This is the tale of two ping-pong packages that I ordered from the river in South America in February. One I ordered on the 10th, one I ordered on the 17th/19th. To keep confusion down, I shall dub the 10th one Carmen Sandiego and the 17th/19th one Waldo. Stupidly, I chose the super saver shipping option... which meant these packages went out via Fedex Smartpost. This is their adventures, told in their tracking...
[bg] my post office is out of Donaldson AR and Fedex's closest hub is in Hot Springs AR. You need to know this to understand why I'm so very amused and ticked by this whole thing. [/bg]
Here is Carmen's tracking, provided by the River of South America. Edited to save space and eyes, however.
March 5, 2013 Donaldson AR US
March 4, 2013 Memphis TN US
March 3, 2013 Warrendale PA US
March 2, 2013 Allen Park MI US
February 25, 2013 Fedex Smartpost Southaven MS US
February 22, 2013 Olive Branch MS US
February 22, 2013 Memphis TN US
February 21, 2013 Hot Springs National AR US
February 20, 2013 Memphis TN US
February 20, 2013 Fedex Smartpost Southaven MS US
February 20, 2013 Donaldson AR US
February 20, 2013 Olive Branch MS US
February 20, 2013 Memphis TN US
February 18, 2013 Hot Springs National AR US
February 15, 2013 Memphis TN US
February 14, 2013 Fedex Smartpost Southaven MS US
February 14, 2013 US
Now onto Waldo. His is shorter... but his journey is not done, either..
March 5, 2013 Denver CO US
February 26, 2013 Donaldson AR US
February 26, 2013 Olive Branch MS US
February 26, 2013 Memphis TN US
February 25, 2013 Hot Springs National AR US
February 22, 2013 Memphis TN US
February 21, 2013 Fedex Smartpost Southaven MS US
February 21, 2013 US
I'm pretty sure you can see why I'm a bit.. irked. The River's estimated arrival for Carmen was the 18th and for Waldo the 25th. For a while, Fedex reflected that. On Carmen, I called Fedex after she left Hot Springs the first time around and was told, "Well, that's how our trucks work and there was none going to Donaldson. Plus there was that snow storm..." Umm.. bull. See, Smartpost is supposed to hand off to the USPS closest to their hub, which is what usually happens.. IN HOT SPRINGS. The USPS then sends it to Donaldson via one of their trucks. Fast and efficient. Then you see the gap, between Feb 25th and March 2nd. During that time, I contacted the River to ask where this package was, since I had no luck with either Fedex or USPS, who were blaming each other. The River TL;DR and refunded my money instead. I'm contacting them now to pay for her, since she (finally) arrived. The first "Donaldson?" Never happened. I dunno why it scanned, since I called my local office and they never saw the package.
Waldo is pretty much like Carmen, except that I waited longer before contacting the River on the issue. In fact, yesterday I contacted them, since no one could find Waldo in this picture. Took them two hours to respond, during which time, I assume they were trying to contact the carrier to find out the info. The River sent out replacements via One Day shipping and told me that if Waldo showed up to refuse to allow him in my house. Apparently, that shook him loose.. because now he's in Colorado, which on the map of the US is not anywhere near me.
Fedex and USPS will probably play the blame game on this, but I know which carrier as my cousin put it, "Dun screwed up." Fedex had Carmen in Hot Springs TWICE and Waldo there ONCE. If they'd done the hand off as usual, the packages would have made it no problems. Throughout it all, the River has been awesome. Hubby and I are debating refusing Waldo, because a spare hard drive and dvd-burner is a good thing to have around and we have the money to pay for him.
[bg] my post office is out of Donaldson AR and Fedex's closest hub is in Hot Springs AR. You need to know this to understand why I'm so very amused and ticked by this whole thing. [/bg]
Here is Carmen's tracking, provided by the River of South America. Edited to save space and eyes, however.
March 5, 2013 Donaldson AR US
March 4, 2013 Memphis TN US
March 3, 2013 Warrendale PA US
March 2, 2013 Allen Park MI US
February 25, 2013 Fedex Smartpost Southaven MS US
February 22, 2013 Olive Branch MS US
February 22, 2013 Memphis TN US
February 21, 2013 Hot Springs National AR US
February 20, 2013 Memphis TN US
February 20, 2013 Fedex Smartpost Southaven MS US
February 20, 2013 Donaldson AR US
February 20, 2013 Olive Branch MS US
February 20, 2013 Memphis TN US
February 18, 2013 Hot Springs National AR US
February 15, 2013 Memphis TN US
February 14, 2013 Fedex Smartpost Southaven MS US
February 14, 2013 US
Now onto Waldo. His is shorter... but his journey is not done, either..
March 5, 2013 Denver CO US
February 26, 2013 Donaldson AR US
February 26, 2013 Olive Branch MS US
February 26, 2013 Memphis TN US
February 25, 2013 Hot Springs National AR US
February 22, 2013 Memphis TN US
February 21, 2013 Fedex Smartpost Southaven MS US
February 21, 2013 US
I'm pretty sure you can see why I'm a bit.. irked. The River's estimated arrival for Carmen was the 18th and for Waldo the 25th. For a while, Fedex reflected that. On Carmen, I called Fedex after she left Hot Springs the first time around and was told, "Well, that's how our trucks work and there was none going to Donaldson. Plus there was that snow storm..." Umm.. bull. See, Smartpost is supposed to hand off to the USPS closest to their hub, which is what usually happens.. IN HOT SPRINGS. The USPS then sends it to Donaldson via one of their trucks. Fast and efficient. Then you see the gap, between Feb 25th and March 2nd. During that time, I contacted the River to ask where this package was, since I had no luck with either Fedex or USPS, who were blaming each other. The River TL;DR and refunded my money instead. I'm contacting them now to pay for her, since she (finally) arrived. The first "Donaldson?" Never happened. I dunno why it scanned, since I called my local office and they never saw the package.
Waldo is pretty much like Carmen, except that I waited longer before contacting the River on the issue. In fact, yesterday I contacted them, since no one could find Waldo in this picture. Took them two hours to respond, during which time, I assume they were trying to contact the carrier to find out the info. The River sent out replacements via One Day shipping and told me that if Waldo showed up to refuse to allow him in my house. Apparently, that shook him loose.. because now he's in Colorado, which on the map of the US is not anywhere near me.
Fedex and USPS will probably play the blame game on this, but I know which carrier as my cousin put it, "Dun screwed up." Fedex had Carmen in Hot Springs TWICE and Waldo there ONCE. If they'd done the hand off as usual, the packages would have made it no problems. Throughout it all, the River has been awesome. Hubby and I are debating refusing Waldo, because a spare hard drive and dvd-burner is a good thing to have around and we have the money to pay for him.
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