USPS Fisasco....

[betuana]

I recently added 3 little brachy slings to my collection (a 1/2 inch emilia, a 1/2 inch smithi, and a 3/4 inch boehmi). I got them from KenTheBugGuy and they are in great shape. He did a fabulous job packing them, :worship: which is a very good thing because the post office did a less than stellar job of delivering them...

They were shipped on Tuesday - which for most companies express services is a 1 day shipping from where they came from to where I am. But USPS took 2 days for them to get into town here. Not a big deal necessarily in itself for that - they do say 1-2 days. If that were the only problem, it wouldn't have been an issue.

I was preparing to travel out of town for work, so I contacted the post office to try and request that they hold my mail/deliveries for that Thursday at the office and let me come and pick it up that morning there, rather than waiting until they got around to delivering it in the afternoon. They kept sayihg "oh, well, it'll just be delivered to you." :wall: And I'd explain again that I wasn't going to be home and would like to come in and pick it up, saving them the effort of delivering. I just got "well, if you miss it they'll leave a door tag." After 30 minutes of discussing this I finally gave up.

So I camped out well into the late afternoon Thursday, the mail came, and no package. :? I waited a while longer before having to scramble out of town to get to where I needed to (barely on time.) I contacted a friend while heading out of town who check on our cats and asked them if they could grab the hang tag and pick up the package for me - at least put the box in the room with the Ts (or if they wanted to be especially helpful, pull out the vials they were packed in and place those on the shelf - I'd transfer them when I got back.) They agreed to do so and planned to stop by Friday morning to get the tag and get my box...

Well, they checked, and checked, and no tag. Finally SATURDAY AFTERNOON (at around 3:30-4:30 pm) a tag was left in the mailbox with the standard mail. :He grabbed it, but the post office was already closed until Monday.

He went in Monday morning at 7:30am - people were there but told him they couldn't get any packages for tags for anyone until 8am. :wall: So at 8am they finally looked it up and told him that since it had been 5 days since the first delivery attempt that they were going to send the package back to the sender - since they only hold them 5 days. :wall: Nevermind that one of those days they were CLOSED, and they didn't even leave any notification of the package until the THIRD day it was here - and late enough that there was no chance to try and get it until Monday.

He managed to argue with them enough to finally get him to allow him to pick up the package rather than them just sending it back. :clap: When I got in on Monday night I unpacked them all and got them moved into their cages - they all seemed very comfortable in their shipping containers and look to be in great shape - despite the 5 day delay caused by the postal service.

We're going to be making sure to do something nice for our friend - it was supposed to be a quick, fairly effortless favor that turned into a battle...

Anyways, thought I'd share the postal service insanity - I know other people out there have had a variety of shipping disasters at times, so I figured I'd add in my own. Mine at least has a happy ending thanks to Ken doing a great job of packaging them, and it isn't going to make me hesitant to order more Ts when I decide to, but it was quite the adventure to get the local post office to just do their job...(like, say, leave a tag saying they tried to deliver something, and then letting that package be picked up on the next open day after the delivery attempt, etc...)

So there's the story. But the plus is I have new Ts!!! Pictures of them will be up sometime in the near future hopefully.

 

[reverendsterlin]

Its like watching a Key Stone Cops episode. Glad to hear everything worked out so well. Have a BBQ for your friend and his family lol, show him the lives he helped save.
Rev

 

[Setian]

I have to deal with the post office daily for work and I feel your pain :/ Here lately they have had some glitch with their tracking and are shipping priority mail waaay outta the way instead of directly to their destination.

 

[Noexcuse4you]

I've never had a problem getting my post office to hold my express packages. They know me by name! Me: "I'm calling to have an express package held." Them: "Is this XXXX Ln?" Me: "Yep, its me again." Them: "Alrighty, we'll hold it for ya!".

Their manager got a little bit suspicious of all these packages I was getting and why I kept asking them to hold them for me. He asked if I was receiving drugs. I just told him that I'm at work all day and they're perishable goods.

One tip they did give me was that I could have the person sending the package to just address it to the post office with my name on it and it would actually reduce the shipping costs. I never did try that just because I'd be afraid of my Ts getting lost in the mail. Plus very rarely do people ever charge you for actual shipping costs. Its usually the standard $20.

 

[Talkenlate04]

Weird. I have never had a problem with USPS. Guess I am lucky.
At least your slings arrived ok, that is all that matters.

 

[WyvernsLair]

While not USPS, I did have a non-so amusing run-in with UPS today. I had 2 boxes of crickets ordered to be delivered next morning WITH signature required. I took the morning off from work to be here to accept and sign for the package (& then expected to take the crickets to work with me since that is where they needed to go). Now, for me that means on average the package leaves the hub between 7:00-7:30am out for delivery and arrives at my house between 10:15-11:15am and I would head off to work shortly after. Well, 10:30 rolls around.. no package. 11:30 rolls around... no package. Check website tracking... says it's out for delivery. 12:00pm rolls around... no package. Check website tracking again... now it shows that the package was "Delivered". I look at the detailed information and the site says my package was delivered at 8:34am and that a "Smith" signed for it. I'm like what the... ???? I'd been up since 8:00am this morning doing stuff, working in the garden in the front yard, watching for the UPS truck, etc. and everyone else in the house was also watching for the truck and not a single UPS truck ever went down my street. My last name ain't Smith and neither are any of my neighbors. I tried to contact UPS to find out what address exactly did the driver deliver to and got the run around.. system says it's delivered so it's not our problem - it's been delivered...Obviously they don't understand the words "No I obviously did NOT get my package if I have to call you to find out where the hell it is". :wall:

