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Effin' wonderful

saltyzoo said:
Don't forget that all the people at FedEx that stop everything they are doing to get one customer their package means that a dozen more customers aren't getting their packages on time. Without strict routes and schedules a delivery company will go out of business overnight.
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Apparently, Salty, you're wrong.

I just now received a call from the local FedEx office. She had received a message from the home office about my situation, and was trying to decipher it. I explained what happened and she was very apologetic, and said that if she had been made aware yesterday she would have dispatched a truck to pickup and redeliver my package immediately. I told her that the home office had told me that they did not have the means of communicating with trucks, but this lady told me at the local level they do. She gave me the phone number at the local branch to keep on hand for any further assistance I may need. Apparently, when dealing with Apple, this number will be a valuable thing to have.
 
saltyzoo said:
*clipped*
Don't forget that all the people at FedEx that stop everything they are doing to get one customer their package means that a dozen more customers aren't getting their packages on time.

Without strict routes and schedules a delivery company will go out of business overnight.

Enjoy ranting at apple, but the only one that did you wrong was the truck driver, and it was an honest mistake.
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By that logic, why don't they just dump all the deliveries for one street or block right at the end of the street or corner? That would be really quick and even more people would get their packages. Besides - I believe it's their job to correct mistakes in a timely fashion. They're in the business of delivery with reliability, and they owe it to Apple (who contracted them) to reliably deliver and Apple owes it to the customer (who contracted Apple) to make sure their computer gets to them on time. Apple's not doing you a favor by shipping it to you, that's what you're contracting with them to do. While I do agree that it was an honest mistake, that doesn't mean Apple or FedEx shouldn't resolve the mistake to the customer's satisfaction. It was their screw-up, not the customer's.
 
bigbird said:
Your claiming you never picked up the MP from the guy would probably have ended up with the FedEx driver having to pay for your MP, or his being fired, or both. Not funny at all. What if you were the poor FedEx driver who screwed up? How would you then feel if some stupid jerkoff tried to fraudulently screw with you?
Some joke.
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I can tell you from personal experience that the driver would have had a conversation with his supervisor and that would be it. Signature packages are insured.

the driver wouldn't have to pay for anything, and he wouldn't get fired unless it was "the last straw" and he was regularly costing the company tons of money by losing packages.

You would be surprised (disturbed, really) to find out how regularly packages disappear from fed ex and UPS. (UPS is worse, generally).

Talk to someone who has worked at one of their regional distribution centers and you will never ship a one-of-a-kind item through regular means again.

yes, 99.99% of packages always go through. but somehow, it will be your grandmother's signed first edition copy of Little Women that gets accidentally delivered to someone else who signs a name that looks nothing like yours and then disappears.

I don't get THAT many packages...probably 20 a year, and yet (maybe I have really bad luck or something) I have had to go to heroics probably a dozen times in the last 10 years getting something that was supposed to be shipped to me...two times i've lost packages completely and had to go through the long, tiring process of filling out a claim and getting the shipper to reimburse me for the undelivered item.

I actually have the local UPS distribution manager's cell phone number in my address book because I've had to call him more than once to get things resolved, and the first time, going through regular channels, it took 3 days to get his number. After I had his number, it took 3 hours to get my "vanished" package. It was sitting on a truck that it hadn't been scanned onto. He actually had to get all of the drivers to re-scan their trucks' contents that night because the package was gone. I was very happy with his assistance, and i told him that i would keep his number if I ever had another problem. He said he hoped I never had to call him again, but I have had to do so twice since then. Like I said...bad luck.
 
to their customers, yes, they are.

When you buy something from apple, you aren't buying something from fedex.

If fedex messes up, and you don't go out of your way to resolve the issue on your own, apple is still responsible for providing you with what you purchased.

they aren't bound to do it in a timely manner, true, but it is their responsibility. It seems to me that they were in the process of meeting that responsibility. If the OP had sat around and waited for apple to resolve the issue, they would have eventually received their MP...but on Apple's schedule...

you can't expect them to go above and beyond...of course if they do, they make a customer for life. good service pays for itself in the long run. bad service is bad business.
 
Banacek said:
No, it's not. Do you really think that company is responsible for the employees of every company it does business with?
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That's not what I said. I said I think a company is responsible for its own contractors. And I don't see FastMan blaming Apple. What I see him saying (and what I agree with) is that Apple, being the the one who contracts the shipper, and FedEx, being the actual shipper, ought to resolve the problem to the customer's satisfaction. I think FedEx's response to FastMan is much more impressive than Apple's. I say this from the position of having been in shipping myself (lo these many moons ago... oof...) and if something we shipped didn't get to the customer we dealt with the shipping company on behalf of the customer to get it resolved - most often within a matter of hours, and that place was one super-small-time operation compared with Apple, and none of the clout. (EDIT: I'm not saying this from a moral superiority stance, just what I believe, fwiw)

That being said, I'm glad FedEx has been to my place often enough that I don't feel too worried about my Mac going somewhere else.:) (and FastMan - I apologize if I spoke out of turn - I don't mean to speak on your behalf...)
 
saltyzoo said:
Sadly no, it wasn't yours. He signed for it, it was his. He had every right to keep it and call the police to get you off his property. When he signed his name he took ownership of the box. Granted, he would need to either pay for it, or give it back in the end, but at that point in time that package did not belong to you in any way. But his responsibility was to give it back to FedEx, not some random guy knocking at his door claiming it was his.

