Thank you for everyone's input; however, read on if you want to know what happened with UPS, or if you even consider using them to mail your next package. This post will be long, and will be all about UPS, so if you are not interested in reading about human incompetence and stupidity on an epic scale, just move on to another post:
On January 10th (two days ago), I paid $41.66 to UPS using my VISA card, for what they said I owed to them for customs. OK, I get that. Not a big deal, right? So I called the UPS customs broker, per the email instructions that I had received, and paid them, after which they emailed me back a receipt that I had paid the amount, complete with a UPS logo, their email address, authorization number,...you get the picture. Legit, that I paid, with proof in hand.
Yesterday, the 11th, the website was updated that the packages were released to be delivered, but I owed $41.66, that I can pay online or COD to the driver. I called the number which I paid through, and the UPS agent confirmed yes, I have paid it, and package have been released to be delivered. Oh good. I figured I will wait for the delivery, and show the driver my receipt and the paid-in-full email I received from UPS. That should settle that with no issues. Or so I thought.
This morning, the 12th, I received an email from UPS saying the package will be delivered by 9 PM. What a wide window, right? But that is ok, because fortunately my 77-year old mother lives close by, and I asked her to come sit at my house and watch for the delivery until it arrives, or if it is after I finish my work, I will be home and can take delivery myself. I also advised her that if the driver says I owe any monies, for her to tell him/her that it is paid for, that I have a receipt, and for him to check with his center/hub for confirmation. I also told my nice mother to call me if he does not believe it, and I would rush home to show him/her the receipt in person.
So shortly after 1 PM, two hours before my workday was to end, my mother texts me and says he is here with the packages. I text back I will leave work immediately and will be home to move the wheels inside. (She is old and due to health issues, cannot lift heavy objects.) I rush home.
On the way home, dear old mom calls me and tells me the driver said I owed $46.11, and that he cannot wait for me, so he left with my wheels. What???? Yes son, she says, after he unloaded them, and I told him they are paid for, he loaded them back up and left, saying they are not paid for. She did tell him I am on my way home to show him the receipt, but he said he does not have time to wait for me, but he will be in the area for 20 minutes, if he gets home, come find me on the road.
I asked her to follow him while he makes his deliveries and tell me where they are, and I will catch up, show him the receipt, and all will be well. Right? Wrong.
Within a minutes I catch up with them (she told me where he had stopped to make a deliver). Got out of my car, driver approached me after he finished delivery to a neighbor, and I showed him the electronic receipt for full amount paid from UPS. He says he is sorry, but he cannot release the packages because the pad in his hand says I owe $46.11, and unless I pay, he will not give me my packages. Literally no amount of reason would change his mind. I said how could you possibly say I have to pay that exact amount when I have a receipt from UPS, your own company, saying I paid in full with a credit card, complete with receipt number and all? He would not budge.
I asked him to call his supervisor, which he reluctantly did. Same result. This idiot, (we will call him Daniel, because that was his name), tells me sorry, I won't have my driver release the packages until you give him the money. I repeated, and repeated, and repeated again and again that it is paid for, that I am literally showing the driver the receipt, which the driver acknowledged to Daniel that it is real, and it is from UPS. Daniel said no, pay the driver or I will have him leave. I said the packages are paid for, and I have the receipt, so at this point they are my property, so if his driver leaves, that is theft of my property. At this point UPS has zero claim to my property. I asked him, "Do you understand that?" I told him I will forward the email to him that I received from UPS which shows I paid, and he said no, he doesn't need it, because his system shows I did not pay. I told him I will not let the truck leave with my packages, that I will block the road (we were in a cul-de-sac and the only way out could have been blocked by me if I really wanted to be a real you know what). He said, "Please don't block the driver and the truck and let the truck go." I said the driver is free to leave, but my packages stay. He didn't budge, told his driver to shut the door and leave, which he did. Leaving me standing in the middle of the road looking dumbfounded as to what had just transpired.
I ran inside the house and got on the phone with the UPS customs broker center, and quickly got a female agent to speak with me. She confirmed it is all paid for, that I owe NOTHING, and the driver should have left me the packages, and that his supervisor HAD NO RIGHT TO OVERRULE THE EMAIL RECEIPT FROM THE UPS CUSTOMS BROKER. She put me on hold, came back 10 minutes later, and said that she saw they had sent a COD RELEASE email to that UPS hub/center, but no one had opened the damn email. She said she will send a second one, but at this point there is nothing else she can do. I asked for her to find me this hub's address, which she did. I drove there.
