Late Delivery - Entitle for Refund?

I have been using UPS Nextday Air to ship, and most of the time, the package was deliveried before or by 10:30 a.m., which is according to their guarantee policy. Recently, the last 3 shipments I made was deliveried late:
One was deliveried at 11:30 a.m instead of 10:30 a.m.
One was deliveried Saturday instead of 10:30 a.m. Friday
One was deliveried 4:01 p.m. instead of 10:30 a.m.
On the second and third late delivery, they put, "DELAY - SECURITY CHECK - BEYOND UPS CONTROL" on their tracking system.
The buyer on the one that was deliveried Saturday instead of Friday told me that I entitle for refund on my shipping cost. Do I? Thanks a lot for any input.

I think UPS has a clause to get them out of things "Outside Their Control". I request refunds on all late packages. Make them turn you down. Then fight the ones that they turn down that you REALLY feel are legitimate.

The guarantee does not apply to UPS shipments that are delayed due to causes beyond UPS's control, including, but not limited to, the following: the unavailability or refusal of a person to accept delivery of the shipment; acts of God; acts of public authorities acting with actual or apparent authority; acts or omissions of customs or similar authorities; insufficient information provided by a customer; the application of security regulations imposed by the government, or otherwise applicable to the delivery location; riots, strikes, or other labor disputes; civil commotions; disruptions in air or ground transportation networks, such as weather phenomena; and natural disasters.

The second delivery was to New Jersey, and the third one to North Carolina. They said on the second one delay due to hurricane in east coast. On the third one, it showed on their tracking that the package was deliveried at 4:01 p.m. Then it showed the delay at 4:01 p.m. It seems like they input the reason in once they noticed they didn't delivery the package on time to cover their behind...

It's all in how you work the person on the other end of the phone when you call. I've watched a office assistant get a refund for $300 in overnight charges (huge package w/ early am delivery) get a refund because the UPS driver showed up at 7:55 and didn't wait until the shop opened at 8 am causing the package to be delivered later in the day.

Interesting situation...
Personally, bottom line - if the animal made it in okay, you've fullfilled your responsibility.
Sure, I've had a few late afternoon arrivals - hey, it happens... (never had one the day after, though...)
Out of those "a little later than expected" arrivals, (maybe 5 - no more than 10 over a couple years) 2 complaints about refunding shipping and I gave it to them - only because I just didn't want the hassle.
However, if you knew the hurricane had the potential to interfere with shipping, then the responsiblity would be a bit more on your shoulders, I would think.
Just my two cents

Liz

Well, while it's true the squeeky wheel gets the grease, sometimes the squeeky wheel just gets thrown on the trash heap!

I guess I always weigh the possibilities of getting a refund of some sort vs. the possibility of them deciding that they really don't need to ship my reptiles for me anymore. If more companies accepted them willingly, this wouldn't be such a big deal, but if you are knowingly and openly shipping with a carrier, I wouldn't rock the boat over a package that arrived safely but late.

But that's just me . . .

if the animal made it in okay, you've fullfilled your responsibility

I don't agree. If you charge someone for overnight delivery (or delivery by a certain date or time) then you are responsible to get it there on time. If not you are, in my opinion, responsible to make restitution. The buyer is not making a deal with UPS the buyer is making a deal with you; you are the person making the deal with UPS. As I see it, while UPS is responsible to you, you are responsible to the buyer.

Now UPS may have a policy saying that they are not responsible for things beyond their control such as hurricanes and security checks - but what was your policy before you shipped the herp. (By the way shipping an animal through an area in which there was to be a well reported an well forecast hurricane was not a good move. If the buyer would not wait until after the threat of the hurricane had passed, then maybe it would have been wiser to lose the sale, if for nothing else than the sake of the animal.) If you said the buyer was getting overnight delivery (or delivery by a certain time) and then the package was late - you are responsible unless you also had an escape clause. I would think, of course, that most people would be understanding of the situation and that a healthy animal would alleviate the situation, but not all people are so easy going, and it might be worth your while to provide at least a partial refund of the shipping cost - the difference between regular UPS and the overnight delivery.

Best regards,
Glenn B

Originally posted by Glenn Bartley
I don't agree. If you charge someone for overnight delivery (or delivery by a certain date or time) then you are responsible to get it there on time. If not you are, in my opinion, responsible to make restitution. The buyer is not making a deal with UPS the buyer is making a deal with you; you are the person making the deal with UPS. As I see it, while UPS is responsible to you, you are responsible to the buyer.

The above quote saved me some time in typing a response. The above is 100% accurate. Unless the purchaser is not available to recieve the package at time of delivery (as pre-arranged); late shipments are the responsibility of the shipper.

In such cases, I do offer refunds to my customers based on the difference(s) in shipping cost(s) of what they paid and the actual services they recieved.

~Wade

UPS has been over 24 hours late on probably 60% of any incoming shipments I've had sent to me, both animal and other items. I understand that it really all depends on the area of the person that's having the animals shipped to. Airborne has been late on 100% of shipments i've had through them. Even delta was really late on a shipment.

I had to drive 2 hours to get to the nearest airport that accepted venomous reptiles that I had had shipped from miami. They were supposed to be there at 5:30 PM... When I got there, they said it would be around 8pm.. then 11pm. I made numerous calls to the main shipping dept, to track the package, because the people behind the counter didn't know what they were doing. They didn't know the package even existed.

I had a friend with me, and he had to be at work the next morning, and it was around 2:30 AM before leaving the airport with the package. So, basically, I spent from around 3pm to 4:30 AM on this. Talk about a nightmare....

Believe it or not, fedex is the only shipping company that is on time appx 99% of the time in this area. If I order a reptile, and they say they ship through UPS or airborne, I ask them if they would ship it via fedex. If they decline, I don't order from them, but most do make exceptions.