*start rant*
So I ordered a Northwestern Football jersey to wear to work on Monday. FedEx was to deliver it yesterday but I knew I wouldn’t be home. I leave a note on my door, specifically telling them not to leave the package unattended and if within business hours, to please release to the office who often receives and secures packages for residents. Well, they ignored the note as the attempt was made at 2:38pm (within office business hours as well) and held onto it for a second attempt the next day, as their note said that a signature was required. Fair enough… I know they were following orders, but since I’m the one paying for this service, I feel that my order be the FINAL ORDER…. But it’s okay, I don’t like to get people in trouble, we’ll just call this: SERVICE FAILURE #1.
After receiving the notice, I called FedEx to request that they hold my package at the facility and I’ll pick it up as I’ll be in the streets anyway. I’ve also done this on several occasions. They hold it at the local branch, I flash my ID and I’m off with my package. Simple, right? So when I made the phone call to make this request, the agent snappily tells me that my shipper needs to call them and give that request. I replied, “Okay, that’s weird… I’ve done it before.”
I was just about to say, ‘no worries’ when dude cut me off and raised his voice, “WELL SIR LET ME TELL YOU WHY WE,” — this time I firmly cut him back off, not raising my voice but matching his intensity level, “I understand it’s your policy now, no need to explain it. It’s after my shipper’s hours of operation, so go ahead and re-attempt for delivery tomorrow. I’ll make sure someone’s home to sign for it.”
I thanked the gentleman and we ended the call. I’ve worked with FedEx for years and never once had an attitude issue with one of its agents. Strange times, indeed. Still, that was SERVICE FAILURE#2.
So this morning I get up and prepare the house for an apartment maintenance call and then clear the rest of my schedule so I can be home when FedEx gets here. I had some networking to handle today as well as an event to plan for the city, so I figured I would just work from home until my delivery came.
I go online to track the package this afternoon at 2pm…. and it says delivered – left at front door. The funny thing is that there was no door knock or no doorbell ring.
So I go out to check and there is no package. Well, I live in an apartment complex and I don’t talk to my neighbors so basically, my jersey got stolen.
I called FedEx, who set up a lost package claim to contact the driver to see exactly where he left it. Mind you, there is NO PLACE to hide anything at my door. At this point, I’m irritated because I know exactly what this means for my work uniform for Monday; it’s not happening.
At no time did FedEx have my authorization to leave my package ANYWHERE but in my hands, which is why we had had the initial problem in the first place however, had they READ MY NOTE and FOLLOWED DIRECTIONS as given by the paying customer on a rather large note taped to my door, we wouldn’t have this issue.
SERVICE FAILURE #3 FedEx, in less than 24 hours. I’ve never personally dealt with that much fail from one vendor in such a short time, EVER. I’ll be doing business with UPS when available going forward, thank you.
So after filing a lost package claim with FedEx, I called Fanatics (my sports vendor) and spoke to this cat named Justin, who was totally the opposite from FedEx. He listened as I told him the importance of having this package for my work uniform. He explained to me that since the warehouse was closed unfortunately we couldn’t get another shipment out by Monday (also a holiday) and again expressed sincerity when addressing the matter. After that he proactively checked the inventory to make sure he could send it Tuesday… sadly, it was sold out and not coming back as it was last year’s model. So he issued me a refund. Before we ended the call though he asked me if there was anything comparable I wanted to order that he could ship out Tuesday morning if possible and allowed me to login to my computer to look at the gear page while he waited. In the meantime, he offered to take a look as well for alternate jerseys.
As I browsed the Northwestern page, he told me to type an item code into my search engine on the web site.
What popped up was the NEW Northwestern Football Jersey with the Big TEN logo on it. It cost about $20 extra but to offset that a bit, Justin offered me a $10 credit in addition to my refund to meet me in the middle, due to the inconvenience of it all. So I have store credit of $10 and when my refund money comes back it would be just $10 more overall for the better (and current) Northwestern Football jersey.
I’ve worked in call centers for several years and that is how a customer SHOULD be treated. In a nutshell, though I won’t be able to rock my Wildcats purple on Monday, I have a better one to wear for the next event and the story has a happy ending.
We’ll close on this note though, F*ck FedEx!
That is all.
Showtorious Unplugged 