I've had some bad UPS experiences with employees who didn't understand their own companies policy. I tried to ship magazines back to midway for a refund from a UPS storefront, but the clerk insisted I go to a hub and ship them overnight. That would have been appropriate for a whole gun, or a serial numbered gun part, but not a pistol magazine. I didn't argue I just went to the post office.
A friend of mine in Virginia sent a revolver back to Colt for retiming He took it to his nearest UPS hub, where the clerk told him he needed to provide FFL documentation for his "GUN!", either his own FFL or the recipient's. He explained that FFL paperwork wasn't required when sending a fireame back to the manufacturer, that he had done so several times and never been asked for FFL documentation. She said "Well sir, I've been here 14 years and I know for a fact that we've never shipped a GUN to anyone but a licensed dealer, and we need the paperwork to prove it." He told her again that he had shipped several firearms back to the manufacturer for warranty service, and hadn't been asked for an FFL. Her second response was "Well since 9/11 we've had to really tighten our safety standards-"
He told her he hadn't owned any guns prior to 9/11. So she called her supervisor on the phone:
"There's a man here with a GUN, he's got no paperwork or anything but he wants us to ship this GUN. Yes he's standing right here with his GUN. But he doesn't have any paperwork...But it's a GUN!"
After several minutes she put the phone down and said "OK, he'll allow it this time."
The weirdest part of the encounter, according to my friend, was the disdainful emphasis she kept putting on the word gun, every time she said it.
I believe both of these episodes were the result of emplyees 1) being scared of firearms and 2) not understanding gun laws (who could blame them) or their company's policy, thus choosing to cover their tucuses.
Went to Fed Ex and had no problem.
