Recent reports have surfaced from Bay Area residents raising alarm over UPS shipping practices, particularly concerning lost items that later appeared for sale online.
Last month, a Hayward man reported that UPS lost a unique guitar he had purchased, providing various explanations leading to claims it had been destroyed in Southern California wildfires.
The saga took an unexpected turn when the guitar showed up for resale on an online platform, raising doubts about UPS’s handling of lost shipments.
Now, two additional Bay Area residents have come forward with similar stories, stating that UPS also informed them their one-of-a-kind items were lost and that the shipping containers had been discarded.
One case involves a Bay Area motorcycle enthusiast, Derek Kriebel, who had ordered a rare supercharger for his show bike from Mike La Marca in New Jersey.
“I play with them and then I sell them,” Kriebel explained of his love for the motorcycles.
The supercharger was intended to significantly enhance the bike’s performance, theoretically doubling its horsepower.
When La Marca shipped the supercharger with UPS, fully insured, it never reached Kriebel.
“Ugh, my heart sank,” La Marca recounted, emphasizing the rarity and significance of the item.
Months later, to La Marca’s disbelief, he discovered the supercharger listed for sale on eBay.
“It’s too many coincidences,” he stated, as he identified numerous similar markings between the one he shipped and the one on the online marketplace.
Upon contacting the eBay seller, La Marca was told that they acquired lost freight from shipping companies, leaving him puzzled.
“Maybe the box was torn open and missing some parts, and UPS sells them off. I don’t know at this point,” he admitted.
In an attempt to address the situation, La Marca filed a police report regarding the incident.
He shared the report with the media, yet was informed that authorities had yet to reach out to the eBay seller.
When approached for comments about their lost freight policy, a UPS spokesperson refrained from providing specific answers, instead stating, “We’re committed to delivering excellent service. Issues with shipments are uncommon, but when they happen, we work with our customers to resolve them.”
This statement comes on the heels of last month’s revelation involving the lost guitar, which UPS claimed had been damaged beyond repair.
However, it turned out that the guitar was not destroyed, leading the guitar’s owner, Tony Diaz, to suspect theft.
The narrative unfolded further when La Marca learned about Diaz’s experience, prompting him to connect the dots between the two incidents.
Adding to the concerns, Pam Daniels, who recently relocated from Chicago to the Bay Area, reached out after her one-of-a-kind painting by June Chen Ahleman also vanished during shipment.
Daniels prepared the artwork for shipping during a return trip to Chicago in February, but it never arrived at its intended destination in the Bay Area.
Describing the artwork as irreplaceable, Daniels expressed her disbelief that such a large item could simply disappear.
“I don’t think it could disappear; it’s not like it was a couple of loose bolts in the bottom of a box that fell out,” she remarked, feeling perplexed about how UPS could handle such valuable shipments.
Daniels noted that she hadn’t purchased insurance for her shipment due to her previous positive experiences with UPS.
She received a similar explanation from the company concerning her lost shipment: “All merchandise is missing and the carton has been discarded.”
Finding the situation alarming, she wondered about the prevalence of such incidents and questioned whether others were facing similar issues.
These cases of lost shipments have raised significant concerns about UPS’s handling practices, especially considering that three unique items vanished without a trace, with two reappearing for sale online.
All three incidents are reported to have occurred between January and February of the current year.
The shipper of the supercharger indicated that, in order to insure it for its full value, his item had to be packed by UPS and he had to complete a form declaring its contents.
As more individuals share their stories regarding lost items, questions remain about the safety and security of shipping valuable or unique items through UPS.
Consumers are left wondering what exactly happens to their packages once they enter the UPS shipping system and how to protect irreplaceable items in the future.
As these stories continue to unfold, one thing is certain: many are calling for transparency and accountability from shipping companies to ensure their customers’ belongings are treated with the care and respect they deserve.
image source from：https://abc7news.com/post/bay-area-viewers-question-ups-explanation-lost-items-now-sale-online/16706968/
