Fed Extra Stupid Experience with HA package 0

[Will_K]

ComicLink ships to PO Boxes.  HA also.  Haven't had a problem with any art dealer send to a PO Box.

On a side note, not sure if it's still true but Bill Cole (mylars, etc) had a note on their web site that they won't ship to PO Boxes.  I called and asked for confirmation.  The support person told me that they will ship to PO Boxes if the billing address is also the same PO Box.  So, it's always good to confirm.

Edited December 6, 2019 by Will_K

[vodou]

11 minutes ago, Will_K said:

ComicLink ships to PO Boxes.  HA also.  Haven't had a problem with any art dealer send to a PO Box.

I love my POB for avoiding all the problems people have in this thread and others -for everything, not just art. The only issue is you will run into the occasional vendor that has an exclusive contract with UPS or FEDEX and won't  budge, then you just have to one-off that order. Still no biggie as 99% of the risk still disappears. Never worry about rain/snow again, porch pirates, signatures, etc. Wonderful

[cloud cloddie]

1 hour ago, aokartman said:

I think there are some sellers (not me) who don't ship to boxes, so there could be some friction there in your collecting.

Otherwise, I agree with the concept.

Some collectors might not have a nearby box provider, plus there is a layer of expense with the box fee.

David

 

Luckily my Postal Annex box is just a normal address, so never had a PO Box issue. 

For me personally, the expense is negligible compared to the shipping issues I had prior. 

[Michael Browning]

I had this exact same thing happen to me the last two times I bought from Heritage. I've always been able to get it redirected to my local FedEx office. Of the last two, the first one showed on the site that it had been redirected to the local office and even showed me it had arrived there, but when I drove over to get it, they said it was delivered to my home address. I drove home and it had been delivered there. The second time, the site simply refused to allow me to redirect.

My FedEx office can't figure out what is going on with it, because they say it's not their site. It is extremely frustrating.

[NelsonAI]

Live in one of the most expensive cities in the world.

Buy an apartment at astronomical prices and pay ridiculous amounts of "monthly maintenance fees" that are staffed 24 hours a day with doormen where they can sign for packages and store them for you.

OR

Rent an apartment at astronomical monthly rents with 24 hour doormen service.

Problem solved.

[AnkurJ]

Get a PO Box. Heritage will ship express mail.

[MyNameIsLegion]

16 hours ago, mattn792 said:

Based upon my own recent experience, I think FedEx is actively working to become more like USPS (i.e. completely inflexible).  A fellow boardie sent me two books via FedEx that I'd claimed from his thread, and it was a four figure outlay, so not insignificant.  Like @tth2, I have all of my books sent to the office as someone is usually here M-F, 9-5.  FedEx first delivery attempt was on a Saturday.  Oops.

OK cool, they'll probably try to re-deliver on Tuesday, since Monday was Veteran's Day.  Nope, tracking says we'll try again Monday.  We're off on Monday, nobody manning the ship that day.  Ergh.  So like I was used to doing in the past, I call up the tracking number on the website and look to have it diverted to a local hold facility so I can pick it up.  Option nowhere to be found.  WTF.  Oh, but if I sign up on the website, then I get more functions.  Rock on, let's do that.  OK, at least I can set my re-delivery date.  Let's choose Wednesday.  And...huh?  "This service is only available for residential addresses."  Right, because that makes perfect sense.  No business ever has needed to reschedule a delivery.

Luckily, unlike @MYNAMEISLEGION's situation, my phone call did not go to Bangladesh, and I got very helpful rep here in the US who took care of the reschedule.  They even called before and after to confirm the delivery.  5 stars for the phone reps.  -47 stars for the rest of the debacle.  

All of this nonsense can be avoided, and it's less work for FedEx to simply allow a package to be picked up at one of their retail locations. It defies logic to not allow the recipient to voluntarily opt to not have something delivered to a residential or even business address and instead have it routed to FedEx where that driver would be going anyway to pick-up packages. Having to re-attempt delivery is the least efficient part of the entire process.  The last mile of a delivery chain is the most difficult by far and skipping the step entirely should be the thing they go out of their way to promote and simply not allow "Shipper Terms" to interfere. It's 100 times more secure that leaving it on the damn porch.

I'm curious what number or menu options you selected to get someone from the US on the phone.  Your'e right, my previous experience when getting someone on the phone is that they where phenomenal.  The moment I got the first guy on the phone and heard the accent I knew I was wasting my time. Offshore Customer service is an oxymoron. 

