was speaking with was located somewhere in "Asia-Pacific". That covers a fairly wide area, but it really doesn't matter. She wasn't in the United States and she didn't understand because if she did, she might have tried helping me instead of offering to have someone call me back in the afternoon. Her "I understand" became so annoying that I requested, demanded that she stop using the phrase. "Accept that you do NOT understand, and let's move on." We finally did move on -- to nowhere. She was able to establish that the package was not in Denton as we thought, but in Sherman. Okay, it wasn't on the way to anywhere and there was nothing we could do but wait.
More stress than anyone needed! Mark's first job was over an hour's drive away. He was so upset that he was halfway there before he realized he forgot his computer. I offered to take it to him but he said he just needed to come home for a minute. (He'd also forgotten to take his pills.) I rescheduled him for a later start time and he hit his reset button. I got on with my day while I waited for the UPS guy, who showed up just before noon.
We paid close to $200 to have the package delivered "Next Day Air". And we were just a bit disturbed that it hadn't arrived on Saturday. I thought that some sort of refund should be in order. This is where it gets ugly. I phoned UPS again. I selected the option for "Customer Service". The automated system asked me what I wanted, suggesting that I might want to say "Track a Package (a completely different option) or "Order Supplies". Did it occur to their system that I might have selected "Customer Service" because I wanted to speak with a customer service representative? I was connected to Sarah, who was located in the US of A. I was thinking that at least she would understand me. (Maybe.)
After we established that I had paid the shipper for the UPS charges, Sarah indicated that she would have to issue the credit to the shipper, not to me. I had no problem with that, I would just call the repair people and let them know to issue a credit to me when they got the credit from UPS. But that wasn't what Sarah meant. She meant I would have to call the shipper and get the shipper to call them to complain about the late delivery. Sarah was not going to be satisfied that my time was being wasted, she was intent on wasting Bill's time, as well. But the other thing is that I've already paid the shipper. Bill has my money. Where is Bill's incentive to waste his time calling UPS trying to get a refund for me?
Her next tactic was to inform me that I would have to contact the shipper because UPS had kept their part of the bargain. They had delivered it "Next Day Air" as requested by the shipper. She insisted that "Next Day Air" shipped on Friday meant Monday unless it was specified as Saturday. What kind of double-speak was that? If you have specified "Next Day Air" on a Friday, why would you assume that you had to be any more specific than that? The next day is Saturday. It is not Monday. Apparently if you ship something on Thursday, the next day is Friday. But if you ship something on Friday, the next day is Monday, unless you specify that the next day is Saturday. Sorry Sarah, the day after Friday on my calendar is Saturday. It's the same all 52 weeks of the year. SAT. UR. DAY.
Sarah was really astute. She sensed that I wasn't happy. She suggested that I contact the shipper to let them know that they'd done it wrong. Yes, she actually suggested that I phone up what may possibly be the ONLY vendor for this product in the United States and alienate him by telling him he doesn't understand how UPS works. It's very possible that he doesn't understand it. I know I don't. But I do understand alienating the only company that can fix the sewer-cam.
The bottom line is that I paid the "Next Day Air" price for "Three Day Ground" service. I am not a happy girl.
But I've learned a valuable lesson: When it ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY has to be there overnight - use FedEx.
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