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"Humped and Dumped, Yet Again". The continuing stooooooory of a boy and his lost package.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Last month I bought a used rear leaf spring for a '64 Corvette from a seller in Kansas. The seller did everything right when packing and delivering it to a FedEx Ground drop-off on October 25. They said the shipping would cost $18, and they charged it to my business account. This spring was never seen alive again.
GORY DETAILS:
When my package hadn't arrived after 5 business days, I called the FedEx toll-free number. The tracking report displayed on my computer screen showed no movement from the originating point in Wichita. The FedEx human I finally reached knew exactly why. She said the item had been "damaged in shipment". I asked her if FedEx had told the sender. She said no. I then pointed out that no one had called me either, and I wondered aloud what FedEx had in mind by holding the package and not telling anyone involved where it was. She had no response. But she did apologize for my "inconvenience".
I asked her to go ahead and ship it to me anyway. She said no can do; the item is completely ruined and unrepairable. I didn't buy this for a minute. We're talking about a steel leaf spring that could be safely dropped from a 3 story building without damage. But I couldn't convince Miss Congeniality to get the package moving again. She wouldn't send it to me or return it to the sender. What the Hell?
I phoned the sender to get him involved. He called the 800 number and got the same story, so he then drove to the Wichita terminal to find the spring. But there the story changed. The Wichita FedEx rep told him the package was actually in Kansas City. They still stuck with the "completely destroyed" line though.
The sender's call back to FedEx 800 got them to say they'd ship the damaged spring back to Wichita for his inspection. He agreed with me on the damage story. It smelled of a lie.
Another week went by and no spring showed up in Wichita. Numerous calls to FedEx 800 were always answered, but never returned with responses to follow-up questions. Finally some brave soul within FedEx spilled the beans: the spring "must have" become separated from its bar-coded label during handling "somewhere". FedEx "must have" then sent the (naked?) spring to its lost goods storage warehouse in Salt Lake City. However, they really weren't sure just what happened to the packing or the spring. They offered to check with the SLC warehouse and have them look for the spring.
Low and behold, the FIRST returned call from FedEx said they had found the spring and would send it back to the sender. It wasn't damaged after all, most probably maybe. The sender then asked them to send it directly to me in Mobile.
Another week went by with no word from FedEx. They had promised to call with a tracking number for the package from the Salt Lake City warehouse, but they never did. You can probably guess the outcome of this shipment. Last Wednesday FedEx showed up at my door with a new 4-leaf spring for some kind of Malaysian truck. I told them to take it back, but not before I wrote down the point of origin: "Northwest Research, SLC, Utah, (801) 649-2700".
Northwest Research turned out to be a private contractor hired by FedEx to "deal with" lost packages. They must share an address with the Salt Lake City Public Landfill, because they aren't much interested in delivering anything to its rightful owner. I was able to talk to Selena (x-2771) there. She sounded very polite and sorta optimistic until she checked their inventory. They only had about fifty (50) items under the "leaf spring" category. The truck spring had been sent to me because it was found at a FedEx location somewhere in Kansas recently.
The sender has now also talked to Selena. He's even e-mailed a photo of a Corvette 9-leaf spring to help her confirm the next sighting of my spring. But truthfully, I suspect that Selena will never leave her cubicle to check the 50 warehouse bins with alleged leaf springs in them. I think we've just plain exhausted FedEx's interest in solving this mystery.
So what now? The sender quickly refunded the purchase price to me even he before he filed his insurance claim with FedEx on Friday. I don't think I have any standing with FedEx to demand that they actually find my spring. My guess is the spring will ultimately be thrown away as "unclaimed" freight.
Make of this story what you will. It's all true and happened to me. I swear.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Last month I bought a used rear leaf spring for a '64 Corvette from a seller in Kansas. The seller did everything right when packing and delivering it to a FedEx Ground drop-off on October 25. They said the shipping would cost $18, and they charged it to my business account. This spring was never seen alive again.
GORY DETAILS:
When my package hadn't arrived after 5 business days, I called the FedEx toll-free number. The tracking report displayed on my computer screen showed no movement from the originating point in Wichita. The FedEx human I finally reached knew exactly why. She said the item had been "damaged in shipment". I asked her if FedEx had told the sender. She said no. I then pointed out that no one had called me either, and I wondered aloud what FedEx had in mind by holding the package and not telling anyone involved where it was. She had no response. But she did apologize for my "inconvenience".
I asked her to go ahead and ship it to me anyway. She said no can do; the item is completely ruined and unrepairable. I didn't buy this for a minute. We're talking about a steel leaf spring that could be safely dropped from a 3 story building without damage. But I couldn't convince Miss Congeniality to get the package moving again. She wouldn't send it to me or return it to the sender. What the Hell?
I phoned the sender to get him involved. He called the 800 number and got the same story, so he then drove to the Wichita terminal to find the spring. But there the story changed. The Wichita FedEx rep told him the package was actually in Kansas City. They still stuck with the "completely destroyed" line though.
The sender's call back to FedEx 800 got them to say they'd ship the damaged spring back to Wichita for his inspection. He agreed with me on the damage story. It smelled of a lie.
Another week went by and no spring showed up in Wichita. Numerous calls to FedEx 800 were always answered, but never returned with responses to follow-up questions. Finally some brave soul within FedEx spilled the beans: the spring "must have" become separated from its bar-coded label during handling "somewhere". FedEx "must have" then sent the (naked?) spring to its lost goods storage warehouse in Salt Lake City. However, they really weren't sure just what happened to the packing or the spring. They offered to check with the SLC warehouse and have them look for the spring.
Low and behold, the FIRST returned call from FedEx said they had found the spring and would send it back to the sender. It wasn't damaged after all, most probably maybe. The sender then asked them to send it directly to me in Mobile.
Another week went by with no word from FedEx. They had promised to call with a tracking number for the package from the Salt Lake City warehouse, but they never did. You can probably guess the outcome of this shipment. Last Wednesday FedEx showed up at my door with a new 4-leaf spring for some kind of Malaysian truck. I told them to take it back, but not before I wrote down the point of origin: "Northwest Research, SLC, Utah, (801) 649-2700".
Northwest Research turned out to be a private contractor hired by FedEx to "deal with" lost packages. They must share an address with the Salt Lake City Public Landfill, because they aren't much interested in delivering anything to its rightful owner. I was able to talk to Selena (x-2771) there. She sounded very polite and sorta optimistic until she checked their inventory. They only had about fifty (50) items under the "leaf spring" category. The truck spring had been sent to me because it was found at a FedEx location somewhere in Kansas recently.
The sender has now also talked to Selena. He's even e-mailed a photo of a Corvette 9-leaf spring to help her confirm the next sighting of my spring. But truthfully, I suspect that Selena will never leave her cubicle to check the 50 warehouse bins with alleged leaf springs in them. I think we've just plain exhausted FedEx's interest in solving this mystery.
So what now? The sender quickly refunded the purchase price to me even he before he filed his insurance claim with FedEx on Friday. I don't think I have any standing with FedEx to demand that they actually find my spring. My guess is the spring will ultimately be thrown away as "unclaimed" freight.
Make of this story what you will. It's all true and happened to me. I swear.
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