BH Products Inc

From: The UPS Store #3141Date: Wed, Apr 27, at 11:AMSubject: Response to Customer Statement of Problem ID ***To: ***We are The UPS Store-a franchised operation of UPSWe are independentlyoperated an owned and fully responsible for
profit and or loss associated withour single locationWe are entering our 20Th year in businessWe are a smalloperation currently having employees including myself.A large part of what we do is associated with packaging and shippingWesometimes pickup items that are unique, large, valuable and/or not convenientfor customers to bring to our store because they don't live in our areaInall cases we charge a fee for pickupWe absolutely have to charge a fee toremain in businessWhen we perform pickups, it takes a person out of thestore routinely for a minimum of minutes up to an hour or moreWe have touse a vehicle during these pickups and its also an lost opportunity costThismeans that while we are picking up we obviously can't contribute otherwise tothe operation of our store.Our minimum charge for performing a pickup is $and can range muchhigher based on size and or weight of the item that we are picking upInaddition to this charge, there would be estimated charge for packaging andshippingThese estimates are based on info given to usIf the item is lightrelative to box size the price for shipping is based on dimensional weightInthis case the shipping can be precisely estimatedIf the item is heavyrelative to box size the shipping is based on actual weight and it isimpossible for us or anyone else to estimate the shipping chargeWe rely onthe customer and or third party to determine sizes and estimated weights forthe purposes of giving a customer a quote or pickup, packaging and shipping.In most cases our quotes are pretty close to the final priceThey wouldmostly vary or differ if the info that we were given wasn't accurate.In this particular case, we received a call to provide a quote for pickup,packaging and shipping of an item that the customer bid/won from a localauction houseWe requested his invoice to determine features of item won toassist with quoteThe invoice indicated that it was a Stone Gargoyle head,solid sculpted PC, dimensions approximately 1/4x1/by 1/inchesWetook it upon ourselves to call the auction house directly to get an actualweight for the itemThe auction house could only tell us that it was heavy.They apparently didn't have a scale to weigh itWe called MrHawkins andtold him of the uncertain weight info that we hadMrHawkins provided nocertain weight info to usWe assigned a weight of lbs to it and gave him aquote for pickup, packaging and shipping based on our estimateHe didn'tobject to this weight assignment.MrHawkins asked us to pickup up the itemAfter pickup and bringing it backto our store and weighing it, we realized the weight was approximately 115lbsWhen we gave MrHawkins the final price based on the actual weight hewas upset that our estimate had changedHe talked about possibly driving upfrom North Carolina instead, to pick it up himselfWe told him he could dothat, but he would still have to pay pickup charge of $based on our timeand resources committed to reply to his request to pickup the item.My employee told him of the charge, I later told him via email, and Ipersonally told him when he showed up in the store to pickup the itemHecursed me in front of other customers and made disparaging remarks about ourstore in front of customers, just prior to signing the credit card chargeHeasked to use our hand truck to remove the Gargoyle and left the store.1) With the weight of this item, it took approximately hour to perform thetask of picking up customer itemIt took men to load it, men to unloadit, men to weigh it.We sometimes rely on a third party to perform pickups, their charge for thispickup would have been $to usWe only charged him $502) Even our much larger Franchisor-UPS doesn't have the capability to weighitems on siteWe certainly do not have this ability, neither did the auctionhouse.3) Customer indicates in his complaint, "they go to the auction house toassess the items"We don't have the personnel to dispatch to "assess" items.Customer lives in North Carolina, we have never experienced his conductbeforeHis decision to drive to the DC area to pickup an item that he won atan unaffiliated auction house was totally his decision.4) We don't "charge a fee to determine a true cost"We charge a fee for ourservicesHe apparently purchased something that he had no knowledge of.5) The percent rule doesn't apply hereWe are not changing car parts wherewe know the price of the part and how long it takes to install it becausethere are millions of these repairs taking placeFinal pricing was based onweight.BH*** The UPS Store (Since 1996)*** *** *** ***Falls Church, VA 22044###-###-#######-###-#### faxwww.theupsstore.com/3141.htm