Carriers New Initiative on "Guaranteed Service Refunds"

UPS and FedEx are two of the largest Small Parcel carriers in the world and the best run corporations in the United States.  However, both carriers have embarked on an initiative to renegotiate customer contracts eliminating the Guaranteed Service Refunds (GSR's).  It is important as a company to carefully evaluate this negotiation tactic as in our experience it has not been a wise decision for shippers.

After all, customers rely on delivery time commitments to insure customer satisfaction on the order of their product.  Potential, unsatisfied or lost customers, increased customer service calls, increased returned merchandise, lost shipping charge revenue, etc. can all be elevated through packages not arriving on time or when expected.  Companies spend valuable resources and time to ensure client satisfaction from the time the order is placed until it has arrived.  Transit of the clients package is the last chance to make a good impression on your customer.  If the package is late, it could destroy the overall customer experience.

You may get offered an additional incentive in exchange for not holding the carrier to a service standard or they may add a clause in their agreement stating as long as they are 98% on time, you cannot file for a late delivery refund.  Niether of these choices should be worth waiving your commitment guarantee.

Let's face it, in the competitive universe between UPS and FedEx having the ability to claim late packages is a great incentive for their clients as well as "on time performance".  In addition, numerous outsourced auditing companies rely primarily on guaranteed service failures as this can be the largest amount of adjustments claimed for them.  Perhaps its a step to deter shipping companies from utilizing an outsourced auditing agent and add an additional revenue stream for the carrier.  Some auditing companies would not even consider working with a client that has a waiver.  That is not the case for Ship Watchers as we understand there are many additional opportunities to recover incorrect charges or errors such as address corrections, manifested but not billed, rate errors, residential vs commercial charges, and dim weight errors to name a few.  We audit over 93 plus audit points to insure you are being billed correctly.  Guaranteed Service Failures are just one of these audit points.

In our numerous years of experience and having staff that worked with these carriers we realize that you will be able to receive the additional incentives the carriers offer while continuing to hold the carriers to a service standard.  It is best to evaluate this carefully before making any decisions.  After all, it is both the shipper and the customer who potentially suffer from service failures.

Ship Watchers recommends that you never give up your right to file for late deliveries and offers free consultation for contract negotiations to all of our auditing clients.

For further information or more details on our services, please feel free to contact us at any time.  24/7 Support including Chat is available at http://support.myshipwatcher.com.  Alternatively we can be reached at 800.550.7217 or through email at: oncall@shipwatchers.com