[Mastrap]

So, for Christmas we planned on giving both my parents and my mother in law a photo book, ordered via iPhoto. I put it together in good time but ordered express delivery just to make sure it would be here before the holidays.

Nothing happened. On the 24th in the morning thought I'd check the tracking number (yes I should have done this earlier but I forgot - I had marked this as 'done' in the internal to do list) and find out that there had been two delivery attempts already. What? There were no notes on my door, there was no way I could have known about this had I not checked.

I call FedEx. Yes, two delivery attempts had been made. Yes, the driver is supposed to leave a note. No, they didn't know why he/she didn't. They were sorry. No, they were not able to get the package to me before Christmas now.

What?

No, they were sorry. The earliest would be Wednesday, yesterday. Ok, I said. Not the end of the world. The parents would have to wait until after Christmas. I was then promised two things:

1. The package would be here on wednesday.
2. I would receive a phone call before the driver was at my house so that I could make sure I was around.

No phone call, no delivery.

I call FedEx. They were sorry. The package had not been loaded. No they didn't know why, it was waiting at the depot. They could get it for me today. They promised. Yes, I would get a call before the driver would be arriving here. Yes, that's a promise, they would make sure.

Today I am out shopping for some groceries. I get a call, it's FedEx. Why I hadn't been at home the driver had tried to deliver but nobody was there. This time I exploded - so far I had been nice and polite about this debacle.

The customer service agent got the driver to return to my house within the hour. I have just received my delivery. Now I need to ship it to the recipient. Should I use FedEx for this?

[::maroma::]

Ahh yes, another satisfied FedEx customer! I feel your pain. Last year my parents sent me a box of gifts. I never received it, even though FedEx swears up and down they delivered it. The package merely vanished (ie - it was stolen).

But no, don't use FedEx ever again. But unfortunately, your other options aren't much better. UPS? They break things so often its silly. DHL? Hahahah! Those guys are amateurs. USPS? Not great, but I'd probably be more comfortable using them.

[Dakar²]

Use UPS next time. You'll LOVE them.

[imitchellg5]

Where are your parents at? If they are in Colorado, it's because of the blizzards we've been having. Use UPS. Never use USPS. I've had bad experiences with USPS a lot lately. I ordered my mom a new stove top grill the day after Thanksgiving shipped via USPS. It got sent to the USPS location, and they have it somewhere, but it's been over a month and it's still not here. UPS is the best choice.

[Jim Paradise]

I haven't received my iPhoto book either; I'll be giving them a ring soon, too.

*edit* Just checked the tracking. Apparently it shipped on the 21st, but said it had an incorrect address which is bullshit because the address in the email they sent is correct. They can't even mapquest my house or some **** to get it right? Idiots!

[cjrivera]

Use UPS if it isn't something valuable, breakable, or fragile.

[mitchell_pgh]

I guess I've come to terms with the reality that FedEx/UPS/USPS aren't perfect. And once something goes wrong within such a complex system such as FedEX, they usually go VERY wrong.

I FedEx on a regular basis and 98% of the time, they are perfect. But that 2% of the time, it's a nightmare. Of that 2%, 80% are to residential addresses.

[andi*pandi]

After a certain point, if it wasn't expensive electronics I would have had them just leave it... They should have been more on the ball!

[the_glassman]

Originally Posted by Mastrap 

So, for Christmas we planned on giving both my parents and my mother in law a photo book, ordered via iPhoto. I put it together in good time but ordered express delivery just to make sure it would be here before the holidays.

I don't want to sound like I'm going off on you, because I'm certainly not. I do however want to bring up a few possible points as well as defend my drivers who I absolutely adore and am on a first name basis with.

You say you got it done in good time, but decided to ship it Express (overnight) during the busiest shipping week of the season? I'm sorry, but good time would have been two or three weeks before hand not a few days before the big holiday. I share your pain as we've all had gifts that have come in after that special occasion.
But I find in most cases I've had nobody to blame, but myself for not getting something done in time. This is a crazy time of year for everyone. Happy Holidays!

Originally Posted by Mastrap 

Nothing happened. On the 24th in the morning thought I'd check the tracking number (yes I should have done this earlier but I forgot - I had marked this as 'done' in the internal to do list) and find out that there had been two delivery attempts already. What? There were no notes on my door, there was no way I could have known about this had I not checked.

