Fedex Sucks

I live on a school campus in Tullahoma , Tennessee. I ordered some supplements from BodyBuilding.com and chose Fedex Ground for shipping as it was the cheapest among the available options (other being USPS priority mail). I placed the order on the 22nd of June, which was shipped on the 25th because the supplements I ordered were on backorder (no problems, I knew it). According to the Fedex tracking status, the package was supposed to be delivered on June the 30th .

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The package was shipped from Boise, Idaho, which reached the North Salt Lake city the same day, that is the 25th of June. On the 29th it reached Memphis, TN, which's about 4 hours from my place (Tullahoma, TN). I thought it's on schedule and will be delivered on the 30th. Then on the 30th it reached Nashville, TN at 1539 hours. Nashville is about an hour from Tullahoma, TN. The package could have been easily delivered from Nashville to Tullahoma on the 30th. Fedex Express does deliver packages from Nashville to Tullahoma, but to my surprise (or may be because Fedex Express and Fedex Ground have different routes), the package was sent to Madison, Alabama, on July the 1st at 0136 hours. Madison, AL, is about an hour and a half from Tullahoma, TN.

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I always thought that Fedex Ground is different than Fedex Home Delivery. As a matter of fact, they are different or at least this is what that appears on the Fedex website. My package was supposed to be delivered by Fedex Ground, but it was getting delivered by Fedex Home Delivery. Well, it doesn't really make a difference because switching between the two is probable to make the delivery easier. I just thought of pointing it out as well because we will talk about it later.

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Fedex Home Delivery tried to deliver the package and came on campus around 1815 hours on July the 1st. All the offices were closed at that time so Fedex returned to Madison without delivering the package (well that makes sense and I am OK with that). We called Fedex the other day (that is the 2nd of July) in the morning and requested that the package be delivered today without failure before 1630 hours because the mail room closes at that time. The driver of the delivery vehicle ignored the message. As I was really desperate, I stood under the sun outside the mail room to receive the package myself. I stood there for an hour and a quarter from 1645 to 1800 hours. Fedex didn't show up, so I decided to track the status. I went back to my office and checked the status that pissed me off. The status was updated at 1727 hours (while I was still standing outside the mail room), which said "Customer not available or business closed." This part really pissed me off because the status was fabricated and not correct as I was standing myself to receive the package. Also, if the driver came yesterday and figured the campus was closed at 1815 hours, he should have come early the next day to make sure he delivers the package when the campus is open. Why would he come late again the next day? Well, the answer is he didn't come, but knew that the campus will be closed by 1630 hours, so he just changed the status as "Customer not available or business closed" without even attempting to deliver.

On the 3rd of July (Saturday) I called Fedex a couple of times to let them know that the tracking status was fabricated on the website, and that there was no delivery attempt by Fedex on the 2nd of July. I gave them my number to be given to the driver so that he contacts me when he's on campus. The matter was probably taken seriously because I called them a couple of times and claimed the status being forged. The delivery vehicle driver called me at 1545 hours and told that he will be on campus in 5 minutes. The driver showed up in 10 minutes in a white van, which didn't have any Fedex logo or trademark. It had a small printed-board that said Fedex Home Delivery in very small fonts. This probably is a distinguishing feature between Fedex Ground and Fedex Home Delivery. On further reading over the internet I found that the Fedex Home Delivery is actually a contracted and cheaper version of Fedex Ground. So basically, the driver was not an employee of Fedex. Anyways, let's not get into the details of the contract, or may be I will write it up later.

The package was delivered at 1600 hours, which didn't require my signature. I was still curious to know about the forged status that appeared for the previous day on Fedex website. I told the driver that I waited here yesterday for quite some time and you didn't show up, but the tracking status was updated. I also said that I reported the Fedex claims department about the status being changed without an attempt to deliver the package. On hearing this the driver got a little scared and didn't know how to react. He mumbled a little bit and said I was not on duty yesterday. I was not in a mood to argue with him because I got the package before a long weekend (the 4th of July weekend) and was quite satisfied with the Fedex customer service for their prompt action.

Now, many of you might wonder why I am whining about just 3 days delay when there have been cases where packages get delayed by weeks or even get lost or stolen. Well, I am very much fine with 3-4 days delay, but I am not fine with the forged status that appeared for the previous day while I was still standing under the sun waiting on the package. Also, if the shipping option chosen was Fedex Ground, how and why did it go to Fedex Home Delivery? So, should I say Fedex sucks? Well, I probably would!

If you guys have had any bad experience(s) with Fedex, please feel free to post it here.