Fed Ex experience

[dhodgeh]

These days, I would avoid sending a guitar via USPS.

My experience with both Fedex and UPS has been generally good, with only small issues on items being sent to me.

A while back we were having an issue with another residence in our town with the same house number, street number and zip code. The difference in the address is that we live on an Avenue, the other residence is Street. This was way before AVL and automatic routing was prevalent, and have not had a problem in the past few years.

<rant>

For the life of me, I cannot understand why when a package arrives at the local distribution center a few days before schedule delivery, they both seem to sit on it until the scheduled date.

Case in point just a week ago. Two incoming packages. One with a scheduled delivery of 9/21 (a Monday), the other on 9/20 (Sunday). Both Fedex's Home Delivery. The 9/21 package arrive at local hub on 9/18 (Friday), the 9/20 package arrived at the same hub on 9/19 (Saturday).

The 9/20 package was delivery on Sunday as scheduled. It would seem to me that whatever algorithm they use to load the trucks would have noticed that there is a package awaiting delivery to the same address and loaded it to be delivered at the same time, in order to save a addition delivery stop.

But no. I guess that made too much sense, and the 9/21 package was delivered the next day as scheduled. Go Figure

Note that this behavior is not exclusive to Fedex. I've has the same issue with UPS from time to time.

The 9/21 package was a guitar, and I really would have preferred it not sit in a warehouse over the weekend. I have had a couple of dealer purchases where they would only ship on Mondays to avoid that scenario. Not a bad policy to keep in mind.

</rant>


D

[Ralph124C41]

I just got my package from FedEx a few minutes ago.

Was it outside my door? Nope.
Was it outside the main entry to my apartment building. No
Was it at the side entrance where I have seen several FedEx packages wind up through the years. Uh-uh.
So where was it?
It was deposited inside the lobby on the first step going up to my second-floor unit. Luckily there was no sign on it saying "Steal this package."

FedEx, Baby!!

[BudHa]

I have had mostly bad experience with Fedex. I believe the service is dependent on the area you live in. The contact drivers seem to be less held to company standards vs UPS.

I bought a new $3k Guild from Sweetwater a few weeks ago. I ordered on a Tuesday. The guitar was picked up from Sweetwater on Tuesday. Sweetwater forecast a Thursday delivery. Fedex delays changed the delivery to Friday. Friday morning at 7:00 am the guitar showed up as on the truck for delivery. At 8:00am Fedex tracking said delivery was attempted but no one was home to sign for it. The Fedex terminal is over an hour from my home and I was home. I called Fedex customer service. Customer service said they were too busy to deliver it on Friday and I could not pick it up at the terminal without speaking to Sweetwater. I contacted Sweetwater and explained the problem. Sweetwater contacted Fedex. A special delivery to my home was made by Fedex but they left the guitar at the garage door in the sun without knocking on the door and asking for a signature. I got a text message telling me it was delivered. I went looking for it only to find it leaning up against the garage in the sun.

Thank goodness for Sweetwater's customer service and sway with Fedex. At my request, Sweetwater promised me they would never ship to me with Fedex again.

A side note: Sweetwater does the best job of packing a guitar I have ever seen. They pack the original guitar box in another box with additional padding between the two shipping boxes.

[dnf777]

I think much of anyone’s individual experience depends on your local depot or regional hub. Knock on wood, but so far Ive had excellent service from FedEx, UPS, and even USPS. Only glitch, is USPS tracking is often missing scans, but still deliver on time. My local fedex driver even plays, so when he sees a guitar box, he always calls to make sure
Im home. Small town benefit!

[RP]

Originally Posted by dnf777

I think much of anyone’s individual experience depends on your local depot or regional hub...

Originally Posted by dhodgeh

These days, I would avoid sending a guitar via USPS.

Today I received three t-shirts that I'd ordered and were shipped via USPS - they arrived two days early. While shipping three t-shirts and a guitar are different things, I would hesitate to generalize about shipments via USPS, UPS and Fedex. As has been said before there are many factors and individuals that contribute to good and bad service...

[RustyAxe]

Track it, select "manage delivery" and have it dropped to a FedEx center near you.

[Huskyman]

I no longer will buy or sell any guitar that has to be shipped to me from a non business.

My bad experience with Fedex was this. I shipped a Epiphone Swingster to a guy in Florida. It was in a case and in a box and then that box in a larger box. I had photos of everything. When the buyer he received it he contacted me and was furious that the Bigsby arm was broken off. He sent me a photo of the box and there was a giant hole in the box right where the Bigsy arm would have lined up in it's own box in a case. Pretty obvious what happened. Somewhere in shipping it was hit and hit hard.

I contacted Fedex and they asked me to file a claim, I had insurance. The claim was a lengthy process with photos and forms filled out. In 14 days they contacted me and said my claim was denied. End of story.

Epiphone was kind enough to send the new buyer a complete whole Bigsy unit when all he really needed were two inexpensive parts.

[Ralph124C41]

Originally Posted by Huskyman

I no longer will buy or sell any guitar that has to be shipped to me from a non business.

My bad experience with Fedex was this. I shipped a Epiphone Swingster to a guy in Florida. It was in a case and in a box and then that box in a larger box. I had photos of everything. When the buyer he received it he contacted me and was furious that the Bigsby arm was broken off. He sent me a photo of the box and there was a giant hole in the box right where the Bigsy arm would have lined up in it's own box in a case. Pretty obvious what happened. Somewhere in shipping it was hit and hit hard.

I contacted Fedex and they asked me to file a claim, I had insurance. The claim was a lengthy process with photos and forms filled out. In 14 days they contacted me and said my claim was denied. End of story.

Epiphone was kind enough to send the new buyer a complete whole Bigsy unit when all he really needed were two inexpensive parts.

Unless I personally know the person or I've communicated with him or her for a long time, I'm like you in that I just don't want to deal with individuals but only with businesses. And only certain businesses ... ones that have a identifiable track record that can be verified and ones that have a clearly stated return policy.

[drive-south]

The recent Maury's debacle involved FedEx. They lost a high end Martin guitar and strung Maury along for over a month. Eventually they declared the guitar lost and refunded Maury a whopping $100.

[Mandobart]

Upate on my en route Gold Tone Paul Beard round neck resonator - it did arrive today via Fedex with no sign of abuse or damage. Two days after it was originally scheduled, a week after the last update from FedEx and the day after I contacted the folks at Gold Tone and asked if they could help.

[BigOrangeBox]

For the past year, FedEx has been a disaster in my area (Raleigh, NC). Always late, unresponsive customer service and inaccurate arrival times. Now to give them credit, no guitar damaged yet. I've bought / sold around 10 guitars in last year.

I've gotten good results from UPS also surprisingly good results from USPS Priority.

[BluesyRob]

I've worked in shipping and receiving for over 15 years, and I've come to one conclusion...Fed Ex SUCKS!