FedEx Blows, Bad Service All Around Options

[windforfun]

I ordered a second new roll bar pad from AA with overnight delivery. Guess what? FedEx lost the package. I've told AA several times to use UPS. Oh & BTW, the first pad that I ordered came with very visible defects. It took about a week to get AA to send me another one. I'm getting too old for this horse shit.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/WTF.gif)

[73-914]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif) FedEx SUCKS

[Beach914]

I ve ordered two sets of tires from Wallmart online and both were shipped via FedEx and not delivered on the promised date. Fedex lost track of them and could not provide status so I reported the shipment lost. Walmart refunded the money both times. Both times the tires arrived several days later with no warning.
How messed up is that? Never had to pay.

[wonkipop]

they are crap here too!
it takes longer to get hold of the parcel from all the aborted deliveries, not there when they ring the bell, etc than it does for it to travel across the pacific ocean. this horseshit can go on for 3 weeks or more before you can sensibly arrange a pick up from one of their depots in the boondocks out by the airport.

believe it or not USPS is back to almost operating soundly again on international delivery.
their tracking is good.
i get packages from US pretty quickly now - not as quick as fed ex etc on the first bit where its in a plane but if the postman can't deliver i go down to post office next day and pick it up there.

depends how much of a hurry you are in.
but i can get a parcel from US now via US post in 3 weeks.
versus fed ex et al which is 1 week + and then + and then + and costs more.

for a while at the ht of covid poor old us post went into paralysis.
but seem now to have come good.

[windforfun]

So I twice ordered some button or round head metric screws from AA. And what do they send me? I get bags of mixed button & oval or "flat" head screws. On top of that, the more expensive supposedly Porsche OEM screws that I ordered were the same as the less expensive ones. And on top of that, when I speak with George he's terse & almost rude like he doesn't want to be bothered. Once I get this roll bar pad mess fixed I'm never ordering anything from AA again. It's time for a change. On the other hand, never say never.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/dry.gif)

[bdstone914]

So I twice ordered some button or round head metric screws from AA. And what do they send me? I get bags of mixed button & oval or "flat" head screws. On top of that, the more expensive supposedly Porsche OEM screws that I ordered were the same as the less expensive ones. And on top of that, when I speak with George he's terse & almost rude like he doesn't want to be bothered. Once I get this roll bar pad mess fixed I'm never ordering anything from AA again. It's time for a change. On the other hand, never say never.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/dry.gif)

Order hardware from McMastercarr or Belmetric. Much less expensive.

[914Sixer]

I always use Fedex and never had a problem. USPS is back on track and seems to be running better these days.

[mepstein]

None of the companies are perfect but it beats driving it there myself.

[76-914]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif) I was going to add that I've had problems with all of them. The bad thing about problems is that once they disappear so will have I. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

[Mike Fitton]

Your problem is with AA not FedEx! Providing a tracking number does not mean that the item was shipped. Why people here beat their heads against the wall using AA is beyond me.

[horizontally-opposed]

Once saw UPS lose a box with an entire magazine issue's worth of slides on the way to Japan for color separations. Those slides—the best from the various photographers in that issue—were lost forever. Whole magazine had to be laid out again with second-draft picks (thankfully not the magazine I was working on, but still awful to see for a fellow editor…and all those photographers).

Once saw USPS lose a rent check, only to get an angry call from my landlord. Drove a new check down there. MONTHS later, I get a picture from her in my email and an apology. The image is our rent check dirty and with a footprint on it (maybe it slid between a wall and a desk?).

Recently saw a major freight operation (pallet) ruin one a 917 center lock nut and its box with the fork on a forklift in Germany or here in the states, each one of those nuts individually numbered for our customers. Of course, the fork nailed the number. The rest of the pallet was just fine, fortunately.

Trying to remember if FedEx has lost or damaged anything in 20+ years of working with them, and coming up with…not much. Now knocking on wood, as I just read this.

Point is, stuff can happen. But I suppose the ratio—for all of the carriers I've worked with—is pretty darn amazing. Even if the occasional misses have been frustrating. I wonder if the ratio is better, worse, or same as it's ever been…but I have to think we're luckier when it comes to moving stuff around the globe than at just about any point in human history.

[930cabman]

Could this be a reflection of our work force? or perhaps shxx just happens, especially given the volume of packages these days

[ClayPerrine]

I work as a server admin. We shipped some Dell servers, and a Dell DLT Tape changer, packaged in the original boxes from Dell, from California to Texas. The boxes arrived with big holes ripped in them, and all three of the servers, plus the tape changer, were damaged beyond repair.


UPS stands for "Ultimate Package Smashers".


