Please Help! iPhone 6 Delivery Nightmare

[rebelduck]

Long story short:
I believe my FedEx courier stole my iPhone 6.

Can this community please help me? I am desperate for advice - how can I get a replacement iPhone 6 as quickly as possible?

Long story long:
I preordered via AT&T on 9/12. Delivery scheduled for 9/19 by 3PM via FedEx. On 9/19 at 2:30PM My spouse and I stand outside the door and wait. At 2:45PM I receive a tracking notification that the iPhone was delivered -- stating that it was left at the front door -- NO SIGNATURE REQUIRED. WTF? The package was not left at the front door. The truck didn't even drive down the street. I know because I was STANDING THERE at the time it was supposedly 'delivered.' I immediately called FedEx. I didn't hear back from them until today.

I live on a busy commercial street. I don't have bushes or steps or a gate or a path or a stoop or a porch or a yard. My door is basically ground level with the sidewalk. I've never had a courier leave a package outside my door before. It's not secure. It's an apartment building. There is no way to hide it. When I finally reached the manager for the FedEx location it came from today, I'm told "We have a contract with AT&T, and it does not require a signature for delivery, and we fulfilled that contract." I'm also told "We do not employ thieves." Either I'm lying, or FedEx is lying. And thanks to AT&T's delivery policy, it's simply my word vs their word. (by the way, my spouse received his iPhone 6 early in the morning via Apple + UPS without a hitch. signature and everything.)

When I ask AT&T about their delivery policy, I'm told they can only compel signatures on $500+ packages. How does that make sense? It's a $650 phone. It shouldn't matter what I paid for it, it should matter what the value of the package is. When I asked if they could send a replacement phone to my local AT&T store, I'm told they can't because they could get mixed up in the inventory and they don't want to have to keep track of them. When I ask that the replacement phone be sent next day delivery free of charge, I'm laughed at.

At this point AT&T have blocked the missing phone from activation. But they will not send me a replacement phone until they talk to FedEx, none of the regular employees can do anything about it. I had to get an 'escalation' number and am waiting for a call back, which can take 2 or 3 days apparently.

Please, I need advice:

What should I do? Should I demand AT&T reinstate my upgrade eligibility and refund my money and then buy the phone at Apple? Should I let them just send out a new phone? (I'm very wary to do that, I don't want to go through this again.)

Has anyone in this community been through anything like this? What is my best course of action? At this point I wish I had filed a police report. If it comes down to it, I will dispute the charge for the phone with my credit card company, I've got 60 days to do that I think. I've been happy with AT&T for years, but this experience has made want to switch providers. Should I? Which one?

Thank you for your help and for reading my tirade.

 

[Pjrufus]

You might have already found your way to the ATT pre-order thread, most likely place to get advice on a replacement from ATT.

I would suggest in any further talks with Fedex, you refrain from accusing the delivery person of theft. You don't know that, and it's a surefire way to elicit hostility. A lot of things could have happened, most likely, accidentally delivered to the wrong address. You are not giving them much reason to go out of their way to help you. Unless Fedex proves otherwise, give the delivery person the benefit of the doubt.

I'm sorry you're phone is missing and hope you get another one soon.

 

[Lfaith4]

Long story short:
I believe my FedEx courier stole my iPhone 6.

Can this community please help me? I am desperate for advice - how can I get a replacement iPhone 6 as quickly as possible?

Long story long:
I preordered via AT&T on 9/12. Delivery scheduled for 9/19 by 3PM via FedEx. On 9/19 at 2:30PM My spouse and I stand outside the door and wait. At 2:45PM I receive a tracking notification that the iPhone was delivered -- stating that it was left at the front door -- NO SIGNATURE REQUIRED. WTF? The package was not left at the front door. The truck didn't even drive down the street. I know because I was STANDING THERE at the time it was supposedly 'delivered.' I immediately called FedEx. I didn't hear back from them until today.