Don't mistake that I'm saying you did anything wrong (Assuming you didn't threaten him or anything). But you got screwed the minute the delivery guy handed it over. It wasn't that guys fault, and he has the right to protect himself as well.
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salty, i know this is long after the fact in this chat, but your sense of what belongs to you is messed up to say the least. his name was on the box and i'll tell you, if this ever happens to me, you bet your bottom i'd be leaving with the box too. how you can say it wasn't his property when his name was on the shipping label?

i'd take the box and hand him a piece of paper with my phone number and let them call the police.

but, he's got it and it's overwith. the driver made a mistake. not apple's fault. i don't blame them for opening a search into the issue. how many times do they get calls like this for #1 and #2, it's not their job. that's why they hire fedex and the other companies. if something goes awry after an investigation, then apple should get involved.

glad the OP got his machine.

cheers,
keebler
 
Keebler said:
if this ever happens to me, you bet your bottom i'd be leaving with the box too. how you can say it wasn't his property when his name was on the shipping label?
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"I'm sorry sir, I don't know what box you're talking about." Said to you through my barely open door because I have no idea who you are.

If I don't invite you into my house, you've no right to be there. Further, you really have no legal right to be anywhere on my property. And if I want you off, first thing I do is close and lock my door. Second thing I do is call the police.

(Third thing I do is grab my 12ga... :D )

From my perspective, you're leaving without that box. I don't care whose name is on it. If you get more forceful at the door, you get hurt. Simple.

---

That's one way it COULD have played out. And if it had, the man behind the door would have been in the right. He's protecting his house and property from some nut case who claims to be the owner of a box that was just delivered.

This was and is FedEx's screw-up. They're responsible. Whether working through Apple or working directly through FedEx was the right thing to do, I dunno. But it clearly wasn't Apple's fault.

That said, you still have no right to the box. Doesn't matter that you paid for it. You didn't take delivery of it, and therefore IT'S NOT YOURS. That sucks, but unfortunately, that's the way it could play out.

Fortunately, in this case, saner minds prevailed.

jas
 
tivoli2 said:
That's not what I said. I said I think a company is responsible for its own contractors. And I don't see FastMan blaming Apple. What I see him saying (and what I agree with) is that Apple, being the the one who contracts the shipper, and FedEx, being the actual shipper, ought to resolve the problem to the customer's satisfaction. I think FedEx's response to FastMan is much more impressive than Apple's. I say this from the position of having been in shipping myself (lo these many moons ago... oof...) and if something we shipped didn't get to the customer we dealt with the shipping company on behalf of the customer to get it resolved - most often within a matter of hours, and that place was one super-small-time operation compared with Apple, and none of the clout. (EDIT: I'm not saying this from a moral superiority stance, just what I believe, fwiw)

That being said, I'm glad FedEx has been to my place often enough that I don't feel too worried about my Mac going somewhere else.:) (and FastMan - I apologize if I spoke out of turn - I don't mean to speak on your behalf...)
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No worries, tivoli2, you reflected my thoughts to a T, point by point. Thanks.

It's really silly, isn't it. A 2 minute follow up call to FedEx by Apple on the spot would have resolved this issue pronto, and left me very impressed with them. But they chose to not waste that 2 minutes, and now have me and everyone I've told what happened thinking poorly of them. It seems so foolish. Bad press spreads as rapidly as good. In that respect, you worked for a well run business.

benpatient, has it right. Bad service is bad business.
 
jasonvp said:
"I'm sorry sir, I don't know what box you're talking about." Said to you through my barely open door because I have no idea who you are.

If I don't invite you into my house, you've no right to be there. Further, you really have no legal right to be anywhere on my property. And if I want you off, first thing I do is close and lock my door. Second thing I do is call the police.

(Third thing I do is grab my 12ga... :D )

From my perspective, you're leaving without that box. I don't care whose name is on it. If you get more forceful at the door, you get hurt. Simple.

---

That's one way it COULD have played out. And if it had, the man behind the door would have been in the right. He's protecting his house and property from some nut case who claims to be the owner of a box that was just delivered.

This was and is FedEx's screw-up. They're responsible. Whether working through Apple or working directly through FedEx was the right thing to do, I dunno. But it clearly wasn't Apple's fault.

That said, you still have no right to the box. Doesn't matter that you paid for it. You didn't take delivery of it, and therefore IT'S NOT YOURS. That sucks, but unfortunately, that's the way it could play out.

