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Tomster · Sep 25, 2003, 07:49 PM

I have a rather sinking feeling in my stomach. This morning, my Powerbook was on a truck out for delivery. Nothing ever came. I called and asked for an explanation. It seemed that the driver had to be back to the station to make sure all of the deliveries he picked up would go out on time and did not have the time to drop it off. That sucks but that is not the big deal.

All of the tracking info up on Airborne's site today vanished. All the info I had of it being loaded onto the truck today and out for delivery is now gone. Today did not happen and magically, all mistakes did not occur. I should have taken a screenshot. That is very bad business.

Right now my Powerbook is on its way to a station even further away from where it started today. Airborne has no idea where my package is nor any idea when it will arrive. It is by far the worst shipping company I have ever had the displeasure of dealing with.

Basically, I have no recourse since Apple was the one to pay for the shipping. Any suggestions or comments would be appreciated.

spalding12 · Sep 25, 2003, 08:09 PM

airborne owes you a computer
there is still A VERY GOOD CHANCE that your computer will show up tomorrow
BUT......
you have to do one thing tomorrow to give yourself the best chance of getting it

CALL THEM EVERY HOUR ON THE HOUR AND ASK THEM TO FIND IT
BE NICE BUT FIRM EACH TIME....
THEY'LL FIND IT
OR REPLACE IT IMMEDIATELY
CALL APPLE AS WELL
AND TELL THEM WHAT HAPPENED...
IT'LL SHOW UP

let us ALL KNOW what happens
we'll be thinking of you and your lost "baby" in transit

greg

iohead · Sep 25, 2003, 08:19 PM

Yes - mine was "lost". I wrote the following story about it too:

http://www.kernelthread.com/mac/saga.html

I hope yours gets to you soon.

-A

Bruck · Sep 25, 2003, 08:31 PM

what a story!

Glad your powerbook is fine.

Rain · Sep 25, 2003, 08:53 PM

Very nice write-up of your experience, Iohead

Me particularly enjoyed the bit between the lady and the apple genius, Heh.

aapljack · Sep 25, 2003, 09:10 PM

I'm happy that I'm not the only one with bad luck. My luck did turn around tho, here is my story.

My tracking number said my PB was out for delivery this morning. Of course, I was super excited and purposely didn't take a lunch break so I could use that time to play with my new PB. I ended up eating lunch while I worked because it wasn't showing up. Around 3pm, it still hadn't arrived. I was getting a bit worried that it wouldn't be delivered before I left for the day. So I checked the Airborne site and it said it had been delivered at noon and someone named WEST signed for it. There is no WEST in my office. I asked around to the receptionist, the shipping dept. and even the business next door. No one had seen any shipment from Airborne. Ok, so now I am a very worried. I call Airborne, they tell me it was mis-delivered to CompUSA!!! How this happened is far beyond me. CompUSA is no where near my office, not even on the same street. The rep tells me it will be picked up and redelivered to me. I tell her that I will just swing past CompUSA on my way home and get it. She says ok and will tell the driver not to get it to be rerouted.

So now, I call CompUSA. They tell me their shipping dept. left 10mins. ago and there is no way for me to get the PB until tomorrow. By this time I am super pissed and feeling utterly defeated. I got myself so wound up today waiting for it that this just crushed me. So, in a last attempt to get it, I go to CompUSA to try one more time. Nope, can't get it. No way.

So now I am pretty upset. I head home, call my wife and vent and plan to call Airborne and give it to them. So I call Airborne. Put in my tracking number and it says my package was delivered at 4:30pm to BURGESS. If you remember, it had been delivered at noon before. Apparantly, it got rerouted before I called and was now back at work!!!

So I call the office and a coworker (a fellow mac-fanatic) is still there. I tell her to wait, I'm coming to get the PB. So I drive back across town and finally get my 15" PB!!!

This thing rules. The keyboard is fantastic. Very nice to type on and the backlighting is so freaking cool! I seamlessly connected to my wireless Netgear router and started typing this.

I'm so happy to have it and now can relax and play with it all night. Oh, it is a BTO 80G 5400 HD and 1 stick of 512 ram.

<phew>

-b

machem · Sep 25, 2003, 11:20 PM

Originally posted by aapljack:
I'm happy that I'm not the only one with bad luck. My luck did turn around tho, here is my story.

WOW. Just saw this, B. What a rollercoaster!! I'm glad you got it though. Sounds like Airborne has been reading our bitching and at least your local guys are trying to make up for it.

I hope mine is coming tomorrow. It's on a truck headed this way....

Tomster · Sep 25, 2003, 11:32 PM

Just an update. My level of dislike for Airborne continues to rise. After telling me they had no idea where my package was (One person thought it was en route to another station but was not sure) everyone figured there was no point in waiting any longer and left. I later checked the website only to find that an attempt was made to deliver the package.

Not sure if that was a manufactured attempt, because I was actually on the phone with Airborne at the time they "attempted" to deliver the package. When they could not tell me when the package was to be delivered, I backed up the server onto my Powerbook and left. The timestamp on the backup is after the time of the attempted delivery.

In the grand scheme of things, my new Powerbook will arrive one day late. No big deal. What bothered me the most was Airborne could not tell me where or when my package would arrive and that none of the information on their website actually corresponded with reality.

AC Rempt · Sep 25, 2003, 11:41 PM

They simply suck. No arguments to be made about it.

My iPod, part of a purchase that includes a 12 inch PB, supposedly shipped today, but first the provided tracking number gave a listing of my address etc but no info on the iPod. Now it doesn't even recognize the tracking number.

I know that calling them is a waste of time.

Apple would make us all much happier people if it found a better shipping company.

Like the Pony Express maybe . . .

smitty825 · Sep 26, 2003, 12:11 AM

Originally posted by Tomster:

Basically, I have no recourse since Apple was the one to pay for the shipping. Any suggestions or comments would be appreciated.

I've read your updated comment, and I hope that Airborne's tracking system is screwed up and it is delivered tomorrow.

If it is lost, try and contact Airborne. Give them one last chance to find your product, and get it to you. If that still fails...

Contact Apple. You are not Airborne's customer. You are Apple's customer. Since you paid Apple money, they have a responsibility to get you your product. (Besides, when Airborne gets a message from Apple, who ships (probably) over a million packages through them, they have to listen!)

I had this problem about 4 years ago when I ordered my Sawtooth Mac. FedEx didn't deliver it. Apple tried to give me the run around that I needed to deal with FedEx myself. After threatening to stop payment, they contacted FedEx, and FedEx magically found and delivered my G4

Hanul · Sep 26, 2003, 04:22 AM

I'm waiting for an iBook. TNT should have shipped it last week. The tracking page showed the items as delivered, but all I got were some extras I ordered with the iBook. Although I signed for the package, TNT showed that it weighed less than an iBook, so Apple made no trouble to send another one. Hope, this one gets delivered...

Clarkey · Sep 26, 2003, 09:06 AM

Well, I can't say that my PowerBook is lost (yet?) but it is headed in the wrong direction -- FedEx is supposed to send international packages via the US to Montreal, so they can be cleared by Customs, not to Winnipeg!