UPS Canada = Not Very Good

Here's my story:

1. I bought a power adapter for my digital camera off eBay.
2. The seller shipped it through UPS Canada (he's in Canada too) last week.
3. I knew I should be getting it this week, so I looked up the tracking number -- it says "status: delivered" and "location: rear door."
5. I went to my rear door and took a look -- nothing was there.
6. So I went outside to where my gate is (my backyard is fenced off) -- nothing was there.
7. I looked around and beside my garden hose, I see a package (my garden hose is about 6 feet away from the gate).
8. It turns out that my package has been delivered! But the UPS guy tossed it into my garden. I didn't get a notice or anything in my mailbox. The package was delivered yesterday, so it was actually sitting in my garden overnight. I knew right away that he tossed it in because my package was sitting in a puddle. He wouldn't have placed it there if he actually walked in and carefully placed it somewhere.

I don't know if this is an isolated incident, but that's definately not a great way to deliver packages. I wouldn't have mind that much if they left a notice of some sort. If I didn't check, I could've waited another week, while my package was sitting in my garden.

Ouch, that sucks so bad.. I wouldn't like my package thrown in a puddle... Sorry man. I live in the US

I have had stuff delivered by Purolator within canada and I can say that in my experience, their Canadian service absolutely owns, the outer packing was so crisp you'd think they'd picked it up straight from the vendor, put it in a cotton wool lined trunk, and driven it straight to you. So if you get the option in future, maybe you'd like to give them a try instead of UPS.

I've had an entirely different shipping experience with Purolator, but again it could have just been isolated.

Looks like the Purolator guys used the carton of Western Digital Hard Drives I was expecting as a football, because the box had massive dents all over it and was actually split open and re-taped with packing tape instead of wrapping in a new box. I opened the box and try out all 4 hard drives (it was retail packaging). None of them worked.

The vendor who had shipped the drives to me replaced the drives and went after Purolator for damages for the package. They got their money too.

Thanks Purolator.

Got the replacements shipped through FedEx and all was well.

YMMV.

IMHO, I've found Canada Post and Federal Express to be the best shipping companies in my local area (both Toronto & Ottawa) and have had nothing but quality, timely, reliable shipments with both

Damn, Purolator has always been great for me, never even a dent in a box. I hope my next order doesn't get routed through TO, that would suck. I hope yours was an isolated incident.

Canada Post won't cover the full cost of your order if it gets toasted or lost, so they're out of the question.

Anybody else have bad experiences with Purolator or FedEx? How about good experiences? Man, I'll be blowing at least $1500 on my order, I don't want damaged goods.

Where are they being shipped from?

I never tried Purolator before, although I had good experiences with Canada Post (doesn't Canada Post run Purolator?). I had good experiences with FedEx, so a thumbs up from me for those guys.

While we're at it, what are your experiences with other smaller courier companies, like Canpar? I see their logo at my local MBE outlet, but I never tried them out before.

7keys said:

Where are they being shipped from?

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NCIX.com in BC, and Vibecomputers.com in BC. My whole prob with Canada Post is that they won't cover full replacement cost of the order if lost(or stolen), that BS.

ZeroAquaduct said:

I never tried Purolator before, although I had good experiences with Canada Post (doesn't Canada Post run Purolator?). I had good experiences with FedEx, so a thumbs up from me for those guys.

While we're at it, what are your experiences with other smaller courier companies, like Canpar? I see their logo at my local MBE outlet, but I never tried them out before.

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Yeah, I was under the impression that Purolator was now part of Canada Post, but were basically "sub-contracting" to them, or, Canada Post bought them out and didn't change the name, they don't want to mess with Purolator's rep.

It happened to me once with UPS but the item was sent from the us. The guy only hanged it to my door without knowcking or anything and 2 weeks later i received a letter that forced me to pay 60$us for something I paid 15$us. GJ UPS!!!

TheNewGuy143 said:

It happened to me once with UPS but the item was sent from the us. The guy only hanged it to my door without knowcking or anything and 2 weeks later i received a letter that forced me to pay 60$us for something I paid 15$us. GJ UPS!!!

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You know man, what you have written as your "Location" really sucks, and should not be allowed, that's a political statement, and is not allowed in here, as far as I can read and comprehend the rules. It bugs the hell out of me.

You're a separatist, fine, go preach in a GD political forum, it just pisses me off having to see your politics stuffed in my face every time you post.

You know what? Read my post not my location if you dont like it. You could have pmed me about it, no need to say it in the thread.

