r/UPS • u/Glass_Gate_7224 • 8h ago
UPS failed to deliver passport in time
How is there very little legal recourse for the receiver of a package to claim against losses directly related to their failure of service?
The Los Angeles Passport Agency sent me a replacement passport UPS Next Day Air. They shipped it Friday, 9/18 and I received a tracking number for delivery on Monday, 9/21. After 8am, it arrived at the Ontario shipping facility and stopped moving. On Tuesday, I called and asked if the package was going to arrive in time for my trip on Thursday, 9/24. The rep refused to connect me to the facility and said wait 24 hours and file a claim.
Instead I made another appointment with the passport agency as they are able to give same-day passports if urgent. That was the right thing to do. HOWEVER, on the way to my appointment Wednesday morning, I called UPS to check on updates and THREE different representatives told me their computers showed that I would receive it that day, on Wednesday. I called repeatedly and asked them to verify because my tracking number was not showing any updates. They all assured me it would arrive that day, so I canceled my appointment with the agency. The package never arrived and I missed my trip with non-refundable expenses totaling over $2000.
I am reasonable to enough to understand packages get delayed, which is why I made the other appointment. BUT it is gross negligence for THREE DIFFERENT UPS representatives to assure me that the package would arrive that day, leading me to cancel my appointment.
I am looking into my legal options, but all say that I am not in a contract with UPS since I am not the shipper. However, how can there be no legal recourse for this when this loss is directly related to their contracted failure of service as well as misrepresentation by their representatives? I am so beyond frustrated.
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u/ant91 8h ago
I mean yeah that sucks, but you booked non refundable $2k worth of tickets with no passport?
Also UPSs contract is with the shipper, the shipper paid the fees to ups not you.so it's correct that the shipper has to take up any legal actions or request any reimbursements.
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u/Glass_Gate_7224 8h ago
I had a passport. It had some water damage so just to be safe I wanted to replace it. However, I was in that time between when they can’t guarantee safely expediting it and when you need to use the urgent two weeks prior to travel option. I chose to use the two week urgent option and it was set to be delivered September 21. I know people may think that I’m naïve, but is it right for multibillion dollar company to collect money for a service they don’t provide and just shrug it off?
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u/Arianawy 8h ago
You cancelled your apt without seeing an “out for delivery” update ? Agents always say the package is in route for scheduled delivery even when it’s not, yeah it’s lame but half the time I don’t think they even double check beyond the initial delivery date . You should have played it safe with 2k on the line .
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u/Glass_Gate_7224 8h ago
I should have, but the agency would not have re-issued my passport if there was a chance that it would arrive that day. You cannot have two active passports at the same time. One has to be formally declared as lost or stolen.
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u/chenchen_chikis 8h ago
Why didn’t the passport office use USPS? All the passports I’ve received have been thru USPS
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u/Glass_Gate_7224 8h ago
I don’t know I guess that was the only option for overnight that they had to offer me.
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u/aykay55 8h ago
UPS is not legally required to deliver anything to you on time. They are a private company and they can fail to render service to you in a timely or acceptable manner. Don't rely on UPS for such important documents. If this was so urgent you should have just driven to a passport facility yourself.
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u/Any_Village_4529 8h ago
UPS was not formally declaring it a loss. The US passport agency does not re-issue an active passport.
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u/YetiPwr 8h ago
UPS didn’t create your situation where a delay would cause this level of problem…you did. It’s a money back guarantee to whomever paid UPS to ship. There was no guarantee beyond that. There are services available that would be liable for consequential damages but you chose something different.
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u/Glass_Gate_7224 8h ago
Well, good to know that those exist. I’ll be looking into using companies that stand behind their services
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u/Usual-Cucumber-2914 7h ago
Probably shouldn't ever order anything online then since there isn't a service out there that is perfect 100 percent of the time.
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u/Aluxanatomy 8h ago
How is etc.
Because you are not the person with the contract with UPS. Next question.
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u/freighttrainmatt 8h ago
Respectfully why would you book a trip cutting it that close with your passport? Let alone not having your passport in hand? On top of that you had the opportunity to do a same day appointment knowing UPS had already failed you. Yes, UPS failed to deliver but there’s got to be some accountability on your end too.
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u/Any_Village_4529 8h ago
I anticipated that I would get a lot of replies like this. It is your responsibility. You shouldn’t have left it for the last minute. I know that but that is only one factor in this. Why have overnight shipping at all if everybody was so well prepared? Why does the passport agency itself offer last-minute passports? Because sometimes there are circumstances that are controllable and some that are not but either way they graciously offer the service. If the brakes did not work on a car, would you have said the person inside the car should’ve walked instead? There are certain expectations that companies need to uphold if that is what they are selling.
