Another Day, Another Annoyance
Last week on Wednesday the 14th I ordered something at around 10 AM. I upgraded the shipping to next morning shipping. The place I was ordering from is 60 miles away from my house. Even shipping ground should have gotten it here overnight with no problem, but they also claimed that any order before 2 PM would ship same day if you paid for the upgrade, whereas ground orders would go out within 2 business days. I wanted to have it by Friday so it was worth it to me to pay the extra, because if they happened to take the full 2 business days to ship, I’d have to wait through the weekend.
On the 15th in the afternoon I got an email that said it had shipped on the 14th and provided me with a tracking number. Now obviously if the order shipped by next morning delivery on the 14th, as it should have, I would already have it by the time this confirmation email was sent on the 15th. I did not have it. I was annoyed but not yet completely pissed off. I just needed the item by the 16th. I clicked on the link to the tracking information that was sent in the shipping email. It took me to the FedEx website where I got this message.
Not found
No information for the following shipments has been received by our system yet. Please try again later or contact Customer Service.
There was also a link in the email to contact customer care if I had any questions. I tried filling out the form there, but it refused to submit properly. I tried to call, but they were already closed for the day. I tried looking up my order on their website. It claimed to have shipped on the 14th and also linked me to the same tracking information with the same result.
The 16th arrived and my package still did not. I had a very busy day. I tried once to reach them by phone but the hold time proved beyond my ability to wait through from home and my call was dropped by cell. Their customer service was closed by the time I made it home again and had a chance to breathe and think and make another phone call. I checked the tracking info again and got the same result. I tried submitting the web form a few more times. They were closed all weekend.
I called this morning, and waited on hold until I was able to speak to somebody. I gave my order number and explained that I did not have my package and FedEx claimed to not have my package either and that I was not exactly pleased with the situation.
The man explained to me that the tracking number was for DHL, not FedEx.
“Umm, you do see that the email I was sent and the account information on your website both say FedEx?”
“Yes, I think that is just a programming error, but the package was sent by DHL, so let me look that up for you…”
(In the meantime I look it up on DHL myself.
Tracking summary
Current Status Processed at DHL Location.
Est. Delivery Date: 3/15/2007Tracking history
Status
3/14/2007 10:25 pm Processed at DHL Location. Riverside, CA
3/14/2007 6:54 pm Departing origin. Fullerton, CA
3/14/2007 4:18 pm Picked Up by DHL. Shipper’s Door)
“…Okay, it tells me that DHL still has the package, so let me give you the tracking number and the contact number and you can call DHL and see what the problem is. Once you have your package, call us back and we will credit you back the difference for the upgraded shipping.”
*deep breath*
“I’m sorry. I don’t understand. Why do you want ME to contact DHL?”
“It shows me that they have your package still. There might be some problem with your address, so you should call them.”
“I bought this from you. I paid you for it. It is your job to get make sure I get it. I did not buy it from DHL.”
“Yes, but DHL has your package and there might be a problem with your address.”
“Well I am looking at my confirmation email from you and you have my address correct in that email. I provided you with the correct address. If DHL has something wrong about my address, it is between you and DHL. Why don’t YOU contact DHL and find out what is going on?”
“DHL has your package.”
“Yes, but I bought this from you. This is your problem. I don’t understand why I should be expected to do work to solve this. Why should I be on hold with DHL, you are the ones who pay DHL. I paid you. Why should I wait on hold again to talk to you later in order to get a refund?”
“I can escalate this to customer concerns and they will email you back.”
“When will that happen?”
“Within 24 to 48 hours.”
*really deep breath*
“On the 14th I paid for next morning shipping because I needed the item last week. I don’t understand why I now have to wait 24 to 48 hours for you to contact me back and tell me what you are going to do about it.”
“That is just an outside estimate.”
“When are you going to contact DHL?”
“I will escalate it to customer concerns and they will contact DHL.”
“When will they do that?”
“Within 20 minutes.”
“Then why will I not hear back from them for 48 hours?”
“That is an outside estimate, in case DHL needs to get back to them. DHL may take time to look up the information. If they have lost the package then we will need to ship you a new one. That will go out tomorrow, so it will be 48 hours.”
“If somebody is going to contact DHL within 20 minutes, why can’t they contact me then to give me a status report?”
“DHL might have to get back to them.”
“Can I speak right now to the person who needs to contact DHL?”
“I need to send the report first to escalate it, but they will get to it as soon as possible.”
“Within 24 to 48 hours?”
“That is an outside estimate.”
“You are less than 2 hours away from my house.”
“Yes, I see that from the address you provided.”
“But it might take 48 hours for you to get back to me about how I will get a package that I ordered for next morning delivery, last week?”
“They will get to it as soon as they can.”
“Why don’t you just ship out a replacement order today, so I can have it tomorrow. You and DHL can figure out what to do about the other package?”
“Yes, we will do that.”
“So I can expect my order to be here tomorrow morning? Whether it is a second shipment, or the original, I will have my order tomorrow morning?”
“Yes.”
“And, you’ll be refunding me the difference on shipping?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, I will look for that on my credit card.
“Is there anything else I can help you with today.”
“No, I really don’t think so.”
Along with my general joy over the order, I also have to wonder… What is with DHL? They have in their system that it has an expected delivery of the 15th, it is past the 15th and that is it, just no further updates? I am not convinced that I would necessarily call that package tracking. If they got something with an incorrect address, shouldn’t there be some sort of procedure for getting the correct address from the shipper? They did pick it up from the shipper’s location, so they know where THAT is. They could just go take it back.
I am tired. My 3.5 hours of sleep did not give me enough energy to deal with this. I wonder if I will get my part tomorrow. Somehow I rather doubt it.
Oh yeah, for the curious, I ordered from Targus
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Targus Group International, Inc. pioneered the notebook carrying case category, partnering with corporations, retailers, and OEMs to provide the best possible protection for notebook PCs. Targus continues to define and shape the market for mobile computing cases and accessories. As the leading global supplier of portable solutions, Targus has offices on every continent and distributes in over 145 countries.
Impressive.
Tags Customer Service - dhl - ranty rant - shopping - targus - Work
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