FEDEX RANT

[INW-Iron-Steel]

Just as the title says, this is going to be a rant. I need to get this off my chest. I ordered some parts last week from RA and paid extra for 2-day guaranteed shipping so they would be here when I finished my weekend shifts on Monday. Within a day box went from Colorado to Iowa, and then circled around in Iowa for three days. It is now in KC, Missouri with a "Shipping exception" and "Label can't be read" message. From past experience, this means they exploded my box and probably sent parts all over the warehouse. Box was supposed to be here "guaranteed" by Monday night. It is now Tuesday morning and delivery is expected to be Wednesday now. That probably won't happen. The box has a GM Genuine EGR and a MAP sensor for the Suburban, which decided to start running like dog **** last week, and some other miscellaneous items. The real kicker here is I ordered some other parts from Summit on Friday after making the RA purchase. These were sent standard shipping via UPS and are going to be here today (earlier than expected). So, I paid extra to get slower shipping from a closer hub... NICE!

I have little recourse and cannot get an actual human on the phone. Local parts stores don't have the quality GM stuff in stock, just their house brand garbage. This has absolutely killed my productivity for the day. I have a lot of stuff that needs to get done, but I kind of needed to address the Suburban first.

I may be done ordering from RA. I have ordered a ton of parts from them in the last few years, but genuinely dislike that I cannot speak to an actual person if I have an issue (this is also why their prices can be so cheap). For me, I am at the point I'd rather pay a little extra to get decent customer service. And no, I am not talking about getting gouged by the local chain stores, I could have ordered the EGR and MAP from Summit with the other parts for about $15 dollars more each, before RA discount and shipping. Next time...

Rant over.

 

[ORVietVet]

That sucks. I was also told by RA that the prices stay lower because of no call in number. Did you try Amazon too? I know it happens but have never had a problem with RA or Amazon. I used to have a number for RA-608-661-1376 but all it does is tell you how to navigate the online complaint steps.

Does sound though that the problem is with Fed Ex and I would raise hell there.

 

[Cadillacmak]

Just as the title says, this is going to be a rant. I need to get this off my chest. I ordered some parts last week from RA and paid extra for 2-day guaranteed shipping so they would be here when I finished my weekend shifts on Monday. Within a day box went from Colorado to Iowa, and then circled around in Iowa for three days. It is now in KC, Missouri with a "Shipping exception" and "Label can't be read" message. From past experience, this means they exploded my box and probably sent parts all over the warehouse. Box was supposed to be here "guaranteed" by Monday night. It is now Tuesday morning and delivery is expected to be Wednesday now. That probably won't happen. The box has a GM Genuine EGR and a MAP sensor for the Suburban, which decided to start running like dog **** last week, and some other miscellaneous items. The real kicker here is I ordered some other parts from Summit on Friday after making the RA purchase. These were sent standard shipping via UPS and are going to be here today (earlier than expected). So, I paid extra to get slower shipping from a closer hub... NICE!

I have little recourse and cannot get an actual human on the phone. Local parts stores don't have the quality GM stuff in stock, just their house brand garbage. This has absolutely killed my productivity for the day. I have a lot of stuff that needs to get done, but I kind of needed to address the Suburban first.

I may be done ordering from RA. I have ordered a ton of parts from them in the last few years, but genuinely dislike that I cannot speak to an actual person if I have an issue (this is also why their prices can be so cheap). For me, I am at the point I'd rather pay a little extra to get decent customer service. And no, I am not talking about getting gouged by the local chain stores, I could have ordered the EGR and MAP from Summit with the other parts for about $15 dollars more each, before RA discount and shipping. Next time...

Rant over.

I know your pain. Living in Alaska I seldom get anything shipped in a timely manner or cheap. It makes working on vehicles a PITA. With a lot of items taking 2 weeks to a month, I just cant fix a truck that breaks down with good parts. Lose an alternator and I am forced to buy local garbage and then order a good one, so I am out double the money! Happens all the time.

 

[INW-Iron-Steel]

Currently on hold with FEDEX and giving them HELL! Supposedly RA only selected "home delivery"... whatever that means. From my experience, RA doesn't have any "people" and I process my own purchases... hmmm

Edit- This phone call is pointless. It is "already loaded on a truck"- They cannot expedite it, and if I am upset I am more than welcome to file a claim online... GREAT!

 

[Cadillacmak]

I know your pain. Living in Alaska I seldom get anything shipped in a timely manner or cheap. It makes working on vehicles a PITA. With a lot of items taking 2 weeks to a month, I just cant fix a truck that breaks down with good parts. Lose an alternator and I am forced to buy local garbage and then order a good one, so I am out double the money! Happens all the time.

This is what it would take to get me an alternator from Summit right now. The next day option is actually 2 days to me.

 

[INW-Iron-Steel]

I know your pain. Living in Alaska I seldom get anything shipped in a timely manner or cheap. It makes working on vehicles a PITA. With a lot of items taking 2 weeks to a month, I just cant fix a truck that breaks down with good parts. Lose an alternator and I am forced to buy local garbage and then order a good one, so I am out double the money! Happens all the time.

This is what it would take to get me an alternator from Summit right now. The next day option is actually 2 days to me.
View attachment 2355

Oh man! That is pain! I guess I should just be thankful it will be here tomorrow. That is part of the reason I couldn't live in Alaska (despite how absolutely beautiful it is). I actually was having a conversation with my wife's older brother about this the last time we were in Juneau. I think they have a Napa, but that's it. And they don't have any salvage yards. I was talking about running down to the Pull N Save to snag a few parts and he just looked at me all confused. I explained I could walk up to the counter, pay my 2 dollars, and roam around the yard as I please looking for anything I deemed useful. I had just recently salvaged a brake caliper bracket and rotors for my 2003 Mustang. The PO had installed the pads without the clips so they slipped cock-eyed in the brackets and grooved them until they were useless. The pads eventually froze in place and one went metal-to-metal about half-way up I-84 headed home from Portland. That poor wheel will never be the same! Anyway, he was amazed that I was able to revamp my rear brakes for about 50 bucks thanks to the junkyard parts. Pads/hardware, some new slide pins and bushings, and the cleaned up junkyard brackets and rotors. Some poor lad had just done rear brakes on his mustang before it suffered some front end damage (typical mustang things).

 

[INW-Iron-Steel]

That sucks. I was also told by RA that the prices stay lower because of no call in number. Did you try Amazon too? I know it happens but have never had a problem with RA or Amazon. I used to have a number for RA-608-661-1376 but all it does is tell you how to navigate the online complaint steps.

Does sound though that the problem is with Fed Ex and I would raise hell there.

I have never had a problem caused by RA themselves, only shipping issues and once a bad part. I bought two SKF hubs and one was very obviously a used part repackaged. I went online and they promptly sent me a new one. I have had two packages come without RA tape and that is the biggest indicator that a box has been exploded at some point. Those boxes were missing a few of my parts, but it also had extras of other stuff (not stuff I could use). Obviously multiple RA shipments had been damaged and they just threw the junk back in boxes and taped em' back together. RA makes it pretty easy in those cases, but I don't think I have any recourse here. I can't call them up and tell them my box was late.

Fed Ex put the blame on RA and told me to call them... LOL

The conversation ended up going something like "We don't have 2 day ground service, so that is new to me. I've been here 10 years and this is the first I am hearing of this service. You need to contact the shipper for whatever extra service they charged you." This was the manager, he continued "Ground typically takes 5-7 days, and that is the service your shipper selected." The manager also referred to this a "Home Delivery" so they must be interchangeable? Unsure, very confused about this whole situation. I caught him with a question he couldn't answer though. In the image below the "Standard Transit" date is 3/10. This is the date the package is supposed to be delivered by. As you can see, I ordered it on the 7th. I asked him, if ground takes 5-7 days, why does your website say it should have been delivered on the 10th, in three days? He had no answer. Best he could say was the label was damaged and it had to be re-routed to KC to print a new label. And yes, I asked why the shipment had to be redirected to KC for a new label. Couldn't they print a new label in Cedar Rapids? He told me no, that only KC has the capability to reprint and label packages (I call BS on that). I worked at UPS for a few years during college loading packages at night and worked up to a line supervisor position. I don't think he expected me to have the knowledge until I dropped that little tidbit on him. Whatever, he obviously wasn't going to change anything and the package was already showing as loaded on the next truck. He did say he put a note in with the destination hub that the package needs to be delivered first thing in the AM, so I guess we will see if that happens. I told him I was supposed to be working on a customer vehicle and since the parts were late I am now sitting around doing nothing and losing money...I can be my own customer right? I'm over it, life goes on. How frustrating though that these companies can just do whatever they want, and we can't really do anything about it. Little guy be ******

I laud Summit because their processing time is unbelievable, and they always stand by their customers. I bought a new set of Belltech shocks for the 04 last year and I swear they must have shipped out of a Spokane warehouse because it was at my door the next morning. Often, if they ship out their Nevada location and I am getting parts back home, they will have them to me in 2 days or less. I think they take beating Amazon shipping personally. Their prices are usually better too, especially if you are buying $100 worth of stuff and get free shipping. Recently I bought one of those fancy gear-reduction starters from them and it was simply not working out. I had the thing in and out at least 10 times. I gave up and called them. They shipped me out a different starter, refunded the difference, didn't charge me shipping, and gave me a discount for my next purchase. After this fiasco, they will get ALL of my future business whenever possible. Oh, and they stock a bunch of Delco and Delphi parts...

 

[DateNight]

This reminds me, I need to track my RA order hahah.

