So a couple years ago I used FedEx for the last time after they lost a targa top I had sold (they didn't even have record of it leaving the facility I shipped it from, but it wasn't in the facility either ) Anyway, I swore them off for good when they essentially screwed me on my claim and it took months to get it resolved. Shipping isn't rocket science, but they can manage to F it up pretty good.

(insert fool me once, fool me twice quote here)

So Kodiak used FedEx to ship my wheels. I shoulda asked who they were using and didn't think to do so. Well, first they damage one of them. I filed a claim starting on 9/9/07 (which still isn't finalized!!!) and then the next day, 9/10/07, they charged $127.59 to my credit card!

It has been two months of being transferred, hung up on, etc and ultimately this morning I was told that billing had no record of the charge and I would have to file a dispute WITH MY CREDIT CARD COMPANY. That's right folks, fuching FedEx CANNOT CONFIRM THE CHARGE AND DON'T EVEN KNOW WHY I WAS CHARGED, BUT WON'T CREDIT MY MONEY. I have to go through a dispute claim with my credit card company now, which will be another month I am sure.

HEED MY ADVICE, DO NOT USE FEDEX. That is about 3 warnings now Not to say I haven't had issues with damaged packages and UPS, but UPS has ALWAYS paid the claim or took care of any issues immediately. They tend to cost a little more than FedEx but the money is well spent for the level of customer service. F(uching)edEx may call the dept customer service, but they have no idea what that is.

At the hot rod shop I worked at years back I was in charge of shipping among other things and kept track of the shipment qty v. claim qty and FedEx lost that battle too. We used UPS exclusively at one point and would only use FedEx if the spot was so rural that UPS didn't go but they did or something similar. I broke down and used FedEx for the targa top only because they were right around the corner from where I lived and I wanted to get it on its way to the buyer - shoulda taken the time and drove the 10 miles to the UPS drop point.

Every shipping company is like this. Roll the dice, and buy shipping insurance. I have had stuff broken by USPS, UPS, DHL. Actually the only people that have not broken stuff for me is FedEx - but only cuase they are too expensive for me to pick.

Call your credit card they will track down and fix the charge for you. Do it quickly, it might get stickier.

Be calm, be cool, and if you must read someone the riot act, ask for a manager - the phone jockeys can't do anything to help.

Zach

All companies have things "misplaced" or something of the sort. If you ever watch them handle anything... even if it is marked fragile.... you will make sure to get insurance on everyting you send.

I agree that they all damage stuff - I have had issues with UPS.

BUT, UPS ALWAYS handled my claim quickly and fairly. F'ingEx however sucks for claims. I always buy insurance and so forth cuz damage is inevitable sooner or later. My point is that when it comes time to DEAL with the company, FedEx will charge you money THEY CAN'T EXPLAIN WHY and not process the claim in any sort of professional manner.

They suck on all fronts

1. They damage it
2. They charge you extra money for God knows what
3. They process the claim in two speeds, slow and stop.

Shipping is always a crap shoot, but when it comes time to collect, you don't want to be on the other end of a phone conversation with FedEx.

sorry to hear it Tim,

My Rich Johnson Boxster calipers were recently damaged by FedEx enroute. Hope he gets his $, he went ahead and painted and is shipping me a replacement.

At work just a few weeks ago UPS lost a package worth 11,250.00 that we had shipped to a customer. We asked UPS to do a search/trace and they stated it would take 1-11 days. Well 12 days later they said " it's lost " and too bad. I had to reorder and expedite the part at a cost of 15,000.00 plus and have to eat that as corporate politics says there's no chance to get the cost back from UPS. Sure glad it wasn't my money.

Hmmm.

Freightquote picked fedex freight as the carrier for my rebuilt 911 motor that arrived just today. Arrived in fine shape (of course, since I insured it to the tune of $250). Freighquote got me about 40% off the quoted price on the fedex site. Perhaps I'm more lucky than good, but I read someone else having good luck with fedex freight for palletized motors. YMMV.

