Rant on shipping

[Diggin It]

Got one coming today. Ordered from a private seller on the Bay place Wednesday the 27th about 5-600 miles away. USPS shows it scanned through four stops yesterday each over 100 miles from each other.

I once placed an order and paid for expediated delivery because I was leaving town in a few days.The package didn’t show up so I set a big Rubbermaid container on my doorstep with a sign reading”please leave package in container.”
When I got home 3 weeks later my package was setting on the doorstep right next to the box. Luckily it hadn’t rained.

I think I told this story once before. Ordered an air conditioner from the Sears website (when it still worked). On the day tracking showed it out for delivery, I set a hand truck out by the drive way with a note to leave the box on it. Figured I'd just roll it inside to open.

Problem was, there was a screwup with their item numbers and instead of an air conditioner, they sent a small handheld digital camera.

After delivery, I go out and there it is ... a tiny little 4" x 4" box setting on the hand truck.

Driver must have thought I was nuts.

 

[PILOON]

Favorite delivery stunt here is to simply place or tie a delivery onto the roadside trash bins.
The kind that a mechanized dumpster uses remote arms to dump.

If U are lucky the delivery was tied to the trash bin otherwise it joins the garbage and gets compressed.

All our drives are long so we don't have any idea that the delivery took place until U take out the trash.
Many times I've noticed such a delivery and call that neighbor to advise him, especially if it is pick up day.

 

[Pixguy]

On a better note, I have to order parts for our retail stores occasionally and when we order from Partstown, like 5pm last night they'll UPS overnight for $27.50 (for a screw or 10lb motor) from PA to the Canadian border. It arrived today at 4:30 and dirt cheap imo.

 

[MossRoad]

I ordered a chainsaw off of Amazon on October 20 and they said it wouldn't arrive until November 1st. It showed up October 23! I was pleasantly surprised.

I ordered a gift for someone and they said it would ship USPS and arrive in 10 days. It arrived in 6.

Last week I ordered a carb for an older chainsaw that I want to get running. Ship USPS. They said about 10 days. It showed up in 4.

So 3-for-3 in the past weeks. Maybe they're just putting out long arrival times so if it shows up early, you think you're getting great service.

Kinda like when you go to a restaurant and they say it'll be a 40 minute wait and call your name in 25 and you think that's just great!

 

[ultrarunner]

The furnace motor I order this week with 4-6 weeks delivery arrived in 7 days and at will call this morning.

 

[Frankenkubota]

i guess this qualifies. in the past i've detailed how lowe's has screwed up my interior door order so bad they had to buy me a replacement from home depot.

i could go into details but in a nutshell,

i ordered 5 interior doors, about $500 each. they sat at lowe's for months because they had the wrong phone number for me. they were shipped back. 5 new doors were resent, 1 was damaged. reorder, damaged again. reorder, this time lowe's lost the door and say they can't get it anymore so they buy me one from home depot.

home depot door arrived last week, damaged!

i don't know for sure but i'm guessing all this damage occurs in shipping?

$500.00 for a door made of Cardboard!

 

[Diggin It]

^^^ I go to the stores and look at $50 doors. I dig through the stock and find ones with small dings that I can get for $25. Haul 'em home, no shipping.

 

[Frankenkubota]

^^^ I go to the stores and look at $50 doors. I dig through the stock and find ones with small dings that I can get for $25. Haul 'em home, no shipping.

here's the damage. it's on both sides. i tried to reglue it but it's frigging cardboard and turns to mush.

here's the door. They weigh a ton and i'm a puss so dragging these things around is no bargain.

i would just buy something else but all 5 interior doors are
3 ft x 8ft with frosted glass panels and i think one odd ball would look stupid.

Bastages!

 

[Oaktree]

So 3-for-3 in the past weeks. Maybe they're just putting out long arrival times so if it shows up early, you think you're getting great service.

Kinda like when you go to a restaurant and they say it'll be a 40 minute wait and call your name in 25 and you think that's just great!

That's probably exactly what they're doing, as opposed to promising ideal-conditions-only ship times like they used to. Makes sense to me.

 

[Diggin It]

Ordered something from Northern Tool via AMZ. I wenrt that way instead of direct from the NT website so I could get the equal monthly payments the AMZ card offers.

Though I had read up on the item several times before, I missed one detail that made it unsuitable for my needs.

I contacted NT through the AMZ seller contact portal and requested cancellation BEFORE the item had shipped. NT gave me a song and dance about a fully automated system they couldn't intercede on and cancel the shipment, but that after it shipped, I could call the carrier and request return to sender. Two days later, I get the ship notice coming via FedEx. I'm in town today, so I stop by one of the FedEx offices (the one that the package would be processed through) and make that request. They refused, told me I had to call the 800 number.

