Another FedEx Sucks post

Captain Sousie · Post by **Captain Sousie** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 10:06 am

Gotta love it, that is unless you are waiting for it. Sorry to hear that man. Fed Ex is pretty...interesting.

Good luck getting the horn,
Sou

iiipopes · Post by **iiipopes** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 10:38 am

Will it go 'round in circles
Will it fly high, high like a bird up in the sky...

Sorry, that's just way beyond the ridiculous. I hope when it finally arrives, it is undamaged.

MartyNeilan · Post by **MartyNeilan** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 11:18 am

iiipopes wrote:Will it go 'round in circles
Will it fly high, high like a bird up in the sky...

windshieldbug · Post by **windshieldbug** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 12:10 pm

Wait! I can see it! Didn't you order one o' them "Wilson" horns?

JB · Post by JB » Wed Oct 04, 2006 8:17 pm

windshieldbug wrote:Wait! I can see it! Didn't you order one o' them "Wilson" horns?

That was VERY funny!

Alex F · Post by **Alex F** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 2:14 pm

I'm about to ship a tuba and spent a lot of time looking for a suitable carrier. Greyhound and Amtrak were ruled out because GPX won't insure more than $1K and Amtrak has no stations handling freight within 250 miles of the destination.

UPS and FedEx were ruled out due to the confusing information I was given about their size/weight restrictions, insurance issues, and residential pick-up/delivery policies and surcharges.

BAX flatly refused to handle a residential pick-up and the Old Dominion rep did not seem to know what a tuba was. With regard to Old Dominion, I went to a merchant down the street who ships canoes and kayaks, asking him if he would act as my shipper. He used Old Dominion but he scared me off with a horror story about a canoe shipment that had been speared by an OD fork-lift (they don't float too well with a hole in the side).

Finally, at the suggestion of two of our well-known dealers, I called DHL. I was pleasantly surprised at the knowledge demonstrated by the customer service rep, by the price quote, and by the fact that residential delivery would cost me only $3.00 more than commercial delivery. This for DHL ground service - two days from Chicago to Kansas. Also, they will accept the horn in the case (MTS) w/o a box and insure for full value.

Obviously, the proof is in the pudding (pudding the tuba in the hands of the buyer without damage) but, based on the info I received, I'm ready to take the risks.

jmerring · Post by **jmerring** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 3:05 pm

I am just now starting my FedEx adventure. I shipped a used horn in good shape last week. The recipient told me of bell damage (inside it's hardcase, inside box with packing material) and sent me pictures of the damage. I am starting the paperwork ASAP. I wish I had known of others' experiences with FedEx, before I started this journey.

I'll keep you posted.

Tubaryan12 · Post by **Tubaryan12** » Sat Oct 07, 2006 6:54 pm

bloke wrote: IÂ´ve actually had USPS pay a claim!

I have always had good luck with the USPS. The only time It didn't work out perfectly was when I sent a tennis racket to Korea. It arrived back on my doorstep exactly 30 days after I mailed it, they completely refunded the postage, and then when I mailed it the correct

way the 2nd time it arrived in exactly 7 days at half of the cost of the FedEx and others in the same amount of time.

Eupher6 · Post by **Eupher6** » Sat Oct 07, 2006 7:57 pm

Good thread.

I've not had to ship anything of late (I've got a great repair guy who lives in the area), but when and if I do, you can bet it won't be FedEx.

DHL seems like the way to go.

Of course, packing the instrument (whatever it is) like it WILL go through a war zone should prevent a lot of problems.

Flat-out loss is something else entirely, though.

WilliamVance · Post by **WilliamVance** » Mon Oct 09, 2006 12:49 am

I had a similar experience...Notice the extra long trip this horn took to get from Reno, NV to Las Vegas, NV...OOPS

Date/Time

Activity

Location

Details

Jul 8, 2006 2:21 PM

Delivered

Henderson, NV

Delivered to recipient at FedEx facility

6:23 AM

At local FedEx facility

HENDERSON, NV

Jul 7, 2006 5:10 PM

Departed FedEx location

PHOENIX, AZ

3:13 AM

Arrived at FedEx location

PHOENIX, AZ

Jul 3, 2006 3:02 PM

Arrived at FedEx location

KEASBEY, NJ

Jun 28, 2006 7:57 PM

Arrived at FedEx location

LOS ANGELES, CA

9:57 AM

Departed FedEx location

SACRAMENTO, CA

5:33 AM

Arrived at FedEx location

SACRAMENTO, CA

Jun 27, 2006 10:15 PM

Left origin

RENO, NV

8:40 PM

Package data transmitted to FedEx

RENO, NV

8:07 PM

Arrived at FedEx location

RENO, NV

6:17 PM

Picked up

RENO, NV

Dan Schultz · Post by **Dan Schultz** » Mon Oct 09, 2006 12:56 am

WilliamVance wrote:I had a similar experience...Notice the extra long trip this horn took to get from Reno, NV to Las Vegas, NV...OOPS

.... ....

