Thursday, April 21, 2011

ULTRA PRICEY SERVICE.....or UPS

Well it happen to me again the first time I said would be the last............some time ago I ordered an item from the U.S and was told it would be shipped UPS. I was informed that this was the only service they used and would get to me the fastest. Hmmm I thought how good is that.....to good to be true it turned out. When the ham radio item arrived I was smacked with a brokerage fee that was out of this world. I called UPS thinking there was a mistake but no this was the fee that was charged. So from that point on I vowed to never use  this service even for local
shipping. Last week I ordered an item for my station it was around 50.00 dollars American and since our dollar is worth more than the green back I thought this is as good as time as any to order it. When talking to the order person on the phone I was told the shipping would be 18.00. No problem I thought I did asked how it was being shipped I was told USPS...well today the doorbell rang and it was UPS!!!!!!!! Turns out the company decided to ship it UPS and for a 50.00 item the brokerage fee turned out to be 45.00!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So when you add in the shipping fee along with the brokerage fee the grand total is 63.00 for a 50.00 item. I am going to call the company on Monday and let them know that I did not want it shipped UPS and did tell them so and see what happens. Now having said all the above I will say that UPS has fantastic service and they do get it to you  very very fast. But it is the dam brokerage fee's that drive me just nuts.

6 comments:

Paul Stam PAØK said...

Hi Mike, I don't like UPS, I had a few years ago a lot of troubles with UPS. I ordered 2 CD's from the USA. They charged the bill twice. Though I had proof that I had paid the bill, they kept on coming with lawyers etc. Very annoying. In the end it stopped. 73 Paul

VE9KK said...

Good morning Paul, I have only used UPS twice now and have not had troubles with billing or there promptness it just the darn brokerage fees.

Paul M0PCZ said...

Hi Mike, what's the brokerage fee, is it a customs fee ? Surely once you have paid for shipping that's it ?

VE9KK said...

Good morning Paul, the brokerage fee is to have a private company process your item through customs. The taxes and so on are on top of the brokerage fee. The post office here has a standard fee of 5.00 to process. UPS on the other hand charged 45.00. Now you do get what you pay for...kinda....Canada post take about 3-5 days to process a package as UPS is hours. But it's not worth 45.00.

f said...

Hi there, not a ham, and barely a DX'r, but I find lots of interesting circuits/ideas/advice on 'VE and VA-rated' sites. Thought I'd weigh in on the UPS thing. I have come to the point that I will not, regardless of price, buy anything from any vendor that ships UPS. I send them a confirmation of order that specifies they accept any and all responsibility for freight and return if they decide to use UPS. Because they have accepted the 'terms and conditions' the credit card company actually sides with the card-holder in my experience...

VE9KK said...

Good morning "F" first off thanks for stopping by the blog and for your input. That is a good idea regarding a confirmation and good to know if need be the card holder has the advantage.