Alright so this happened last week – ordered some custom gaming gear for my rig, paid extra for UPS ground shipping. Tracking said “Out for Delivery” all morning, then bam – 3:17 PM status flips to “Delivered. Left at: Front Door”. Rushed home like my pants were on fire… nothing. Zip. Zilch.
The Panic Sets In
First thought? “Maybe the driver scanned it early?” Gave it an hour. Checked the garage, side door, neighbors – nada. Heart sank. This stuff wasn’t cheap. Pulled up the UPS tracking page again, double-checked the address. Yep, correct. Cue the stress sweats.
Calling UPS – Round 1 (The Runaround)
Jumped on the phone to UPS customer service. Got hit with the automated menu nightmare:
- Pressed 1 for English.
- Pressed 2 for Tracking.
- Said “Agent” like ten times into the phone.
Finally got a human. Explained calmly: “Says delivered, but I got nothing.” Lady sounded bored, asked for the tracking number, my address… again. Put me on hold for ages. Came back: “Our GPS shows the driver was at your location. Package scanned delivered.” Like that solved it! Flat out told her, “Well, it ain’t here.” Her solution? “Wait 24 hours, sometimes it gets scanned by mistake.” Ugh. Felt totally fobbed off.
Bossing Up – Finding the Claims Department
24 hours later? Still empty porch. Knew I needed to escalate. Called back. This time, navigated the phone tree like a pro:
- Pressed 1 for English.
- Pressed 3 for Claims (buried deep!).
- Said “CLAIM STATUS” loud and clear until it transferred.
Different agent, slightly more helpful. Same dance – tracking number, address, name. Told him the driver definitely wasn’t at my house. He put in a “Driver Follow-Up”. Said UPS would ask the driver where he actually left it. Got a case number emailed to me this time. Progress? Maybe.
The Shrug-Off & Filing My Claim
Two days later, got the email: “Based on the information provided by the driver, the package was delivered to the correct address on [Date] at 3:17 PM.” No details, just stone-faced denial. Time for the big guns – the actual claim.
- Logged into my UPS account online (you need one for this).
- Went to “Create a Claim”.
- Plugged in that tracking number AGAIN.
- Selected “The shipment is lost” (felt right, since it vanished!).
- Detailed EVERYTHING in the description box: “Scanned delivered 3:17 PM. Not received. Checked all locations immediately. Neighbors contacted. UPS driver follow-up concluded delivery was ‘correct’ despite no package being present. Item not found.”
- Uploaded proof of value – super important! Snapped photos of my original order invoice from the shop website and dragged them in.
- Hit submit. Got a long claim number starting with “W” instantly.
The Waiting Game & Persistence
UPS auto-email said it could take up to 10 business days. Felt like forever. Checked the claim status online almost daily using that W-number. For the first week, it just said “Investigation in Progress”. Annoying. Called the claims department back once, just to be annoying myself. They couldn’t tell me anything new.
The (Sorta) Win
Day 8, got the email: “Your Claim Has Been Approved.” Honestly? Nearly fell off my chair. They paid out the declared value from the invoice I uploaded. Didn’t find the package, guess they just paid to make me go away. Refund hit the original payment method a few days later.
Key takeaway? Don’t just take the “it’s delivered” line. Be that squeaky wheel. Call, demand the driver follow-up, and if that gets you nowhere, file the damn claim with all your evidence. Takes time, needs proof, but yelling into the void sometimes gets you heard. Still wondering if that gaming gear ended up on some porch three streets over…