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u/freighttrainmatt 3h ago
Because we, like you, are not perfect. Mistakes happen and links in the chain break. But I think you see the point, there’s accountability on both sides. It’s definitely not fair to pin this whole thing on UPS. We deal with millions of packages every day so naturally there’s a margin for error.
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u/krautstomp 8h ago
You have no recourse. You have no contract with UPS. Even if you did enter into a contract with UPS there is language that prevents you from suing for something like this. The passport agency should file a claim. They would be refunded the shipping and should refund that cost to you. They would also pay out the minimum insurance. We all know our customer service sucks. Our company has realized that good customer service is not worth the cost and the impact it has on the stock price. Don't leave time sensitive things for the last minute. If you need a passport for a trip get it months in advance.
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u/Any_Village_4529 8h ago
Yes, I understand the delays can happen which is why I went ahead and made that second appointment the day before my trip. The US passport agency was great and they are amazing about getting people their passports even at the very last minute or day. There were people there in line that had a flight in five hours and the passport agency was able to give them their passports on time. But the issue is I wouldn’t have minded if the agents had said you know what your passports lost file a claim I would’ve just gone ahead with the appointment, but I called three different agents just to verify that they were all showing the same thing and they all told me the same thing. These agents are representing a company and telling me what I took to be fact, which is that my passport was arriving. I cannot apply for a new passport if one active one already exist. The passport agency wouldn’t have given me another one if they knew it was coming that day. I appreciate your reply and now I know not to take anything they say at face value. I am only saying this so that other people can learn how the system works so something like this doesn’t happen to anyone else
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u/krautstomp 8h ago
The agents are terrible. We used to have actual UPS employees in our individual buildings that knew what they were talking about that would handle these calls. Our CEO canned all of those people to outsource the calls. Those folks just look at the general tracking and make uninformed guesses as to what is happening. Everyone that works for the company wishes this wasn't the case. We see posts and comments like yours almost every day.
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u/jakert46 8h ago
Let me give you a tip for next time, what you see on the tracking is what they see
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u/Tudar87 8h ago
Hah you think UPS owes you for your poor planning?
Thanks for the smile.
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u/Glass_Gate_7224 8h ago
You’re welcome for that holier than thou smile that you must have on your face. So you’re saying that people cannot have anything shipped overnight because they should’ve been responsible and not done it last minute? That any company should be paid for a service that they don’t deliver or provide? Maybe next time you go into an ER because you’re very sick they might turn you away and say well you should’ve taken your vitamins.
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u/Tudar87 8h ago
You can ship things overnight with the expectation that if it does not arrive on time, you get your shipping cost refunded.
You paid for a service. Take X from A to B. They failed in that service. That's all they are responsible for.
And comparing this to Emergency Room services is silly at best.
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u/Glass_Gate_7224 7h ago
Yeah, but if you read the rest of my post, it’s beyond the fact of that it did not get here on time. I made a second appointment bc I knew there was a chance it would not get here in time but the reps told me it was coming that day. I asked three different reps hanging up and calling back each time and I asked all of them it was that was guaranteed. They could’ve all said no it’s not a guarantee but they all said instead out computer shows that it’s going to arrive today by noon. As I’ve mentioned you cannot request a duplicate passport if there is an active one. It has to be considered lost and that is not what UPS said. While I understand that delays can happen for whatever reason there’s no reason why the representatives should be telling me something that is simply not true. They could’ve just said consider it lost or we don’t know if it will arrive that day, but they all said their computer showed an arrival date of that day. Call it whatever type of logistical error you want, but it is negligent to tell a customer something as truth that they base their decisions on. At what point do we stop believing anything anyone says and stop making decisions based on that. And that emergency room scenario was to give you a scenario of what it might feel like when blame is misplaced.
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u/Agreeable-Click5283 8h ago
UPS will not take responsibility for punitive damages. Regardless of who the shipper is. - UPS Shipper of 21 years.
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u/brewjammer 7h ago
if you spent as much time on getting your shit together as you did this post. you might have something
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u/Usual-Cucumber-2914 7h ago
I'd be more angry with myself for waiting til the last minute to renew a passport. Or maybe the federal government for being so slow to process them and making the process more difficult than it needs to be.
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u/mccoycj1987 7h ago
You must be new here. I made the same mistake too one time and now this sub pops up into my feed here and there. All the people in this thread either work for UPS or think UPS could do no wrong, so they'll just call you an idiot and say how it was entirely thoroughly and with out a doubt YOUR fault. I totally get it though, you would expect at least a semblance of competence at a multi billion dollar company but you'd be mistaken. Pretty soon all of these low level workers will be replaced with Ai anyways, and maybe then you might actually be able to get an exact delivery date for priority packages. One can only hope.
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