Hesitant, Hopeful

I'm in a terrible mood. Matt was off work last night, but insisted that I stay up with him until nearly dawn because he needs to "stay on a night schedule." I had to get up around 9:00 a.m. to wait for a package from FedEx--just about the last of our Christmas shopping--so I've gotten very little sleep. And you know what, I don't blame Matt, at all. I blame FedEx. Staying up until after 5:00 a.m. wouldn't normally be a problem, nor would it be all the irregular, it's the getting up at 9:00 a.m. that's the issue here, and it shouldn't be. That package should have been here last Friday (November 30th) when it was originally scheduled for delivery. FedEx is seriously on my shit list.

If I have a choice, I won't be shipping with them again. In fact, I would pay more for shipping just to avoid them. The sad thing is that I've never had a problem with them before, but this problem I'm currently having is enough to make me swear off of them in the future. There's zero good reason for a delivery to continually be rescheduled, day after day, for almost a week. They don't tell me the delivery has been rescheduled until the day it's supposed to be delivered and they're not even giving me a suitable reason, just telling me there's a "delivery exception." Then, yesterday, when it wasn't delivered again, they informed me the package had a wrong/non-existent address. Um, what? So I checked the address with the shipper and it's right. I tell FedEx that it's right, give them step-by-step directions, and they say it'll be delivered today. We'll see. It's about 1:00 p.m. and it's not hear yet, and I've been up waiting.

What pisses me off most is that in the eight years we've lived her, no delivery company has ever failed to find us. We've never had a problem getting packages--except the odd business who can't recognize our address in the first place, which is annoying but we can work around it. We live on a private road (inside a mobile home park), and though there was a time when we didn't show up on Google maps, we do now. We show up on GPS-like tracking websites, maps are getting smarter. They shouldn't have a problem finding us, but they're now saying that they do and that our address doesn't exist. Good job, FedEx.

I mean, really, what if I had a job outside the house. How would we ever get anything? I don't see how people do it. I'd have had to make special arrangements to be here to wait for the package. It's bad enough that they tell you that it'll be there anytime from 8:00 a.m. to 5 p.m., which is a huge space of time and makes planning difficult already, but to repeatedly put off the delivery. I'd have been up a creek without a paddle if I'd had a job. Matt works nights, he can't stay awake all day waiting for a package that FedEx decides, the day of the damn delivery, that they're not going to bring.

So, I'm hoping it gets here today, but I'm not going to hold my breath. The package has a Christmas present for our best friends and something in it for me and Matt, too, so it really needs to get here. I know it's the holidays and everyone's busy, shippers most of all, but it's their job to make sure packages arrive in a timely manner. That's their only responsibility in the world and it seems like FedEx can't even get that right. I am so, so pissed, but I have to say, their customer service people are night enough. They patiently took notes and listened to me tell them how disappointed I was in their service, and they were still quite nice to me. So, at least they have that going for them. Of course, any business that fails to fulfills it's only goal would need a good customer service department. So glad our shopping and shipping is almost done. Maybe now we can get back to trying to enjoy the holiday season!

Quick update: My package didn't come yesterday, after I had so little sleep to wait for it (their system said it would be here). When I called FedEx last night, the guy I spoke to had no idea where my package was or why it wasn't delivered, but said someone would call me today. No call, but I did get an email that my package was delivered. They had just left it on the steps, not even a knock to let me know it was out there. Lazy ass drivers! I'm seriously considering filing a complaint.