I live on a busy commercial street. I don't have bushes or steps or a gate or a path or a stoop or a porch or a yard. My door is basically ground level with the sidewalk. I've never had a courier leave a package outside my door before. It's not secure. It's an apartment building. There is no way to hide it. When I finally reached the manager for the FedEx location it came from today, I'm told "We have a contract with AT&T, and it does not require a signature for delivery, and we fulfilled that contract." I'm also told "We do not employ thieves." Either I'm lying, or FedEx is lying. And thanks to AT&T's delivery policy, it's simply my word vs their word. (by the way, my spouse received his iPhone 6 early in the morning via Apple + UPS without a hitch. signature and everything.)

When I ask AT&T about their delivery policy, I'm told they can only compel signatures on $500+ packages. How does that make sense? It's a $650 phone. It shouldn't matter what I paid for it, it should matter what the value of the package is. When I asked if they could send a replacement phone to my local AT&T store, I'm told they can't because they could get mixed up in the inventory and they don't want to have to keep track of them. When I ask that the replacement phone be sent next day delivery free of charge, I'm laughed at.

At this point AT&T have blocked the missing phone from activation. But they will not send me a replacement phone until they talk to FedEx, none of the regular employees can do anything about it. I had to get an 'escalation' number and am waiting for a call back, which can take 2 or 3 days apparently.

Please, I need advice:

What should I do? Should I demand AT&T reinstate my upgrade eligibility and refund my money and then buy the phone at Apple? Should I let them just send out a new phone? (I'm very wary to do that, I don't want to go through this again.)

Has anyone in this community been through anything like this? What is my best course of action? At this point I wish I had filed a police report. If it comes down to it, I will dispute the charge for the phone with my credit card company, I've got 60 days to do that I think. I've been happy with AT&T for years, but this experience has made want to switch providers. Should I? Which one?

Thank you for your help and for reading my tirade.

Have you still not gotten it? Call fedex and demand to know the name of the carrier that was on duty. Try to get his number and call him directly. I'm stubborn like that and try to do everything I possibly can. Or ask them to ask him. If he didn't steal it maybe he dropped it off at the wrong house. Make sure your address is correct which you gave them. Ask them to confirm your address. Call apple instead and claim your phone has been stolen. Get the new phone and if the old one pops up then hopefully you can reconnect the original one. Hope you find it!

 

[rebelduck]

You might have already found your way to the ATT pre-order thread, most likely place to get advice on a replacement from ATT.

I would suggest in any further talks with Fedex, you refrain from accusing the delivery person of theft. You don't know that, and it's a surefire way to elicit hostility. A lot of things could have happened, most likely, accidentally delivered to the wrong address. You are not giving them much reason to go out of their way to help you. Unless Fedex proves otherwise, give the delivery person the benefit of the doubt.

I'm sorry you're phone is missing and hope you get another one soon.

While I am sure 99% of FedEx employees are good people, considering how many people they employ, it's an inevitable consequence of human nature that theft will occur.

As you said, the second possibility was that it was delivered to the wrong address (on a completely different street, not to an adjacent address, because I was outside watching the street at the time and it explicitly stated on the tacking statement it was delivered to a residence, and all my neighbors are businesses.)

When I finally reached the manager for my local FedEx station, she spoke with the driver who made the "delivery" and said that the driver accurately described my address and verified that he absolutely left it at the correct residence.

It was only after this statement, I concluded by basic deduction, it was almost certainly theft on the driver's part. As there were two people home the entire day, and we were actually standing right outside our door and looking down the street for the truck at the time the driver entered the delivery confirmation into the tracking data, I fail to see what else could have happened, unless the driver delivered it to the wrong address and is now lying about it. (not to mention I've never had a package left at my door by any courier service before, they always ring the buzzer, and that very same morning UPS had no problem finding the address, ringing the buzzer, and waiting for us to come to the door.)

It was only after this insistence on the part of the FedEx driver that he did deliver the package at that time to our address, that I politely suggested to the FedEx manager to keep an eye on that employee.

Thanks for the advice.