amitymamaThe Attachment Parenting Community

TheDoodysMom · 01-05-2004, 06:26 PM

My mom ordered DH some boots for his work. She just got home from work and Fed Ex delivered them to someone else's (on their street) house because my parents weren't home.

Why didn't they just leave them on the porch? My parents have an enclosed porch so no one can see anything from the street. Now they have to go to some random people's house to pick up DH's boots. What if these people decide to be dishonest and keep the boots (which were over $200)? Does anyone have any insight into the mind of a Fed Ex driver? Because I don't get it!

ZandLsMom · 01-05-2004, 06:32 PM

There is a spot on the FedEx shipping form for you to sign if you want something left at a the house without the recipient's siggy and another one for leaving it at a neighbor, if it's shipped Express 1, 2 or 3 day. I only use Express. I don't know what the ground and home delivery shipping/drop off rules are.

If it's shipped ground, I have no clue what happens. I pick things up from my neighbors now and then. I think that it's great that my neighbors think well enough of us to keep our items with care and that we'd do the same for them.

Hopefully, this experience will help your mom to get out and meet her neighbors. It could be that this happened for a very good reason, and it could all turn out even better than anything else in her life this month. Not everyone is a crook.

Of course, she can always call and complain.

annababy · 01-05-2004, 06:58 PM

(little disclaimer here) I work for Airborne Express - and I can only speak for what that company does in this case. But, it is probably pretty well in line with what FedEx will do as well. Also, I'm the Exceptions Coordinator, not a driver.

In the case that a driver misdelivers a shipment to an incorrect address - a customer can call the delivering station and request a pick-up and redelivery of that shipment.

YOU ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR ERROR!

If they refuse to do that, let them know that you will be filing a claim of loss on their part. Then, they will be responsible for refunding the full claimed value of that shipment. I can also tell you that the reason that they probably did not leave them was because the shipper's declared value or contract would not allow them to be left without a signature.

The only other advice I can give you is to be nice - but be very firm in telling them that this is what they are going to do. If the person you're speaking with acts like they don't know or can't get it done - get someone on the phone that does know how. Better yet, just go straight down to the station.

Good luck..... and if you need any more shipping-minded assistance, I'll do what I can for ya. I deal with this crap every single day.

be well.

anne

TheDoodysMom · 01-05-2004, 07:03 PM

Ohh, okay. I didn't know that leaving it at a neighbors house was something they routinely did! I'd never heard of it before. I guess leaving it with a neighbor is better than it be potentially stolen off a porch (which I've had happen).

annababy · 01-05-2004, 07:07 PM

To add to my previous post - what they should have done was leave an attempted delivery slip on the door stating approximately when they would be back. I know that our drivers are never supposed to just leave a shipment with anyone but the consignee unless we have a letter onfile stating this (or the driver has developed a business relationship with the person, so they know where it is acceptable to leave). The only exception to this might be leaving it at a rental office of an apartment complex or with a secretary at a business.....

heather · 01-06-2004, 05:45 AM

Hmmm, there seems to be a sort of epidemic...
A few years back I was staying in an apartment with a friend on a long term visit. She was gone to work and a Fed Ex truck was cruising up and down the road, about 4 times. Finally he stopped and tossed a huge Gateway computer box onto to porch and sped off! It was about to fall off the porch, and was really closer to the street than the house. So I brought it in and called my friend who informed me she had not ordered a new computer. The thing is, it was not addressed to my friends house...it was nowhere NEAR my friends house in fact! The guy just left it wherever he saw fit and took off. We tracked down the person who it was supposed to be delivered to, and as it turns out her exDh was using her credit card to order stuff online. She came and got *her* computer and thanked us for calling her. It would have been incredibly easy for a dishonest peron to have kept that computer and noone would have known.
More recently I had a huge custom cutting board built for my kitchen remodel that included a matching backsplash. The first backsplash was reported lost. Not a huge deal, the maker had enough wood to make another one and got paid by FedEX for the loss. Sent the 2nd one...said it was delivered in CA...Im in OR.

The maker got paid for THAT loss and made a board with the remaining scraps of matching wood. This one has been sent and was last seen in the midwest. I still have no backsplash and the maker has no more of the specific woods to make me another. Sigh.
-Heather