TB Classifieds deal gone bad-but it wasnt our fault! Good ending though

kjpollo · #1 03-01-2011, 12:48 PM

First- mods-if this is in the wrong place, feel free to move it

Second- this is being presented for comic relief- there is no ill will being expressed by either party to the failed transaction. Neither of us were at fault for what happened here!

OK, this starts back in the fall when I was anticipating getting some $$ from a Xmas bonus at work. I wanted an upgraded amp head so I started checking out our classifieds. I found a deal on a head that I've always been very curious about and I contacted the seller and told him my circumstances. He said he wouldnt bump the sale thread but he also wasnt taking it off the market either. Fair enough-he let me know right up front.

I got the bonus and found out the amp I was after was still available after one close call where someone else almost bought it. (I should've realized that close call might've been an indicator of what was going to happen)

I got a USPS money order and sent it out on Thursday 1/6/11 via Priority Mail. The lady at the Post Office said it would probably be delivered by Saturday the 8th or Monday the 10th.

Well, I went to the PO website on Monday the 10th to see if it was delivered and it was still showing the last location was a major Priority Mail center not far from where it was sent. I thought it was a little odd and contacted the seller. He wasnt overly concerned-he said his local PO was notoriously slow with everything other than Express Mail. By Friday the 14th, I went back to the PO and expressed my concern. The lady was nice enough but she said- dont worry, the money order is safe in their system??

Yeah OK, sure. Priority Mail is supposed to be 2-5 days service and this item wasnt even crossing the Mississippi River.

Here's where I learned something new. ONLY Express Mail and Registered Mail are 100% fully tracked by the Post Office-all other forms of expedited or tracked mail are only updated on their website when delivery occurs!

OK, so now the money order FINALLY shows up on Monday the 17th. The seller emails me and says he can see where there was a problem-the envelope was partially ripped apart. He figured it got caught in a processing machine somewhere along the line. The money order was wrinkled but otherwise OK. It took them 11 days to deliver when it should've only taken 2-5 days. And no refund on Priority Mail because its not a guaranteed delivery like Express Mail is!

So then my seller tells me he cant ship the head for another couple of days which is fine with me.
He emails me on the Thursday the 20th to tell me he dropped the amp with FedEx Ground. It was being shipped to my work address and they anticipated 2-3 days delivery time.

I check the tracking # and I get VERY worried because it showed a Saturday delivery on the 22nd and my office is not open on Saturday!
I get to work on Monday and I check with both our mailroom people and our facilities manager. There was nothing left at either door to our building-not even a notice that said they attempted to deliver.
I contacted the seller and he couldnt believe it- he said he didnt pay for Saturday delivery! Then it gets really interesting-the FedEx website said the package was delivered just after 1 pm on 1/22. We have security cameras that cover not just our front door but the entire front parking lot of our small office complex. According to our security video, there were NO FedEx trucks in our parking lot at all that day!!!!
So now the seller contacts FedEx to initiate a claim and I call them as well.
Odd thing about our building, if you use MapQuest to pull up our address, it actually brings you to a different building around the corner from my office. There is confusion on a lot of GPS/map systems about the location of our street address.
The funny thing about that other building? It houses a methadone clinic!! So if thats where the package was delivered, you can just imagine what happened to it!

Bottom line-FedEx took through February 14th to investigate from their end. The package was never found and they paid the seller for the insured amount plus the cost of shipping. He got the check from them late last week and I received a bank check from him today covering me in full.

Fortunately, we were both pretty calm and level-headed about things. There were no issues between the seller and me. No name-calling or other crap.
Neither one of us really lost on the deal- I have my $275 back so I'm where I was before this whole thing started. And the seller got the price he wanted for the amp. It kinda sucks that the amp just disappeared but no one got burned.
We both addressed our packages correctly but we each had serious problems with our chosen carriers!

