Kudos to Calumet on my latest film order

[Andrew Moxom]

I ordered 25 rolls of Neopan-400 from Calumet, and they arrived yesterday... Well sort of. UPS in their infinite wisdom had managed to rip one end off the box completely!! Only 5 rolls were left in the package. I thought it a bit strange when the van pulled up in the snow, that the delivery man was taking forever to get the package ready. He then placed the ever so carefully trashed box inside a plastic bag, and came to my door. I opened the door and I got my package, he went on his way... I'm stuck with $15 worth of film I paid $83 for!!! I only then realized why he was taking so long to get the package ready for me. He must have realized the thing was trashed, placed it in a bag anyway, and then not have to deal with it.

I call Calumet, they say, no problem, we'll take care of it. I call them today and there is a UPS paid for package that is on it's way to me right now at no charge with 20 rolls of film in it.

Way to go Calumet... GREAT customer service. Kudos where it's due.

As for UPS... Well they can go take a hike!

 

[naeroscatu]

It is unfortunate that Calumet keeps using this very expensive courier despite many complaints. They should offer customers an option via USPS. I paid double for an order from Calumet because UPS has to add an outrageous brokerage and handling fee at my end. At least no damage on my order...


so man

 

[DJGainer]

UPS has been notorious for its high fees to Canada. But Andrew was talking about Calumet's response to his issue in the U.S. I don't think your complaint about shipping costs has any relevance to this thread.

Good for Calumet for being a responsive dealer!

 

[eclarke]

UPS will take a damaged package which you have refused to their center, repackage it and will try to redeliver it!! It happened to me on three occasions...Evan Clarke

 

[naeroscatu]

Dave, Andrew mentioned that UPS brought to his door a damaged package with missing content. Why would they actually want to deliver such package and not take it back to the center to adjust? That is very relevant to me and it adds up to other issues they have. Yes, I agree to say Kudos to Calumet for solving a problem and I made a suggestion to improve their service by adding more shipping options. What is wrong with that?

 

[yardkat]

UPS is my pet peeve.
I have to assume that vendors get some kind of bulk discount for using UPS, because the post office is cheaper and faster. (I love priority mail! Three days!) I've never had a damaged package from the post office, but UPS has arrived with some questionable items. Whenever I am given a choice I will always pick priority mail over UPS. I also love it when vendors offer the paypal option for payment.
But Yay Calumet for great customer service!

 

[ann]

Calulmet has always taken very good care of myself and my students.

 

[jordanstarr]

Not to sound like the socialist I am, but that's what happens when you have deregulated, private services that attempt to fill in for public services: lower-wage employees, deregulation on quality of services and corner-cutting where possible.
I've been using USPS, UPS, and Canadapost for years and I have never had a damaged package, lost package or crappy services from USPS or Canadapost. However, with UPS my list is fairly long with lost packages, overcharges, leaving my expensive packages with a complete stranger in my building, etc. It's really nice to see that Calumet stepped up to the plate where UPS clearly failed. Hopefully they will re-evaluate their courier, however, with the incentives UPS gives businesses, I doubt this is going to happen overnight.

 

[BobNewYork]

Calumet have always had excellent customer service. Their staff, when you go into one of their stores are friendly knowledgeable and go out of their way to help you get what you need. Not a lot of that left anymore.

Not to sound like the socialist I am, but that's what happens when you have deregulated, private services that attempt to fill in for public services: lower-wage employees, deregulation on quality of services and corner-cutting where possible.

25 years ago I was a fan of Reagan. I'm with you now jordanstarr. Wait 'til the revolution..!

 

[CBG]

UPS has done fine by me. The local driver is great. I used to have issues with FEDEX but their service has been better lately.

Calumet has always been good. Their website seems to have speeded up considerably.

 

[mjs]

Yes, UPS offers strong discounts to business customers. I have had enough horror experiences of my own with UPS that, unfortunately, despite Calumet's outstanding customer service, I don't order from them simply because of problems with UPS delivery. I use Freestyle and have not had a problem with Fedex.

Mike

 

[wogster]

UPS is my pet peeve.
I have to assume that vendors get some kind of bulk discount for using UPS, because the post office is cheaper and faster. (I love priority mail! Three days!) I've never had a damaged package from the post office, but UPS has arrived with some questionable items. Whenever I am given a choice I will always pick priority mail over UPS. I also love it when vendors offer the paypal option for payment.
But Yay Calumet for great customer service!

All couriers offer bulk discounts, and sometimes those discounts can be quite steep, best I have heard was 80%.

The key in the courier business is volume, a single facility can see thousands of pieces per day, and all those pieces need to be unloaded and reloaded several times within a few hours in order to make the right connections. This means that employees can not always be as careful as they would like to be. So most carriers have strict rules on packaging, but shippers don't always follow those rules, ans stuff gets damaged. However out of 10,000 pieces you might get less then 20 damages, usually the carrier employees try to patch it up best they can, and send it on.

If a carrier has a package for you that is damaged, refuse it, and ask the carrier to note that the reason for the refusal is the package is damaged. They will contact the sender, who will probably just ship out the goods again.

 

[Roger Thoms]

Well, I just ordered some film from calumet which is being shipped UPS, hope I have better luck with UPS. As far as Calumet I have always been please with their service. I went to their San Francisco store today looking for 5x7 sheet film which they didn't have in stock. So the sale person checked online, found they film in their Boston store, and is having it shipped to my house. Of coarse I could have gone online and ordered the film, but I was nice to have Calumet take the extra effort.

Roger

 

[JLP]

Great customer service from Calumet. That said i have recieved way to much camera stuff from various vendors and a lot delivered by UPS. So far i have absolutely no complaints, always exact tracking and in 99% of the time on time.
USPS tracking system is at best laughable.

Not to sound like the socialist I am, but that's what happens when you have deregulated, private services that attempt to fill in for public services: lower-wage employees, deregulation on quality of services and corner-cutting where possible.

So you think USPS workers are better paid than UPS employees? Don't know but the last place i want to spend time is at USPS.

 

[Eric Mac]

I prefer UPS to the USPS. Tracking on USPS is pointless. At least with UPS you can get a proof of signature and actually has tracking info. Fed ex package service just dumps on your doorstep without a signature.

The only advantage with USPS is that if there is a scam going on, you can get the other guy with mail fraud.

Eric

 

[mgb74]

Years ago UPS was less expensive (IIRC) and more reliable the USPS. I remember stories from PO workers who told me that they intentionally tossed packages marked "fragile" back and forth.

I believe that USPS has made tremendous improvement in service and it's my preferred way to ship anything. Much cheaper (I don't know if package delivery is in anyway tax subsidized) and faster than UPS.

I believe many business use UPS for the tracking and record keeping services as well as the discounts. I also believe that business use UPS because it allows them to, in effect, hide the actual cost of shipping from the customer. I.E. they charge $9 for shipping, UPS counter rate is $8, but actual cost to them is $5.

For UPS to deliver an obviously damaged package "one end off the box completely", and not try to at least see if someone was home is ridiculous. Presumably, they left some sort of claim paperwork. If not, even worse.

 

[AutumnJazz]

Whenever I get books from Amazon UPS usually rips the box to shreds, ruining or losing some books. It is not fun to argue with Amazon. Which is why I try to use USPS for everything.