FedEx Stinks

[Poconos]

My eperiences with FedEx really stinks. Most recent, today, is a delivery from Microcenter, y'all know that place in St. Davids I'm sure, for a couple 1 GB flash drives. FedEx home said they were delivered to my front door yesterday, 14 Sep at 06:15 PM. Sure....called FedEx and they put a trace on the delivery. Was shooting bull with a neighbor this afternoon and saw the FedEx Home truck heading down the road. Chased it, he was in my driveway. Rural place. Got the package. Now...have had issues with FedEx before. Their depot in Wilkes-Barre, PA. has Home, Express, Ground all in the same facility. No communication between them. I was told this before by someone at that faciluty. This guy didn't deliver my package to the wrong address yesterday...he had it on the truck. I chased him. Was too lazy or running late and that was it. Simple excuse. As I said, not the first time. A friend in West Virginia recently had a pool liner missed. Too lazy to drive up a hill. Sound like I'm bashing FedEx? You bet. Any time I can specify delivery, it is not FedEx. What I understand is they use contract drivers in rural areas and the drivers aren't familiar with the routes. May be wrong about that but UPS and the USPS have no trouble finding me.
Al
Edit: $16 for a 1 GB flash drive is pretty cheap. They work fine. Came from San Jose, CA.

[Pi rules]

I personally prefer FedEx over UPS. When Newegg used to use FedEx only, I would order over the weekend, the order would process Monday and I would receive it Wednesday, although the FedEx delivery was scheduled (and predicted) for Thursday. 1 day early is pretty good. Now that they switched to UPS my boxes have had slight dents in them (presumably rough handling) and (if I'm lucky) they come Thursday. UPS is OK, but FedEx (IMO) is best.

PS: $16 for a 1 GB flash drive is pretty good, I thought $15 for my 512 MB was a good price.

[casey]

I had UPS deliver to a neighbors house two deliveries in a row, I was waiting for him and stopped him as he delivered to my neighbor only to find out the package was mine. A couple of weeks later He did the same thing..

My gripe is I live about a mile and a half from UPS and two miles from Fedex and less then half a mile from DHL but even if the package is put on the truck at 7 am it won't be delivered until 6 pm..

[Guest117]

I flew commercial airlines with my job for many years and only had my luggage misrouted one time and they were delivered to my hotel room that night. Point of this drivel: Can't please everyone. But it's the times you aren't pleased that stick in one's mind.:rolleyes:

[kelly]

Sounds like a problem with the driver. Another driver may do a better job. But then again, doesn't that sy something about FedEx's training and HR hiring personnel?
Down here I get delivery from FedEx, UPS, and DHL. All do a great job. I track shipments on-line and never had an issue. This goes further to point out that it's the driver, training, and hiring practice at the local office. Sounds like FedEx needs some help up there in Wilkes-Barre.

btw: I picked up one of those flash drives for myself at Micro Center. I also purchased 5 more for one of my computer user group members. Good deal!!
- tony

[mylanta]

Fedex always gets the package there quicker. Biggest problem I have with Ups is almost everything we buy of a pc nature these days ships from Ca. 7-9 days delivery and by the time it gets here I forgot I ordered it. Fedex much quicker. They did deliver a Tv in 2 pieces one time, but Ups also was rolling a copier from San Diego one time end over end on my sidewalk instead of using a hand truck, and it had arrows facing up larger than the driver. What a mess inside.
From the WC, Priority mail is usually cheaper and gets here in one piece in 2 days. I have reached the point on eBay where I always query the seller to see if they will ship Priority Mail before bidding, because it is so much quicker and is never broken either.
I had an employee a few years ago who worked in Ups Harrisburg depot at night also and he used to tell stories of the warehouse help playing "touch football" with packages to relieve boredom at night. That was enough for me!

[photolady]

Well, I used to trust FedEx over UPS until I shipped a computer to Arizona, and it arrived with a large dent in the top of the case, all parts inside were either loose or hanging out of the slots. I filed a claim against them and they said they checked it and all parts were ok. How they checked it when the box was never opened by them, I'm thinking they didn't check anything inside at all. I even had before and after photos but they still insisted nothing was wrong. They did say I didn't use proper shipping tape, but the irony is, my shipping tape was not broken, only the box edges were damaged. So, I gripe about FedEx now and won't use them in the future either.