Oren Hudson · #2 03-01-2011, 04:31 PM

I once ordered a wireless for use on a Saturday night gig. It was guaranted delivery on Friday. I do a good bit of my work in my home office. It's located where I can see my entire driveway out side by side windows. I was checking the tracking on it and while I was looking at it, the delivered entry appeared. What? I'm sitting right there and no delivery was made. I called UPS and they said it was delivered. I told them no way. I then called Musicians Friend and told them the story and that I didn't need the wireless now, so cancel the order and refund my credit card. They did. So, I guess some UPS guy got him a nice wireless. Good thing I was working at home and could verify that no delivery was made, in spite fo the fact that UPS said it was.

kjpollo · #3 03-01-2011, 05:41 PM

well, that takes care of the top 3 carriers. My deal went south based on USPS and FedEx and you had a problem with UPS.

That was pretty amazing that the "delivered" popped up while you were literally looking out the window where the driver should've been!

**xed** · #4 03-01-2011, 07:21 PM

Earlier this year i was waiting for fedex to deliver a package. I get home and the computer tracking says attempted delivery, will try tomorrow. Ok fine, i come home early the next day. While i'm home i get a phone call. It's the fedex girl who normally has my route and she says the driver is trying to deliver the package but nobody is home. I look outside, no truck. Well where's the driver? She says he's at my house. Errrrr.... No i'm at my house and i'm pretty sure i know where i live. Driver was on the road next to mine and the road names are completely different. Driver shows up 2 minutes later.

Makes me wonder how this would have gone if the driver had "delivered" the package.

The ups and fedex facilities are on my way to work. I'm serious considering having ALL packages held at the facility and i'll just pick up everything myself.

walker rosewood · #5 03-02-2011, 01:03 AM

AFAIK with Ups, you can call the 800 number and have them hold it at the facility, but ONLY after they've already attempted delivery at your house at least once. The number is on the back of the little notice they give you.

The thing is after three failed delivery attempts they return the package to the shipper and you're SOL. One time I was expecting a package to take a week, but was surprised when the tracking said it would arrive in 2 days. The problem was I was out of town. I did not want them to send it pack to sender. I searched high and low on their website and 20 minutes on the phone with revolving door automated systems, but there is no way to have them hold a package before that first delivery. And of course I would not be home to get the notice with the number.

Fortunately the UPS guy just left the package outside my door, and nobody stole it in the 5 days it sat there. Maybe the premium services have better options.

Downunderwonder · #6 03-02-2011, 04:52 AM

CourierPost holds all my parcels at local depot and puts a note in my mailbox. It's a standing order. They offered it to me as I was picking up yet another package they hadn't been able to deliver.

mkandolf · #7 03-02-2011, 10:17 AM

Fed-Ex regularly changes the name of the street I live on. Somehow, someway. I enter the name correctly to all shippers on their websites, but at least 75% of the time I have had to pick up my package at the depot due to them having the wrong street name on the address label. Crazy thing is, I even get a yellow note on my door saying they tried to deliver the package.

Go figure on THAT one!!!

And UPS in my area is better known as SmashUPS.

Dan Knowlton · #8 03-02-2011, 08:19 PM

Well UPS holds the record for me -

Wrong house number (apartment rather than single family home)
Wrong Street name - not even CLOSE!
Wrong Town

Well, at least they got the right State, Country, Hemisphere and planet. When I said that to the customer service person they were NOT amused! I made sure I had my package first....

Dan K.

My name is Mudd · #9 03-03-2011, 10:44 AM

FWIW re; bad addresses - I've done shipping/receiving professionally in the past, and I'll be the first to admit that there are some real idiots @ UPS/FedEx/etc, but...

In most cases, the shipping co. does NOT address the pkg - that is done by the seller's shipping dept. or seller themselves prior to the pkg being handed off to the carrier. I've had a few pkgs successfully arrive with a mangled address, thanks to a driver who knew who I was/where I lived.