Better to be lucky than good, but FedEx is the only shipping company that has "lost" a shipment for me...
Ordered a part from a company in CA... Paid by Money Order, and asked for shipping insurance, as the part was a one of a kind...
five days later, I watch the FedEx guy deliver the box to my front door... I go out and pick it up, and think boy, that sure is light!!!
I open it up, and guess what? EMPTY!!! Some A**Hole had cut the seal on the bottom of the box, removed the part, and sent the empty box thru the system!!! The top side of the box was still perfectly sealed!!! So I contact the seller and explain the situation. They (a big company) say File a claim with FedEx... I try... FedEx syas the seller must file the claim!!! Back to the seller... NO Dice!!! They say it's between me and FedEx... FedEx says No Way!!! Back and forth back and forth!

Never did get any satisfaction on this one!!! And have never done business with either of them again...

My theory is that someone at FedEx Anaheim saw the insured value, and decided to take the part, with hopes of reselling it... and FedEx was dumb enough to pass the package all the way thru to me!!! Clearly marked with the weight, which could not have escaped ALL of FedEx, but they managed to do so!!! Shipping Sucks!!!

strange circumstances. the reciept, with tracking number, should note the payment, method of, and the responsible party. they should be able to tell what shipment the extra charge you've incurred has been applied to.

NEVER opt for just the basic insurance value. note what you consider the TRUE value of the item is. i usually pad the value a bit and note exactly what is in the box. "porsche 914 stainlesss steel heat exchangers" as an example. i tape the hell out of the boxes. they have to work at it if someone is going to get into them. buyer should (IS) be responsible for the added insurance costs. if something goes south, you're on the hook for YOUR part. not the buyer. i NEVER discard the bill of lading until i hear from the recipient. i NEVER use a generic drop/ship point. thay add on to the actual shipping on their end. i drive the extra distance and ship directly from a fedex wherehouse. this takes me an hour+ there and back. i've only had 1 item broken, 0 lost. the breakage was prob my fault due to what turned out to be insufficient packing on a rather delicate item.

k

I wonder if there's anything that has to do with size or value. We ship laboratory specimins FedEx overnight all the time, and I've always been very impressed with their service. We joke that we send it USPS if we can afford to lose it, UPS if it doesn't matter when it gets there, and FedEx if it cannot be replaced.

I've actually had good luck with shipping large, heavy parts (ie wheels/tires and the like) with Greyhound. Obviously, you have to take it to the station and someone has to pick it up from the other side.

Exactly... so the fact that five different departments now cannot tell me what that charge is (each dept sends me another cuz they must have levied the charge) tells me what a joke FedEx is.

Lose a part and can't tell me where it is... well, ya, cuz it is lost. Not be able to tell me why they billed my credit card money 2 weeks after the shipment but the DAY AFTER my claim filing... bullshit. FedEx has and always will be a joke when they fuck up. I had them claim I must not have packaged the targa top right on the last claim! They lost it, basically never saw it, but claim I must not have packaged it well. I didn't realize packaging a certain way kept losses down That is why I swore them off before and why I wish I had asked Kodiak how they were shipping...


This was also a problem on the targa roof. I insured the roof for an approximate replacement value. They wanted me to "prove" what it was worth, not just what I sold it to the guy for!!! If I sold it to someone, then guess what it was worth! And show me the catalogs with a price for a used targa roof. Took months of arguing and they gave me less than I sold it to the guy for. Fuck FedEx, they suck ass and those who say they are great, your day is coming! They do a great job until they really screw up, but when they really screw up, it will take you months to get a shit sandwich in the end.

At the plywood company I worked for from 1989-1994 we only used UPS cuz FedEx sucked. Only used FedEx if the customer was dumb enough to request them. Couple years later between 1996-2000 at the hot rod shop, used both UPS and FedEx, had claims with both (that is inevitable) but FedEx fucked a claim all up that then cost us $2000 (one full race cylinder head full CNC ported LOST, but somehow became our fault apparently as we ended up not collecting the insurance we paid for). So fuck them.

