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UPS Store package mix-ups more common than you'd think; here's what to look out for

Posted at 5:28 AM, Apr 19, 2021
and last updated 2021-04-19 06:28:00-04

(WXYZ) — A very disappointed woman wants to know what happened to a special birthday gift. It seems the package was mixed up in transit and no one knows what happened to it.

Unable to have a 50th birthday party during the pandemic, Tiffany Davidson was looking forward to a custom-baked cake sent from her mom in Mississippi.

The Ring doorbell shows the UPS man arriving.

"I'm like oh my cake is here! So I run to the door and see this tiny box. And I say that's not it," she said.

But the tiny box had a label from her mom. Confused, she opened it.

"It's a modem. It’s one of those returned items when people send something back to the company," she said.

So, she called her mom and learned she had sent the cake, but the labels were apparently switched.

Turns out, package mix-ups happen more than you think, according to online complaints.

The first thing you need to do is figure out if it happened in transit or at the UPS Store, because the stores are independently owned.

Davidson's calls to UPS got her nowhere.

"They said no we just verify what you receive, we don’t verify if it is what you are supposed to receive," she said.

We contacted the UPS Store's corporate officers, where a spokeswoman promised to get to the bottom of the mix-up.

We do have these tips.

  • When shipping a package, stay until the clerk affixes the label
  • Be sure to write on the form exactly what you are shipping