Fed Ex BS

jakelm

Ok..I'm tracking a package that has to be signed upon reciept. I called Fed Ex and told them I am at work , if they could please contact the driver and get an idea when he/she would be around the house, so I wouldnt miss it. (Most of you know what happens when you miss a package). They told me that they have no radio contact with driver. I then asked to be transfered to the local station in hopes that they could get in touch with their drive. I was then told, they could not do this.

Every other carrier I have used was able to do this for me on many ocasions, (UPS, USPS, DHL) but not Fed Ex.....what a load of $#!^.

Jake

PhantomOG

Don't worry, they'll just leave the package at the end of your driveway (in plain sight of course) and forge the signature.

jakelm

Your probably right Phan. Its just frustrating that you pay for a service, some carriers are very willing to help , and some could care less.

SLOCOOKN

I too just got off the phone with fedex as well. I told them I would not be home on Thursday to sign for the 140lb package. I asked if it would be possible to leave it at the hold. They said that they would have to try delivery first. I then asked what happens if I am not there. They then said I could request the hold.....WTF Ignorant...The company is too big. And slow to change.:(

Systems

Oh you guys ought to deal with DHL sometime.......

jakelm

Accually DHL was great to me. I was not home when package was delivered. They kept it but I was able to contact the driver and he met me half way that same day. From my other experiences with carriers, I thought this was great.

szhleppy

SLOCOOKN wrote:

I too just got off the phone with fedex as well. I told them I would not be home on Thursday to sign for the 140lb package. I asked if it would be possible to leave it at the hold. They said that they would have to try delivery first. I then asked what happens if I am not there. They then said I could request the hold.....WTF Ignorant...The company is too big. And slow to change.:(

I'm going to take the devil's advocate side here. How the f do they know who is calling them and asking for a specific favor on a specific package? Scammers come up with new strategies all the time, and the second a company like Fedex deviates from their norm based on a phone call everyone will probably get burned.

If you want your package delivered on a certain day, at a specific time, you are going to pay a surcharge for that service. Another solution is to have the shipper mark the package as "signature required". Fedex has a signed release from me to leave packages at my door, but still requires that I sign for these types of packages. This way your package won't be left at the door. Yet a third option is to have the shipper send on Friday with the Saturday delivery option if you work during the week and are only home on the weekend.

I'm not saying that every company is perfect, but they do a pretty good job of getting stuff to you at a decent price. I think it's ignorant to expect everyone to stop in their tracks for you just because you didn't think ahead and consider these things at the time you made the purchase.

jakelm

They could narrow delivery time better than between 7am and 8pm and then show up at 7:45pm. They do know the routes of their drivers. Maybe a "well our driver is in your area in the am or pm". I'm sorry.... but a 13 hour window??? I'm not asking for "our driver is 2 miles away traveling at 55mph heading east" But 13 hours?

Jake

Systems

Okay, I'll tell you my story with DHell.....

The driver will take the package out for delivery, drive by my road which I live a couple of miles up, say that I live in a remote area, take the package back to the distribution center, and mail it too me....

They do this every time somebody ships with them, mostly Amazon.....

SLOCOOKN

All I wanted to do is pick up the 140lb package at the hold. I did not want them to have to run a delivery when I won't be there! I will never be there for the delivery. I HAVE A JOB 30 MILES AWAY FROM MY HOME! I had tracking number and orgional shipper info.

jakelm

UPS is the largest shipping service. My call was transfered to the local center and was 3 wayed called to the driver. Took a total of 3 minutes.

SLOCOOKN

OH yeah Iwork on saturday as well! Sorry to ask for customer service!

szhleppy

SLOCOOKN wrote:

All I wanted to do is pick up the 140lb package at the hold. I did not want them to have to run a delivery when I won't be there! I will never be there for the delivery. I HAVE A JOB 30 MILES AWAY FROM MY HOME! I had tracking number and orgional shipper info.

Every Fedex shipper label has an option for "HOLD Weekday at Fedex Location" or "Hold Saturday at Fedex Location." I still hold my position that this is as much your fault for not putting thought into the situation at the time you were arranging to have this delivered to you.

I apologize for the condensending tone on this. I just think that for as much interest as you have in the special considerations for your 140 lb. package, you should have planned ahead instead of blaming the company for doing the job they were hired to do.

SLOCOOKN

szhleppy wrote:

Every Fedex shipper label has an option for "HOLD Weekday at Fedex Location" or "Hold Saturday at Fedex Location." I still hold my position that this is as much your fault for not putting thought into the situation at the time you were arranging to have this delivered to you.

I apologize for the condensending tone on this. I just think that for as much interest as you have in the special considerations for your 140 lb. package, you should have planned ahead instead of blaming the company for doing the job they were hired to do.

