Frank told FedEx to require a signature before delivering his skis, instructions FedEx found vague and confusing. When Frank complained, FedEx said that in order to deliver the increased volume of goods over the holidays, they reserve the right to essentially chuck your delicate gifts from a speeding truck.
He writes:
I love dealing with UPS. The package comes when they say it will, and the regular deliveryman knows when, and when not, to leave a package when nobody’s home. I hate dealing with FedEx. They claim they came when they didn’t and leave packages at the door without even knocking when we are home. For Christmas, I ordered a pair of skis for my wife and told the shipper to insist on a signature. TrackingUpdates@fedex.com sent me a shipment notification that clearly said “Must Obtain Signature DO NOT LEAVE AT DOOR.”The tracking page said that the delivery would be on 12/26. No problem, since I ordered too late to get it in time for Christmas. We changed our plans to stay up in the Adirondacks for the long Christmas weekend only because of the heavy Sunday rain that wiped out the great skiing conditions that existed just a day before. I went to work Monday, Christmas Eve, checked the tracking page, and found out that they were now delivering the skis that day. I called my wife and told her to hustle home to be there for the package.
I later checked the tracking page before she got home and found that they had delivered it with the notation ” Left at front door. Package delivered to recipient address – release authorized.” I submitted a complaint online: “Despite specific instructions from the shipper: ‘Must Obtain Signature DO NOT LEAVE AT DOOR,’ the package was left at the door based on ‘Signature Release on file.’ [please note -- that's B.S.] I HEREBY REVOKE ANY AND ALL SIGNATURE RELEASES THAT YOU HAVE ON FILE.”
Their reply was: “Our records indicate that your shipper is not requiring FedEx to acquire a signature to complete this delivery. Our drivers often can deliver packages even when no one is available to sign for them.” I e-mailed them again and suggested that they re-read my e-mail and the specific instructions from the shipper.
Then I got this reply: “FedEx authorized release of residential packages without a release agreement on file to expedite deliveries because of possible weather/volume issues and to ensure packages were delivered in time for the holiday. FedEx reserves the right to release packages at residential locations without obtaining a signature.”
In other words, FedEx doesn’t care what instructions are given by the shipper — they reserve the right to do whatever they want with the package — like leaving it outside so various undesirables can happen by and help themselves to your stuff. By the way, the toe piece on one of the ski bindings was damaged. Thanks, FedEx.
I no longer will do business with any merchant that will not give me the option of shipping with some company other than FedEx.
Thanks for listening
Frank
(Photo: DDFic)
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@britne: (Sorry it took so long to reply – I was working over the holiday.) Thank you for the advice! I will contact the company and see what they can do to resolve the issue.
I live in a bad area. People will steal packages off my doorstep if delivered when no one is home. My mom paid an extra $12 for FedEx, with instructions for the package not to be left. It was delivered anyway. Luckily I was home and was able to get to it within a few minutes after they came. I called and complained. FedEx’s response? “If you have a package coming and you don’t want it to be left, call us to make arrangements for pick-up from your local hub.” It’s a twenty minute drive each way, but definitely worth it when it comes to valuable merchandise like my laptop. (Because you can’t submit a claim for stolen/lost goods if it shows it was delivered.)
@Buran:
I don’t know if anyone’s done that exact scenario yet, but there are plenty of stories with pics and videos on eBay’s Packing & Shipping Boards (some may be in older threads), showing how packages are handled and under what conditions they are dropped off (deserted, snowy fields, etc.). IIRC there was one video that was talked about for a long time that showed a “fragile” shipment being deliberately tossed from a truck platform, or being stomped on, or something quite scnadalous, because the video spurred a lot of debate.
Funny thing is, now I can’t even remember which company it was. I also believe Fedex and UPS are pretty similar. If you get a decent team handling your account, or a decent driver on your route, you think they’re the shizznit, but at the same time, other people’s reports of abysmal service from the same company is equally correct. We’re very lucky, we’ve had the same UPS driver on our route for the past 3 years and he does the job right. We get 80% of our deliveries by UPS.
@tiringthought: I had a UPS driver sign for a package himself and leave it at my door – at least that’s what UPS Customer service told me. Thanks for leaving my $3000 laptop in plain view.
