Shipping nightmares. Anyone else use FedEx, UPS, DHL?

Ah man dont even get me started! Shipping companies are driving me nuts lately. I've eaten well over $1000 of INSURED shipments recently with FedEx. They've been a nightmare lately, so looks like I'll be attempting to switch back to UPS until they screw me over again too.
Here's one scenario....
I ship out a DIY front bumper order to it's destination, arrives there on time but the recipient says the driver just walks it right up his stairs like no big deal. This thing is supposed to be over 110lbs.... not going to carry that up a flight of stairs with no effort.
Well, packing is a bit torn and all the strapping/shrink wrapping from inside that was holding parts is torn and the main bundle of parts within is missing, as well as a couple dinged/bent corners the recipient says he can deal with.
So the guy literally got the center part of the bumper, the hardware, top tubing, and 2 plates out of the lot. I receive pictures of the package from the receiver, file a claim with fedex with the photos/invoice/etc which is supposed to take 3-5 days to process and in the mean time I re-ship replacement parts so the guy can get everything for his bumper together. New shipment arrives to him a week later, still no news on the claim..... fast forward another 2 weeks and I'm like why is my claim 'processing' still. Call in to Fedex the next morning and they say my claim is DENIED. WHAT?! Supposedly since it was a partial loss the recipient is supposed to keep the package in the same condition it arrived in until the claim process is complete, which apparently requires a fedex driver to inspect the shipment for missing parts. Well this is almost a month after initial shipment and 2 weeks after receiving the replacement parts, I doubt anyone can handle holding them that long... I'm supposed to tell my customer that he has to stare at his $600 of truck parts and not touch them?! Yeah right! SO the claim is denied based on their fine print you agree to when opening an account. I was a little pissed at them! Paid for 2 shipments cross country of heavy steel parts and ended up several hundred $$ in the hole from their F-up's and lack of upholding their 3-5 day claims process they advertised, which in this case took 3 1/2 weeks. If they would have went out to the guys house in the 3-5 days, the package still would have been there and the new parts would have been arriving right around the same time and it wouldnt have been a big deal. They simply say "sorry, this is our busy time of the year for claims"

 

FedEx damaged a 45 pound spool of welding wire I ordered yesterday. Now to fight with someone to get a new spool...

 

http://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/UPS-Salaries-E3012.htm

I stand corrected I am sorry

this is where I got my numbers from...

I applied at UPS for a driver position and they said that I would need to start as a driver helper first for at least 2 years... hence the $8 an hour they pay around here.

if $15/hr is good then you must not live in New York state

 

2007 $2100 dollar lift kit went missing for over a month. UPS ground. Never located the package and Luckily I was able to make a claim and get a new kit shipped

last month fed ex left a $550 eotech red dot scope on my porch even though I requested signing.

 

I stand corrected

 

I stand corrected

 

Ive been waiting for a shipping container of glass from Spain and it's just sitting in Newark port waiting to go through customs for three weeks. It was 'lost' for a week in the port before they could even find it. Importing blows. Exporting is so much easier because we ONLY ship FOB (something all shippers should do IMHO).

Next time your waiting for a truck only talk to dispatch and get the dispatcher to call the driver or give you his number. Even when Ive done that they have still screwed me over, but it's a step in the right direction.

 

I feel for ya!

Status right now is the first half of the shipment arrived yesterday at 2pm. 24 hours after it was supposed to arrive. The driver (Who barely looked 18 to be honest) said his boss was out driving the route yesterday because 2 drivers called in sick that day. So now I see what happened. The boss-man didn't want to drive all the way to here to drop off his last package, so he figured no big deal to just ignore it and not call. I already have a complaint filed with DHL right now. The corporate person I talked to got a real earful after I also found out that not only did the second box miss the Thursday am flight, it ALSO missed the Friday am flight. The word on that one is I "should expect" to see it Monday afternoon, 4 days AFTER it was supposed to arrive. The shipper has already filed a complaint, demanding his shipping fees be returned because he says "We are worried that this may stop the purchaser from buying from us. We are looking at lost revenue in excess of 12k per year if this happens" He told me that if they receive a refund, that amount will be credited towards my next order, if I wish to place one.

 

There's a certain tact and art with customs clearance on the part of both the sender and the broker. e.g. In the declaration form, describing the item as "car parts" will lead to far more hassles than "steel brackets", though both are technically accurate. Did you contract your own broker or rely on FedEx/DHL?

Is your shop in an area with many other businesses or in a densely residential area? Sometimes a driver will enter "attempted delivery" in the system if he is busy on a day and doesn't have many packages addressed to your area. Depending on the company this can be considered fraud on the part of the driver.

