The UPS Store — Local services in Middletown

On May 1st, I shipped a one of a kind, hand made walnut bench from this store. Because I was worried about the bench arriving safely, I decided to have the UPS Store pack it for me as I was under the impression that they would do a good job with it. With packing and shipping, I paid $284.80. At no point was I given the option to declare a value or purchase insurance.

A few days later, I received pictures from the recipient showing how the item was packaged and the damage it received because it was so poorly packed. I paid nearly $300 for the "certified packing experts" at this store to put a small layer of bubble wrap around my item with virtually no other packing material. Anyone with any common sense would have recognized that that amount of packing would be insufficient to protect the piece.

Because I didn't declare a value for the package (because I was never given the option) UPS would only pay out $100 for the bench and a refund on my shipping. But that isn't the issue. I understand that UPS corporate is only paying for their side of this. However, it is the fault of this store for packing my piece so badly. Mr. Ed Lushbaugh, the owner of this store, refuses to take responsibility for so poorly packaging my piece. A decent business owner would do what he could to make this situation right. All I wanted was to have the piece shipped back to me so that I might repair it and ensure that the recipient could receive the piece of furniture that he wanted.

However, Mr. Lushbaugh feels that the incompetence and lack of care he and his employees showed with their work is not his concern. As such, I am at a loss of several hundred dollars and the recipient does not have a usable piece of furniture. If he had done the right thing and had the piece shipped back to me, this would not be an issue. Even though I would still be at a financial loss if he had paid to ship the piece back, the attempt to make things right would have been enough. But instead, he has decided that common decency, good business practices, and customer service have no place in his store.

I would absolutely recommend that no one take their business to this store. Attached is an image of how Mr. Lushbaugh believes the UPS Pack and Ship guarantee should be followed and how his "certified packing...

I am not one to write many reviews but I was compelled after seeing the negative ones this location was receiving. Really not quite sure how this store could have such a low star rating, I have gone here probably 30-50 times over the past 2-3 years and each time I cannot say I have had a bad experience in anyway what-so-ever. The people here are all friendly, they are quick to help you, they are patient and I have even heard them pay random customers and myself compliments on things they were wearing or hairstyles etc. They help you do what you need to do and especially quickly. I am often in and out in less than 2-3 minutes, no joke. If you go into the store and are prepared and know what you are doing you will be out of there really quickly. If you do not know what you are doing then they will guide you in the right direction. If you look at the reviews below, sometimes people blame them for other company programs like amazon return shipping issues and pre-paid or no packaging required programs but that's not the UPS stores fault, that's the customer being misinformed and not paying attention to the rules and what they needed to do before they went to the store. Then they are the ones getting angry at the wrong people who are just trying to help them, then they go online and bash them with a bad review - its ridiculous. Go here and judge for yourself, because anyone who goes here and consistently uses them for shipping, amazon returns and all their other services and has a grip on how those services work before you walk in the store, well you will be handled just fine and be pleasantly surprised after reading all these negative reviews. This place is great don't let online idiots deter you from doing business with a solid local business, they do a fine job. Find out for yourself! Thank you Middletown Crossing UPS for doing such an awesome job keep up the amazing work...

Had two Amazon deliveries to return. One of them came in a plastic bag and the second in a large box. I printed off both shipping labels (same return address) and had the bar codes for both. In total they were three pair of shoes that all fit into one box. The return instructions for the plastic bag (unusable to return after you open the item thus the Amazon promise of "just take the item back to UPS) said that just take the slip and the item to the nearest UPS store and they would take care of it. All three pair of the shoes fit into the one large box and the bar codes attached to the shipping labels would have easily made it clear to an Amazon return rep that two orders where being returned in the same box (I even had a note to that effect to place in the box.) I get to the store and start explaining the situation and I don't ever recall receiving such bothered, irritated and poor assistance in customer service in my entire life. The rep would barely let me get a word out to explain anything and just kept telling me "we don't do this." The UPS store in the window says that the store is owned by a member of the community. THIS is the reason some small stores go under and others thrive. I've shipped thousands of items for EBAY over 20 years using the USPS. I cannot ever recall a more lazy and rude customer service experience then this encounter at this UPS store. That is saying A LOT. Go to another store...