How a missing box of freebies nearly stalled a suburban small business. NBC 5 Responds’ Chris Coffey has the story.
Packages and mail get lost all the time. But when a suburban small business owner’s box of marketing supplies went missing,he said it had a big impact on his company.
What was in the box? A collection of company pens,business card holders and other giveaway items used to attract new customers at trade shows.
“Gives you something to talk about and then get them interested to walk up to the booth,” said Sean Rager of Asset Control Solutions.
With just a handful of employees operating out of a small office in Schaumburg, Rager puts value on every dollar spent running hisbusiness. His fixed asset appraisal company is hired by governments to help them plan for future capital improvement projects.
“We’re like a family and we want to stay happy here and efficient,” Rager said.
But at a trade show in June, Rager said his unmarked box full of freebies, company flags and personal items meant to be shipped-out from his hotel at a later time was mistakenly collected by a UPS worker.
After receiving the tracking number from the shipping receipt,Rager learned the box was sent to an Amazon facility in Las Vegas.
But locating the package’s exact whereabouts would lead to weeks of frustration after he contacted both companies.
“They explained that my box was in a truck filled with116,000 packages and they had no idea where it was or what was happening,”Rager said.
Rager was left to make a decision about replacing hissupplies because he had upcoming trade shows to attend. So he filed aclaim with UPS and valued everything in the box at $3,800. Still, Ragersaid he had to explain his situation several times to both companies and as theweeks passed by he felt like they were forgetting about him.
After NBC 5 Responds emailed UPS and Amazon regarding Rager’s concerns, both companies said they would assist him in finding the package.
According to a UPS spokesperson, Rager’s box appeared to have been included among packages that were part of a scheduled pick-up at the hotel and may have included an old shipping label that caused the package to be sent to Amazon.
“As part of the claim process, UPS did contact the delivery location and requested they search for the package,” the UPS spokesperson said.
The package has yet to be located as of August 24. However, Amazon issued Rager a $3,820 credit.
Amazon told NBC 5 Responds it does not comment on the details of a customer’s account. But Rager said the credit will come in handy and he is happy with Amazon’s recent outreach.
“They really stepped up to the plate and I felt like I was close to them as a person, not just some random number out there,” Ragersaid.
Rager has since re-stocked his supply of marketing items for future trade shows.
“They’re always looking at our name on the giveaways!”Rager said. “It’s a nice way to get new business.”