TheNewGuy143 said:

You know what? Read my post not my location if you dont like it. You could have pmed me about it, no need to say it in the thread.

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Well gee dude, you posted that statement publicly, why shouldn't it be questioned publicly?

As for not looking at it, um, that's why the rules were put in place, to stop the "If you don't like it, don't read it" attitude. If that's allowed, then vulgar signatures would be next, and if you don't like them, don't read them. Next would be vulgar posts. It snowballs. That's why the rules are in place, to stop this sort of thing before it starts.

Thanks for fixing it up BTW, it is appreciated.

Back to the topic at hand, I checked out Purolator, seems they're 94% owned by Canada Post, why they don't own the other 4% I don't know, probably the founders of Purolator won't let it go is my guess. This is from their corporate site:

1993 - Canada Post Corporation
On Dec. 1, 1993, Canada Post Corporation purchased a 75% interest in Purolator. In January 1999, Canada Post Corporation purchased an additional interest in Purolator from Onex, increasing its ownership in Purolator to 95.81%. Today, Canada Post Corporation owns 94% of Purolator.

http://www.purolator.com/media/corporate/corporate_history.html

I dont care about fixing it, i just think it should have been asked via PM but thats ok. And yeah back to topic, UPS from my point of view is one of the worst shipper if not the worst. I suggest poeple use other shippers before them. My experience with purolator is vvery good, ive never had any problems with them. Canada Post did not give me any problems either.
TheNewGuy

Two thoughts:

1) Hi everyone, I'm thread monitoring.

2) I use Canpar whenever I have a choice. The people at MBE may think I'm just trying to save the dollar less than FedEx or UPS but I have a different reason: Canpar has never taken a dump on any of my packages, can't say the same about the other couriers (figuratively speaking in my case however I wouldn't be completely surprised if that were a literal statement in some other people's experiences).

Canada's xpresspost is not bad, just 50cents to 1 dollar more than regular and deliver almost 1-2 days in Canada. Without delivery confirmation UPS will just drop it there and leave, at least canada post will ring the bell and fedex sometimes will go to your neighbor if you are not there.

TheNewGuy143 said:

I dont care about fixing it, i just think it should have been asked via PM but thats ok. And yeah back to topic, UPS from my point of view is one of the worst shipper if not the worst. I suggest poeple use other shippers before them. My experience with purolator is vvery good, ive never had any problems with them. Canada Post did not give me any problems either.
TheNewGuy

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Okay, let's call it an "indiscretion" on my part. Peace dude.

I just called Purolator to get the lowdown on their insurance, it's $3.25 Canadian for every $100 worth of whatever your getting shipped, which is for full replacement cost. I asked the very nice lady about Canada Post owning them, and why they(Canada Post) would not do the same. She explained to me that even though they are basically owned by Canada Post, they are a entirely different entity, Canada Post does not set their policies or rates, nothing.

She was actually surprised that Canada Post didn't offer full loss coverage, they make more off the coverage than they ever pay out. Go figure, another gov't division that's losing money(Canada Post). Stay away from Canada Post, obviously they can't get their s*** together.

eobard said:

Two thoughts:

1) Hi everyone, I'm thread monitoring.

2) I use Canpar whenever I have a choice. The people at MBE may think I'm just trying to save the dollar less than FedEx or UPS but I have a different reason: Canpar has never taken a dump on any of my packages, can't say the same about the other couriers (figuratively speaking in my case however I wouldn't be completely surprised if that were a literal statement in some other people's experiences).

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I don't see Canpar listed on the larger websites as a shipping option, are they not that big, or what's the scoop? I checked out their website, but they don't have a link to their corporate profile, well, none that I could find, maybe I missed something.
The fine print speaks about "Transforce", are Canpar locations "franchises" of Transforce? Weird they don't have an "ABOUT US" link on their page.

eobard said:

Two thoughts:

1) Hi everyone, I'm thread monitoring.

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Wow, talk about subtlety

I like FedEx.

My crazy uncle works for CanPar. He refuses to leave in the morning to go on his route until hes gone "number 2" says its his *** given right.

^ lol

well for xpresspost they include 100$ insurance and i think around 1$ for each additional 100$. But i have no idea about if is "full coverage".

in the canpar website, they have a link for "about canpar" but nothing much inside either.

Whenever i get my package with xpresspost, i mostly see the mailman driving his own car to deliver, one even have a red acura RSX. either they are really dedicated, or they forgot my package in the morning and have to deliver by themself