Clay

[914werke]

Ive had similar experiances with all the cariers.
The most recent with Fedex was the destruction of a NOS R. window with defrost ... insured the F out of it.
Sure nuff they trashed it even though I built a crate to protect it, but suprisingly they processed & paid the claim in a pretty resonable time.
Compared that to USPS that Im STILL fighting with on a shippment to Germany from Aug of last yr. that they may still be shipping back & forth to thier own sorting locations on the E coast.
F'ing useless

[wonkipop]

I work as a server admin. We shipped some Dell servers, and a Dell DLT Tape changer, packaged in the original boxes from Dell, from California to Texas. The boxes arrived with big holes ripped in them, and all three of the servers, plus the tape changer, were damaged beyond repair.


UPS stands for "Ultimate Package Smashers".


Clay

30 years ago standing around in chicago having a cig on a corner i watched a UPS guy dump a parcel in a garbage bin. that could just been the general vibe of chicago and not the USA.
(i love chicago, but it did have a vibe).

i retrieved the parcel like a dumbo aussie - it was more trouble than it was worth trying to find a ups office to take it to.

i still don't use them if i can possibly help it.

[90quattrocoupe]

Me I like the post office. I get some parts from Europe for my Audi. When the people posting it through there own countries postal system, it is a lot cheaper. It takes a little longer, but it always seems to get here.
Customs can be interesting. A package from Bulgaria gets through the same customs office in Chicago faster than a package from Lithuania. We are talking about over a week longer. This happened within about a week of each other.
When looking at various websites in Europe, some only have UPS as an option. Always real expensive to ship. I was looking at some connectors and terminals in the UK. This stuff would have fit it in a 4X4X4 box and did not even weigh a pound. Only option was UPS at 45£. I keep looking around til I found a place in Hungary. Shipping was 8€.


Greg W.

[bkrantz]

My gripe this week is with USPS, specifically the postal service in Tucson. I sent something to my son. He was in the middle of moving across town, and my mistake was not waiting. I sent it to his old address, and USPS tracking showed it as out for delivery on Saturday morning. Later Saturday, tracking showed a mysterious status that meant forwarded. It then went into a black hole until last night, when it showed "forward processed". Now it shows as "arrived at USPS facility", but still no indication of when it might get delivered. At best, it will take a week to complete the re-routing within the same city.

[AZBanks]

I'll find out on Monday how Fedex is doing.

Pkg shipped Monday June 7th at 12:49pm from Wenzhou China. It is currently in Oakland and is supposed to be delivered on the 14th by noon.

What did I have shipped from China?

I could tell you but you'd think I was nuts.





















nuts and bolts and washers too.

[Unobtanium-inc]

I work as a server admin. We shipped some Dell servers, and a Dell DLT Tape changer, packaged in the original boxes from Dell, from California to Texas. The boxes arrived with big holes ripped in them, and all three of the servers, plus the tape changer, were damaged beyond repair.


UPS stands for "Ultimate Package Smashers".


Clay

My one and only corp job out of college I worked at a Freight Forwarder near the Atlanta Airport. Dell was one of our bigger clients. I was moving a whole pallet of desktop computers and took a corner too fast with the forklift, the shrinkwrap didn't hold and they all went spilling out everywhere. This was mid November and my boss was behind me and did his best high pitched voice and said, "Mommy, mommy, the computer Santa brought me doesn't work"

We re-shrink-wrapped the pallet and sent them on their way.

[Unobtanium-inc]

Once saw UPS lose a box with an entire magazine issue's worth of slides on the way to Japan for color separations. Those slides—the best from the various photographers in that issue—were lost forever. Whole magazine had to be laid out again with second-draft picks (thankfully not the magazine I was working on, but still awful to see for a fellow editor…and all those photographers).

Once saw USPS lose a rent check, only to get an angry call from my landlord. Drove a new check down there. MONTHS later, I get a picture from her in my email and an apology. The image is our rent check dirty and with a footprint on it (maybe it slid between a wall and a desk?).

Recently saw a major freight operation (pallet) ruin one a 917 center lock nut and its box with the fork on a forklift in Germany or here in the states, each one of those nuts individually numbered for our customers. Of course, the fork nailed the number. The rest of the pallet was just fine, fortunately.

Trying to remember if FedEx has lost or damaged anything in 20+ years of working with them, and coming up with…not much. Now knocking on wood, as I just read this.

Point is, stuff can happen. But I suppose the ratio—for all of the carriers I've worked with—is pretty darn amazing. Even if the occasional misses have been frustrating. I wonder if the ratio is better, worse, or same as it's ever been…but I have to think we're luckier when it comes to moving stuff around the globe than at just about any point in human history.

I shot a group once for SPIN magazine, it was really hard getting the whole group together, FEDEX lost the film, they did deliver an empty envelope. Never got the group together again, lost in time.