Fedex home delivery awful problems grab a gun problematic, bad comms

[1slow]

Preface
I am very aware of normal shipping proceedures and normal problems that happen.


FEDEX HOME DELIVERY AWFUL PROBLEMS

In my area, north of Columbia SC FEDEX home delivery is truly shitty. It has never been as good as USPS or UPS here, not that either of those is perfect.

This was true even pre COVID but is much worse now.

In the past 2 weeks I have had 3 shipments that went badly. 1 from amazon, 2 from Grab A Gun who I am never dealing with again !

In all cases tracking # information was contradictory or unavailable.

1 package shipped from GAG in TX to SC and was returned to TX as incorrect address. They had my PO Box, Street address, email and phone. This is BS.
I have been receiving at these addresses for 10+ years.


Amazon packages total 4 boxes, Tracking # said could not deliver not a valid address, I messaged for them to hold at FEDEX location.

Several days ago, 3 of the 4 were dumped at the end of my drive, no notification. 1 box torn open.

4th box is still floating around in the system ? FEDEX said it would be delivered yesterday. Has not shown up anywhere yet.


GRAB A GUN PROBLEMATIC, BAD COMMS

My problems with this vendor started with:

No delivery of a order,
1 package shipped from TX to SC and was returned to TX as incorrect address. They had my PO Box, Street address, email and phone. This is BS. I have been receiving at these addresses for 10+ years.

No communication that I did not initiate. This was over several weeks.
Order placed 5/13/22, order sent back to GAG (appropriate ) 5/31/22. I called 2 times. Still No help. 6/7/22 cancelled orders with GAG, refund my card.


CONCLUSIONS
I will never deal with GAG again they do not communicate with you and when you call them they do not have solutions / explanations.

If a vendor offers only FEDEX home delivery I WILL NOT ORDER FROM THEM !

[farscott]

Per federal law, only USPS can use PO boxes. If a shipping address includes a PO box, UPS and FedEx will not deliver. When using carriers other than USPS, only provide physical shipping addresses.

[rd62]

FedEx does suck though.

[Oldherkpilot]

Sorry for your troubles. My experience may be an outlier but I have only had good experiences with Grab A Gun. Can't say the same for FedEx, though.

[CDH]

Same here regarding FedEx. I request non-FedEx shipping or typically order elsewhere. It's that bad. Located southeast of Columbia.

[HeavyDuty]

Per federal law, only USPS can use PO boxes. If a shipping address includes a PO box, UPS and FedEx will not deliver. When using carriers other than USPS, only provide physical shipping addresses.

Actually, the private shippers have service that crosses over to USPS. My bestie is a postmaster, and she gets dropoffs for PO boxes all of the time. But it may be a special service, not run of the mill.

[4RNR]

Never paid much attention to the shipper. I order and things eventually show up. Live in the suburbs of a large metro area in a large tri-state area.

Having said that I don't actually do much online shopping so maybe it's just that the law of large numbers hasn't caught up to me yet?!

I did have an issue with FedEx summer of 2020, while on lockdown. Sent a Sig back to Sig over the July 4th weekend. They were very serious about me making sure I would be home to receive it back because someone HAD to sign for it or FedEx would send it back. I was home and sure enough FedEx left the gun on my front door step. Didn't call, ring the bell, knock on the door.... nothing. I only knew because I happened to hear the delivery truck pull away

To Sig's credit they had it back to me within a few days. I sent it out on Friday of the July 4th long weekend. Sat, Sun I assume they were closed as well as Monday. Plus it was covid so I'm sure they were understaffed yet I had the gun back Tuesday or Wednesday

Sent from my moto z4 using Tapatalk

[kwb377]

I was home and sure enough FedEx left the gun on my front door step. Didn't call, ring the bell, knock on the door.... nothing. I only knew because I happened to hear the delivery truck pull away


I bought an 1187P off GB and FedEx left the box (obviously long-gun sized and prominently marked "Remington") propped against the front door of my FFL (in a busy retail area). Luckily, I was watching tracking number, stopped by after work to see if they were there and found it before it walked off.

[mtnbkr]

Shipping service quality seems to vary greatly by region.

Here in my little corner of Northern VA, FedEx and USPS are great, UPS a distant 2nd, and DHL a VERY distant 3rd. When given a choice, I always go with USPS or FedEx.

Chris

[farscott]

Actually, the private shippers have service that crosses over to USPS. My bestie is a postmaster, and she gets dropoffs for PO boxes all of the time. But it may be a special service, not run of the mill.

It may be office specific as my PO in AL had multiple signs on the entry doors about not allowing DHL, FedEx, or UPS shipments to go to PO boxes.

