UPS packages never made it to Puerto Rico, family says

Man wants internal investigation done at UPS

ORLANDO, Fla. – Families who trusted UPS to deliver packages to Puerto Rico in a reasonable amount of time after Hurricane Maria said their packages have instead been lost or damaged, and that no one seems to know why. 

Orlando resident Edwin Quinones said two full boxes of supplies he sent to his family in Puerto Rico never arrived, and that he just recently got one back from a Florida distribution center.

“They had the box almost a week. They never notified me they had the box until I placed a call, and then they said, ‘Oh, we found the box and it’s been here since the 9th,” Quinones said.

Quinones said that when he sent the box, it was brand-new and everything inside was organized. He said that when he got it back, things were missing.

“The box has been through hell,” Quinones said. “The toothpastes, the medicines, those bags were totally gone. (It) looks like somebody took whatever they wanted and left the rest. Every single bag was torn open. Everything is squashed. Everything is dented.”

Quinones said the other box he sent is still missing, and he thinks UPS should do an internal investigation to find out what is happening to missing and damaged shipments.

“I don't know if they have cameras, but something is going on that the people in Puerto Rico that are desperately in need are not getting the packages that their families are sending from the United States to Puerto Rico,” he said.

What made Quinones even more mad was that when he asked for a refund, he said he was denied and was told that all shipments to Puerto Rico had a freeze on refunds.

“I mean I even talked with a manager over there, and when I tried to explain the situation, he just hung up the phone,” Quinones said.

UPS officials said the company did temporarily suspend claims and refunds after Hurricane Maria, but that service in Puerto Rico is back to normal and they have no reports of any thefts, even though News 6 alerted them of two incidents in which people have said it happened to them.

Both Quinones’ missing package and one sent by Ramon Cruz that contained a generator are still unaccounted for. 

UPS tracking records show that they were delivered to the UPS office in Carolina, Puerto Rico, but UPS has no explanation for what happened to them after that.
 
“I actually got angry because I felt they could not provide the service which I pay for and I should have been entitled to my refund,” Quinones said.

Hoping to get results for Quinones, News 6 called UPS about the packages. UPS officials later returned his calls, apologizing for the incident and saying his refund was on its way.
 
“So they said, hopefully, I should be getting a check in the mail because Channel 6 got involved,” Quinones said. 

News 6 checked back in with Quinones one week later and learned that he had received his check, but still had no answers as to what happened with his other box, so we will continue investigating.


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