• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Is there a shipper WORSE than FedEx?

rootabaga

rootabaga

Android Expert
I've used quite a few different shipping companies in my life.

The worst has generally been FedEx.

Caveat: if you use one of their overnight services, they are great.

Otherwise, they suck. Badly.

Missed pickups. Lost shipments. Damaged shipments. Our favorite? Missed deliveries; this happens way too often: tracking shows item on truck for delivery at say 6:30 am...at 5:45 pm updated "recipient not found, will attempt redeliver" when it's clear they just never came by, since everyone knows everyone in this building...and they could leave it with any employee, as well). Basically if it's coming FedEx ground, just add a day or two to what they promise.

Now, sure, everyone has issues from time to time. But this is at least 50% of the time with FedEx ground.

My latest...

We had a device fail. The vendor sent a replacement with a prepaid return FedEx label as well as an RMA form to include in the return. I swapped out the device and packed the dead one in the box (with the RMA form) and affixed the label. I called FedEx for a pickup and they gave me a PRP number. I set it in the secure area we use to send and receive shipments. My coworker tells me that FedEx picked up the box.

Here is my fatal error: I didn't actually copy down the tracking number, since I figured I had the PRP number.

The vendor (admittedly, they seem to be little more than a random collection of bumbling fools) is asking for delivery confirmation since the RMA form isn't in their system.

So I pop on to Fedex.com. Well, guess what? There is no way for an ordinary person to track a FedEx package armed only with the PRP number.

So, I sent an email to FedEx summarizing the above (without the nasty, snarky, and cynical sarcasm), gave them the PRP number and asked them to send me the tracking information, but if it was easier, just send the tracking number associated with the PRP number.

They declined, saying it was a matter of security to protect the shipper.

I replied, pointing out that I was the shipper; I confirmed for them the day and address from which they picked it up. Instead of tracking, I inquired, maybe I could just have confirmation that it was delivered?

They responded, noting that the tracking number was on the PRP label. Which of course no one actually has, since it's just a number given to you when you call in.

I've re-re-re-replied to them (maybe one more re-?) pointing out the obvious: I don't have (and never had) a PRP label and stupidly thought all I would need was the PRP number. At this point my emails are seriously snarky, but I really don't care. It's apparent that they are simply never going to tell me anyway. It's like dealing with the cranky clerk in a governmental office, you're never going to get through the bureacratic red tape.

Seriously: I'll never willingly use FedEx again. Sometimes they are cheaper than UPS, but I don't care. This kind of nonsense just speaks to how @#%$&*! up their organization is. And if I have a scenario with a return label I'll be sure to photocopy the thing, and since it's a matter of security, I'll post a picture of the label on the web. ;)

What a bunch of idiots.

Now I'm sure there are some regional shippers who are worse than this and if you're stuck with using them you have my sincere sympathies. But for a multi-billion-dollar company with assets all over the globe, it's stunning that they are this bad.


So what's your story?
 
I prefer UPS for two reasons:

1. The UPS customer service center is 12 miles from me. FedEx customer service center is 35 miles away.
2. The UPS customer service rep here is a total GODDESS. I have yet to see anyone cute at the nearest FedEx counter.

:p
 
Yeah we've got something worse over here called Yodel. They couldn't find their arse from their elbow, with a satnav :D
 
So it's hair-pulling, full blown tantrum time?

Is there a shipper WORSE than FedEx?
Click to expand...

Yes, the USPS.

We just moved our offices (6 weeks ago) into an industrial complex and this is the easiest way to show you...

https://goo.gl/maps/6yqqhySqPSz

We are the building at the top, although my boss owns the lower building as well. In any case, this was built in 1999 and been fully occupied from day one with the same address. So I place my first Amazon business order after the move -- it was a trigger switch for the hand-held scanners the guys use in the warehouse. After a few days, I don't see the package so I track it using the number from Amazon. It takes me to the USPS website, even though the shipping confirmation was with UPS. Mind you we are both UPS and FedEx shippers and have daily pickup and delivery. We know all the drivers etc. Anyway the USPS returned the package to sender with the notation that the delivery address does not exist.

I logged into the USPS Address lookup and it verified the address alright, so I called the local post office. Apparently we are not an official stop. Because we are considered a rural route, we need to have a box at the curb so the postal worker doesn't have to get out of his vehicle. I asked him what we should do. He offered me three suggestions ...

1.) Since we have a P.O. Box, for packages under 50 lbs. have them sent to the post office with our name but their address and include the box number somewhere on the package. They'd hold it for us until we picked it up.

