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FedEx - is it just me...

Get a UPS Store P.O. Box. Can easily send out UPS, and can receive both mail and packages from anyone. They sign, nothing ever left outside or stolen, and all the shipping companies know exactly where it is. If busy at work, you can collect your package later/next day. Highly recommended.
 
I have had almost no success stories with FedEx parcel. They do great with their LTL freight services, but parcel is terrible. For work and for my musical hobbies, I'll only use UPS for parcel shipments. FedEx is a dealbreaker.
 
if i'm shipping i'll use UPS or USPS (both out of convenience/location), but if i'm the recipient: i've had good (normal) and bad experiences with all of them.

seems like they all cycle between normal and bad --- when UPS is acting up, fedex might be right on the money, and vice versa. we live on a 'private' lane and all three carriers are sometimes loathe to actually get a parcel on our porch...they dump it at our mailbox which is a football field away. :rollno:
 
I always believed the USPS is great for small packages but much more expensive on things like a complete bass??? No longer true?

Same. USPS in my area WILL damage it. Snapped a headstock off a bass once. The box with the fragile sticker looked like an accordion and was 3 inches shorter than when it was originally shipped. Yeah they dropped it hard. I also started having trouble with USPS opening packages in the town I live in once I moved here from adjacent town. That behavior does come and go, so I've wondered if feds show up from time to time and go through packages for some sort of an investigation.

The tracking system for Royal Mail is a big joke. I ordered some small stuff from Crimson Guitars... no tracking info from royal mail. Then all of the sudden -- after I email and Crimson bugs Royal Mail -- it's in customs in Chicago. I shrug, and several days to a week later I get the package. I wasn't expecting speed internationally, but it's weird to get an email from vendor stating it's shipped, and the shipper to have info stating that they haven't received it....

Between UPS, and Fedex..... it seems to change. At the moment UPS is winning in my area, but they used to be dead last. People used to pronounce them "oops" instead of saying letters U P S. But the best way is definitely getting a box at a local pack and ship place near by and use that for big packages. For some reason this makes all the shippers behave. :eyebrow: Unfortunately ours just closed...
 
I live out in the rural countryside; anytime I get a home delivery its an adventure. I get things thrown on the ground at the edge of my property, sometimes protected from rain and sometimes not. Sometimes delivered to a neighbor, sometimes hanging on my mailbox at the road, and once in a while actually to my house. This includes shipments of all kinds and via all shipping companies. By far the most reliable deliveries are from Amazon.

Thump on,

One_Dude
 
I live out in the rural countryside; anytime I get a home delivery its an adventure. I get things thrown on the ground at the edge of my property, sometimes protected from rain and sometimes not. Sometimes delivered to a neighbor, sometimes hanging on my mailbox at the road, and once in a while actually to my house. This includes shipments of all kinds and via all shipping companies. By far the most reliable deliveries are from Amazon.

Thump on,

One_Dude
My experience 100% . For some reason the "weekend" help is superb? Never an issue when delivering on Sat or Sun when we're home.
 
Quick rant.

Every single time FedEx gives me a delivery date, the next day they UPDATE it with a date that's 2 days earlier, and then I get no updates...

...and it arrives 2 days late. On the original date they sent.

Do they do that just to be annoying? Is it just in NYC? I wouldn't mind if my wife wasn't home waiting because she has to sign for it.

Not just you...but I live in the boondocks. Usually choose for them to leave without signing. Still late.
 
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Just 2 weeks ago, i had same experience. Bass to be delivered on a specific day, then updates to arriving early, then arriving late, then arrives on original day....it is annoying they even update to earlier delivery.. On top of that, 2k bass was delivered to wrong house 2 houses down:banghead:
 
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I have a delivery pending right now. It was shipped May 5. FedEx originally said it would arrive May 11. They then almost immediately updated it to May 9 (today) - yet as of now, their tracking page shows no sign of it having arrived at my local distribution center.

Irritating to say the least, as the item does require a signature.
 
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It's not even about time frames and dates anymore, as that's a lost cause.

I would be happy if any one of them could be counted on to deliver my package to MY house!

I joked one day about how USPS was always able to deliver my damn electric bill to my house with no problem, and then a day or two later I received someone ELSE' bill!

On the plus side, it was a major factor in helping me to stop ordering "Gas attack" gear.
Something has to be super special for me to consider putting myself through that anymore.
 
So I phoned FedEx around 11am. I had wanted to change the delivery to have them hold it for me… the website said no such location can be found. Now I know that’s incorrect, because I’ve done exactly that in previous instances. Anyway, I asked why their webpage tracking did not indicate the item was in and that when it comes in, I’d like to have it held for me. And the agent told me the package had arrived, that the reason it was not showing is because it had not yet been scanned**, and that it would be delivered this evening by 8pm.

That’s a half hour ago. No delivery. So I went back online. The updated page now says “No scheduled delivery date available at this time.”

This is beyond bizarre. Not only is their information totally discombobulated, but their phone agents are clearly and deliberately **LYING. How could that agent have known my package had arrived at the local distribution center when it had not been scanned there?? Answer: she obviously did not know. She was obviously following a script that tells her to BS the customer.

I find myself wondering whether FedEx is in some sort of organizational and/or financial turmoil. To not only lack any clear information, but to then choose to lie about it, is not a sign of a healthy company.
 
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Quick rant.

Every single time FedEx gives me a delivery date, the next day they UPDATE it with a date that's 2 days earlier, and then I get no updates...

...and it arrives 2 days late. On the original date they sent.

Do they do that just to be annoying? Is it just in NYC? I wouldn't mind if my wife wasn't home waiting because she has to sign for it.

I find that currently UPS and Amazon are clear about their delivery dates and almost always deliver on said day. Fed Ex has—for me—been consistently wonky since last Fall. A date is promised, often an additional notification shows a day earlier, then it doesn’t show. Late in the day a notice says tomorrow. And then the next day a notice shows saying the next day.

I cannot understand how they can be so bad as to do this consistently for months.