Or it could be the partner programs where FedEx or UPS deliver to the PO who then makes the "last mile" delivery.

[HeavyDuty]

It may be office specific as my PO in AL had multiple signs on the entry doors about not allowing DHL, FedEx, or UPS shipments to go to PO boxes.

Or it could be the partner programs where FedEx or UPS deliver to the PO who then makes the "last mile" delivery.

I think it’s the latter. I know they pay USPS postage for that capability.

[Lost River]

Fedex example:

Locally they are contract drivers. recently I had one drop off a shipment of .38 Super brass. A box that was supposed to contain 2,000 pieces. I heard the doorbell ring and by the time I got to the door the guy was making a deliberate hasty exit. Upon opening the door I found the cardboard box open, plastic ripped and most of the brass missing.

https://i.imgur.com/BVjVfbM.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/MnCs0dV.jpg?1

I weighed it on my postal scale and figured it was a bit approximately 1/10th of the brass. A sent pics to Starline and they took care of the issue, though I order quite a bit of brass from them.

I avoid using Fedex if at all possible due to this type of crap.

UPS on the other hand (at least locally) has been on average extremely good. I ship every week and my local hub is staffed with excellent people. One in particular is probably more patient than the Pope or Mother Theresa with difficult people as I have observed him multiple times help rude/difficult/entitled people with service that the CEOs of UPS really should see.

I have had the same UPS driver for over a decade and he will hide a package under a doormat, or if he reads the label and think it is gun related , cover it with a snow sled in the winter. Just a very solid guy. And he always has a treat for Henry.


While the local customer service is excellent, when trying to deal with a lost package, it can be a bit tough. Initially it is handled offshore (India) and it takes a bit, and the process is lengthy. One thing I will say though, as I deal with the local guys multiple times a week, the one guy Jed has in the past taken my lost packages as his personal pet projects and worked on them until I received resolution.

Short version, I will take UPS every time over Fedex. I know that is purely a local case and other places it may be the exact opposite, but they are great here.

[blues]

FedEx was brutally bad around here for years. Truly brutal.

They've actually improved somewhat over the past year or two. I'm not expecting it to last, however.

[fatdog]

in my rural area Fedex Ground is purely awful, they fire contract carriers almost monthly and the next one is as bad or worse, I cannot count the horror stories with that outfit, my UPS route driver and USPS local rural contract route person are solid

[Erik]

FedEx and UPS are equally bad around here with the occasional bright spot for either if the driver happens to be a decent sort. I spent about 20 minutes on the phone with UPS customer service last night having a circular conversation with a lovely young (presumably) Indian woman who was completely unable to help and not very easy to understand. That is typical. In my experience FedEx isn't any better (or worse) and don't even get me started on the random idiots that work for Amazon delivery lately. Customer service is basically a lost art with a few limited exceptions as far as I can tell. Most of it seems to be viewed as a war of attrition on the part of the service provider.

[vcdgrips]

Nobody cares. CS in a sustained meaningful way by common carriers is a thing of the past. We are way past the WHY. We are force focused on the IS.

Your choices are simple:

1. Avoid FED EX at all costs

2. Or move to a place that has better FED EX.

It is highly unlikely that any amount of complaining/documenting is going to move FED EX in a meaningful and sustained manner.

Common Carrier Service is highly variable. I live in a major metropolitan area and I get quality service from Amazon, UPS and USPS in that order. Fed Ex is the weakest link by far. YMMV Greatly.

[Tabasco]

Actually, the private shippers have service that crosses over to USPS. My bestie is a postmaster, and she gets dropoffs for PO boxes all of the time. But it may be a special service, not run of the mill.

It's called FedEx Smart Post. Package is picked up by FedEx from the shipper, then transferred to USPS at the end.

[theJanitor]

Fedex here is the best. UPS is ok for receiving deliveries, but they can shove it with regards to shipping stuff out. USPS is USPS

[Crazy Dane]

I am on a UPS "retirement" route and according to the drivers, it is highly sought after and very competitive bid. All of that means to me is I get excellent service and if I'm home they like to sit and talk. I have never had a complaint about UPS.

I think Fedex uses drivers that cant read numbers. I have 3 inch numbers on 3 sides of the mailbox and 6 inch numbers on the front of the garage that you can see from the road as you are pulling in and I still get packages that do not belong to me. the flip side is have to hunt for my packages that are delivered else where. Luckily all of my closest neighbors are family and its easy swapping.

I fully despise smartpost, it is guaranteed to add 2 weeks to shipping.

USPS is what it is and is still a bargain for shipping. Their tracking is a joke, I have had packages delivered while tracking still showed pickup at the shipping point as pending.