Courier loses package containing family’s $863,000 inheritance
No one likes to have a package lost in the mail, but it was a particularly bitter pill for one Canadian family to swallow after learning that the parcel containing their $863,000 inheritance was lost by US courier company UPS.
In February, Lorette and John Taylor from Ontario were finalising Lorette’s father’s will and sending out the inheritances to her siblings, including her brother Louis Paul Herbert, who lives around 440km away.
They visited their bank to get certified cheques but were told bank drafts would be more appropriate given the sums involved. Cautious about sending so much money across the country, the Taylors inquired if there were any anti-theft protections in place.
“I was told there were procedures to deal with that,” John told CBC News. “[We were told we would just] fill out some documentation and a new draft would be issued.”
So, the couple went ahead, hiring UPS to ship the bank draft from their lawyer’s office to a UPS store near where Louis lived. It made its way to a distribution centre near Toronto, but that was the last they saw of the money.
“I’m waiting at the UPS store, around 3 pm because that’s when they said the guys came in ... nothing shows up,” Louis recalled. “I came back in the evening. Nothing shows up ... and I’m wondering, ‘What’s happened to my inheritance?’
“I should have just driven [to the lawyer’s office]. It’s something I kick myself in the rear over every day.”
A spokesperson for UPS admitted that, “While UPS’ service is excellent in our industry, we are unfortunately not perfect. Occasionally, the loss of a package does occur.
“Our records indicate that our team followed UPS protocol and an exhaustive search for this package was completed by our Operations and Security teams. Unfortunately, we were unable to locate the package.”
As compensation for the loss, however, the courier offered the Taylors just $33 for the “inconvenience”.
Understandably, the Taylors were unhappy with this result and a three-way battle began between them, UPS and their bank, TD Canada Trust, trying to recover the money.
Finally, after 10 months, the bank has apologised and released the funds back to the family just hours after CBC News broke the story last week.
“We understand that we’ve reached a resolution with our customer," a TD Canada Trust spokesperson said. “It’s clear to us we didn’t get this right along the way and that there was more we could have done to come to a resolution faster.”