Over at M & G go For a Walk, Gayle has been ranting about the UPS delivery service. I know how she feels. Not only have I had the same problems but I suspect we share the same UPS delivery depot.

As online selling become increasingly important for those of us who buy specialist equipment so the quality of delivery services s critical. Over the last year I’ve found that more and more of my stuff comes via UPS; they must offer distributors a good deal. The problem is that they don’t offer us a good deal.

My frustrations have been the same as Gayle’s. On the face of it UPS’s deal is not bad. They seek to deliver a package on day one, automatically try the next day and then the next. A ticket through the door tells you that the company will arrange a new delivery date for you if your ring their central number. Simple enough. But it doesn’t work.

For example, before Christmas I had a card pushed through my door saying that they had tried to deliver a package for the second time. There had been no card pushed through the day before to tell me that the first delivery had been attempted. At this point I panicked because after three delivery attempts the goods are not held in the depot (as they are elsewhere), they are sent back to the supplier.

So, on day 3 I made quick arrangements to be at home. I was in all day. No delivery. I range their central call centre and went ballistic. They would — just this once —put the item out again next day. It duly arrived and the driver made some barbed comment about the doorbell not working or me being out.

Over the months I had other occasions when I began to suspect that no attempt had been made to deliver my packages, meaning that I was suddenly up against the three time timescale. Sometimes, as happened with Gayle, you are away from home as well. Your goods are whisked back to the sender before you even know they have arrived.

Earlier this year I found myself having a chat with a delivery man. He was telling me how UPS have changed their driver contracts. I can’t remember how this really works but there is a real problem for them in delivering packages, especially at times of really bad traffic (just before Christmas and so on). I began to realise that sometimes the drivers simply don’t make an attempt to deliver the packages at all but put it down as a ‘not in’ visit. UPS might think they’ve tried to deliver three times but you simply don’t know.

I don’t blame the delivery men. The pressure really is on them to cover vast amounts of territory. They are not allowed to come back with parcels that they have been unable to get through and so this kind of stuff happens.

I wish that I could choose not to have UPS deliver my stuff but more often than not I have no choice. But there is a clear message to companies that sell over the net. Be very careful about your choice of courier as it may effect your orders. There is one sound equipment company that I’ve dealt with for years that I simply won’t buy from now because of the problems I’ve had with UPS.

Earlier this year I talked this through with Bob Cartwright at backpackinglight.co.uk. Bob confirmed the story told to me by the delivery man — he’d had a similar conversation with him. It looks as if this is a classic case of a company treating its staff badly, to make the service look cheaper, and then offering an unsurprisingly poor service. No surprise that backpackinglight.co.uk don’t use UPS.

Gayle, my sympathy goes with you!