Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

bimmerphile · Dec 18, 2003, 01:09 AM

bastards.

I ordered it on the 5th, the first one Apple built failed final product testing, so they built me another one, which finished production on saturday. It was packaged up to ship out on saturday, but FedEx did not pick it up until Monday (all standard stuff thus far).

Scheduled Delivery was for today by 8pm MST.

It's 10:06, and the online tracking shows it is somewhere on Portland. I am in Boise. The package was coming from Sacramento. In case you still haven't figured it out, that's ENTIRELY the wrong direction.

I called FedEx, and they said they'd put a trace out on it, because they have no idea where the package is. Peachy.

This is why I use UPS.

reader50 · Dec 18, 2003, 01:29 AM

Many carriers first ship parcels to a central hub for sorting. Then it ships from the hub towards you. This happens even if the parcel was shipped from the next town over.

I've seen this happen with many parcels I've ordered - though never a G5 costing a bundle. Wish I could order one to check this.

sideus · Dec 18, 2003, 01:30 AM

All the shipping companies (FedEx, UPS, Airborne, Menlo(Emery), etc.) are the same. All always lose shipments.

bimmerphile · Dec 18, 2003, 01:31 AM

reader50: I'm an avid eBay seller, so I'm familiar with how the shipping process works, but when FedEx themselves puts a "Missing shipment" flag on a package....

olePigeon · Dec 18, 2003, 01:59 AM

Sucks that FedEx did that. I aboslutely refuse to use UPS because 3 times that I had electroncs shipped through them, the box came destroyed and the items inside were broken and WET.

It's USPS or FedEx for me.

Tom N · Dec 18, 2003, 11:37 AM

I hope they get it sorted out.. Hey, maybe they will deliver two G5s to you, the original, and the one they get to replace the lost unit!

However, hows is Portland the wrong direction?

Seems coming by ground it would be Sacramento, I-5 to Portland Or. Then I-84 east to Boise ID. Seems that wold be a prefered route then crossing the Sierras and taking secondary roads through Nevada to get to Boise.

Anyway, if you get two shipped to you, and you don't know what to do with the second one... I'm available for consultation!

Tom N.

l008com · Dec 18, 2003, 12:07 PM

I hate Fedex they always happen to mess up things I order specifically from apple. UPS is great they always come through.

Gankdawg · Dec 18, 2003, 12:36 PM

I gave up on UPS years ago when I tried to ship a Performa. I had the original box from Apple and they refused to ship it because it didn't meet their minimum amount of packing material or something. So I took it to the USPS and they accepted and shipped it no problem.

bimmerphile · Dec 18, 2003, 12:43 PM

Well, as it turns out, it has been in Boise this whole f'n time.

Apparently our FedEx center just doesn't have their **** together.

Going to go pick it up, so it doesn't "Disappear" off the truck. Away!

-Krisa

jasonsRX7 · Dec 18, 2003, 03:10 PM

My experience with UPS and FedEX is the opposite. I will not ship any of my personal packages via UPS unless the vendor does not provide any alternative.

UPS routinely arrives 2 or 3 days later than scheduled, whereas FedEX generally arrives a day early. I live in NC and have *many* packages shipped from Newegg in CA and almost all arrive in 2 days via FedEX.

I hate UPS and love FedEX. I guess it just depends on where you live.

iYeat · Dec 18, 2003, 04:11 PM

You've had a good experience with newegg? It takes 5 days for a fedex shipment to get to me here in Sacramento minimum. The same shipment will get here overnight with UPS ground.. and both times i've ordered from newegg via fedex, the package has arrived here in sacramento in 2 days, but if it's 5 day shipping (or the like) they don't deliver it or let me pick it up until the 5 days is up!!! i hate fedex!

back to topic... did you actually get to pickup your powermac, bimmerphile? Or when you got to the fedex location did they tell you that they put it on the truck anyway, then when you got home discovered that it wasn't really on the truck, and that they were holding it for you for pickup?

[i'm not bitter. really, i'm not.]

rhogue islander · Dec 18, 2003, 04:11 PM

Indeed, UPS suxors.

Never use them unless you have no alternative.

Augie50 · Dec 18, 2003, 05:35 PM

Anybody see that FedEx jet in Memphis that caught fire while it was landing today? Nobody was hurt but the plain nearly burnt to the ground, everything, including the plane and its cargo, was a total loss.

Lots of people will be having a bad Christmas...

xdude · Dec 18, 2003, 07:43 PM

Sucks about the wait. But as have others, I've given up on UPS long ago after many lost and poorly treated packages. I'll take FedEx, even Airborne Express any day.

Happy holidays!

WizOSX · Dec 18, 2003, 08:02 PM

binnerphile--give us your first impressions when you get it home! What model, upgrades, etc?

imactheknife · Dec 18, 2003, 08:07 PM

I gave UPS a piece of my mind awile back...I made a trade with another mac user and so there was no money trading hands just mac stuff...well at the time he shipped me a performa 6500 (few years ago when they were still worth something) and when I got the box it was completely destroyed I mean like why even put it in the freakin box? it didn't help any!!

well I phoned UPS and they said customs did it...so I called customs and they said it could have been them...but it was most likely UPS..well that is the LAST time I EVER use UPS...losers....they rip people off too when you ship across the border as well..

with Fedex I have never once had a issue thus far..and no extra charges at the border!

exca1ibur · Dec 19, 2003, 01:33 AM

I dont do business with ANY company that uses UPS, thats how bad they suck for me. They have a habit of never showing up, and dropping off stuff without a signature.

FedEx and Airborne Express are the way to go for me. FedEx I had a problem with package getting messed up I sent to Australia. They had a check in my hand for the shipping and the value in a week, AND called me to verify and apologize. (It was just some CDs... cases got smashed but the CDs were okay).

