Last week on Monday July 21, 2008 I received confirmation that my package had been shipped and would arrive the next day. At 5:30pm EST on Tuesday July 22, I went to FedEx.com and entered my tracking number to see if my package was going to be delayed. Sure enough it was, due to a failed delivery attempt. Stating this on the website “Customer not available or business closed.” Now I was at the destination of the package for 12hrs that day, its my job of course I’m there! There was NO attempt made! I then called FedEx customer service at 1-800-463-3339 and explained that I had not even seen a FedEx delivery persons come anywhere close to my business. They then gave me a run around stating that they could not find the business due to the fact it is in a mall and there was no business name on the package. I have had several packages shipped to this address with just my first and last name and no business name.(one item being my HDTV. I’m not home during hours of deliveries so I have everything sent here.)
I never had a problem with deliveries that were shipped with UPS or USPS. FedEx assured me that they would re-route the package to a new terminal for business deliveries. Kimberly from FedEx asked me what the name of my business so that way they could note into the delivery notes for the driver and assured me my package would be arriving within 2 days from speaking to her and there would NOT be a repeat of the same mistake. They now had the business name so it would not be a problem to be delivered. Sounded good to me, I didn’t mind waiting another 2 days. Sure enough Thursday had come and the package had not. I then called FedEx again and they once again assured me it would arrive no later than Saturday July 26th and that due to the terminal re-route it caused a slight delay. Again no problem, I could wait another 2 days. I’m not sure if you’ve ever used FedEx or UPS websites to track packages before, but if a package is not delivered the day they state is supposed to be, it is scanned in and a new delivery date is set for you. Now on Saturday I still had not received my package and was curious as to why the website had not shown any information since Friday morning.
I waited it out on Sunday and called FedEx today July 28, 2008. After the woman on the phone had gotten the tracking number wrong 4 times, she informed me that the package was STILL set up for a home delivery and would not be delivered today. I demanded to be transfered to a manager of some kind to help sort this mess. She then transfered my call to Lisa, a Customer Advocate. Lisa had informed me that the package was updated for business delivery and was out for delivery and I would receive my package today. As the day progressed I realized again FedEx had once again lied to me. It then was 5pm EST and the package hadn’t come like I was told it would be. I then called back customer service and asked where and WHAT was going on with this package. The woman on the phone did the typical “well I’m very sorry to hear that sir” and contacted the terminal where my package was located. She then put me on the phone with Felicia at the South Hackensack FedEx terminal.
This is where I started to get really mad. Felicia had informed me that the driver had NOT taken the package out today because there was no business name. So this indicated that not only did Lisa lie to me today, but Kimberly and the others I spoke with last week did not make the appropriate changes to the name on the package OR for that matter NOTE any change to the driver. To top it all off, when I asked Felicia about what had happened the Saturday delivery date I was told. She then informed me that on Friday, they had lost the package but luckily found it on Sunday morning at 3am. Felicia then once again assured me just like every other person I spoke to that she would note that it was being sent to a business and would put the name of the business on the package and note to the driver.
All in all, this was an atrocious experience with FedEx. From being told about the package being updated to make sure all the info was correct, to them losing it, to all the lies I had received. This made me wonder how FedEx has managed to stay in business. But seeing their stock price over the last 6 months(NYSE:FDX) has made me realize how badly the company is doing not only financially, but with their service as well. I would avoid using FedEx a while, at least until the company sorts their problems out.
