Down With UPS

Three weeks ago I ordered tickets for next Tuesday's Wilco show at the Mod Club. The sale was done over the web, through the band's website. Nice to be able to avoid Ticketmaster--and their service charges--for a change.

The tickets were to be delivered through UPS Worldwide Express. As of middle last week, I hadn't received the tickets. Then I came home Thursday after work, and there was a notice taped to the door in my building's foyer. UPS had attempted to deliver the tickets, but, of course, I was not at home. As is their policy, they attempt delivery for the next two days, and then, if not successful, they hold your order for five business days, and you can arrange to pick it up.

I was kind of hoping UPS would assume that I was not at home at 10 o'clock in the morning two days running because I was at work, and from there, maybe make a logical decision to try the following day's delivery at a different time, like, say after 5 p.m., as is identified on their notice as one of the possible time slots for delivery. No such luck.

But I wasn't worried, because I was sure I could arrange for UPS to redirect the package to my work address. On Tuesday, I called them and arranged just such a thing. But on Wednesday, no tickets. Today, I called them again, and they told me the delivery would be arriving. This afternoon, I returned to my office and noticed a shoebox-sized cardboard box on my desk. It was adorned with UPS stickers and an invoice. Man, I thought, they really go big on the packaging for a pair of tickets. On closer inspection, I noticed the invoice was addressed to one Tracey Kelly (same last name, no relation) in Toronto. Hmmm. Worry began to creep into my mind.

The invoice proclaimed the contents of the shoebox-sized package to be... a box of shoes. I opened the package and confirmed that this was indeed so. Shoes. Tracey Kelly's shoes, apparently. I called UPS again to inform them of the situation. Apparently my tickets were still in their warehouse. I explained that I was getting nervous that my tardy tickets might not arrive in time. The concert is Tuesday night, and Monday is a holiday here. That just leaves tomorrow and (gulp) the day of the show, to get them to me. The first option they offered me was to go and pick them up. Just so happens their office is pretty much as far on the west side of the city as my workplace in on the east side. That means little ol' car-less me hopping on a bus for a trip that would probably take a few hours all told. And this, after I've already paid for the "convenience" of having these tickets delivered to me? No, the pick up is not my first option. In fact, it's pretty damn far down on the list. Like, say, last.

So the UPS woman said she'd send a fax to the warehouse and see if she could get them delivered on Friday, and failing that, she'd authorize a rare "same-day hold" for me, so I could pick them up maybe Friday evening, if need be. Well, we'll see about that. Let's first see if they get them to me tomorrow.

Now, I know there is some sense to UPS's delivery policies, but they didn't really leave me with many options for not being at home during their delivery hours. Seems to me a company that specializes is delivering things should be a little better at it, and maybe have a few more creative solutions to what must be a fairly common situation, i.e., people not being at home during work hours. Like maybe Saturday delivery? And at the very least, if they can manage to deliver someone else's shoes to me, they should be able to find a way to get my tickets to me on time.

As much as I slag Ticketmaster, I've never had a problem getting my tickets by good old postal delivery. Hey Wilco, maybe next time, just send my tickets via the mail?