Of course nothing happened, you weren't home when they tried to make a delivery. The driver should have left a note, but it may have been one of the seasonal workers who tried to deliver it and maybe they didn't leave a note. The driver might have also tried to deliver it or forgot.
There could have been other reasons. It might have been a contractor who tried to make the delivery. Or it could have been for some of the following reasons:

Do you live in a secured building? (Apartment, etc...) In this case maybe someone else took the note. Or it could have blown away.

Originally Posted by Mastrap 

I call FedEx. Yes, two delivery attempts had been made. Yes, the driver is supposed to leave a note. No, they didn't know why he/she didn't. They were sorry. No, they were not able to get the package to me before Christmas now.

If they had already made attempts to make a delivery, there isn't a whole lot more they can do.
If a regular driver didn't leave a note behind then I guess I could see where you would be a little more upset, but you could have checked the tracking number for the past couple days as you have already previously stated. Also most places will let you come and pick up the package from the station. Also they have an option where you can pick it up from a Kinkos. You could have also had it delivered to a work address, a neighbors or possible left a note saying you wanted it left behind.

Originally Posted by Mastrap 

What?

I want to eat your children.

Originally Posted by Mastrap 

No, they were sorry. The earliest would be Wednesday, yesterday. Ok, I said. Not the end of the world. The parents would have to wait until after Christmas. I was then promised two things:

1. The package would be here on wednesday.
2. I would receive a phone call before the driver was at my house so that I could make sure I was around.

No phone call, no delivery.

I call FedEx. They were sorry. The package had not been loaded. No they didn't know why, it was waiting at the depot. They could get it for me today. They promised. Yes, I would get a call before the driver would be arriving here. Yes, that's a promise, they would make sure.

Today I am out shopping for some groceries. I get a call, it's FedEx. Why I hadn't been at home the driver had tried to deliver but nobody was there. This time I exploded - so far I had been nice and polite about this debacle.

The customer service agent got the driver to return to my house within the hour. I have just received my delivery. Now I need to ship it to the recipient. Should I use FedEx for this?

That's strange that they didn't try to send it out again. I've never had any of the delivery drivers promise to call me before delivery. I have had them call me to have me meet them some where or ask for directions to my house. Basically who ever you were talking to wasn't going to be delivering your package, so they can only promise so much. Your delivery driver might not even have a cell phone. It seems that they did try to make it right and get it to you as soon as they could.
I wouldn't have any problem sending it back out via FedEx. I've used all the companies and have the best luck with FedEx and the absolute worst luck with DHL. Unfortunately, sooner or later you'll have a problem with one of them as none of them are perfect.

[Mastrap]

Originally Posted by the_glassman 

Perfectly sensible stuff

However:

1. The order was placed in good time for the holidays.
2. No door knocker (note) was left when they tried to deliver. Twice. That's unacceptable.
3. I live in a house. There is pretty much no chance that a note would have blown away.
4. I I wouldn't have gone 'wtf?' to myself there would have been no way for me to know that a delivery attempt had been made. If I had it shipped to my parents (who's internet knowledge is sketchy at best) there would have been nobody to check the tracking.
It's fair to say that they tried to deliver, but if there was nobody home then they need to let me know so I can make arrangements.
5. It got from bad to worse. Promises to deliver on the wednesday were not kept, with poor excuses. Today, the same story.

I appreciate that things go wrong, but in this case I have no idea how they could possibly manage to screw this up quite so royally. There was no offer of compensation at any time, I had to call both FedEx and then Apple to get the charge removed.

[Blasphemy]

I have had several serious problems with UPS, with one resulting in the theft of several items of significant historical and monetary value.

FedEx has given me a couple minor delay-related problems over the years.

USPS has always come through.

If it's important or valuable, I'll ship it USPS priority, delivery confirmation, and insured. And that's still cheap.

[imitchellg5]

The nice thing is that I live across the street from a FedEx warehouse so if they have the package at the warehouse I can just run across the street, and if I need to talk to somebody I can do it in person. Stuff gets done real fast if you are there in person.

[ghporter]

Look at it this way. Any time of the year except December, FedEx has (using notional numbers here) 50 million packages in its pipeline every day. Then December comes, and it's 50 million package transactions every HOUR. To be charitable, they do a decent job most of the time, but they DO have some odd issues at times, like "we forgot to get it loaded on the truck" (that "we" is a combination of the driver and a small bit of help at the depot-and it is the driver's responsibility), "the truck from Kansas City had some sort of mechanical problem, so your package never got to St. Louis to get on our plane, so it's been delayed-no we don't know how long", and the ever popular "we cannot locate your package". When you factor in the increase in their traffic because of the holidays, I think it's a wonder they stay in business.