I've spent that last 20 minutes on the phone punching buttons and yelling at the stupid voice system before finally getting through to a person ... in Asia ... that I could barely understand. This person was fully uncooperative and as it turns out incompetent. After being 'done' with her and demanding a Supervisor several times, I finally got transferred to someone here in the US. This one knew her job and took the cancellation/return request and gave me a case number. She also told me she instructed the overseas agent how it should have been handled.

Now it remains to be seen if the package proceeds or stops.

Yes, it was my fault initially, but I gave them plenty of notice and there is no reason for NT to have shipped it and incurred that cost.

 

[Gem99ultra]

It seems to be routine these days that "Item has Shipped" simply means that they received your order and maybe even printed a label. It sure doesn't mean that the item is on the way. That's obviously an easy way that they can bill you early and operate on your money - not theirs.

 

[California]

Would anyone be interested in a shipping service that cost Half typical prices, But you had to drive to the nearest town to get (or send) your packages? (Sort of like having a PO Box at the post office but for packages....)

Amazon does that here (northern California). UPS stores, a few grocery stores, college bookstores are listed as alternate destinations generally to arrive one day earlier than to your home.

 

[California]

When my pallet forks were delivered, they were thrown off the back of the truck at the end of my drive.

Me too. Into high grass halfway between the house and lane. I had walked by there several times looking for them. After the shipper insisted they were delivered I looked for them a couple more times, and finally noticed them, well hidden in the tall grass. Thanks UPS.

 

[goeduck]

They refused, told me I had to call the 800 number. I've spent that last 20 minutes on the phone punching buttons and yelling at the stupid voice system before finally getting through to a person ... in Asia ... that I could barely understand.

We could have a whole thread on that subject. Very frustrating and time consuming, particularly when you wait through 30 minutes of bad music and then get told that you have the wrong department and "let me transfer you"...... Then another 30 minutes of bad music and another transfer....... And so on and so on. I spent all day on Wednesday of this week with my health insurance going though that.

Many websites are very limited and when you need to do anything beyond the standard selections, there is very little (capable) chat or phone support. And as you say, you often cannot understand them on the phone. For that reason, my first option is usually chat.

 

[PILOON]

Your call is very important, pls be patient as we have an above normal calls today---- music----
Repeat message---music---message saying to go to web site---music--- repeat---music---1/2 has passed by----CLICK--- (automatic cut off)=Dial tone!
Next AM @08:00 (hoping to be first in line) but same run around.
AND
If so lucky as to get a real person they have such an accent that U can't understand anything.

Reporting a Hydro outage around here is just about the worst frustration possible.
They have it all automated with canned messages, hints and suggestions and always say power will be restored in 3 hours. (rarely happens)

 

[ultrarunner]

Reminds me of a guy having trouble getting cable restored and was told dispatch is based on the number of subscribers affected…

He went out and pulled down the rest of the branch that took out his line increasing the number affected from 1 to 37 and in less then an hour two trucks were making repairs

 

[Doughknob]

Amazon does that here (northern California). UPS stores, a few grocery stores, college bookstores are listed as alternate destinations generally to arrive one day earlier than to your home.

But at half the price of 'to your door' service?

 

[Alan W.]

Your call is very important, pls be patient as we have an above normal calls today---- music----
Repeat message---music---message saying to go to web site---music--- repeat---music---1/2 has passed by----CLICK--- (automatic cut off)=Dial tone!
Next AM @08:00 (hoping to be first in line) but same run around.
AND
If so lucky as to get a real person they have such an accent that U can't understand anything.

Reporting a Hydro outage around here is just about the worst frustration possible.
They have it all automated with canned messages, hints and suggestions and always say power will be restored in 3 hours. (rarely happens)

If it gives you the option of dialing by extension # I will usually keep trying random numbers till I figure out their system. Then I’ll talk to everybody that answers. Telling them my problems.

 

[Diggin It]

^^^ Random number rings through.

'Hello, how can I help you?'

'Hey, a person!! Cool. I've been stuck in this phone tree for an hour. I need help with a package.'

'Hour huh? Well this is Pops the janitor and I've been trying to figure that dang thing out fer near on ten years now. I never know who's on the other end of this thing. Hey, you ain't a doctor are ya'? Maybe you can help me with my gout ...... '

 

[Pixguy]

Your call is very important, pls be patient as we have an above normal calls today---- music----
Repeat message---music---message saying to go to web site---music--- repeat---music---1/2 has passed by----CLICK--- (automatic cut off)=Dial tone!
Next AM @08:00 (hoping to be first in line) but same run around.
AND
If so lucky as to get a real person they have such an accent that U can't understand anything.

Reporting a Hydro outage around here is just about the worst frustration possible.
They have it all automated with canned messages, hints and suggestions and always say power will be restored in 3 hours. (rarely happens)

"Due to the larger than normal calls, you may experience some delay"

blah blah blah