It seems to be my week for broken things...

UPS delivered our new screen lid for our snake aquarium today. Just dropped it on the porch and left instead of ringing the bell like they usually do. I'd seen the truck park in front of my yard, so I went to grab the package, and discovered why the UPS man ran off without ringing. Despite the 4 big red and white FRAGILE stickers on it, the box was bent all up. In fact, it was no longer flat, it was curved! I opened up the box, and sure enough, one side of the screen was smashed all in. No possible way to fix it that I can see.

After debating briefly whether to call UPS or the aquarium company, I decided on the company. There was a little note in the package telling me to call customer service if I had a problem, and this certainly qualified. Also, I think the sender has to make the claim with UPS insurance, though I could be wrong about that. I figured they'd tell me if I needed to call UPS, I needed to order a new screen anyway, and I thought they might like to know UPS is smashing their shipments all to hell.

Apparently I was wrong about that. As soon as I told customer service that UPS smashed up my shipment, she asked, "Why are you calling us?". Um, you sent me a package that didn't arrive in usable condition. I thought you might like to know this. What I actually said was, "I thought the sender had to make a claim on the package. Do I need to call UPS?" Well, the phone person went to speak to her supervisor, and they decided to just send me another screen. But she made sure to tell me that this was UPS's fault. I said that I knew that, and that I was willing to call UPS if I needed too. No, they would just send me a new screen to save me the hassle. Which is fine, but I got the impression that they weren't happy that I called them about this.

I am sure they think I am a awful, demanding customer, but that's okay, 'cause I'm not really impressed with their customer service skills.