The bonus with Airborne is they deliver your package ASAP instead of the 3-day 5-day thing. So EVERY normal shipping for me is next day since the hub for my city isn't far away.

jasonsRX7 · Dec 19, 2003, 11:09 AM

Originally posted by iYeat:
You've had a good experience with newegg? It takes 5 days for a fedex shipment to get to me here in Sacramento minimum. The same shipment will get here overnight with UPS ground.. and both times i've ordered from newegg via fedex, the package has arrived here in sacramento in 2 days, but if it's 5 day shipping (or the like) they don't deliver it or let me pick it up until the 5 days is up!!! i hate fedex!

Yes, I've been ordering from Newegg for maybe 3 years now and only a few times has it not gotten from CA to NC in 2 days. I probably average about 4 or 5 shipments a month.

I didn't know Newegg offered 5 days shipping with Fedex. Their default shipping method is Express saver, which is advertised as 3 days, but always takes 2.

bimmerphile · Dec 19, 2003, 11:20 AM

Originally posted by WizOSX:
binnerphile--give us your first impressions when you get it home! What model, upgrades, etc?

hahahahaha now THAT's my kind of question.

Well, in preparation, I picked up a retail 9800 pro from eCost.com, a 120GB maxtor SATA drive from eBay, a gig of RAM from MacSolutions, and a Firewire/USB2.0 card from eBay (which, mind you, does not even physically FIT in my G5).

Overall impressions, well, this computer is like a Ferrari, in so many ways. Two of them stand out in my mind the most:

It is beautiful, and fast is an understatement.

I used to to DVD recompression (Take DVD9 Video track, recompress mpeg2 to be re-burnable to DVD5) on my dual 1.30GHz G4, and it would take about 8-12 hours depending on the DVD (using best possible quality, naturally). I'm looking at the screen of my G5 right now (posting this from my iBook, via airport extreme, which my G5 is broadcasting) and there is 5 hours left. I just started it when I started typing this message. Incredible.

I love this computer.

WizOSX · Dec 20, 2003, 12:05 AM

Kris--

Which G5 model is it? You said that Apple "built" it for you but you chose to add a lot of aftermarket stuff like the 9800 vid card. Was that cheaper than getting it from Apple? Was your G5 BTO in some sense?

l008com · Dec 20, 2003, 12:57 AM

Yeah how does a FireWire/USB card not fit in your G5? And why would you want one anyway when it already has both? I've noticed that Apple's prices for add-ons (ram, bigger HD's) have become really affordable, no more days of BTO stuff costing 10X what they should.

bimmerphile · Dec 20, 2003, 01:57 AM

Wiz- Dual 2.0GHz, Airport Extreme, Bluetooth. Those are my BTO options from Apple.

I have since bought (actually, I bought them before I bought the G5):
120GB SATA drive
Radeon 9800 Pro Retail (when I sell the 9600 pro on eBay, I'll end up paying about $120 for the upgrade, effectively 1/2 the cost apple charges as the BTO option, with a faster clock speed, S-video and VGA ports)
That firewire/PCI card (I'll take pics tomorrow when the case is open. The f*cker doesn't fit!
1GB RAM (1.5 total)

l008com:

Why? because 1 firewire 400 port is on the front, the other is on the back. I don't like things hanging off the pretty front of my computer. There is a FW800 on the back too, but it does me no good. Same story with the USB.

Basically, I need more ports. Firewire Hard drive and FW cd burner and iPod and iSight...

l008com · Dec 20, 2003, 02:00 AM

HUB?

bimmerphile · Dec 20, 2003, 02:31 AM

Originally posted by l008com:
HUB?

$$$

l008com · Dec 20, 2003, 02:34 AM

FireWire/USB2.0 Cards don't cost money?

Luca Rescigno · Dec 20, 2003, 03:16 AM

Cards are better than hubs, in my opinion. Hubs take up space (cards don't), they require one or two cords for the interface and for power (cards don't), and they chop up the USB or Firewire bus between multiple devices (whereas cards provide a brand new USB or Firewire bus separate of the ones inside your computer). Cost is cheap either way so why not go for internal expansion?

tooki · Dec 20, 2003, 01:38 PM

Originally posted by Augie50:
Anybody see that FedEx jet in Memphis that caught fire while it was landing today? Nobody was hurt but the plain nearly burnt to the ground, everything, including the plane and its cargo, was a total loss.

Actually the latest news is that they expect most of the cargo to be fine, since it's in shipping containers.

The plane, on the other hand... (It's not burnt to the ground, it just has a big hole in the side.) The NTSB said "it'll never fly again."

Duh.

tooki

OreoCookie · Dec 25, 2003, 12:59 AM

Originally posted by bimmerphile:

bastards.

I ordered it on the 5th, the first one Apple built failed final product testing, so they built me another one, which finished production on saturday. It was packaged up to ship out on saturday, but FedEx did not pick it up until Monday (all standard stuff thus far).

Scheduled Delivery was for today by 8pm MST.

It's 10:06, and the online tracking shows it is somewhere on Portland. I am in Boise. The package was coming from Sacramento. In case you still haven't figured it out, that's ENTIRELY the wrong direction.

I called FedEx, and they said they'd put a trace out on it, because they have no idea where the package is. Peachy.

This is why I use UPS.

You know what this means? Christmas!

Apple has a great insurance. Two examples in order:

I have sent in my iBook 500 12" to get my harddrive and CD-RW drive replaced. Package got lost on the way back. I was awarded with a new iBook 600 14" with Combo drive. (700 Euros in additional value!)

My best friend sent in his Pismo. Display got damaged. They gave him 1500 Euros for the Pismo!

Call Apple, make it clear that you urgently need that G5. I guess they'll upgrade you in a way.