Amazon

It's amazing to me that Amazon is such a large customer of UPS yet will not intervene on their customer's behalf. I assume this is because Amazon itself isn't particularly concerned about their customers. Actually, I know that they aren't - they still don't publish their phone number, and if you research and find it, yup, you get someone in India who "isn't authorized" to do anything. Anyway, Amazon is located in Lexington KY because UPS is located in Louisville. A quick web search shows dozens of Amazon customers complaining about their UPS service in Sept 2008 alone! What happens is that UPS drivers will apparently make the determination that they do not want to deliver an item. Now, I live in a very upscale neighborhood and have an enclosed foyer that I leave open for deliveries - I have never had a problem except with the Amazon - UPS combo. Amazon will tell you that there is nothing that they can (want to) do, as the UPS driver has independently determined that it would be "insecure" to leave the package in the area. You call UPS and they will swear up and down that Amazon has insisted that the package not be delivered without a physical person available at the address. Actually, there is no "security" element to it. I had a UPS driver arrive with two packages from Amazon. He delivered one (price $200) and wrote "delivery attempted" on the other (price $20). The difference? The $200 package was light, the $20 package weighed 30 lbs. Variations on this scenario have occurred 5 or 6 times, with UPS always unbelievably rude and unhelpful when they do answer (expect to wait). Until Amazon either uses their influence to improve UPS's service to their customers, or switches to a different shipper, no more Amazon for me. Definitely no more UPS - I've started writing to retailers that only offer UPS shipping explaining why I had to go to a competitor.