Why We Hate Blurb & UPS

Blurb, an online service, web2.0 whatever, where their customers can create their own books from their own content. My girlfriend had an awesome idea/surprise whereby she spent hours of time working away at making me my own book based on my current travels in Canada. This book was meant to be given to me as a Christmas Present. However a couple of days later she found out it would not arrive till Boxing Day (26th December). So she had to ruin the surprise and show me the book in an online format, or so she felt. The idea was very nice, but then again we didn’t really need Blurb to make a collage of photos and text and display them on the computer. 

After viewing the book we found out that the book was further delayed, they offered us $10 off our next book that we order off them, yeah right. The book was finally shipped on the 30th of December, via Expedited UPS service. Expecting the book to arrive in two to three days later we monitored the whereabouts of the package very eagerly. It came to the 5th of January, where the book was via our tracking meant to arrive. It didn’t. We called UPS and they assured us it would arrive after the weekend, on the Monday; promptly on the Monday. Waiting around the house all day, no package. We called UPS at 4pm on Monday, they assured us it would come on the day and deliveries go to 8pm, yeah right they do. 

8pm came. No package. We called and they had no answer. They simply asked for our contact details and someone would call the following day as to the delivery of the package. We are over it. Tomorrow we are flying to another province in Canada, and now we will have to pay further shipping costs to mail ourselves the package. We spent most of the day Googling videos on UPS, how their delivery staff throw packages across the street to the doorstep. Entertaining, but just another reminder why we will not be using any of UPS services, ever. In fact i will boycott the services of UPS and refuse to purchase any products from any company that ships via UPS.

As to Blurb. Well i know they are an online service, that however does not remove the fact that they must provide a degree of service that customers will be content with. We certainly are not content with a $10 coupon. Firstly they shipped late, they broke their shipping promises, and they ship with UPS. So what will happen next? We will wait for the package, if it is in anyway damaged via Blurb’s quality of service or the UPS man throwing boxes across the street i am going to go on the biggest anti Blurb and UPS rant of all time! Use this information in this post as merely our experience with both services, competitors feel free to distribute this information in anyway you see fit!