UPS turned what should have been a straightforward international shipment into a weeks-long disaster filled with customs problems, inconsistent documentation handling, repeated delays, poor communication, and return shipment issues from beginning to end.
I paid roughly $144 to ship a rare pair of boots to Mexico for a time-sensitive prototype project. The shipment was accepted and processed through a UPS Store with a commercial invoice attached to the package showing a declared value of approximately $300.
Despite this, the shipment later encountered customs/documentation problems in Mexico and stalled in transit. UPS never proactively contacted me about the customs issues or documentation problems. I only discovered there was a problem because I personally checked the tracking information after the shipment stopped moving.
After the shipment was already delayed in customs, I was then instructed to create additional commercial invoice paperwork with different declared information, creating even more confusion and inconsistency in the documentation process.
The problems continued throughout the return shipment as well. The package was:
returned to sender,
mis-sorted in Houston,
delayed again because of a “late trailer arrival,”
and then hit with address exception issues during final return delivery despite the correct Unit 950 address information being clearly visible on the shipment labels and paperwork from the beginning.
Customer service throughout this process was extremely frustrating. Calls were repeatedly routed through outsourced call centers with scripted responses and little meaningful assistance. Trying to speak directly with the local facility actually handling the shipment was nearly impossible.
By the time the package was finally returned to me, the box showed clear signs of rough handling and heavy relabeling from the repeated transit and processing issues.
This was one of the worst shipping and customer service experiences I have ever dealt with. UPS failed to properly manage the shipment process, failed to communicate clearly during the customs issues, and then compounded the situation with additional delays and handling problems during the return process.
If you are shipping anything important, valuable, rare, or time-sensitive internationally, think very carefully before trusting UPS with it.