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Monday, December 9, 2019

Just call me Princess Squeaky Wheel

I am not an unreasonable person. - most of the time, although I have had my moments.  I realize that in this time of Black Fridays, Cyber Mondays and all around Maniac Monthies, things that are shipped can be delayed.  Throw in the giant snow storms and you have a hot mess.  I understand.

However.

Recently, I had placed the autoship order for dog food through Chewy.com, who uses FedEx for deliveries.  I order this automatically every six weeks.  (Let me say here that I love Chewy.com - they are totally awesome for a mega company.  Let's hope they stay that way.)  I also placed my Christmas dog/cat order a few days later.  In between, all of the above happened (the black cyber mania AND the snow storm).  I expected delayed shipments and I had a little stash of dog food that would hold me almost a week.

Being obsessive organized, I viewed the 'track your shipment' information every once in a while, just for fun.  Then I started to see a weird trend.  My package would be out for delivery at 7:47AM, then back in the facility at 12:54PM.  Next day, same scenario, slightly different times.  Third day, ditto.  Meanwhile, I received two UPS shipments, one in the midst of the storm.  FedEx? (insert the sound of crickets.)  I called Chewy to see if they knew what was going on.  They did not, but were friendly and made concerned sounds.  After four starts and stops, my first package was finally delivered.  I had run out of the dogs' food, but had been feeding them kibble with chopped Thanksgiving turkey leftovers, mixed with warm broth.  Poor dears...

When the same ricochet pattern started happening on the second package, I had had enough.  There was the back and forth three times, with the final delivery scheduled for three days in the future!  There was no snow storm at this point.  I called Chewy's again and, after suggesting that they not renew their FedEx contract and letting them know that, while I thought they were the cat's jimjams, I was not happy with their shipments.  I mean, if it's delayed, then - by gum (not my exact words...) - say it's delayed.  I can deal with delay.  My life is a series of Plan Bs!  Ahem.

They credited $15 on my order.  That took the puff out of my huff.

Then it was time to contact FedEx customer service.  Which was almost impossible.  I could not get a human.  In desperation, I pounded "0" when trapped in the automated loop and was finally directed to customer service.  After a very long wait, I was finally connected to a person.  I then let them know what I thought about their on again/off again notifications and wanted an explanation for the three-day gap in final delivery (if it WOULD be the final delivery).  They started a file to investigate and told me that, if I hadn't heard back from anyone by Monday evening, I should call back on Tuesday.  This was Saturday and the final delivery was scheduled for Tuesday.  I pointed out to her that none of this was helpful and that I would be urging Chewy's to switch to UPS. 

My package arrived the next day.  On a Sunday.  It must have involved divine intervention.

(squeak, squeak, squeak)

14 comments:

Mama Pea said...

Yep. This tale of woe is what makes all of us tear our hair and ga-nash our teeth. Did you get an explanation of what crazy shipping back and forth was going on? Nope. Why did it happen? Will it happen again with your next order? Do you have time to spend inordinate amounts of time on the phone trying to straighten this out? Yep, sounds like divine intervention for sure. Squeak-squeak-squeak. (Good for you!)

P.S. This reminds me of ordering experience from a different pet supply company when we had our last dog. Everything we ordered came in a box packed with those awful foam-like peanuts. They were often big orders but contained nothing that was breakable. I called and complimented their products and asked if it would be possible to either not include any packaging (wasn't necessary) or use scrunched up paper as we did not want to continue ruining the environment with the packing peanuts. No problem, they said, but orders continued to come through with scads of packing peanuts. After another call, no change. The third call seemed to do the trick. I told them we would no longer be placing our orders with them. Never saw another packing peanut in a received box.

tpals said...

A lot can depend on the driver: I recall watching a fedex truck pull up in front then drive away again. Note on the tracking said 'nobody home to sign'. Grrrr

Goatldi said...

Two words Petco. Ok one. I loved chewy to pieces for several years it made my life easier while Geoffrey was ill. But when my dog food company (Fromm) jumped ship so did I.

I understand your frustration.

Michelle said...

Your poor, neglected dogs.... 🤣

Elaine said...

Well, it's not as though you have anything else to do with your time! Joking aside, I hope they do a lot better in future.

(I share your worries and always try to keep a good store of dog and cat food...though I have to admit that the cats are the ones which worry me the most, especially the old one, I swear she would eat us if she wasn't fed.)

jaz@octoberfarm said...

i went through nearly the same thing. and then try to tell them you didn't receive something they insist you did. they treat you like you are a crook! it's still better than going to the store for me though!

ellen abbott said...

I never used UPS when I was gainfully employed and had to ship stuff out. I chose FedX because they had a station blocks from my house that stayed open til 9 PM! but I quit using them years ago too. neither UPS or FedX will insure artwork and trying to get paid for a legitimate claim is a nightmare. I switched to the good ole US postal service. better rates, gets there in the same amount of time, they insure as long as you want to pay for it, and have so far never had any damage.

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

I've thought about using chewy for dog food, but had second thoughts. Sounds like FedEx had a huge mix up. Geeze. Glad you got your order.

Nancy In Boise said...

Good for you! I work in a large hospital system, and things can get delayed doing things like authorizations for Diagnostics. if the patient actually calls in though it will be put to the top of the pile so to speak. so unless the physician marks it ASAP it just gets worked on as it comes in which may take up to a week or more. Sad but true!

Tewshooz said...

That's why I get my Instinct cat food from Amazon Prime subscription with UPS. Besides they are cheaper than Chewy. Just sayin. Not that I haven't had weird stuff happen with UPS, either.

Retired Knitter said...

"They credited $15 on my order. That took the puff out of my huff."

I did something similar when a new fridge delivery got messed up - after I had emptied the old fridge of all the cold stuff in anticipation of the delivery within the hour - which didn't happen. I blasted Lowes on the phone even while they apologized over and over again for the error ... and then offered me a 10% discount on the new delivery when it happened. But I was on a roll ... angry beyond measure so I ranted on. They then offered me 15% off! Finally a light pierce through my anger, did some quick math, I took a deep breath and accept an additional $330 off my new fridge!!! Grudgingly! hahaha. When I think back about it, it was funny.

Debra She Who Seeks said...

Wow! FedEx is usually pretty good but clearly something went haywire here. Glad you finally got the order, Princess Squeaky Wheel!

Rain said...

I had the same issue with Purolator, only to find out from the driver that they only deliver in my village once a week on Thursdays, so if I see that it's out for delivery any other day, it'll always show that it came back undelivered. Plus...Purolator customer service had no clue either. Very frustrating, but now I know!

Ashlin said...

We had the same issue with FedEx over the holidays from a Walmart order. It would show out for delivery, then late that night it would show there was a "shipping exception" and that they would get it out the next day. Took about four days after it was shown to be in our area before they finally delivered it. I was pissed.