UPS - UnProfessional Shipping

So you should all know by now that I've been waiting on a number of packages to arrive from Edmonton, these include most of my clothes, a couple of bikes, most of my CDs and all the other things that I wanted to keep when I left Edmonton. Well I left Edmonton on April 26th, it is now May 26th and I still do not have my packages. Though in the last couple of days I have come close to receiving them, but go figure, I don't have them yet. Below is the short form of the stupidities that have kept me from getting my stuff:

• US customs prevents the packages from entering the country. Reason-insufficient documentation, apparently they needed copies of every form that was stamped, even pages of my passport with the stamp but no other information
• Now all that could have been resolved right away, had UPS been competent enough to call me, as I could have faxed in all the paper work, but clearly they didn't
• UPS returns all my packages to Edmonton (8), though not all to the same place, one of the bikes manages to end up at Redbike, lucky for me they know whose bike it is and it finally gets to the shipping brokers.
• The shipping brokers need to repackage a number of the boxes, as the journey to Montana and back did not do them well
• Finally the boxes cross the border and eventually reach Minneapolis, they are delivered while I'm not home so a note is left saying that the packages are at the rental office (which is open 10 am - 6 pm, I got the note after 6 pm)
• I stayed home the following morning only to find that the packages were too big and the rental office did not take them (you think someone could have changed the note to say that they would deliver it again?)
• Calling UPS and using the tracking number on the slip I learned that there is no information on my packages (well that was just so encouraging I had to listen to it twice), when I finally speak to a human I'm told that they will be delivered today by 7 pm, (it's about 10:15 am, so there's a narrow window)
• One person at the rental office tells me that UPS comes by between 2 and 3 pm, so I plan to return from work before then to get my stuff
• Turns out UPS comes by at around 11:30 am, nobody leaves me a phone message to let me know this, I only find out when I get home at 1:45 pm to wait for the packages
• New note on the door says that the packages will be delivered Friday, between 10:30 and 2:00 pm (at least this is more narrow than "before 7 pm") but I'm still not going to hold my breath on that one

A couple more interesting things that I have noted with calling UPS is that it seems that the phone operators are instructed to end each call with "thanks for using UPS, use ups.com" or something to that effect, it's always mumbled. Then I realized why it was mumbled, these unfortunate people have to advertise the system that is designed to replace them, I wonder how that has to feel? The other fun part is when you call you first have to speak to a computer, literally, and read it your tracking number. Unfortunately the damn thing cannot tell the difference between the sound of an M and an N, so invariably I always had to repeat myself twice before being able to talk to a person.