CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) — A small business owner in Charlotte faced a shocking shipping nightmare last month.
Stash Charlotte owner Lucy McDermott said she was charged more than $1,300 to deliver a package that should have cost less than $50.
“I own a yarn, fabric and sewing machine store in Charlotte,” McDermott said.
She ships often, but this time it was unexpected.
“I got a trunk show from a fabric company, and there were a few quilts, a few dresses, nothing heavy, nothing, nothing bulky,” she said. “I think it’s been to two or three other stores before me and I’m sending it to the next store.”
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Thinking she was doing everything right, she dropped the box off at a local UPS store and shipped it to Gastonia.
“I measured it, weighed it, took it on the road and thought it was fine,” she said. “A week later, I got an email saying, Hey. Your shipment was overweight and oversized, so we charged you an extra $1321.00. I thought, well, this was a mistake, right? “
This is where things get complicated with what McDermott said.
“First, I contacted UPS, but they ignored me because I went through a secondary shipper called Pirate Ship to pay for the postage,” she said.
She purchased shipping labels at a discount through Corsair.
“So I contacted Corsair, filed a dispute, submitted all the documents, pictures, descriptions, etc.,” she said. “A week later, I got an email saying your dispute has been dismissed and you can’t appeal it.”
She tried to speak to someone at the company, but continued to get an online auto-reply.
The company does not have a phone number on its website.
“At this point, as you can imagine, I was very angry,” she said. “That’s when I contacted you. I also contacted my credit card company, and coincidentally, that’s when I heard from Corsair again, telling me that UPS has graciously waived this fee, but you need to be careful in future , they won’t do it again.”
She said she never knew what was going on, so WBTV’s Caroline Hicks contacted The Pirate Ship for answers.
A spokesperson issued a statement, which read in part:
“Somehow the machine thinks the package is larger than the carrier’s maximum limit, at which point it is penalized very expensively.”
We also reached out to UPS for comment. A spokesperson told WBTV:
“Meeting the needs of our customers is UPS’s top priority. UPS worked with the customer to resolve this issue, and we are pleased to report that the issue has been resolved.”
That’s a lesson we should all learn before the holidays, said Paul Bartholomy, vice president of the Better Business Bureau for Southern Piedmont and Western North Carolina.
“Unfortunately, these kinds of stories are not uncommon, not just with shipping lines, but actually with any type of discount, the discount provider can inherently cut corners and you probably won’t get the same quality and customer experience,” he said. He says.
To avoid this, he recommends doing research on the company, including its shipping, return and refund policies.
“You sort of need to decide if you want to gamble as you know it, pay full price and take it to the counter and have them tag it for you, or accept the discount and just hope for the best,” McDermott said. “I do , but not very well.”
If you find yourself being overcharged for shipping, the BBB recommends that you contact your bank and dispute these charges with the shipping company. Additionally, if you believe you have been the victim of fraud, you should contact the Attorney General’s Office.
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