Yeah. And a horn stands a great big chance of being damaged at each and every one of those locations!

Captain Sousie · Post by **Captain Sousie** » Mon Oct 09, 2006 10:43 am

Eupher6 wrote:DHL seems like the way to go.

DHL sucks too as they took 7 days to deliver my package that I payed to have overnight. They also ley my tuba sit in a warehouse in town for over a week while they got a big enough load to deliver to the whole area. They wouldn't even let me come pick it up.

DHL is poo,
Sou

iiipopes · Post by **iiipopes** » Mon Oct 09, 2006 11:12 am

I understand the need for economic efficiency, in order to stay in business. But so long as raw economics completely trump service, it will unfortunately be that way, regardless of which common carrier used.

The companies also need to be reminded that most people will pay a small premium if they know service will be exemplary, and focus on the customer instead of glossing the shipping label or only trying to get a full truck before delivery.

Chuck(G) · Post by **Chuck(G)** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 5:29 pm

As an update, I offer this tracking log:

Code: Select all

Jan 17, 2007  	 
6:40 AM On FedEx vehicle for delivery 	EUGENE, OR  	
6:34 AM At local FedEx facility EUGENE, OR  	
Jan 16, 2007  	 
8:44 PM  Delivery exception EUGENE, OR 
	Customer not available or business closed 
6:41 AM On FedEx vehicle for delivery 	EUGENE, OR 
6:29 AM At local FedEx facility  EUGENE, OR  
Jan 13, 2007  	 
8:56 PM Delivery exception  EUGENE, OR 
	Customer not available or business closed 
7:13 AM On FedEx vehicle for delivery 	EUGENE, OR
5:38 AM At local FedEx facility EUGENE, OR 
2:32 AM Departed FedEx location  PORTLAND, OR
Jan 12, 2007  	 
6:03 PM Arrived at FedEx location  PORTLAND, OR  
Jan 11, 2007  	 
12:56 PM Departed FedEx location  PHOENIX, AZ
6:49 AM Arrived at FedEx location  PHOENIX, AZ  
Jan 10, 2007  	 
11:14 PM Left origin TUCSON, AZ 
6:45 PM Arrived at FedEx location  TUCSON, AZ  
6:00 PM Picked up   TUCSON, AZ

I called 1-800-GOF-EDEX to find out what the heck was going on, since I hadn't seen a Fedex Green truck for days. (hint: when you get the voice menu, ignore it and keep saying "representative"). After some consternation, it turns out that my package had never been on a local delivery truck and pretty much all of the tracking information from Jan 13 on was "an error". They've promised that I'll see it today, but it's getting late and I don't hold out a lot of hope.

fpoon · Post by **fpoon** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 12:14 am

My Dad SWEARS by DHL and will only use them for work. I work part time in mail/internet order and we use UPS and probably average 2 complaints a week (pretty good considering we ship 650+ packages a day).

Personally, I like USPS. I had a Miraphone I bought over tubenet shipped to me, and they did a great job. Granted, it was in an MTS case so unless you drop it from a decent height, it would be hard to screw it up...

At least with USPS you can always go in and discuss the problem with a live person near by, and if you're pleasant, 8/10 times they'll go out of their way to help you. If you're a jackass though, all bets are off. It's not THEIR fault that somethings messed up, and they don't get paid enough to deal with you.

Dan Schultz · Post by **Dan Schultz** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 4:09 pm

Here's some FEDEX handiwork:

Seven smashed tuba bells! I think the parachute failed to open!

windshieldbug · Post by **windshieldbug** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 4:44 pm

TubaTinker wrote:Seven smashed tuba bells

Must've been an error in translation. They thought you specified "Liberty Bells"...

Mark · Post by **Mark** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 6:32 pm

TubaTinker wrote:Here's some FEDEX handiwork:

Seven smashed tuba bells! I think the parachute failed to open!

Apparently, one of the seven bells was smashed into oblivion.

Mark · Post by **Mark** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 7:02 pm

the elephant wrote:See it yet?

Yes, I do.

Dan Schultz · Post by **Dan Schultz** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 9:58 pm

the elephant wrote:Or it might be inside one of the other bells . . .

See it yet?

Thanks, Wade. It took a while to get those two apart! You can't see it in the picture, but the small ends of those two bells were crimped and rolled back about 1". Like I said... the parachute didn't open.