Posted by Joe Baker on May 18, 2001 at 09:09:38:
In Reply to: UPS vs. FedEx Ground vs. USPS posted by anon on May 18, 2001 at 08:06:09:
I told FedEx I would repeat this story whenever I got the chance, so I will now. It's long, but an amazing story told by a true amateur. Lee Stofer can vouch for everything I'm about to say.
I (in Wylie Texas, near Dallas) sent a tuba to Lee (near Atlanta, GA) via FedEx. They said it'd be there in a certain number of days. Well those days came and went, and Lee still had not gotten it, so I called FedEx. They said the shipment was in Atlanta, and had been for several days, but would be delivered the next day. They didn't know why it hadn't already been delivered. So, I started writing an E-Mail to Lee to give him an update. So help me, WHILE I WAS TYPING, my wife called me to tell me that she had gotten home from work to find the tuba AT OUR HOUSE. It looked like a bomb had gone off inside the box. The box was no longer rectangular even, it had been soaking wet so the cardboard had de-laminated, tape was off, and inside I found the case had been damaged. The horn itself was far from dent-free when I shipped it, so I can't be certain, but I'm pretty sure there were a couple of new dents on the bell and one on the lead-pipe. I took the shipment back to FedEx the next day, and told them they needed to find a new box, re-pack it, ship it the fastest service they had, and be prepared to pay for damages. The barely conscious counter-person looked up at me and informed me that they don't do that. I'd have to find another box, repack it, and bring it back.
Well, I took the thing home, and my wife (in the 'good-spouse/bad-spouse' game, I'm the 'good-spouse') called up FedEx and climbed the ladder. She got someone to promise to come to our house, pick up the box, repack it and get it to Lee as quickly as possible. The next day, they did in fact pick it up, and I again waited for it to show up in Atlanta.
When the appointed day had passed, I asked Lee if he'd gotten it. No. I called FedEx. They looked it up on the computer and, as far as they could tell from the computer, the last thing that had happened was that it had been picked up, but they didn't know where it was. They said they'd look into it.
I don't recall if it was the same day or the next day, but a little electronics supply company in Dallas called me. They had a box, and they didn't really know how it got onto their receiving dock, but it had my phone number on it and had some kind of a horn inside. Yep, FedEx had dumped it at this other company!
Well, FedEx never did call me back, and I gave up messing with them. I got another box, packed it up, and took it to UPS. Lee had the horn four days later, in the same condition it left me.
FedEx: when it absolutely, positively, has to get LOST, BROKEN, or DUMPED.
Joe "Bring on the FedEx legal team, I got proof" Baker