Well friends, the time came for me to return to the UK. Moving back to another country is hard enough as it is, but when you combine that with the stress of shipping??? oufff…
I decided to use UPS because they were one of the few couriers that would collect directly from my door. A 24kg box isn’t easy to cart around when you don’t own a car!
The experience, however, was a total farce. I’m going to explain everything that happened during the 5 weeks (and pending!) it has taken for my box to arrive.
I warn you now, this post is going to be long and ranty…but omg do I need to get this off my chest.
Details: 24KG box containing personal items such as clothes, teaching books, blanket, folders and art pens.
Shipping FROM: (my town), Sevilla, Spain
Shipping TO: (my address) Cambridge, UK
Shipping Cost: €66,84 (+ import fees later)
Date of collection: Monday 12th July 2021
Date of arrival to destination: due on Friday 16th July 2021
MONDAY 12TH JULY – FRIDAY 16TH JULY
My box was collected at 1pm, scanned by the driver and taken away. It was taken to Seville, then to Guarroman, then to a facility in Madrid.
13th July the tracking gave this update
- “UPS initiated contact with receiver or importer for clearance information. Once received, UPS will submit for clearance.”
They never initiated contact with me.
Regardless, this update was given the same day:
- “Your parcel is prepared for clearance.”
Every day since it’s arrival in Madrid it was scanned
23RD JULY 2021
I returned to the UK on the 23rd July (a week after it was due to arrive) and my box was still in the Madrid warehouse.
Again on the 23rd they said initiated contact – they didn’t. The tracking showed these updates:
- UPS has received the information needed to submit your parcel for clearance.
- UPS initiated contact with receiver or importer for clearance information. Once received, UPS will submit for clearance.
29TH JULY 2021
After spending more time in the Madrid warehouse the tracking was updated on the 29th July to say the following:
- UPS initiated contact with receiver or importer for clearance information. Once received, UPS will submit for clearance. / The package will be returned to the sender.
Upon seeing “/ The package will be returned to send” I panicked. Returned to sender how?? The sender is in the UK because this box was meant to be waiting for me at my UK address!
I called UPS UK explaining to them that the package MUST NOT go back to my Spanish address because I no longer live there. I asked them to tell me WHY my package is stuck in Spain to start with and they didn’t give me an answer.
I spoke to a few people from UPS UK that day and they said that they will put the package on hold and it won’t return to “sender” (aka my Spanish address). Unfortunately I trusted them.
I spoke with a UPS UK agent who informed me I needed a document that allows me to ship items from the EU to the UK. They sent me an email with a document attached titled: C3- Bringing your personal effects to the United Kingdom from outside the European Community.
Huh?? I’m not shipping items from outside the European Community. Spain is IN the European Community and I am shipping FROM Spain INTO the UK (!)
I replied to this email saying I believe they sent me the wrong form. I called HM Customs and Excise and asked them if there is a form they could help me find so I can send the correct form to UPS. They told me no such form exists and that is isn’t my responsibility to sort this out, I paid UPS to help with this, why aren’t they helping?
After receiving no response from my email asking for the correct document I continued to call and call and call until I was finally transferred to UPS Customs, I received an email from a lady who asked for these details:
- Customs procedure/Reason for import
- Commodity Code or Plain language goods description
- Your EORI/VAT number
- Your UPS Credit account number if you have one
- Approval to use your Deferment Approval Number (DAN), where appropriate
- Any other information we must take into account when completing this Customs declaration on your behalf
I provided those details within 10 minutes of receiving that email.
I got a reply 6 hours later asking me for:
- returns good statement
What is that?? So I asked her to elaborate on what a returns good statement is and explained again how these were my personal belongings some of which I brought over from the UK when I moved to Spain for work a few years ago. And as I have moved back to the UK the box contains items which were bought or given to me for my birthday/Christmas as well as items I originally took over to Spain.
Again, I replied within 10 minutes.
This is the reply I received
“Thanks for your response. This is duly noted. For future clearance instructions, don’t hesitate to contact me”
So I wrote back asking for her to provide confirmation that my box is NOT going back to my old Spanish address (as the tracking is STILL telling me that’s where it is going) and I explained AGAIN how I no longer live there and it is imperative that it doens’t return.
No reply
I wrote again the next day, expressing my deep deep concern that the tracking continues to say “return to sender” with my old Spanish address. In addition to this the tracking updated with a notice telling me to pay an “import fee”, I asked what this was for as HM Customs and Excise told me I wouldn’t have to pay anything until it arrives in the UK.
No reply.