2.) Or, we could put a box out by the road and have someone check it every day. I asked him about packages that wouldn't fit in the box and he said they'd then leave a notice for someone to pick up the package the next day at the closest branch.

3.) Finally, he said we might consider having packages shipped to a valid delivery stop like an employees home address.

I politely explained that with the deals UPS and FedEx have struck with the USPS for end-point delivery, there's no way for us to know WHO will be bringing the package. Then I offered him a suggestion, and he politely explained that not only was that illegal in 4 states, it was physically impossible to stick his own head .... um, well ... never mind. It didn't help.

Moving forward, I get a notice from Amazon that we need to update our address because of the returned shipment and when I go to do that, it gets rejected as non-existent. This was the same address that both Amazon and USPS verified just a week earlier. All I can think of is that the USPS removed it from their database.

All of a sudden, our vendors start getting notices that the shipping address isn't valid, so they try to verify which suggests a different zipcode (the zipcode for the branch where our P.O. Box is located). Both FedEx and UPS have informed us that if that address is used there will be a $2 surcharge for having the incorrect shipping address for each delivery. We get a lot of deliveries, so this is significant. And apparently UPS, FedEx and USPS all synchronize their data because now UPS and FedEx will only verify the wrong address and reject the correct one.

It took close to a month to straighten this out. :mad:
 
Back in '97 I lived in Ft. Collins, CO. Between July 27th and July 28th we had 14.5" of rain, most of that falling in a 7 hour time frame with devastating effects. This would become known as the Spring Creek Flood.
Most of the Archive Rooms and basements at CSU were flooded as well.
What does this have to do with FedEx?
At the time I worked as a purchasing agent for Consolidated Electrical Distributors. CSU maintenance was one of our biggest clients. In addition to various precious archives there are also maintenance rooms filled to the brim with switch gear, breaker boxes and panels all of which were ruined. They needed to be replaced ASAP.
My job as purchasing agent was to track this equipment down and get it on the next flight.
We used UPS exclusively for such things. One problem though, the Spring Creek Flood coincided with a major UPS strike .
Needless to say, FedEx took this opportunity to decide that they were not going to take on any new commercial customers.
I was on the phone for 24 hours straight. Calling every backwoods overnight shipper I could, along with the rest of UPS's client base. And when CSU didn't get they're gear on time.... guess who's fault it was?
<---------This guy's.

The day after


I've been waiting a long time to tell that story.
 
Last edited:
Wilson_The_Volleyball.jpg
 
rootabaga said:
Wow. I happened to be living in FoCo at that time and worked just a couple of blocks (Rutgers and College) from Spring Creek. I walked down there at lunchtime and took a few pictures (this was in the olden days, I have no idea where the prints are). The path of destruction was pretty impressive; there was a frame of a mobile home (the rest of it had completely washed away) in Spring Creek and the frame was bent as well. The waterline on the Dairy Queen stayed for several years.

I moved away in 2001, you?
Click to expand...
Crazy small world this is. I lived at Horsetooth and Taft, where the heaviest rain fell. I saw cars floating down the cul-de-sac.
Watching that video again gave me chills for sure.
I moved to Windsor in 2000 and left CO in 2003. Just in the knick-of-time (nick of time?). Before all the Californians took over. :D
 
LOL

worst shipper experience I have had is UPS. They have thrown packages to my house from the driveway, or left a box marked fragile electronics outside and in the rain against my garage door.

Kicker the package was to require signature for delivery - and they just by passed it. Thank God my neighbor called and told me there was a large white box sitting at my garage door.

got home - box soaked - 19,000 dollars worth of electronic test equipment sitting in the rain unsigned for.

thankfully all items were packed in bags - and foam cores. but still - signiture upon delivery, insured for 25K - just left out.

Incidentally they all have their issues and most of them come down to the workers in various locations that just don't care. there is only so much you can do to fix that and they all have the same problems.

OH and the ladies that run my local FedEx Office store are 8's or higher and as friendly as they can be. FYI.
 
FedEx and UPS both in my rural grasslands have good drivers who put my stuff behind the door if they can fit it in there... that comes from our attitude around here, most of us are farmers or ranchers or friends of same....

the worst though, IMO is FedEx Smart Post... what a joke, I will never again buy from a vendor who ships via that method... kiss the shipping schedule goodbye and get ready for lost packages. yup, they lost a new battery for me last month.
 
yeah - that's the whole hand off to the postal service crap. I'm not a fan either.

Amazon has started doing that too.
 
