Another Underwhelming Experience With UPS MyChoice

UPDATE: This is entirely my fault. I leave the text below only as a reference and to shame myself. The issue is that UPS sent me an e-mail at 12:07 saying a package would be delivered the next day. Because it was Sunday night, I thought it would be Monday, but it was technically Tuesday at that point because the e-mail had been sent 7 minutes after midnight.

You win this one, UPS. But maybe batch those e-mails to 4 in the morning or so?

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Normally, when you pay for extra convenience despite the fact that a service business’s reputation is normally based on that coming standard, you would expect a little something extra, right? UPS MyChoice doesn’t seem to think so.

I paid $40 for the year to join the service, which promises more convenient options such as holding shipments at the UPS store, delivering shipments to another address, picking a 2-hour delivery time-frame window, etc. This is great, considering the problems I’ve had with package carriers.

And at first, the service does seem promising. You receive e-mails that tell you when a package is en route to your address, and when it is expected to arrive – even if you didn’t have a tracking number. This e-mail allows you to change options for the package, etc.

So when I received an e-mail Sunday night saying that my winter gloves would be delivered the next day, I was thrilled. I would be at work, and so I needed to have them hold it at a store.

The e-mail said it would be delivered the next day (Tuesday) between 1:15 and 5:15. I received the e-mail at 12:07am, and at 12:08am I had chosen to have it held at the store. I was very excited that this was working out the way it’s supposed to. More than I should be, really.

Fast-forward to Tuesday at 4:15pm. I show up at the store where I’d asked the package to be held, but they didn’t get any deliveries for the day. I knew it wasn’t supposed to be until 5:15 at the latest, so I asked them to track the package – only to find out that it had experienced a “delivery exception” (a.k.a “we changed your stuff on you, sorry!”). Why? Apparently when I selected the convenient option of having it delivered to the store that day, they conveniently also added an extra day onto the delivery time.

This is exactly what I was trying to avoid. Get an e-mail at 12am saying a package will be delivered at 5pm. Ask them to hold it at the store down the street, but they need an extra day to figure out how to do that? Also, no notification about an updated delivery date, and no e-mail about a package exception at all. So I still made the extra trip, and I still had the package delayed, only this time I was supposed to feel like it was convenient, and pay them $40 a year for the privilege.

Doubt I’ll be renewing that subscription, UPS.