UPS ABANDONMENT SCAM – Buyer beware! I used UPS Germany for years as a satisfied corporate customer. I used UPS twice in the UK to send parcels to foreign shores. UPS prepared to scam me on the first occasion and actually scammed me on the second delivery using their ABANDONMENT SCAM. Read on to find out how and decide for yourself if you still feel that you can trust UPS as a private customer for parcels going overseas. PREPARATION TO EXECUTE THE ABANDONMENT SCAM: The first parcel had reached its destination country on time, but there appeared to be no further progress, the online status update showed “Warehouse scan & location” for 4 days running. I called UPS and was told that the “CUSTOMS INVOICES WERE MISSING”. I had attached them securely inside a UPS pouch made just for that purpose, but I thought little about it and sent UPS PDF copies via email. Imagine how surprised I was when UPS queried one item by sending a copy of the Customs Invoice that I had attached to the parcel, which was clearly identified by the original date next to my signature! Because I wanted to have the parcel delivered ASAP, I let it pass. The parcel was finally delivered within 15 business days, instead of an Express Delivery within 5 days that I had paid for. Why did UPS never contact me to advise of the missing Customs Invoices? Read on and all will become rather apparent. PREPARATION AND EXECUTION OF THE ABANDONMENT SCAM: Two years on I recently tried UPS again for a parcel going to the same destination. WHAT A NIGHTMARE! The parcel had reached the destination country on time, but there appeared to be no further progress, the online status update showed “Warehouse scan & location” for 3 days running. The recipient of the parcel called UPS locally and was told that the “CUSTOMS INVOICES WERE ILLEGIBLE”. This appeared to be rather odd as the Customs Invoice had been completed by myself online using a keyboard and not handwriting, it was then emailed to me in PDF format by UPS in order to attach 4 signed copies of it to the parcel. On the same day, the receiver emailed UPS the PDF file UPS had sent to me during the ordering process. As the online status update still showed “Warehouse scan & location” 5 days later, the recipient called UPS and was told that UPS would now expedite this issue. On the next day, the recipient called UPS and was told again about the “Customs Invoice being illegible”, that an authorisation was needed to import certain items (such as chocolate bars), and that a letter had to be written to the authorities, and that the parcel would be tagged as abandoned in a matter of 3 days if the issues were not resolved by then. You probably can guess the rest: yes, despite having contacted UPS daily and having provided all the information as and when requested, UPS tagged the parcel as abandoned 3 days later and advised that a penalty payment equalling 2 weeks of local wages was now payable before the parcel could be released. One has to seriously question why UPS never advised the recipient that additional information was required WITHOUT the recipient having contacted them each time in the first place. Why did UPS choose to remain stumm for all these days? The answer is obvious: UPS has identified a nice little earner and scammed the recipient out of 2 weeks of wages by using obvious delaying tactics. SHAME ON YOU UPS! NEVER EVER WILL I USE YOU AGAIN and I hope that readers of this review will do the same, VOTE WITH THEIR FEET as far as UPS is concerned. Instead of 7 days, it took UPS 38 days to deliver the parcel, and for that shameful service, they levied a hefty penalty charge too. With 91% of Trustpilot Reviews in Germany giving UPS just 1 star, it is obvious that UPS DOES NOT PROVIDE PRIVATE CUSTOMERS WITH A SERVICE FIT FOR PURPOSE! SHAME ON YOU UPS!