Sounds like chicken little, but I promise, use them long enough and your day will come. And no amount of insurance THAT YOU PAY FOR will fix it. Without stating hourly income, suffice it to say I have spent more than $128 in hours on the phone with those mutha fuckas. That is what they want tho', they want you to give up. that is what FedEx does best... wear you down. They are far better at that than explaining where your money went, that is for sure.

I ship exclusively via FedEx and GrayHound. FedEx for gearstacks and GrayHound for full trannies. I have only had 1 problem in a long time with FedEx damaging a gear stack. They dropped it hard enough to cave in one of the intermediate plate stud bosses through the padded packaging. Yes, their claims department sucks ass and I believe that their first step is to always deny a claim as they did with me. The shipper is the one that makes the claim, not the recipient. As soon as I sent them a fake invoice from "EvilWerks" with all the charges on it they sent me what I was asking for (which was no more that actual cost for parts and labors) plus $25. Even when they finally pay they cant get it right, but at least the error was in my favor.

I will not use UPS if I can help it. The last time was when someone shipped me 2 boxes with 2 wheels in them each and they delivered 1.5 boxes and thought that was OK
I have seen them destroy a tranny also (not one of mine).

For me, good old Priority mail has worked well. For bigger packages Fedex ground has been the lesser of the evils.

Why do people send their packages by a company that writes OUPS on their trucks?

Ditto on greyhound for big stuff, we shipped a couple full race engines with them! Anything big that I had to be sure got there in one piece we drove over to GH. Only bummer is customer has to p/up at a terminal, but I would always assure them if they wanted to know for sure it was gonna get there, the drive to a terminal is worth every minute to do it.


Not true, it is whoever PAYS the shipping is what they told me, which is why Kodiak isn't taking care of the claim. Since it was noted that I pay the shipping... here I am. If they billed me shipping and then used their own account to ship, they would be handling it. Actually, it is probably good I have to handle it as they wouldn't have time to deal with all the BS and I would somehow end up screwed from both ends... I am starting to feel like a Chinese finger cuff as it is


Oh yeah, any of the shippers can put the screw-job on a shipment. That is a given. It is how they handle THEIR fuck up that gets my biz... UPS has always handled claims (I shipped something that was, honestly, not packaged very well on my part and they argued with me, but still paid in the end). FedEx wanted to argue that I musta packed the targa incorrectly and that might be why it was lost... I mean, really??? That is when I told them never again... the last time... and forgot to check this time.

Chris914 - ground is even worse. Ground fiascos others have had has been brought up on a couple other forums I posted this issue on. Ground is what lost my targa top. A lot of people have noted USPS as being really solid performance, so agreed about priority mail.

Other than waiting on hold for ever, I have never had a problem disputing a charge on a credit card. In the few times I have done it I have talked to polite English speaking folks who have reversed the charge and I never heard about it again. I didn't even have to provide anything in writing.

That's interesting to hear that UPS pays claims...

That's real news to me. I've NEVER ever ever ever had UPS pay a claim to me or any company I've worked for.

I always ship with DHL, and I haven't had a problem yet. I'm not saying that I won't, it's just that every other company has already fuched it up.

Yeah, I talked to the credit card company and apparently they are mailing me a simple form to fill out that I just simply write down why I am disputing and they will supposedly pull the charge back. Now, how long that will take or how 'simple' the process is will remain to be seen

Chris - forgot about DHL. Yeah, when we used them they were good but IIRC they were a bit more expensive. But for your one or two package a year people like myself, that might be a good option too. I think the USPS sounds to be the way to go these days for the average Joe. Hearing nothing but good things about shipping with the good ol' post office.

for smaller stuff that will fit in a USPS flate rate priority box, it can't be beat. you can send 40lbs of lead if you want, in the USA, for around $9, and it will arrive in 3 to 4 days.

k