JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – There's a holiday headache for some consumers.
UPS says some package deliveries are being delayed because of an unexpected flood of orders from online shoppers.
Responding to complaints on social media, the company says it is working to fix the problem.
Several local people also contacted News4Jax to complain about shipping delays by UPS.
Shane Brisentine, who is a photographer and artist, said he ordered some supplies for his business last week, paid for two-day delivery, but had to wait a week until he finally received the goods Tuesday.
His big complaint was the customer service, or what he described as a lack of it.
"I got a lot of attitude with that call. The girl ended the phone call by saying, 'I don't need to hear your problems,' and she hung up on me," Brisentine said. "I wasn't happy."
Brisentine said he tried using the tracking number on his package, but the delivery date changed without explanation, and sometimes said the package was on a truck being delivered. But it didn’t show up.
When he called, at one point, he was told the package was in Jacksonville, but was locked in a trailer and UPS workers didn't know exactly which one.
Eventually, he was told he could pick up the package at the depot Wednesday.
"Two hours later, the package showed up here," Brisentine said. "So it's either a case of a squeaky wheel finally getting the grease or they just really have no idea no clue what's going on at their facility."
News4Jax traded several phone calls with the public relations manager at UPS. He returned the calls, but News4Jax never got to speak with him.
In addition, News4Jax emailed concerns and questions. Matthew O’Connor’s response said, in part:
As a result of unprecedented shipping volumes in certain markets during cyber week, UPS has added one- or two-days time-in-transit on some deliveries. We have shifted more employees and other resources to these markets to address this cyber week surge and expect to have the issue resolved by midweek.”
Brisentine said that's not good enough.
"They have a job to do and they're not doing it," he said. "It feels like they're taking advantage of this time of the year."
United Parcel Service Co. expects to be back to normal operations by the end of Wednesday. It plans to hire about 95,000 seasonal workers and use more automation to meet the crush of shipments.
The Atlanta company is sticking with its forecast of holiday shipments of more than 750 million package deliveries between Thanksgiving and Dec. 31, a 5 percent increase over last year.