Another failed Fed Ex wine delivery

[Jenise]

You wouldn't think this lightning could strike twice, but I'm back in FedEx hell for the second weekend in a row. Waited at home all day Saturday for a shipment that they'd attempted to deliver the day before. I knew it was coming but I couldn't be here for it and in this cool weather don't mind missing it. As expected, the doortag said they'd deliver the next day.

Around 3:00, I started getting suspicious. Checked the website and saw the note from the day before was unchanged--it hadn't been rescanned again on Saturday as 'out for delivery'. Called Fedex. No problem they said, sometimes the driver doesn't take it off the truck, so it doesn't get rescanned. Be patient, it will come. Then I called our neighborhood guard gate, and was told FedEx had been here at 11 a.m. with only one stop. GRRRRR.

A bit later the phone rang and it was a FedEx agent--my earlier inquiry had been escalated to her. She told me that my box most wasn't on that truck, that it did not get reloaded after being returned to the station (60 miles away). Why didn't this show on the tracking system then? She didn't know, but it would be rescanned that night and I'd see the new delivery information yesterday.

So yesterday I checked online again. No new information since Friday. So I called FedEx yet again and this time was told that the box had been on the truck but the driver didn't deliver because he couldn't find my house!!!

Which is utter garbage. Three agents, three excuses. Like they have a list of excuses and randomly provide one, like roulette.
The only certain truth is that nobody at FedEx knows anything or gives a damn about customer service. Of course, it hasn't shown up today yet.

In the past I've opted for FedEx when given a choice over UPS, but I'm over that.

[David M. Bueker]

FedEx sucks. They have so many contract drivers in plain equipment (i.e. not FedEx trucks) who don’t give a rat’s ass about deliveries that it has become a disaster.

FedEx has an option where you can have them hold a shipment at your local FedEx office. That way you can pick up the wine at your convenience, not FedEx's. I'm in Chateau Montelena's wine club and I have them do all my shipments that way.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Paul, I do realize that. But my "local" is 20 miles away. There's one option at Walgreen's five miles closer, but the storage area is the former photo department with boxes piled all over out in the open. The first and only time I used it, they couldn't find my box. I had to get in there and find it myself. Couldn't be less secure, I bet stuff walks out of there all the time. So I just arrange for delivery on a date when I can arrange to be home, which I am often anyway. And whether it was being delivered there or here, the bottom line remains that the stuff would have been lost/missing/unaccounted for. Wouldn't have saved me having to sweat over it.

[David M. Bueker]

Time for a lawn chair and a book at the front gate of your development!

This isn't wine-related, but FedEx just managed to lose a small table I bought from a dealer in LA. It was picked up, scanned at the origin facility, and its barcode never appeared again. Didn't turn up in their warehouse full of damaged and de-labeled boxes. Luckily, it was insured, but it was also an antique, so it's not like I can just order another one. How the hell do you lose a table? Do these guys drive with the backs of the trucks open now, to save time? Sigh. I feel your pain, in other words. And I hope whoever ends up with that table enjoys it, because god knows it must be somewhere.

[David M. Bueker]

Hey, don’t feel bad. FedEx and UPS lose military products. We’ve had the carriers lose aircraft engine controls, fighter plane ejection seats and avionics equipment (to name a few). Heck knows which military has our parts now!

...Cuba!!

[Jenise]

Patchen, that's really sad!

I think a lot depends both on your local depot and your driver. I've generally had good luck with both FedEx and UPS.

Whenever someone says "do you ever think about retirement" my mind immediately goes to "but I'd have to be home for wine shipments." Having a commercial address where always someone to sign helps a lot.

[Jenise]

Time for a lawn chair and a book at the front gate of your development!

Did that the weekend before.

[Jenise]

I think a lot depends both on your local depot and your driver. I've generally had good luck with both FedEx and UPS.

Whenever someone says "do you ever think about retirement" my mind immediately goes to "but I'd have to be home for wine shipments." Having a commercial address where always someone to sign helps a lot.

Apparently the depot sucks, but we like our regular driver. What we learned from him when he delivered on Monday (and he'd been the one unable to deliver on Friday), is that his truck went in for a scheduled brake job on Saturday. So everything left over from Friday got stashed in the warehouse until Monday and no delivery attempt had been made on Saturday at all. So much for all the real-time status enabled by scanning.

Your second paragraph made me laugh. That's a luxury it would be hard to give up. It's actually not that hard to arrange life around it, especially in the cool months when you don't mind missing them driving it around for an extra day or even two if your plans change making tomorrow the better option. The pain is when they don't deliver as scheduled and they have no idea where your shipment is.

UPS has always sucked up here - and the stuff that does get through has probably been drop kicked as opposed to drop shipped. Plus their exorbitant charges for cross border stuff.

Haven't had much trouble with Fedex, but perhaps I have been lucky. Purolator are decent, but I have had excellent luck with USPS.

Have an espresso machine on the way via Fedex, so we shall see (old one lasted 20 years, so I'm happy with that).

Actually I do recall one issue with Fedex. They delivered a stereo component worth a couple of thousand bucks to my next door neighbour instead of me. After locating and reclaiming it, and checking the address, I called Fedex and suggested strongly that they cease hiring drivers with number dyslexia .....

[Jenise]

No Purolater down here. I see the trucks up there but wasn't quite sure what they were--the name suggests percolater, as in coffee, and incubator, as in baby. Never knew what to make of that.

Purolator is a US-based manufacturer of oil and air filters (the name is a contraction of pure-oil-later). They took over Trans-Canada Couriers Ltd. and changed the name to Purolator Couriers. Purolator later sold the courier business to Canada Post (who today have a 91% share), but they retained the Purolator name.

-Paul W.

[David M. Bueker]

So Jenise, you will love this one. I had a FedEx delivery (wine of course) redirected to a local Walgreens that I drive by on my way home. Today, instead of dropping the package at Walgreens, the driver dropped it at a Quest Diagnostics Services site 1/4 mile down the road from the Walgreens. I called FedEx when that showed up in the tracker. The called Quest, and the package was delivered there. Unfortunately it's now gone!

No doubt somebody opened the box, and went "yipee, early Christmas!"

[Jenise]

Oh that IS hilarious! And of course not the same cause--but aye yi yi on the Walgreens option as I did that once. The storage area was just a pile of boxes haphazardly stacked in the open around the former photo area. The turd in charge couldn't find my box, and I had to help locate it--not hard as wine box size is somewhat standardized. But point is, it was dismaying to observe how easy it would be for anyone to steal from said pile. I now opt for a location another ten freeway miles distant. Would rather drive further than leave mad and empty-handed as I'm sure would eventually be the case!