I no longer allow any courier to leave packages at my door. I simply call the depot near my home and ask them to hold it there for me to pick up. They always have held it without charge.
No offense Rider, but no one forced you to take that stressful job. There is no excuse to cite “stress” as a reason or excuse to do a job half-assed.
I’m an IT director in charge of web development, IT administration, 20+ Grad students, 5+ Research Staff, and I’m even remotely paid what I’m probably worth. That being said, I never cite my job stress as a reason why I don’t get something done right; because it’s an idiotic excuse.
@Bunklung:
I worked with them. They don’t care. And I’ll guarantee you it was because they’re union.
Now, I can only speak to the people I worked with in my distribution center.
And don’t get me wrong. I’m a big union supporter, but these guys know they can’t get fired for doing a piss-poor job.
@stinerman:
And this is exactly why Union’s imho are a complete farce. Instead of protecting workers rights, the end up protecting idiots who shouldn’t be working in the first place.
FedEx just got me with this. They delivered a package to an old address of mine (a whole other story that involves the wonderful customer support team at Microsoft) and someone signed for it… at least that’s what I thought.
I had a friend drive by my old place to see if there was a note. And what did my friend find? Lo and behold, the package (an Xbox 360) was sitting on the front steps in plain view on a busy street in downtown Orlando. I’m lucky it was still there.
So now I get to gripe to FedEx. Just another company in a recent string of shitty service.
I had a really poor experience with FedEx once as well. It was also the only time that I had an item that I ordered shipped through FedEx, too. The tracking information stated, for three days in a row, that the driver attempted to deliver my package but no one was home to leave it with. The thing was, there was someone home all day, every day and no driver had ever shown up. I ended up talking with a FedEx supervisor and with the company that I had placed my order with. I knew it wasn’t the company’s fault, I just felt that they had a right to know that FedEx was screwing over their customers. Basically, it could still hurt their business because FedEx wasn’t delivering their products to the customer. I finally got my stuff, and the company that I had placed the order with made a note on my account to ship any and all future orders through UPS at not additional charge. Since I’ve never had a problem with UPS, I accepted it.
No offense taken moostrength….I’m not saying it’s my reason, I play by the rules, I’m just saying there are those that don’t and will do things they shouldn’t at their own risk. If you get a good courier in your area who has a decent work ethic your problems will probably disappear. Hope things get worked out for you.
try living in the SF bay area, due to the high cost of living here no one with any real sense will actually work for FedEX or UPS consequently delivery service to my house is a hit or miss affair. On two seperate occasions a FedEx driver left packages on a doorstep 2 blocks away with the right number on the wrong street. On another occasion a UPS driver chucked my brother’s package in the bushes next to the building of which our townhouse is a part. It’s gotten so bad that we all just have our packages shipped to us at work.
Just wanted to address some concerns,I am courier for FedEx Home Ground, I would kind of like to address some of the concerns here. For those that live in apartments, many leasing offices refuse to sign for packages they just do not want the responsibility or liability that comes with accepting the package. There are three types of Signature Required packages: In Person(someone who lives at the residence)Adult (someone who lives at residence that is over 21)and Indirect (basically anybody). Last year Home Delivery received a directive stating we can’t deliver the first two to apartment offices unless we are familiar with the customer,know them, etc which means you need to be home for that stuff. Many shippers are lazy when it comes to addresses for apartments as well. Apartment Numbers are frequently left off of the box so that leads to bad service, also apartment numbers are sometimes wrong. This might be a reason why some packages end up in the wrong place. Apartments dwellers usually need signatures for everything even if the package doesn’t specify. Though there are exceptions: they have an enclosed area where you can leave the package like a patio or backyard, though its at the discretion of the driver when to leave packages. For instance, I would leave packages at front doors of apartments if one, the neighborhood was safe, two past history of the apartment complex, three no present problems. It really depends on the neighborhood. The drivers usually learn fast. In Riverside, I had one apartment complex where it did not matter where I left the package a claim would be in the process whereas in other parts of the city I could leave the packages anywhere and not have any problems.
Forget using FedEx ground those driver are contracted out. If its not express you will never be able to call FedEx back for a ground package. Use UPS.