For residential delivery for smaller packages, I totally get the efficiency of using the USPS for end-point delivery. The postman is going there anyway (most likely) and all UPS or FedEx would have to do is drop the packages of at the branch. It saves them duplicate travel and it gives the USPS some sorely needed business. But, for commercial deliveries or larger packages, it just doesn't work that well.
 
lunatic59 said:
For residential delivery for smaller packages, I totally get the efficiency of using the USPS for end-point delivery. The postman is going there anyway (most likely) and all UPS or FedEx would have to do is drop the packages of at the branch. It saves them duplicate travel and it gives the USPS some sorely needed business. But, for commercial deliveries or larger packages, it just doesn't work that well.
Click to expand...

the problem with it is, what is a two day normal USPS delivery, turns into 10 days or worse!!!

I tracked my phone batteries from California to Pittsburgh, PA and then to KC, MO and from there to Tulsa, OK and poof!! they lost them.

I get orders from Los Angeles in 2 days by mail for gawd sakes....
I will Never again use anyone that admits to using Smart Post.... Smart, it ain't
 
I have never had the USPS give me a problem with residential/home delivery. Even smart post. Maybe it has to do with location and delivery on rural routes, I don't know. I have had UPS and FedEx mess up shipments that were so screwed up I ended up getting the same delivery three times. I agree with @Napalm that each company has it's own legacy of fails.
 
I have a locked entry on my apartment building. UPS will not even attempt to deliver as part of some new plan. So I have to drive to the hub to pick it up. Fedex on the other hand left $500 with of computing equipment in the hallway outside my door. So convenience or reliability. Or they could do like my USPS carrier does, ring the buzzer for my apartment when I have a package. If I don't come down he tries again the next day.:rolleyes:
 
My postal worker is pretty good. It probably helps that's she lives like three food down from me.

She hand delivers my packages.

UPS does okay, usually.

FedEx drops whatever on my doorstep, rings the bell, and dashes.
 
Napalm said:
LOL

worst shipper experience I have had is UPS. They have thrown packages to my house from the driveway, or left a box marked fragile electronics outside and in the rain against my garage door.

Kicker the package was to require signature for delivery - and they just by passed it. Thank God my neighbor called and told me there was a large white box sitting at my garage door.

got home - box soaked - 19,000 dollars worth of electronic test equipment sitting in the rain unsigned for.

thankfully all items were packed in bags - and foam cores. but still - signiture upon delivery, insured for 25K - just left out.

Incidentally they all have their issues and most of them come down to the workers in various locations that just don't care. there is only so much you can do to fix that and they all have the same problems.

OH and the ladies that run my local FedEx Office store are 8's or higher and as friendly as they can be. FYI.
Click to expand...

That's disgraceful!

You're right, in these cases, the delivery person just doesn't care.
 
My worst was UPS.. Especially in cities. First incident ever using UPS was having ordered the last of its kind Zero Sk8board hoodie. They couldn't find my address so they sent it to a previous address.. ..?!
Ever since that, pkgs were damaged or left in the rain and/or inside the gate with the horse. [emoji12] Thankfully I beat the horse to it both times.
FedEx (so far) always puts pkgs in bags and outta the horse's reach. I was blown away at the extra protection the laptop had as well.
 
FedEx delivers to my home sometimes 4 or 5 times in a week, but 2x weekly is probably the average. Maybe had damage problem 3 times in 3 years, but nothing I couldn't take care of quickly with shippers - always seems to be shipper packaged wrong for the item.

FedEx maybe twice has delivered a wrong package, so guy in box truck just grabbed a wrong box.. before he gets to next destination somehow his sees my box name/address and comes back very quickly.

All FedEx drivers are super good, better than a few of the UPS drivers, but in general most of UPS guys/girls are OK ... .

and when anybody does that final mile exchange to the post office... that's like adding on another 3 or 4 days usually - USPS seems to get it local or at some other main post office, then send it to the main airport mail processing center in another city before sending it back local to put out for delivery. Sometimes USPS seems to send it several hundred miles away the wrong directions from the local post office before routing it back. Strange but I guess there is a reason.
USPS never knocks on door,, they just quietly leave it and run... wish they would knock quick like FedEx/UPS always does. If there is a problem with a USPS delivery, they have nothing to do with problems.. talk to the shipper not them. Recipient has no interest in that package even though Recipient had paid for the item and its cost of shipping.
 
I know I've always had problems with DHL, horrible, horrible company, why anyone ships with them is beyond me, I'm actually waiting on a package from USPS right now and their shipping partner was DHL, haven't received any updates on the tracking and to my knowledge USPS has not got the handoff from them.. they are a POS company.

Now USPS I have never had a problem with AT ALL!!

UPS is my second, Fedex is my 3rd and DHL I would avoid at all costs.

I thinks its just when people have problems with carriers its likely a local/regional thing.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom