My father was due to receive healthcare supplies that, for him, are very important. We were told the package should arrive Saturday, but Monday at the latest. There was no attempt to deliver the package on either day. FedEx normally delivers to our town in the late afternoon, so when it didn't arrive again today, I tracked it online. In the vague lines since the package has been hurtling toward our part of Earth, the last entry was that the packages couldn't be delivered on Saturday because the apartment number was wrong. Hm. Really, it shouldn't have mattered if the apartment number was wrong. There is a board which lists tenants' last names and first initials along with their apartment numbers and an internal phone upon which to call in order to be buzzed into the building. If the driver had actually bothered to get out of his truck and gone into the vestibule of the building, he would have easily found the apartment number quickly and painlessly, even with nothing but an elementary reading level and no CSI-style sleuthing skills. So I called Fed Ex. The first level rep I spoke to confirmed that the apartment number was wrong, but that it was corrected at 9am today. He could not, or would not, tell me what the original apartment number on the airbill was (probably because their service people are looking at the same website we mere mortals see online.) I asked why, if the correction was made so early in the day, the packages weren't delivered today, especially being this was supposed to be delivered on Saturday. This is when we got into the fun, FUN and slippery sloped world of Delivery Service Double Talk and Scary Semantics (that's a real title... I swear!) Apparently, Saturday was the ANTICIPATED delivery date. The COMMITMENT date isn't until tomorrow, so it won't be delivered until tomorrow. Now, I'm a woman. I know better than to ANTICIPATE COMMITMENT, but it all seemed a bit more lame than usual when these topics come up (and yes, I acknowledge, much less devastating but equally annoying.) We played semantic tag for awhile, but my lungs got wheezy from the chase and I asked to speak to a supervisor while I puffed on my inhaler, ready for Round 2. While the supervisor to which I spoke acknowledged that the driver should have been able to deliver the package on Saturday, thereby avoiding any issue, and that the apartment had been corrected at 9:00am this morning, the package would not be delivered today not just because of FedEx's fear of COMMITMENT, but because the 'Home Delivery' section of the Watertown office is closed on Sunday and Monday. OK, Madame Supervisor. My father has an all day doctor's appointment tomorrow and so I informed her that no one would be available to buzz the guy into the building. I asked that the supervisor make sure that the delivery is made between 9am-4pm so that the driver can buzz the office instead... but she would do no such thing. She just CAN'T, Ma'am. Only the 'Freight' section is open and it is only the freight section that can guarantee a morning delivery, even to a home. If you're a home getting home delivery, no fixing of a problem can be accomplished. Too bad so sad. She would only send an email to various managers as she has no idea who will be working tomorrow and can make no guarantees. I asked to be cc'd on the email, but as they have much better security that Equifax, she said she could not. I asked her to write the email while I hold so she can let me know what it says so that I know what they know and perhaps, just perhaps, may be able to avoid more fun, fun double talk and she-said he-said. And yes, in the name of full disclosure, I did not have total faith in her desire or ability to actually make my point in her email as by that time I was an eensy, teensy, bit annoyed (read: completely PO'd that FedEx has become SUCH a lame company.) The email was fine. She would make no promises, guarantees or send me flowers. There is no number to call in Watertown, only the central Fed Ex number and they SWEAR they will connect me to the Watertown office. No manager/contact name to request for follow up and accountability provided. I think it's fair to say that the chances that my Dad will get what he needs tomorrow are about as slim as me using FedEx in the future, but I'll go through the motions, give 'em a call and at the very least, have an opportunity to blow off some steam that I normally save for the usually deserving cable company. read more