FedEx is absolutely the worst courier ever

[RMSMajestic]

Without any doubt, FedEx is the most horrible courier in the history of horrible couriers, it's just a cluster f***. Maybe I shouldn't say that cos that's an insult to the f word.
I know most of you might disagree with the title and the line above,
But I just want to share my personal experience, three separate events, in a one year time-span.

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About this time last year I've made the decision to come to the USA for a master's degree, the college here sent out my I-20 form by FedEx (I-20 is the most important document for me to stay in USA and apply for a visa), It took over two weeks for me to get it, and I had to go 10 miles to their place located in the middle of nowhere in Shanghai suburb. My address in Shanghai isn't a really weird address, I didn't understand how they failed to find my place. But, this is just a start

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A few months ago, I purchased a broken W701ds from Canada for about $400, FedEx delivered it, yes, not surprisingly I got some additional wearing on the corner, but I didn't bought it for myself and $400 was really cheap even for a wounded behemoth, so, I just ignored it.

Then, surprisingly, after entirely three weeks, I've received a letter from them, asking me to pay additional $29 for it. And I'm totally shocked that they are not ashamed to tell me that they charge $27 of various types of "handling fees" for just $2 import tax!!!! just $2 import tax FFS!!!!!!

U may think okay so what, just pay for it? No no no, this is not the end of the story. They only accept cheque payments and automatically assume that every one has cheque. So, I have to register an account, ask them to put the bill under my account and, try to pay it online. Okay, maybe because I'm new in this country and I don't understand how things work here. Immediately after I've phoned their customer "service", I realised that I've made a big mistake. There was no f***ing customer service, all they have is a f***ing ret**ded automatic voice recognition!!!!
And this was exactly how I feel： https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzJ0CytAsec
Anyway, after painful struggle, I managed to speak to a representative, and that representative told me that everything was done and I can pay for the bill online.

Then, after a few weeks, I received another $22 letter from them!!! It wasn't another invoice, in fact I didn't even know what the heck on earth it is, nor their representative, however the representative told me "this matter has been taken care about and you don't need to worry", well, do you think I should believe him or not? I chose not to, because I don't want have a bad credit record for not paying bills. In the end I had to ask a friend of mine to write a cheque for me, spend another $0.49 to send the cheque to FedEx, and pay my friend $29 in cash. And I don't even know if they have received the freaking cheque or not.

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And, just last month, I purchased a motherboard from this seller http://www.ebay.com/usr/centrix-intl.co ... 7675.l2559
It took 7 days to arrive. (In comparison, USPS Priority medium box would cost ~$12 and normally take 3 days to arrive)
And when I received the mobo, it was so badly bent.
I chose to get the package to be delivered to my friends' place cos I was on a holiday, and that was just the beginning of a night mare.
I reported the damage to the seller, and the seller promised to sent me a replacement and scheduled a pick up.
The FedEx guy came, not to my place, but to my friends' place, twice, despite I've went throught the voice ret**ded system and asked the representative to change the pick up location to my place.
And, they don't pick up on weekends!!!!!!
So I have to ask my roommate to do me this huge favor of not doing anything but staying at home and only wait for the s**ker to come today, again
And he never did.
Oh, forgot to mention, the replacement mobo was bent as well, just not as severe as the first one
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So, in conclusion, please avoid FedEx at your very best effort.
And, since forum doesn't let me swear, I have absolutely nothing to say about FedEx except stars "*"
I'm just posting this here to remind myself, next time, when it's FedEx, read this thread again

Please feel free to laugh and share.
(╯' - ')╯︵ ┻━┻

[dr_st]

It's not abnormal for couriers to charge ridiculous fees for processing which they don't always disclose upfront, but it is abnormal to have them do it the way they did here.

Normally they calculate all the fees and you need to pay them for them to give you the package. In this case - you got the package and then later they send you a bill? I would just ignore it / tell them to get lost.

[precip9]

RMS,
This is culture shock. It's more or less common knowledge to natives that both UPS and Fedex fees for shipping from Canada to the U.S. are ridiculous. The cause partly originates with 9/11, which created an artificial distinction between postal services and commercial parcel services. Part of it has to do with the way packages are treated from the aspect of security. After 9/11, it became a concern that WMDs could be sent by these services. So there is screening, and we pay for it. The postal services have screening too, but it's subsidized.

The other strange part is how customs for package services differ from customs for postal packages. Small weight postal shipments are treated leniently, bypassing customs as if allowing the noncommercial personal import of goods. With the parcel services, UPS and Fedex are required to act as customs brokers. You were probably billed a brokerage fee. This is all strange and arbitrary, so it is not surprising you were caught by this.

Typically, grouses about package services are made by someone who lost a package, or received one damaged. As far as I can tell, neither UPS or Fedex have total control over the behavior of their employees. They both lose or damage an occasional package.

Are there similar situations in China that would confuse a person from the U.S. ?

[RMSMajestic]

RMS,
This is culture shock. It's more or less common knowledge to natives that both UPS and Fedex fees for shipping from Canada to the U.S. are ridiculous. The cause partly originates with 9/11, which created an artificial distinction between postal services and commercial parcel services. Part of it has to do with the way packages are treated from the aspect of security. After 9/11, it became a concern that WMDs could be sent by these services. So there is screening, and we pay for it. The postal services have screening too, but it's subsidized.

The other strange part is how customs for package services differ from customs for postal packages. Small weight postal shipments are treated leniently, bypassing customs as if allowing the noncommercial personal import of goods. With the parcel services, UPS and Fedex are required to act as customs brokers. You were probably billed a brokerage fee. This is all strange and arbitrary, so it is not surprising you were caught by this.

Typically, grouses about package services are made by someone who lost a package, or received one damaged. As far as I can tell, neither UPS or Fedex have total control over the behavior of their employees. They both lose or damage an occasional package.

Are there similar situations in China that would confuse a person from the U.S. ?

Not really culture shock, back in UK, when I am supposed to pay the import charge, the royal mail would leave a piece of paper at my letter box, and then I can just follow the instruction on their note and pay for the fees online, and yes, there is a not-so-cheap handling fee. It was not this $29 charge that annoyed me, since I wasn't the person paying for it, the entire experience of trying to pay for it was such a pain in the ***. I didn't understand what that $22 letter was all about, and this entire experience of talking to their customer service is much worse than using a 21:9 screen for programming.

P.S. the real cultural shock for me is the measuring units here, lbs, ozs, inch, mile, fahrenheit. getting used to miles and lbs, but still this tortures me every day. Another shock is the tax, surprised that they are not included in the price

[RMSMajestic]

It's not abnormal for couriers to charge ridiculous fees for processing which they don't always disclose upfront, but it is abnormal to have them do it the way they did here.

Normally they calculate all the fees and you need to pay them for them to give you the package. In this case - you got the package and then later they send you a bill? I would just ignore it / tell them to get lost.

I wish I could, in fact I regret using my real name for that purchase. credit record is very important here. My auntie didn't remember to pay for a phone bill in Phillipines, and this brought her troubles when she was applying for loans.
And yes, later they sent me the bill!!! And they also enclosed a letter saying "on time delivery is their first priority bla bla bla"