Why We Hate Blurb & UPS (Part 2)

I wrote a post a couple of days ago about our experience ordering a custom made book via Blurb shipped through UPS. It outlined our frustration with the entire process, how our order was delayed, further delayed, and delayed yet again. The book was meant to be a Christmas present. Knowing that the order would not be delivered till a day after Christmas we were okay with it not arriving on the day of Christmas. However the saga continues, it has passed through a series of promised deadlines.

I’ll pick up from where i left off. We were meant to hear back from UPS the following day, after being promised the delivery over a phone conversation with UPS on Monday the 5th of January. The package did not show up, in fact they didn’t even know what to say as to why it hadn’t shown up yet. Anyhow we were unable to take any calls the following day, however we did not receive any messages in our message bank either. This is where Blurb steps in. I will admit that Blurb has attempted to help us track down the package. The funny thing is the marketing director left a comment on one of the blog posts, yep the marketing director and not customer service; goes to show Blurb doesn’t want their name tarnished by a dodgy delivery service. They have e-mailed us a couple of times now and outlined that it was an act of God, i.e. bad weather, that has left us Book-less.

This act of God thing we could accept. It even made me rethink my approach to the matter, until we received a phone call this morning. It was UPS. They said that they were sorry, the weather being bad and all and that they would be able to deliver it this morning. A day too late, as we are no longer in Saskatoon but have moved on from the holidays back to London, Ontario! We asked if they could ship it to Ontario instead, they said no, as it was out of their hands and we would have to fit the bill. Deciding we didn’t want to ship with UPS anymore we said deliver it to the Saskatoon address and we will have it shipped to Ontario via another delivery service. Quite upset we felt that the issue would be resolved finally.

Five minutes later and we get a call back. Its UPS again. Thinking they had come to our aid and would ship it to us for free in Ontario they present us with another problem. They were about to deliver our parcel but wait…. They can’t find it! They said they can’t find it, can’t locate it, but think it’s back at its origin in a warehouse! Perfect. As far as i can see it this is out of Blurb’s hands, and even out of UPS’s. The hard thing is i am leaving back for Australia in under 2 weeks. It simply isn’t fair that we should have to get the book, which is 3 weeks late, delivered to an address that we aren’t at anymore, pay it to come out west, and if our luck continues the way it is, ship it to Brisbane Australia. Shipping costs alone would have to be triple what the book is worth. In addition to all that, watching all these videos of UPS deliveries being thrown across the street, i am quite certain now that what was once a book, would simply resemble a ball of scrunched up paper!

Blurb has attempted to help us, although it is out of their control, their service (which includes delivery) has let us down. I’m sorry Blurb, it might not be your fault, but UPS has let your service down quite greatly. We have been granted two $10 off coupons for our next blurb purchase. This however wouldn’t even come close to the expense of shipping the book across Canada again and then further onto Australia. We asked for a book to be delivered around Christmas. We ordered and paid for it on 16th December. Its now heading towards the middle of January. We feel ripped off.

I hope everyone who is reading this will keep our experience with both services in mind when they decide to order through Blurb or ship via UPS. To the marketing director of Blurb, i intend to e-mail you soon, we have been travelling and packing as you no doubt have read above. To people following the story i will post photos of the lost book as soon/if we ever receive it.