 

[DateNight]

I dread when stuff is shipped with fedex. I ordered a 3/8 ratchet and fedex lost it. Damn thing showed up on my porch a couple months later, box looked like it had been in a tornado. The ratchet was still inside unharmed. I gave it to my buddy because the company sent me another one for free. It was cool because we both at 24k gold plated ratchet’s, and we used them all the time at work.

 

[ORVietVet]

I must be living the good life. I have never had a delivery problem with USPS, UPS, Fed Ex or DHL and never had a shipment problem with Amazon, RA, ebay or tool manufacturers...

I hear about them all the time but have never had a problem. They all must know to never mess with the 72 year old Big Guy!

 

[INW-Iron-Steel]

Box came today. Did it get run over en-route?

Honestly, it doesn't look that bad. But it was pretty clearly opened/damaged. I've never received Posi-additive with tape over the cap like this before. I've bought A LOT of posi-additive too. Motorcraft XL3 from RA is my favorite, its only $6! Unless they just recently started taping over the caps in the last few months though, this box was opened up. The spouts were just rolling around in the box too, which isn't normal. But, no damage and everything was accounted for, good enough for me.

 

[ORVietVet]

I have to say that I have received some fluid taped over like that but were from Amazon and not RA.

 

[INW-Iron-Steel]

I have to say that I have received some fluid taped over like that but were from Amazon and not RA.

Interesting! I wonder if this is a new thing? I don't think the previous 6 or so bottles were taped over. Having 3 cars with clutch-style limited slips I keep this stuff on stocking level. If I use a bottle I typically buy two to replace it, that way I never run out.

 

[someotherguy]

When my flip kit and shocks showed up looking like this from FedEx..





I was ready for them when they showed up with the drop spindles.



"Oh we don't do that on the truck, it's the guys at the warehouse" he says. I don't give a damn who did it.. if there's any damage or missing parts, I'm not gonna be the one on the hook for it!



Meanwhile, USPS constantly loses packages for us, too. Most recently, had a small box shipped from IL last month. It made it to Dallas - literally a few hours from Houston - then inexplicably went to IN before it came back here. Around 3 weeks.

Really, I hate them all. They all screw up around here. Constantly. And the price just keeps going up...

Richard

 

[INW-Iron-Steel]

When my flip kit and shocks showed up looking like this from FedEx..

View attachment 2375

View attachment 2376

I was ready for them when they showed up with the drop spindles.

View attachment 2377

"Oh we don't do that on the truck, it's the guys at the warehouse" he says. I don't give a damn who did it.. if there's any damage or missing parts, I'm not gonna be the one on the hook for it!

View attachment 2378

Meanwhile, USPS constantly loses packages for us, too. Most recently, had a small box shipped from IL last month. It made it to Dallas - literally a few hours from Houston - then inexplicably went to IN before it came back here. Around 3 weeks.

Really, I hate them all. They all screw up around here. Constantly. And the price just keeps going up...

Richard

The look on his face says it all! LOL

That reminds me of the axle shafts I got for the 8.6 rebuild a few years back. Delivered in two separate boxes, one intact, the other, well... the entire axle shaft was sitting on the porch, except for the flange, that was the only part actually "in" the box. It is pathetic, and you're right, the prices are only going up. In the northwest, if you are getting a package from USPS you never want to see it go through the Portland hub. If it hits the Portland hub and is there for a few days, it's as good as gone...

 

[stutaeng]

My dad once bought a John Deere gas weed trimmer from Home Depot. When we got home and opened the box, it was an old, beat up McCollough gas weed eater. LOL

So we went straight back to THD and showed them. My dad had to open the new box at the store just to make sure what was inside and wasn't getting someone's POS.

Sorry, IDK why I'm posting this. I just remembered and thought it was funny as hell, but probably infuriating to my Dad. I was a teenager, so I didn't understand the value of time, gas, and frustration at that time.

 

[someotherguy]

My dad once bought a John Deere gas weed trimmer from Home Depot. When we got home and opened the box, it was an old, beat up McCollough gas weed eater. LOL

So we went straight back to THD and showed them. My dad had to open the new box at the store just to make sure what was inside and wasn't getting someone's POS.

Sorry, IDK why I'm posting this. I just remembered and thought it was funny as hell, but probably infuriating to my Dad. I was a teenager, so I didn't understand the value of time, gas, and frustration at that time.

Sounds like the old story we've heard about buying jugs of oil at Walmart only to open them and find it was someone's old oil they brought back and scammed through the returns. Maybe that happened, maybe it didn't; but you could easily imagine some disinterested returns clerk may have not even cared to look.

Richard

 

[MultiVAC]

I have some wheels for the vette showing up from UPS "Thursday" and this is like reading about deadly plane crashes while on short final. Haven't had an issue with RA yet, though I have found the occasional better deal from amazon. Amazon did recently swap my package with someone else who according to the box, lived 800 miles away, the address had no similarity at all. Luckily it was just some 3D printer filament and I wasn't in a hurry, they wanted to wait and see if it would be delivered. After another week they agreed to ship another to the right side of the state this time.