FedEx is PEOPLE who are given a huge task every day. And they even ask for a BIGGER task all the time. So they somehow manage to get most of their stuff delivered most of the time at least on time. Frequently they're early, too. And a LOT is up to the drivers' professionalism and work ethic, so that's yet another variable to keep in mind.

"Overreach" is I think the best way to describe FedEx during the holidays. Sorry you got caught up in it.

[gradient]

Originally Posted by ::maroma:: 

Ahh yes, another satisfied FedEx customer! I feel your pain. Last year my parents sent me a box of gifts. I never received it, even though FedEx swears up and down they delivered it. The package merely vanished (ie - it was stolen).

But no, don't use FedEx ever again. But unfortunately, your other options aren't much better. UPS? They break things so often its silly. DHL? Hahahah! Those guys are amateurs. USPS? Not great, but I'd probably be more comfortable using them.

Believe it or not, I use Greyhound here in Vancouver and they totally rock. They never come in the shiniest, newest truck or have the slickest uniforms but they get the job done every single time, on time, without breaking my stuff or losing it. Oh and they're cheap.

And I say this as the shipper/receiver for a medium sized warehouse, so I ship with them at least every other day. They are significantly better in one way or another then any other courier company (unless you need to move freight) I've used.

cheers.

[olePigeon]

I stick with USPS because they have a great insurance policy. If they ever lose a package, it's not a huge hassle to get your money back. If it's important, certified mail with signature.

[Philip J. Fry]

Don't forget, this is the time of year also where they hire HS and college students for the holiday to help with the work load. Not always the brightest people getting hired but they do what they need to. I say this because I've heard stories about how students don't really care and some even 'forget' to load packages because they're lazy.

[Dakar²]

Originally Posted by Philip J. Fry 

Don't forget, this is the time of year also where they hire HS and college students for the holiday to help with the work load. Not always the brightest people getting hired but they do what they need to. I say this because I've heard stories about how students don't really care and some even 'forget' to load packages because they're lazy.

Next time use Planet Express.

Am I right? Eh? Eh?

[itai195]

DHL is the absolute worst. I've had bad luck with FedEx too. Frankly, the best really seems to be USPS Priority Mail in my experience, believe it or not. They always have come through on time, even during the holidays.

[Philip J. Fry]

Originally Posted by Dakar² 

Next time use Planet Express.

Am I right? Eh? Eh?

Yea, I mean all they have is a drunken robot and idiot delivery boy

[vmarks]

Originally Posted by Dakar² 

Next time use Planet Express.

Am I right? Eh? Eh?

Awesome Express!

The rude, crude delivery dudes!

[Zeeb]

I feel your pain, the couriers pretty much suck for home delivery and seem to focus their customer service efforts on business deliveries. I've had terrible experiences with UPS but only occasional problems with FEDEX. Nevertheless, I like to use the U.S. mail to receive packages when I can. I live in an apt building and am often not there when packages arrive. UPS and FEDEX won't try to reschedule a delivery at a specific time in my area for some reason--they keep trying to delivery the package M-F 10am-7pm which is when I'm at work-- and if I'm not there they send it to their warehouse miles away, then send it back.

At least the U.S. mail will leave a package notice and then you can pick it up at the local post office. Knock on wood, I've never had a problem with them.

[Sky Captain]

I can't tell you how many FedUps packages we courier by air for them.
I had 200 pounds that was in the cargo hold with passanger baggage.
Nothing like a last second emergency package to make redo my paperwork.

[Dakar²]

Originally Posted by Philip J. Fry 

idiot delivery boy

That's you Fry.

Originally Posted by vmarks 

Awesome Express!

The rude, crude delivery dudes!

Yeah, but they don't have one of these:

[DeathToWindows]

Now that's really odd.

I've had great experiences with DHL (usually small electronic components or whatever) and FedEx (everything from clothing to computers) and shitty experiences with UPS (slower than a concussed slug and usually damaged, at least externally). I rarely use USPS, but the one time I did (to ship my D70 back to Nikon) it was fine.