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My younger brother is a professional musician, and last year he bought a boutique trombone case handmade by one guy in a cabin in Wisconsin, after over a year o

My younger brother is a professional musician, and last year he bought a boutique trombone case handmade by one guy in a cabin in Wisconsin, after over a year on the waiting list. Fedex got to his apartment building in Manhattan, realized they didn't have a code to get in, and left it on the sidewalk. My brother was waiting at home all day for this package, saw them drop it off, ran down, and it was gone when he got outside. Fedex wouldn't do anything about it, no refund, nothing. And if he had done a chargeback on the manufacturer, who wasn't really at fault, he wouldn't have been able to buy from him ever again. So I wouldn't choose Fedex for anything valuable.

taborj 7y ago
I believe the shipper can require a signature upon delivery. Then, at least, if FedEx left it without getting a signature, they'd be on the hook for it.
- tyingq 7y ago
  Where "on the hook" is shipper files a claim through a byzantine manual process to get some subset of the wholesale, not retail, value. You can't file the claim until after a multi-day "investigation". So if you ship a replacement right away, and they find the original item days later...too bad.
fooey 7y ago
Anything that expensive or irreplaceable should have been insured by the shipper and required a signature If you don't get what you buy, it's absolutely on the seller to make it right. It's on them to get reimbursed by the shipper for a failed delivery.
- benatkin 7y ago
  Insurance is not a panacea. It wouldn't have gotten him moved up in the waiting list to receive a replacement quicker, and the claim likely would have been denied, and they'd have expected him to go through an appeals, which would be a pain, and might not get the result he wanted. A police report will probably be required. Even if successful, when insurance claims are made they often go to the CLUE insurance report, and make many forms of insurance more expensive or harder to get. https://www.carinsurance.com/clue-report.aspx https://www.carinsurance.com/clue-report.aspx The other thing is that you're assuming there was no insurance. Maybe you're right but I doubt it, it was probably insured by Fedex and the uselessness of the insurance was included in "Fedex wouldn't do anything about it". The "requesting a signature" part is something they often neglect to do, or do carelessly. At any rate if the person making the trombone case can't be bothered to ship it properly, it's still Fedex's fault from the musician brother's perspective, because he knew firsthand that the driver failed to deliver the item directly to him.
- tyingq 7y ago
  "require a signature", quite often, ends in them coming by when the recipient is out. They try 3 times, then ship it back at the sellers expense. It's not really a great solution.
YZF 7y ago
Isn't that a function of the delivery option you chose? If you go for the cheapest "drop it outside and maybe it'll be gone" option then why would you be surprised? Around here people who live in apartment buildings where stuff can't be delivered get their packages sent to work. Also they offer insurance, right? I've had decent experience with FedEx myself, mostly in Canada but also some other places.

taborj 7y ago

I believe the shipper can require a signature upon delivery. Then, at least, if FedEx left it without getting a signature, they'd be on the hook for it.

tyingq 7y ago
Where "on the hook" is shipper files a claim through a byzantine manual process to get some subset of the wholesale, not retail, value. You can't file the claim until after a multi-day "investigation". So if you ship a replacement right away, and they find the original item days later...too bad.

fooey 7y ago

Anything that expensive or irreplaceable should have been insured by the shipper and required a signature If you don't get what you buy, it's absolutely on the seller to make it right. It's on them to get reimbursed by the shipper for a failed delivery.

benatkin 7y ago
Insurance is not a panacea. It wouldn't have gotten him moved up in the waiting list to receive a replacement quicker, and the claim likely would have been denied, and they'd have expected him to go through an appeals, which would be a pain, and might not get the result he wanted. A police report will probably be required. Even if successful, when insurance claims are made they often go to the CLUE insurance report, and make many forms of insurance more expensive or harder to get. https://www.carinsurance.com/clue-report.aspx https://www.carinsurance.com/clue-report.aspx The other thing is that you're assuming there was no insurance. Maybe you're right but I doubt it, it was probably insured by Fedex and the uselessness of the insurance was included in "Fedex wouldn't do anything about it". The "requesting a signature" part is something they often neglect to do, or do carelessly. At any rate if the person making the trombone case can't be bothered to ship it properly, it's still Fedex's fault from the musician brother's perspective, because he knew firsthand that the driver failed to deliver the item directly to him.
tyingq 7y ago
"require a signature", quite often, ends in them coming by when the recipient is out. They try 3 times, then ship it back at the sellers expense. It's not really a great solution.

YZF 7y ago

Isn't that a function of the delivery option you chose? If you go for the cheapest "drop it outside and maybe it'll be gone" option then why would you be surprised? Around here people who live in apartment buildings where stuff can't be delivered get their packages sent to work. Also they offer insurance, right? I've had decent experience with FedEx myself, mostly in Canada but also some other places.