2ND AUGUST 2021
No updates as it is the weekend and then on Monday 2nd August I see this update on the tracking “We received a request from the receiver to reschedule the delivery“. I was unsure as to what this was about, maybe the woman I spoke to by email did something?
The tracking, however, said that the package is STILL going back to my old Spanish address.
I call UPS UK who tell me not to worry, my package is in Bury St Edmunds and will be delivered by end of day Tuesday. Everything is under control.
3RD AUGUST 2021
Tuesday 3rd August comes and goes, no package.
4TH AUGUST 2021
Wednesday 4th comes and goes and still….no package.
5TH AUGUST 2021
On Thursday the 5th I call UPS again, where is my package? You told me it is in Bury St. Edmunds UK and would be delivered 2 days ago, so…where is it?
They told me they will contact someone from Bury St Edmunds UPS and get them to call me to explain what is going on.
A few moments later I received a call from a lovely lady at UPS in Bury and she informs me (very apologetically) that the last time my package was scanned was in Madrid and it hasn’t arrived and Bury, so she would put her money on it still being in Spain.
I cannot explain how my heart dropped upon hearing that. HOW can one UPS agent assure me that my package is IN the UK and is due to arrive the next day when it hasn’t even left Spain?! I was so upset. The lovely lady told me I need to contact UPS Spain and have this fixed, Bury will put a request for an investigation into where the package is, and that I should do the same.
I open UPS online and sign into the account I made when I was in Spain originally organising this shipment. The claims for asks for all sorts of details such as the invoice, where it is going to, and from.
Interestingly, the addresses are automatically put in and both saying my UK address, I couldn’t change the “from” address. So the details on the claim said “to: UK” “from: UK”.
I don’t understand how this could have happened since the only address I have for me is my Spanish one and the only address for where the package is going is my UK one….how was that automatically entered?
I called UPS again and explained to them the situation, the man informed me it wouldn’t be a problem since they have already cleared the package so even though the address says “to: UK” “from: UK” UPS knows the correct address. They specifically said there will not be a problem.
I call UPS Spain and I speak with a kind man who spoke English, I explained the situation to him and he said I will receive and email soon because I need to provide them with documents in order for them to release my box. I confirm my email with him, both in English and in Spanish and I wait.
I wait.
I wait.
No email.
I call again to UPS Spain and this time the woman doesn’t speak English and refused to transfer me to someone who can. So I try in Spanish. She told me that I won’t receive any email until next week.
….huh?
That was that and she hung up on me.
So I ask my Spanish friend who is currently in Spain (she has been in the loop with all of this, thank god), I asked her if she could contact UPS Spain and just ask them about that email I was supposed to receive and if they can, again, confirm my package wont go to my old Spanish address.
She spoke to around 5 different people as they kept hanging up on her. But eventually they said the package will be held and NOT delivered to the Spanish address. They promised her.
Thursday 5th August evening the tracking status continued to say “Returning to sender”
Then this happened.
| 09/08/2021 12:19 | Returned Returned to shipper Sevilla, ES |
| 09/08/2021 6:30 | Arrived at Facility Sevilla, Spain |
| 07/08/2021 5:00 | Departed from Facility Guarroman, Spain |
| 07/08/2021 1:30 | Arrived at Facility Guarroman, Spain |
| 06/08/2021 21:42 | Departed from Facility Madrid, Spain |
| 05/08/2021 21:19 | Returning to Sender The package will be returned to the sender. Madrid, Spain |
9TH AUGUST 2021
Monday 9th August my package was delivered to my OLD SPANISH ADDRESS and just by pure happenstance my landlady was there was signed for it. UPS can officially wash their hands of this because it is no longer in their possession as my landlady stupidly and without my knowledge SIGNED for my package.
UPS did what the claim asked of them – they found my box. Then delivered it to, in their eyes, a random woman who was in my flat.
I was angry with UPS for sending the package back when they promised they wouldn’t, and I was also angry with my landlady for accepting a box knowing full well I was IN THE UK .
So now I have to contact my landlady and apologise for inconveniencing her and tell her I’m going to try to get this sorted out! I call UPS UK, while my Spanish friend calls UPS Spain.
We both were given the run-around.
The first agent I spoke to apologised for the inconvenience and told me I would receive a free re-collection and I should organise that with UPS Customs, so I was transferred to UPS Customs, and then told I should be speaking with UPS exports. They transferred me and hung up. I called back again and asked to speak directly to UPS Exports, they transferred me and hung up AGAIN. I called back and finally got through and the man from UPS Exports said I should speak with UPS Imports and hangs up.
