Poor Servise UPS

It is extremely frustrating that a package takes 17 days and is still not delivered, it took me a week to find out how much the duties were after spending 20mins telephone call to the UK, then once paid the package is still not delivered 8 days later after payment it still shows that the recipient will not pay COD. Why then did I have to pay the duties. My opinion is that there is very little being done from UPS side to resolve the matter.