 

The way I ship is if it is a relatively small package I'll ship USPS Priority Mail. Larger packages I ALWAYS Ship FedEx. FedEx has been cheaper every single time that I have shipped larger packages than USPS (goes without saying) and UPS. UPS is outrageous when it comes to shipping large packages where I can ship FedEx for much less money and it gets to the destination on time when promised.

I used to sell a lot of things on eBay so it didn't take me long to figure out the system. That said. I never ship outside the country and I never buy directly from a source outside the country.

Ironically I just got a package from Amazon today that was shipped DHL. I've noticed that DHL doesn't "usually" ship to residential and they end up passing the shipment off to USPS.

 

We have recently had MANY issues with FedEx lately... Product has gone missing en route, Product arriving damaged, delays, and their insurance claim process is a joke.

On the other hand, we have heard many good things about Estes, and will be testing them out.

 

Ah, didnt notice the Boss man had already posted

 

The problem fell into the situation where the parts I am buying fell within the "Anti-dumping" rules. It had never fallen into that position before, and I have imported several hundred. I think with all the political issues going on lately, and the tension overseas, this has increased the limitations with importing.

We are not in a either location. It is a small town, but we are close to the regional location in Birmingham. The thing is, they can enter whatever they wish. I spoke directly with a rep and they spoke directly with the boss at the Birmingham location, which I found out WAS THE DRIVER on my route. He stated all trucks were in. THEN listed "attempted delivery" at 8:21 pm, when I was still at the location waiting until 8:30. Either way, he blatantly lied, and cause me a loss of revenue. So yeah, if I have anything to say about it, he will be out of a job.

 

As a long time FedEx Express employee I can tell u I have seen many damaged pkgs come thru our system due to improper shipper packaging and bad shipper addresses they personally addressed to the recipient that the customer will blame on us.There will be times when the carriers are at fault for pkg damage and an occasional mis-delivery,but I can tell you with the thousands of shipments that go thru our systems everyday there is a small % of screw ups.FedEx and UPS have been around for many years because of the overall good services they provide..

 

I have similar stories about all of the shipping companies, especially Bama's concerning bogus delivery attempts. I receive on average anywhere from two to a dozen packages a week due to my job, and they range from padded envelope to "heavy-ass two person box" (that's the official name) in size. So far, everything has worked out in my favor but I have had a few headaches along the way. At the same time I'm not running a business where a false/missed delivery has the potential to cause a loss of revenue for me.

What does concern me a GREAT deal, however, is the use of my back door as a drop spot for lazy delivery drivers. UPS always drops my packages at my front door, no matter the quantity or weight nor weather. Dude is a trooper, and that's where packages are supposed to be dropped off. However, the FedEx guy likes to drop all packages off at my back door. He'll open my 7' privacy gate, waltz right in, drop the packages off wherever he pleases (sometimes its at the door, sometimes its on the lawn chairs, sometimes its on top of the hot tub cover), and leave. He won't even announce his presence in any way. On more than one occasion my Lady has been startled to find the FedEx guy hanging out in the back yard when no one should have been there in the first place. It's highly unprofessional and grossly discourteous, not to mention unsafe.

 

No doubt. Y'all have to deal with idiot customers all damn day and that has to be aggravating. I feel for ya. But please realize that there are issues with these companies, and some of their employees, that do arise and can cause a god-awful amount of grief for the customer.

 

$15? Driver pay is almost $33 an hour so right at $50 an hour on overtime. It takes forever at most hubs to become a driver. There's people who have worked 17 years and are still waiting to drive where I am. Back on topic

 

This is true...Do you not have issues at your place of employment?My point is some folks gripe and complain about little issues that could be resolved easily..For instance don"t package a 50lb. machine part in paper and expect the packaging to be intact at the delivery point.Don't expect the driver to put a pkg on your porch when u have a pit bull chewing on the delivery truck tires.We often put pkgs on vehicles because we cannot exit our vehicle.If we don't leave the pkg the customers complains that they have to pup the pkg..There are sorry employees at every place of employment,but it's frustrating to see folks complain about every little issue..

 

I ship anywhere from 80-100 packages a month, and receive at least twice that number. I do feel fortunate that I only have occasional errors. This one just really hurt because of lost revenue.

 

In your situation the FedEx station manager should have pulled the drivers paperwork.If that driver coded that pkg as u not being in after he returned to the station he would be in big trouble at my location..FedEx is big on the falsification issues..Falsification =termination..I will say there is a big difference between the Express side versus the Ground and Home Delivery folks...Ground and HD are independent contractors and I have personally seen them do stuff that would def not fly with Express..Take care,hope u have better luck in the future..Like all places of employment there are def bad apples..