Fortunately, in this case, saner minds prevailed.

jas
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It's clear you've never known the pleasures of living in a small town. I'll bet half the residents leave their keys in the car. That's what they do in the town I grew up in. There is a 0.000001% chance that someone will steal your car and a 1% chance that you'll lose your keys. Why risk losing your keys?

In a small town if you crack open the door and refuse to let someone in...well, you are obviously trying to HIDE SOMETHING. Small town culture is you greet people warmly and treat them as you would family. Sounds corny to us city dwellers, but it's true and it's happening every day in every small town to this day.
 
tivoli2 said:
Apple isn't responsible for it's own contractors?
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This isn't, and wasn't, a court case. This was a mistaken delivery. In this situation, things get resolved a lot faster by dealing with the local level. That's simply the reality of the situation, and it's surprising how many of you can't see that--particularly given that it's how this specific situation was resolved.

It's also pretty amazing to read the few posts where people claim they would barge into another man's home and take property that they believe belongs to them. Big talk.
 
MikeL said:
This isn't, and wasn't, a court case. This was a mistaken delivery. In this situation, things get resolved a lot faster by dealing with the local level. That's simply the reality of the situation, and it's surprising how many of you can't see that--particularly given that it's how this specific situation was resolved. It's also pretty amazing to read the few posts where people claim they would barge into another man's home and take property that they believe belongs to them. Big talk.
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Look, I never said it was a court case. I'm no lawyer. I was coming at this from a position of what I believe is doing what's right by the customer for an honest mistake. I've laid out my thoughts previously. You don't agree. Fine. The reality of the situation is that it worked out for FastMan, another reality of the situation is that many in this thread didn't seem to care for the means by which it worked out for FastMan, and an additional reality of the situation is that for you there is apparently only one reality completely absent of relativity.

And as long as we're speaking of reality... I don't see anyone who actually advocated barging into another man's home.
 
There's very little that is reasonable when talking about taking a computer from someone's home against their will. In my world, at least.
 
Just to make be clear, you misinterpret, Mike. My comments in no way were meant to imply I would have assaulted the fella. That would have been stupid, and would have immediately plunked me on the opposite side of the right/wrong scale.

Honesty, it seemed strange to me that someone would have signed for and accepted delivery of a computer they knew they did not buy, and which had someone else's name and address on the box. And too, that if an honest mistake, they hadn't yet contacted me or FedEx to inform of the mistake. As such, I went to the person's house harboring a suspicion that I may potentially encounter someone believing he/she had been provided the chance to scam a $3000 computer,,, and with a resolve that if this was the case I would let him/her know in no uncertain manner that it aint gunna happen, the jig is up, and I'll be taking home MY computer now, thank you.

But, happily, as soon as we began to speak I realized it was not the case. The gentleman who signed for the boxes was not the actual buyer, his son was. Sonny was not home yet. Dad, just like the delivery driver must have, believed the two boxes went together and was ready to give me both of them when I informed him of the delivery mistake. It instantly became clear to me that it was just an honest mistake, all the way around. My suspicions immediately faded, and his small town friendly kicked in. He even offered to help me carry it to the car. I thanked him, but didn't need any help. In my relief to have found and collected my unopened computer, I was pumped, and it felt light as a feather.

Thanks, all, for sharing in my luckily momentary crisis. I'll let you know what how Apple responds to my letter.
 
due time said:
It's clear you've never known the pleasures of living in a small town. I'll bet half the residents leave their keys in the car. That's what they do in the town I grew up in. There is a 0.000001% chance that someone will steal your car and a 1% chance that you'll lose your keys. Why risk losing your keys?

In a small town if you crack open the door and refuse to let someone in...well, you are obviously trying to HIDE SOMETHING. Small town culture is you greet people warmly and treat them as you would family. Sounds corny to us city dwellers, but it's true and it's happening every day in every small town to this day.
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due time, your comments are spot on,,, so true. Keys in car, house door unlocked. Guilty as charged. :) Many people can't believe it when I tell them, but it's true, and I've never had a problem becuase of it. It's a great way to be able to live.

I kind of come by in naturally. I grew up in a small town where many still do this, and I've since moved to another where you can also. My Grandfather was an independant logger, and all his business deals where made with a handshake. To this day I run my business the same way. I've had very few negative outcomes for doing it. It's a karma thing, I think. Smile at people and they smile back. Like I said, it's a nice way to live.
 
FastMan said:
due time, your comments are spot on,,, so true. Keys in car, house door unlocked. Guilty as charged. :) Many people can't believe it when I tell them, but it's true, and I've never had a problem becuase of it. It's a great way to be able to live.

I kind of come by in naturally. I grew up in a small town where many still do this, and I've since moved to another where you can also. My Grandfather was an independant logger, and all his business deals where made with a handshake. To this day I run my business the same way. I've had very few negative outcomes for doing it. It's a karma thing, I think. Smile at people and they smile back. Like I said, it's a nice way to live.
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And yet you say "I wasn't leaving without my computer".

Doesn't sound very Mayberry to me.
 
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