I’d like to preface this post by saying this isn’t really related to anything financial today. Still might be a good read (and maybe good laugh) and I’d like to know if anyone else has had this happen to them.
Do you have one of those days where you hope you can get something accomplished, but come to find out you have to rely on someone else’s schedule? And by schedule, I mean an inconvenient one? You probably have had a run in with the cable company where they let you know they will be arriving from 8:00am to say 5:00pm. Quite the range they give you, I’d say. You make all the necessary changes to make sure you are home and then they stroll in after 5:00pm. How great is that?
Anyways, I just had to let you know of a thing that happened to me recently that made my head spin. I had ordered an item from Dell early last week and instead of trying to ‘guess’ when the delivery driver would come to our apartment, I decided to be smart and have them deliver the package right to my work. Luckily, we get a number of deliveries from Dell and I procure all the packages from them as well, so I figured not a big deal. It sure beats always seeing those stickers on the door saying ’sorry we missed you and we’ll try again tomorrow’. Sadly, I was wrong…
Several days passed and I was surprised to see that there was no tracking information available even though I received confirmation that the item was shipped. I made a quick call to Dell and was given my tracking number promptly, so far so good. I looked up the tracking information online and was shocked to see they had tried to deliver the package twice already…after 6:00pm!
I felt like I was in a SNL ‘REALLY’ comedy sketch with the delivery company *cough* FedEx. I was so confused why they would attempt to deliver my package, not once, but twice after normal business hours. I gave FedEx a call and told them my situation and they acknowledged my request to notify the driver to deliver the package within normal business hours of 7:00am to 5:00pm. Alas, no package, but they did try a third time to deliver after hours.
The next morning I called again and explained my situation again, but got the same scripted response that they will let the delivery driver know. Generally speaking, they were very rude even though I was being very polite as if it was my fault for having a personal package being shipped to my place of employment.
So, after four attempts, I finally got my package. I suppose I’ll think twice before I ever decide to try and get a package quicker having it shipped to my work. Sorry for the rant, just had to get that off my chest. No disrespect to FedEx as they still do a great job, but boggles my mind the way they handled this situation. I think they could have saved quite a bit of gas by planning their route better!
I guess if I blogged full time I wouldn’t have to worry about missing packages all the time! 
Anyone else ever have a time where you have loathed time sensitive deliveries? How about those service calls with an 8 hour window for your convenience?
Stupidly Yours,
Matt
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
When an item is shipped, it is either identified as being shipped to a residential location or business location. If the shipper believed that they were shipping residential, then your package would get no special handling in regards to business hours. If it had been noted (by the shipper) that the address was a business address, it should come between normal business hours. Also, generally, shipping to a business address with FedEx Ground or UPS is less expensive than shipping to a residence.
@Ralph
Thanks for the information, are you a delivery driver by chance? I have no idea if it came via FedEx Home or FedEx Ground, but I assumed when I entered in my business name and address it would be treated as such (I had no option of choosing my shipping options). I suppose what really got me is that I had to call twice before they even attempted to make a delivery before 6:00pm.
The good news, I got my package!
Stupidly Yours,
Matt