Afterwards, I started to compose an email to the company I purchased the crickets from thinking maybe they could try to find out where my package was since they were the ones with the shipping contract with UPS maybe they would be more willing to give up that info to them. Halfway through composing that letter the UPS truck magically rolls up (12:30pm so package is now 1/2 hour "officially" late on delivery since next morning has to be delivered before 12 noon) . Lady gets out and hands me a box .. she's barely holding it with two fingers and frantically going EWWWWW over the fact that it was bugs. She NEVER asked me to sign for the package as was required and quickly ran back to her truck and zoomed off before I could start to ask questions or ask for the tablet to officially sign for the package as proof she was LATE. I was livid that this UPS driver would LIE to such an extent over delivery confirmation times like that and leave me hanging like this. I PAID more money than what the crickets themselves actually cost to insure that they got here NEXT MORNING before things got too hot out and could lead to most of them dying (what with non-air conditioned trucks). I guess drivers think that "residential" deliveries can be screwed around with and that no one will check to confirm the accuracy of the "times" noted or the "name" used as the sign off. I am willing to bet that UPS contacted that driver to find out about the package after having given me the run around and she realized she got caught.

Instead of sending the letter to the cricket company I had started composing, I instead told them about the little stunt UPS had pulled in case they wanted to investigate any other complaints their customers might have had with late or non-deliveries and see just how prevalent UPS was at this scam. Right now they seem to think that if they try to make a claim on my package UPS will fight them and probably not refund a penny because the package was "delivered at 8:34am"

I so miss our old UPS driver who actually knew the people on their route and knew how important it was to get crickets delivered first thing....these new drivers who change from day to day don't know squat.

 

[Hamburglar]

You can't even call my post office... they have no number available to the public. Really makes dealing with packages a joy....... Once I got a message from them saying that I had a package and wanted to know if I wanted it held or delivered. Of course they didn't leave a number, so I called a neighboring PO and the guy just laughed and said you can't call them because they don't have a public phone number.

 

[desertdweller]

I don't know how you remained at all SANE!!!! :wall: In my own diplomatic way...NOT...I would have ripped out someone's throat somewhere in the process.

Whew, glad you got your Ts in fine shape though. If Ts weren't so special you could just happen to let one go in the PO.

I cannot use USPS because they don't guarantee overnight in my area. Guess it's a good thing.

 

[Veneficus]

I had a problem where my overnight express package became lost for 3 days. The post office wasn't much use since all they could tell me is it never left the Arizona post office to my destination in Maryland. They said until it was recorded as leaving the post office, then they couldn't tell me where it was, but they claimed it never arrived in Maryland. I kept checking daily, and the package was never updated. Then on the third day it just showed up at my door! Luckily, Reptist had packaged the Ts really well and they arrived safe and sound.

 

[LeilaNami]

I once ordered something from a girl and the post office put the wrong shipping address on the package. Instead, mine and another girl's order got switched, her package going to me and mine going to her. Well when the package arrived it was all beat up and the correct address (that was labeled by the shipper) was clearly not to me. So...I brought the package back to the post office and THEY REFUSED TO SHIP IT BACK. They said the box was too beat up! I argued with them that it was delivered to me this way and then they had the nerve to claim that they didn't deliver it and UPS did (which was a lie confirmed by the shipper). I had to go buy supplies and repackage the item and yet again buy shipping to send it from Texas to New York! I hate the post office! The shipper was nice enough to give me money to ship it to the right place and she's going to fight to get her money back. I hope she does

 

[tiohn]

You can't even call my post office... they have no number available to the public.

I just had a shipping fiasco yesterday when the driver didn't leave the package without a signature like they were supposed to. I called the toll-free number on the USPS website, and they gave me the number for my local post office, where someone was nice enough to let me pick up the package after hours.

 

[equuskat]

My post office is really good about holding packages for me, too. They also make special notes when I ship. They know me by name and help me a out a lot. My only fiasco has been with FedEx. :| Fedex delivered a box of Ts to a WRONG ADDRESS, swearing all along that it was right, finally a neighbor took the box to the right place - over 2 weeks later. :wall: Thankfully all of the Ts involved were alive and well thanks to my awesome packing.

 

[Stamper]

Ive never had a problem with usps when it comes to T's but we have problems with them at work before.

 

[Mina]

Last week I sent 3 boxes of slings out. One to California, one to Oregon, and one to down state Illinois, the state I live in. The two going to the west coast got there fine, but the one going down state ended up in Kansas City, then had to be shipped back here and then onto where it was supposed to go in the first place. It ended up taking 2 days and the slings were fine, but still, how hard is it to ship something within the state?

 

[Moultmaster]

The shipping king.

Where's Doug Heffernan when you need him?!

 

[Moltar]

Urgh. Wonderful to hear...

*watches the mail intently, waiting for his A bicegoi...*

 

[ShellsandScales]

but it was quite the adventure to get the local post office to just do their job...(like, say, leave a tag saying they tried to deliver something, and then letting that package be picked up on the next open day after the delivery attempt, etc...)

Thats why I ship everything DHL. Good thing Ken packed it all very well.

 

[WyvernsLair]

Thats why I ship everything DHL. Good thing Ken packed it all very well.

In my area, DHL would be a death sentence for anything live shipped to me. They are the worst of the big delivery companies.

 

[Newyork]

I think that there ought to be a thread for all the bad shipping stories. I'm sure there's tons of them. My T arrived okay and on time. The delivery woman nearly dropped the box when my mom said that it was a tarantula

 

[hardlucktattoo]

well i am glad they were ok I would have bugged out I start freaking out 30 min before its supposed to be there if it hasnt come yet