So I wrote four pages to FedEx about the sucky lying deceitful job their Seattle people did in getting our new television to us. I wrote to the CEO, Chair and President (he is all of those things) about the three different lies I was told (“deliveries until 10 pm”, “it’s on the truck, okay, no it’s on the other truck” and “someone will call you with an ETA” not to mention the lie on our tracking page when they did not deliver the item which claimed that I was not available to accept delivery. The very fast response 9that they did quickly) from an “executive management assistant” arrived today.

The item in question was sent without our incurring any shipping charges, so we’re not out money. I’m just out an entire day spent waiting, several hours of telephone calls to various people in the organization, spending 12 hours in anticipation of receiving an item I had to sign for, not to mention the next day’s 3 hours waiting for that ETA phone call.

FedEx has apologized. They “truly regret” and they extended their “sincerest apologies”. They sent me four paragraphs back in which they did, indeed, express their sorrow. The letter also informed me of things I already knew, thanked me for naming the person who did actually listen to me, but spent more time explaining why they weren’t going to compensate mi in any way because after all, their service document says they don’t gotta. They state “[p}ayment is not expected for unsatisfactory service” but it was our service that was unsatisfactory. NOT the folks who sold us/sent us the television.

Of course, I didn’t see this service guide document because I did not choose this company to ship our purchase. I did ask in my letter how they were going to make it up to me – clearly I can’t ask for a refund for money we never spent but I expected – and have a clear right to expect – some form of compensation for the aggravation, waste of my time and for being lied to by more than one FedEx employee, don’t you think?

Instead, the seller of the television is getting the refund. Isn’t that great?

I mentioned to Mr. Smith that I blog and that I know a bunch of folks read the blog and how I truly hoped – and I did I really really did – that I could report a positive ending to this story of ineptness, ass-covering, and poor customer service on the part of a bunch of FedEx employees.

If you need to ship something, may I suggest you use UPS or the postal service? The post office has a bad rap and deservedly so (in 2007 they lost six books I mailed. That’s SIX, one more than RFIVE. AND they are totally useless and retrieivng any lost articles. Stu and I have put in claims for several lost packages and it’s a total utter fucking waste of time. But if you insure for under $2, you probably will get the stuff you need. That’s what I’ve been doing since at least the first of the year – any book I sell for over like $15 I use their insurance and while they did lose one book very early on, they haven’t yet and they reimburse almost immediately. UPS does well by us as well.

DHL had trouble finding our address a few years ago and lied as well – saying the book had been brought to the house on Tuesday. It was never found at any door and, funny thing, it showed up (again?) on Friday after my frantic calls (I needed the book in order to do a specific job). However, some people I do business with have contracts, and sometimes you’re stuck with DHL or FedEx. While FedEx managed, this morning, to deliver the letter from the special assistant (funny thing – this one did NOT require a signature but she made me come to the door, and made me confirm our address which is on the gate which is about 20 feet away.) and they manage to get a lot of items delivered, when we were expecting the really big one, the one I had to wait for, that’s when they fucked up. I did ask as the last part of my letter “How are you going to make it up to me? How are you going to fix this?” That they don’t owe me jack is clear in the response I got which attached a page from their Service Guide which clarifies why my hassle is not their responsibility – or how they don’t gotta do nuttin. Highlighted, of course. I was hoping for an acknowledgement of their bad performance. They clearly don’t think that’s necessary, although they are going to “notify” the local guys “for an internal review”. Note there is no indication they’ll do this, just that the management is being told about it.

They owe me a day. They owe us whatever it was they charged the vendor for. The vendor went through NOTHING. They weren’t sitting here from 8 am to after 10 pm looking for the damn truck to bring the tv, and then getting up again and starting the phone calls at 8:20 the next morning, so why should I care? I waited over a week for this damn thing to arrive and finally we did get it but it was a very bad experience. To date, no one at the local FedEx office has even tried to reach me to explain, apologize or reassure me they aren’t in the habit of lying and that they do know how to use a telephone. They apparently don’t use the internet. While they have a website, the letter I got today did not offer any email so I either must call or write to the executive management assistant if I wish to continue the conversation. She on the other hand gets to send letters by FedEx and make me come to the door to confirm my address. I know, I know, you probably have great experiences with FedEx and can’t recommend them enough. It happens. But given that this did happen to us, I will go out of my way to avoid using FedEx and given this nasty experience, suggest you do the same. If you have any advice on this, please give it. Cuz I don't think I can do much but I'd love your ideas.

My advice to you?

Don’t use FedEx. They don’t get it.