FedEx nightmare, a cautionary tale

[Frank_Drew]

@Chris Freemott

If Georgia doesn’t allow out of state retail establishments to ship wine in, how is Robert ‘licensed’?

@Rob Weaver

Robert is licensed to ship to Georgia (as subsequent conversations confirmed)

Well, it’s one or the other; should be fairly easy to determine which. Absent a license to ship into the state, FedEx were within their rights to confiscate or destroy the wine, as I understand the regulations.

I totally agree, though, that dealing with these national shippers can be an absolute nightmare; pounding your head against a wall doesn’t begin to describe the frustration and futility of the exercise.

[Frank_Drew]

@Emily Richer

I find the FedEx customer service and customer advocate teams are VERY hostile to customers (and shippers), but if you can get through to a station, they know where their paychecks come from and will do everything possible to help out.

Emily, what’s a “station”?

@Rob Weaver

My company’s annual shipping volume merits an extremely favorable rate schedule. Overnight delivery from California to Georgia for a case of wine is as low as $15

[AndrewH]

@Rob Weaver

For starters, regardless of what the true legality of Robert shipping wine to Georgia is, FedEx (now) acknowledges that he has the proper certification to do so.

Second, FedEx is not claiming that they destroyed the shipment because it was shipped illegally. They are saying that it was accidentally damaged in totality.

So the entire basis for denying your claim for compensation is that because the shipment was billed to you, you and not Robert are considered the shipper?

Honestly, I don’t see how if the package was simply damaged in full (stuff like that does actually happen) they are trying to claim they owe you no compensation.

[mattcitrang]

Was the wine shipped under Adult signature?

[Chris_Freemott]

Good grief…what a mess. Good luck and keep us informed as to how it plays out.

[Scott_Jameson]

Rob, I’m surprised FedEx is even talking to you. I’ve had a couple of damaged shipments over the years, and in every case, I was told the shipper had to pursue the claims for the damages. Isn’t Robert Panzer the shipper in this case ? If so, what has he done ?

[Chris_Freemott]

Key point is that “shipper” is not determined by who is billed - it’s the person who ships the package. Billing can be to sender or recipient, but that’s a different question.

Andrew - walk me through that one. If I have a nice discount on my account and want someone to send me a package using my discount, odds are I’ll kick out a label myself and PDF it to them to slap onto the package. Isn’t that the ‘shipper’? Or by using the phrase “person who ships the package” implying he/she who dropped it off??

I’m confused.

[Rob_Weaver]

@Scott Jameson

Rob, I’m surprised FedEx is even talking to you. I’ve had a couple of damaged shipments over the years, and in every case, I was told the shipper had to pursue the claims for the damages. Isn’t Robert Panzer the shipper in this case ? If so, what has he done ?

Yep, this is true, but we do about 10MM with FedEx as a business, so they do speak, but still don’t do. Robert initially spent a couple hours on the phone with them, but feels it won’t bear fruit and doesn’t care to waste more of his time, but as I stated earlier, he agreed to replace the bottles except for the ones he doesn’t have in stock. More than generous + he is replacing the Mugnaret Gibourg with his lone bottle.

I just hate that FedEx gets away with kind of stuff because they make it so difficult to deal with them. This is my first wine disaster with them, but I am also an custom bicycle aficionado and have been disappointed by their customer service almost every time an incident occurred during insured and definitely legal shipments.

[AndrewH]

@Chris Freemott

Key point is that “shipper” is not determined by who is billed - it’s the person who ships the package. Billing can be to sender or recipient, but that’s a different question.

Andrew - walk me through that one. If I have a nice discount on my account and want someone to send me a package using my discount, odds are I’ll kick out a label myself and PDF it to them to slap onto the package. Isn’t that the ‘shipper’? Or by using the phrase “person who ships the package” implying he/she who dropped it off??

I’m confused.

I don’t know in the OP’s case who was listed as the shipper, but I would consider the person who provides the package to FedEx for shipment to be the “shipper” under any common understanding of the term. FedEx’s T&C’s define “shipper” as the person who is listed as the sender on the airbill. While I take your point, FedEx allows the shipper (or the shipment) to be billed to the recipient, using the recipient’s account number. Yet that does not, at least according to their T&C, turn the recipient into the “shipper” as well.

So, if you kicked out a label, I would list the “someone” as the shipper - not sure what it defaults to.

[DougS]

@Rob Weaver

@Scott Jameson

Rob, I’m surprised FedEx is even talking to you. I’ve had a couple of damaged shipments over the years, and in every case, I was told the shipper had to pursue the claims for the damages. Isn’t Robert Panzer the shipper in this case ? If so, what has he done ?

Yep, this is true, but we do about 10MM with FedEx as a business, so they do speak, but still don’t do. Robert initially spent a couple hours on the phone with them, but feels it won’t bear fruit and doesn’t care to waste more of his time, but as I stated earlier, he agreed to replace the bottles except for the ones he doesn’t have in stock. More than generous + he is replacing the Mugnaret Gibourg with his lone bottle.

I just hate that FedEx gets away with kind of stuff because they make it so difficult to deal with them. This is my first wine disaster with them, but I am also an custom bicycle aficionado and have been disappointed by their customer service almost every time an incident occurred during insured and definitely legal shipments.

I’m a little confused. Is Fedex covering the cost of the damaged case? I’ve only dealt with that a couple of times, but they have actually been very easy to deal with and have covered the loss both times.