I am not calling for the CRACKEN on fedex ok. All I am saying is that I am go to have a package shipped. There is now way at anytime for me to be there. Another person actually shipped it and did not put a hold on it. Breakdown one agreed. Breakdown two costs fedex money. I am telling them I can't take delivery and they are going to deliver anyway. I am not really mad at them. I just thought I would try and save THEM some money. Thats all! No harm no foul..

shack

I'm going to come down on the side of the shippers on this one. They are by no means perfect or anywhere near close. However, their systems run on pretty tight tolerances and they can't allow for "customization" after an item is in the system. While it may seem to the individual that not delivering something would be cheaper/faster...in their world it isn't. It takes extra effort on their part to pull something out. More time...more costs. Sort of like stopping the assembly line to make "one little change" on a single item. It throws everything out of sync. Can you immagine if only 10% of the customers asked for this how it would slow the whole process down? Other than the way they handle stuff sometimes I really don't have a problem with any of the shippers and that includes FedEx, UPS, DHL or the USPS. For me they get it right 99% of the time so I can't really complain.

F1nut

Another option, since you're always at work, is to have it shipped to your job.

DarqueKnight

Plus, it's cheaper to ship to a commercial address.

Fireman32

At my last job we delt alot with fed-ex and they had a option to do a signature release on file so that if you were not home they would just leave it at your house

shawn474

If I am expecting a package, I leave a note in the door asking if they could leave the package in between toe screen door and storm door or on my deck in the back. May not be possible for a 140 lb. package - and certainly depends on what kind of neighborhood you live in.

Shawn

SLOCOOKN

This is what I love. I am in business for myself. I am aware of the customer servie side of things aswell as the flow of operations. What I find funny is you all side with the shipper stating if changes are made things might get messed up. So here is some food for thought on the process. Despite my Best efforts the shipper shipped VMPS subwoofer with direct signature required. For this reason Fedex stated they HAD to make delivery attempt and could not leave the package at the hold for me to pick up later. I needed to have a friend with a truck help me with this. That is why I did not have it delivered at my work. So I had to wait for a delivery attempt. What I found as I left for work this morning was my VMPS sitting on my front porch. No one signed for the package. So should I raise cain about this.....I won't. It's just funny that all the process to keep the system running and when its in their interest its ok to pass. DIRECT SIGNATURE REQUIRED...did not sign and package is here...I am not upset at FedEx, just suprised. I feel they do a good job. It was shipped from Texas to Missouri and delivered in 3 days..A good job..

PhantomOG

In my personal experience, direct signature required translates to a 23.5% increase in the chance the delivery person will actually ring the door bell before vanishing like a thief in the night. It always amazes me that an entire UPS/FEDEX delivery truck can completely disappear in the 5.6 seconds it takes me to get up from the couch and open the front door. Sometimes I hear the faint sound of the large truck engine off in the distance... but rarely.

jakelm

My Oppo came in last night, Fed Ex. Whe I orderd it from surfaudio, I had to give my full name. Noted for shipper to have a signed delivery. Thats why I called Fed Ex in the first place, because I would not be home to sign for my package. The driver shows up at 7:30 last night, hands me my package. I told him I was supposed to sign. He said "no", "that there was no mention of signiture anywhere". I said, ok, and took the package. I guess I went through all of that trouble for nothing. Whats gets me is I sign for UPS everytime they deliver. I guess Fed Ex is different.

Jake

PolkWannabie

I have had the same thing happen with UPS ...

I would think the holiday rush is over but clearly around the holidays they tend to bend the rules more than at other times ...

I've had multi thousand dollar pieces of gear just put on the porch, no signature asked for, no door bell rung etc ... I've sometimes been tempted with deliveries like this when coming from a store or manufacturer to after the fact say ... Delivery ? What Delivery ? ...

reeltrouble1

Hmmmmmmm................

The shipper's workers are pretty average, some good, some not so good but the folks running things, you know the suits???? Well, they tried first to get jobs at Paypal but were found not to be qualified.......

And everyone Knows

---

Paypal Sucks!!!!!!!!!!

Just a friendly reminder from member RT1

Have a nice day.

shawn474

I had a buddy work at FedEx for three years....here's the deal. They load their trucks in the early morning hours before we are all awake. They know that once they unload that truck and return to the warehouse, they are finished for the day. The only thing required is a scribbly line for a signature and your first initial and first three letters of your last name entered into their handheld unit. So if you watch really closely, they ring the bell, leave the package, scribble a line and hand enter the required info. on their way back to the truck. It saves them time (according to my buddy he could be done at least an hour ahead of schedule) and he gets paid for a full day.