UPS South Africa: Ignoring Customer, Failing to Release Non-Regulated Items

I am deeply disappointed by the complete lack of support or accountability from UPS South Africa. I paid for international shipping on a parcel that arrived in South Africa almost a month ago. Since then, it has been sitting in the Kempton Park warehouse with no progress — and no response to my formal follow-up emails.

The parcel contains two tripod mounting plates and two bottles of supplement. SAHPRA has since detained the supplements, but has formally confirmed in writing that the tripod mounts are non-regulated items and their release is not restricted under any health law. Despite this, UPS has done absolutely nothing to facilitate the release of the non-restricted items — and has ignored my follow-up emails.

The fact that UPS has gone completely silent, despite being presented with legal clarification, borders on gross negligence and raises serious questions about their service ethic and internal accountability.

I have now had to escalate the matter to Port Health directly, and will be lodging formal complaints with the Health Ombud, Public Protector, and consumer protection authorities.

UPS’s failure to act has cost me time, disrupted my business, and violated the most basic standards of customer service. I expected better from an international logistics brand.