At this point I’m losing all hope and getting so overwhelmed. I call back, they give me a direct number to contact someone who can help, guess what number I was given? HM Customs and excise! HOW are HM Customs and excise meant to help me organise a free collection??
Meanwhile my Spanish friend could hardly get through and when she did she was hung up on too!!!
Finally she speaks with the most awful man, who says this
- it is my fault the package was sent back because i incorrectly labelled the package.
- the package said it was going “to UK” “from UK” and this is my fault
- I need to buy a whole new label
- I need to take responsibility for my mistake and pay in full for inconveniencing the UPS drivers.
HOW. DARE. HE.
Firstly, the package is clearly labelled correctly.
Secondly, even if the label say “from UK” how in hell was it “sent back to sender” in SPAIN?? Where did that address come from if the box was SENT FROM THE UK????
Thirdly, the idea that I was the one who inconvenienced UPS is laughable. How dare you sir.
My Spanish friend said all those things to him, she knows everything about this, including the address issue with the claims form – so she said explained that the website automatically put the UK address in and it wouldn’t allow me to change it, and that a UPS agent assured me it wouldn’t be a problem.
The man refused everything and just said “take responsibility” and hung up.
I couldn’t believe this, were my documents incorrect? was there actually a problem?? I saw the tracking label, it definitely wasn’t incorrect.
I went to Bury St. Edmuds in order to speaking to an ACTUAL person. I took all my documents and photos with me. Photos of my box that I took before I sent it way back in July. Screenshots of the tracking. Evidence I paid for an import fee when my box hadn’t even left Spain. EVERYTHING.
The lovely man from UPS Bury saw all of my documents and said there was absolutely nothing wrong with any of it. He was outraged I was asked to pay an import fee when there is no evidence that it even entered the UK. He recommended that I email everyone as high up as I can and demand someone help, because all of the UK and Spanish UPS agents aren’t doing their jobs and are just trying to use me as a scapegoat.
10TH AUGUST 2021
Tuesday 10th August I put together an email detailing my experience and the effect it has had on me. I find emails for CEOs of UPS, customer support, complaints…literally anyone I could find, it didn’t matter if they no longer worked there I was gonna email everyone. I even CC’d Watchdog UK.
Within 30 minutes I receive a call from UPS Operations Director who listened to me, apologised and told me he was on it. He would speak with Spain and sort this out.
By 1pm my box was collected again the driver informing my landlady there had been an “international complaint” (!) and the box travelled back to Seville, Guarroman, and finally Madrid.
13TH AUGUST 2021
As of Friday 13th August my package tracking said (and emails confirm) the box is “On the Way, Departed from Facility – Madrid, Spain”
16TH AUGUST 2021
Today, Monday 16th August I receive an email stating that they were told the package had been “short shipped” and that it “didn’t arrive as planned”. They’re in contact with the people in Madrid.
The tracking was finally updated to say my package is in the UK in Stanford Le Hope and it due to be delivered tomorrow.
17TH AUGUST 2021
I woke up this morning to an email saying my box had cleared customs and would be delivered later today.
It finally arrived, after an entire MONTH of waiting…it finally arrived. The driver was so kind and apologetic despite not knowing the full details about what I went through trying to get this box into the UK. So, Paul, thank you so very much.
My thoughts
I am truly saddened that a company as reputable (or so I believed at the time of shipping) as UPS can do this. I’m shocked at the lack of customer service and internal communication. How exhausting is it to have to repeat the same story again and again and make the same request again and again to no avail? My package was still returned to my Spanish address despite being explicitly told it wouldn’t be.
The absurdity of the man who claimed I sent the package from the UK yet it was returned to “sender” in Spain. The total lack of empathy shown as I was hung up on countless times from UPS agents both in Spain and the UK.
The only time I felt truly listened to is when I sent out that email pleading with someone to actually help me.
I implore you friends, if you are to ship items internationally, learn from my experience and check your couriers. Read reviews and listen to them.
Should you get into a situation like this with UPS or any other courier, email the people at the top. No one likes to be told they’re doing a terrible job, but the embarrassment would hopefully kick them into gear to solve it as it did with me.
UPS may tell you they “tried to make contact” when they didn’t. They may try to tell you there is nothing wrong with your box all while holding onto it. They may try to blame you for their own mistakes. DO NOT LET THEM.
If you have any questions or comments regarding my experience please comment below. Have you had a bad experience with UPS or any other courier? Let me know!
Enjoy your day friends 🙂
Take The Slice 