Recently, I had to return a product (RMA) via UPS, the vendor graciously provided a six-digit UPS account number to bill the shipping expenses to.

Service was efficient and I could have been a happy customer if ... well, UPS send an invoice couple of days later and charged 9 eur for ... not or incorrect stating the UPS account number on the freight bill. Conversation with customer service revealed that

1. there is no way (for a customer) to check a customer number
2. customer support is not supposed to look up a customer number nor disclose any information regarding a customer number
3. customer support is supposed to explicitly inform you that you have to cover any charges that may arise, and specifically have to point you the 9 eur service charge for filling in an incorrect customer number
4. by signing the freight bill you accept the general terms and conditions (in German: Allgemeine Geschäftsbedingungen, AGB) which refer to a tariffs document (40+ pages) which indeed sets a 9 eur service charge for failing to provide a correct customer number

I really wonder who came up this that ingenious process. It sounded like they have more complaints in that area...

posted at: 22:32 | path: /rant | permanent link