Got to the main entrance, and spoke with nice young man, who was the on-duty security guard. Explained everything to him. He said that was insane, but he did not know who he could contact. I said how can that be possible? (This hub/center IS HUGE.) You can't find a supervisor in this facility, which looks to be over 200 acres? Maybe larger? He said he works for the security company, and he doesn't know who is inside the building. I asked him to call his security manager, which he reluctantly did. The manager told him there is no one in the entire facility that could check emails to see if a COD RELEASE was sent by the UPS CUSTOMS BROKER. Nothing he can do for me. EXCUSE ME? In the year 2023, no one can check emails in a UPS facility? Nope, he said. (You can only imagine how dizzy I got with this reply.)
I called the UPS CUSTOMS BROKER on the phone again, and this time got a supervisor. She was dumbfounded by what I was saying. She said she just checked, and while I was driving there, two more emails were sent to that center to release my packages, for a total of four emails, but still no one was willing to open the emails. I told the young security guard that at this point, this UPS facility is in violation of the crimes code by keeping my property from me. It is my property, I have proven it, and by them refusing to give it to me, they are committing theft. He got the point, or maybe felt sorry for me, and said he would walk me back and I can speak to his manager.
So he walked me in this huge facility, past the metal detectors and all, while I still had the UPS CUSTOMS BROKER supervisor on the speakerphone. We entered the main building (MASSIVE BUILDING), and were half-way to the end when he got a text form his manager telling him to escort me outside, that I am not allowed inside. So I walked back out. Still on the phone with the UPS CUSTOMS supervisor, who kept telling me about all the problems the are having with that center. I get it. Yes, they are incompetent, but even incompetency has to have a limit. Right? Wrong again. I found out people can really lower the bar when one believes there is no room to lower it any further.
After five minutes, Daniel comes outside and tells me to leave. Just like that. I said hold on sir, you have my packages, which I have paid for, and I have the printed receipt in hand, and the original email on my phone which I am willing to show you, but you won't give my packages. He told me that is because his system tells him I have not paid. The UPS CUSTOMS BROKER jumps in and yells through the speakerphone, WAIT A SECOND, THIS MAN HAS PAID ALL HIS DUES, I HAVE PROOF OF IT, I SENT IT TO YOU, HE HAS A COPY IN HIS HAND, YOU REFUSE TO OPEN THE EMAILS WE HAVE SENT TO YOU, AND YOU ARE TELLING HIM YOUR SYSTEM, WHICH I AM LOOKING AT, SAYS HE HAS NOT PAID? Daniel says: Who is this? Are you from UPS? She says YES, and he better go check his emails, because this is ridiculous. Daniel refused to go check his emails or whatever email account the COD RELEASE was sent to. Yes, for real he refused to do that. This went on for a while, she telling him what to do, and he standing there in whatever fantasy world he lives in. Finally she had enough, and with all the authority she could gather in her voice said, "I am a manager at the UPS CUSTOMS BROKER and I am telling you this man has paid in full, and you are to release his packages to him immediately." He said, ok, since you are a manager, I will take your word and release it. But they are not here. They are still in the truck, somewhere. He hangs up on her. Just like that.
Turns to me and says, "You can't come in here. And you can't tell my driver he cannot leave or you will block the road." I replied, "Do you now understand these packages were paid for? Do you understand at that point they are my property? And do you understand that at that point, you have no legal right to keep them from me?" He said, "They were still in our possession, so they were our responsibility." (Yeah, epic stupidity . This moron just didn't get it.) I said, "They are only in your possession because you refuse to release them, when they are rightfully mine, and you, with proof in hand, had and still have no right to keep them at all." He said, "Well, that's our policy." And I replied, "Your policy is not the law. The law is the law. Release my property."
He claims he will let the driver deliver them to me tonight, by 9 PM. So here I sit, waiting for my wheels. 5:05 PM and still not here. Four more hours to go. We shall see what happens next, but I doubt they will be delivered.
Maybe I should have paid $2,000 more and just bought them from Mr. Fiat and avoided dealing with UPS.
Give a man an ounce of authority, and he will act as if he is The King.