August 13, 2000
s
I write this, I really wonder if yesterday wasn't the 13th...It
all started off innocently enough. I have been waiting on a final
document to seal the sale of my condo. It came to me originally
last week, but had some incorrect information, so I returned
it for correction. I hadn't seen anything back, so I called them
and asked them what was the status. The person told me it had
been sent out Airborne Express on Thursday of last week, and
should have been to me on Friday. She gave me the tracking number,
which I then went to the web with to look up.
So, I toddle off to the web page for Airborne (note carefully that I'm not supplying a link to them) and look up the package. Yes, indeed it was picked up Thursday night, and made it to Landover on Friday (Landover being on the other side of the beltway from where it started in Virginia, on the Maryland side of Washington DC...I used to live in the town next to Landover, and shopped there occasionally). It also showed that it was scheduled to be delivered today, so I didn't think much about it further, just chalking the delay up to some obscure screw up (and part of the world plot to get me personally). I mentioned to our office manager that I was expecting a package, although there really wasn't any need, she's quite good at her job, and it would have ended up on my desk anyway. So.... I go through the day, just kind of waiting, expecting that I'll deal with the issue when it arrives. 'Lo and behold, 5PM arrives and passes, with no package. Talking to myself as I do, I said "That's odd! I decided to call the offices.
A nice young girl in Phoenix answers the phone after I've been disconnected twice (press 1 for blah, press 2 for other blah.... press 2, please hold while we connect you- disconnect). Already unhappy with the experience I've gotten, I explain to the young lady what my predicament is, and she looks it up. At first, she can't find it (odd, because that happened to me the first time I looked at it on the internet, I had assumed I typoed), and then pulls it up. Ah, she says, it didn't get delivered today, let me call the office that has it for you. I wait, patiently (less so now, I'm getting concerned) and she comes back several times telling me she called the wrong office, or they're discussing it, please hold. Finally, she apologizes again, and tells me she has arranged with the local office to have a special courier deliver it to me that night, between 8PM and 10PM. Fine, I say, and hang up.
I finish my work day around 8:15, and start wondering about timing. I really wanted to go to the store, and make cookies, and finish my wash, and watch the end of Monday Night Football, and reconnect my satellite dish, and finish the Dick Francis novel, and hunt in the game. Maybe some Diablo II also. So, about 8:20, I decide to call them to find out where the office is. My memory tells me that it is over in Earth City (about 4 miles away, just over the Missouri, and near Dave & Busters). I talk to the young lady, and she confirms that it is over there (although she calls it Maryland Heights, the next town over), and that it left their office at 8:25, and then apologizes that apparently their clocks aren't synched, because it is 5 minutes before 8:25. I should have pressed here, but I figured 4 miles should take about 10-20 minutes, and maybe a bit more if he had another delivery in St. Charles.
So, I pop out to the car, and listen to a tape, wishing that I'd brought in a book. With it being so close, I know that I don't have time to go home to grab a book, so I just sit there. Watching cats stalk across the lawn, watching people walk their dogs, looking at a map to see where my folks broke down in their motor coach yesterday (no power steering, no engine cooling, but they're ok, and getting it fixed outside Youngstown, OH). Wow, this it taking a long time, I say to myself, but maybe he went into Creve Couer first, and was coming out here second. I wait until about 10:10. Finally, I go back inside and call them.
This time, another young person answers the phone, and confirms that the package went out at 8:25. I sigh, and say, well, I'll just sit here at work. This seems to affect her in some way, and I become something more that just another phone call. She starts looking into it more seriously, and suddenly discovers that my package isn't even in the state of Missouri.... it has never left their PGC (Prince Georges County, MD, where Landover is) office! I ask her plaintively how this could be, and she spins a story about how the package must be mislabeled due to a software error at the people who sent the packages office, and I'll need to call them. I'm finally able to convince her that this isn't my problem, it is theirs, and they need to track down the problem and contact their own people to get the package delivered, rather than my responsibility to contact the people who sent the package. She tells me she'll leave a note for an AM rep, and they'll call me in the morning on my cell phone.
Speaking of which, I just got the call. They admit completely screwing up the delivery, and have no explanation as to why it is still sitting in Landover, but the message that was sent to them last night was returned with an "Oops, we screwed up, we'll send it out tonight for delivery tomorrow" message. I know from my years of experience with Customer Service that the guy I'm talking to on the phone isn't the guy who needs to be yelled at, so I struggle to contain myself, and indicate to him in an appropriate manner my displeasure with his company. He agrees with my statements (he handled me quite well, considering my inner seething) and agrees that the explanation they've received in their office from the Landover office isn't satisfactory, and he'll ask the manager of the Landover office to call me with an explanation within the next two hours. I'm looking forward to this call.
You know, given the choice, any day of the week I'll choose FedEx. I like their commercials, I like their sponsorship of the Champ Car series, I like their sponsorship on several Formula One cars and drivers... and I like their performance.
sigh.