[dbarrow]

Unless you happen to be looking out the window when you hear the delivery truck...
Some of the online companies only deal with FedX or UPS.
You get no choice.

For many years, my local UPS guy was someone I knew so he would always knock and wait or if nobody was home, would put the package in my car and lock the door. Since he retired, the replacements have been exceptional as well.

FedX, on the other hand, was a real problem.
If you don't file the "signature" form for shipments that require a signature, they attempt delivery three times and then YOU have to drive to the distribution center to pick it up. Having made the 17 mile trip several times, I filed the form so they just leave it instead.

That follows the one delivery guy who was so sneaky he could have been a burglar. I watched the truck pull up, he snuck up on the front steps so quiet even dog never noticed, never knocked and sped away. The third time it happened, I got in my car and chased him down several blocks later. We had some words, and a phone call to his office.

Lately, now that the no signature form has been filed, I often become aware of the delivery by the thud of the package hitting the front door where the delivery guy made a 50yd pass from the side of the truck. Real nice for something like a motherboard or hard drive!
Oh! and they drive away like they just committed a crime and are fleeing the scene! No time to retrieve the mangled package and refuse delivery. You have to drive it back to the distribution center (again a long hike) and send it back and endure grief from the people there about the return.

[Poconos]

I love the comments. Keep them coming. My daily humor. Luckily I don't order that much stuff. As Tony said, it may be that FedEx needs to improve their hiring practices. Maybe the fact that UPS has a policy of not re-hiring personnel if you quit, except for academic reasons I believe, they retain higher quality people? The UPS guy here knew where to leave stuff if I wasn't home, where it would be secure and safe, even with a signature required. First name basis too. Have to admit I've never had an issue with damaged goods with any company. Several years back, when the county and Post Office was redoing addresses a couple times, it was so bad FedEx would send me a postcard saying they couldn't find my house. Gee...the postcard got here, UPS got here. With all this hi-tech mapping etc why couldn't FedEx figure it out? Try and beat this one....a couple years ago ordered a processor from Microcenter. Was shipped out of Ohio and arrived less than 24 hours later with the next day mail delivery...USPS. Another funny story. Couple years ago ordered some nasty bug juice for my fogger. Came with so many warnings on the box the driver handled it very carefully. I expected an EPA inspector to follow the truck up the driveway.
Al

[Guest117]

UPS verses FedEx (http://www.37signals.com/svn/archives2/ups_vs_fedex_one_experience.php)
Now you can read what others have to say.
As here, opinions vary by experience. Some pretty funny.
Some pretty outrageous.:rolleyes:

[mylanta]

Computer stuff? 7-9 days and it's obsolete.:D
One bad experience does not a total disaster make. IMHO which means absolutely nothing.:D
Now I never said obsolete, just I can't remember that far out!

[Guest117]

Now I never said obsolete, just I can't remember that far out!

You didn't say it. I did. As fast as the field moves, some things are out of date by the time they are received. I was in the business also and stocking levels were a major pain in my donkey.:D Here today, gone tomorrow.:rolleyes:

[Terry Hanushek]

Rich

Fedex always gets the package there quicker. Biggest problem I have with Ups is almost everything we buy of a pc nature these days ships from Ca. 7-9 days delivery and by the time it gets here I forgot I ordered it. Fedex much quicker.
In order to get a fair comparison you need to look at the class of service. At one time (20+ years ago), FedEx was the expensive overnight express shipper and UPS was the low cost ground shipper. Since then both companies have become full service carriers with different classes of service from overnight to several days by ground. This doesn't sound like an apples to apples comparison.

Terry

[Terry Hanushek]

Al

My eperiences with FedEx really stinks.
Over the years I have used FedEx exclusively for overnight shipments (mostly documents) and never had a problem. I have used UPS several times for ground shipments of heavier items with equal satisfaction.

Until I moved my office two years ago, I knew both the FedEx and UPS route drivers and never had a problem - they were always accommodating even if I was not in the office on their first stop. I can see that the biggest factor in most of the poor service comments in this thread regard the (lack of) performance) by the delivery drivers. This can be a significant factor particularly if you are in a rural area or have a low volume of shipments.

Terry