Sent device back to Microsoft for repair, service center received an empty box

mikb

MattMattMattUK said:

nyermen said:

There's a possibility that UPS will have package weights recorded.  I can't see even a full box of coal weighing as much as a surface.

  ... local shops which offers a UPS drop off service. The packages sit behind a counter in a store for hours or days ...

Behind? You're lucky! There is a local drop-off I use for another courier, where packages are within the customer-walkable shop area, on the floor, in a pile next to stuff for sale. I've never had a problem with loss/substitution in transit, but it makes me very aware there is nothing stopping someone scooping up an item from the Courier Lucky Dip pile.

visidigi

mikb said:

MattMattMattUK said:

nyermen said:

There's a possibility that UPS will have package weights recorded.  I can't see even a full box of coal weighing as much as a surface.

  ... local shops which offers a UPS drop off service. The packages sit behind a counter in a store for hours or days ...

Behind? You're lucky! There is a local drop-off I use for another courier, where packages are within the customer-walkable shop area, on the floor, in a pile next to stuff for sale. I've never had a problem with loss/substitution in transit, but it makes me very aware there is nothing stopping someone scooping up an item from the Courier Lucky Dip pile.

Which is why to be a courier access point for UPS, DPD, FedEx, DHL you have to have CCTV....
Hopefully UPS get in touch with the store for the proof...

macman

I don't see any relevance to how or when the switch was made. As soon as the OP passed the package over at the drop-off point, it was in the care of UPS or their appointed agent, and they are liable to Microsoft for the losses incurred. The time that took place will have been logged by the collection point. 
I'm astounded that, for a device worth £2.5K, Microsoft don't provide a home or office collection by the courier driver directly. And I certainly wouldn't be leaving such a high-value item at a drop-off point without a physical receipt: you get that with Collect+ even for a return worth a fiver.

Grumpy_chap

macman said:

I don't see any relevance to how or when the switch was made. 

I do. 
At the extremes, the swap could have been made by the OP before leaving the house or the swap could have been made by a Microsoft employee once the return was received.  The swap could also have been made at some point after the parcel was handed to the UPS agent and before the parcel arrived at Microsoft.
Liability won't be with UPS if it was either of the extremes.

JJ_Egan

As above with the multiple empty box post on the forum their are a number of points where the item may go astray starting with the poster .

I have been ordering socks from Amazon in the hope of getting an IPad .