[MyNameIsLegion]

16 hours ago, lobrac said:

Sorry about your troubles, but glad to hear your Welcome Back Kotter page by Ric Estrada made it safely into your collection.

I'm done shill bidding your attempted flips! Always backfires on me!

 

Edited December 7, 2019 by MYNAMEISLEGION

[MyNameIsLegion]

5 hours ago, Michael Browning said:

I had this exact same thing happen to me the last two times I bought from Heritage. I've always been able to get it redirected to my local FedEx office. Of the last two, the first one showed on the site that it had been redirected to the local office and even showed me it had arrived there, but when I drove over to get it, they said it was delivered to my home address. I drove home and it had been delivered there. The second time, the site simply refused to allow me to redirect.

My FedEx office can't figure out what is going on with it, because they say it's not their site. It is extremely frustrating.

So this is the kind of feedback I was  hoping to get- to see if it's a recent change in the way FedEx is handing Ground Shipping and/or the way HA is setting these packages up, which they do en masse, electronically- because they show up on FedEx's tracking system before FedEx even picks them up in Dallas.  I may take this up with HA to see if there's an account preference that can be set or if it's just another way HA is trying to nickel and dime customers to charge more fees while also negotiating cheaper shipping options on their end to further maximize S&H as a profit center within their business.  FeDex insisted the reason they could not redirect was driven by the shippers preference, even though it was FedEx ground, no signature required (which also surprised me) 

[cstojano]

Its 2019 and 2 of 3 major delivery companies still can't be bothered to deliver over the weekend. 

My HA shipment is on a truck about 5 minutes away from me but won't be seen for another 2 days. 

Edited December 7, 2019 by cstojano

[MyNameIsLegion]

29 minutes ago, cstojano said:

Its 2019 and 2 of 3 major delivery companies still can't be bothered to deliver over the weekend. 

My HA shipment is on a truck about 5 minutes away from me but won't be seen for another 2 days. 

I'd like to see if that little Manage Delivery Button works for you....

[cstojano]

11 minutes ago, MYNAMEISLEGION said:

I'd like to see if that little Manage Delivery Button works for you....

Fail, error message results when I click Manage.

[MyNameIsLegion]

2 minutes ago, cstojano said:

Fail, error message results when I click Manage.

that's EXACTLY what it did to me repeatedly to mask the fact that it was not an option with this package from HA. So it appears it was not an isolated incident with me and HA has done something to trigger this on FeEx's end....- thanks for checking!

[cstojano]

Glad I could help. That is a very odd and vague error message to give someone if the problem is really linked to the package instructions from the sender. 

Actually it might be a browser thing. I can hover on the Manage and it does pull up a sub menu that seems to go somewhere.

 

EDIT: It goes somewhere but I also get an error eventually. 

Edited December 7, 2019 by cstojano

[cstojano]

And the doorbell just rang and it was....Fedex delivering this package. So maybe that is why the error message was given. SOOOO ignore everything I have said in this thread

[MyNameIsLegion]

well, with me it was also already on the truck going out for delivery.  They were terrible at keeping up with where it exactly was, or when it would be delivered- it was almost faster than their system seemed to be able to keep up with. But at least you didn't have to sweat it, and got it while home!

[spider9698]

4 hours ago, cstojano said:

And the doorbell just rang and it was....Fedex delivering this package. So maybe that is why the error message was given. SOOOO ignore everything I have said in this thread

Funny you say that.   My package was scheduled for delivery Monday and made plans to have someone available to receive the package.    I got home from running weekend errors today and there was a large Fedex box left outside my garage!!!   Oh well. 

[buttock]

I went through this recently also.  I escalated it through Heritage and their insurance policy won't allow redirecting packages.  It's so ridiculous because it's more secure to have it locked in a cage and have to show a photo ID than to drop it off with whoever answers the door.  You can sign a waiver and have them redirect it, but you have to sign the waiver before they ship, and when I did that they shipped it without notifying me that it shipped nor having FedEx call me so I never heard it was being held and it was returned to them a second time.  Plus you assume all the liability on behalf of the shipper, I wouldn't do that with anything pricey.  It's really a terrible policy.  

[MyNameIsLegion]

On 12/8/2019 at 1:07 PM, buttock said:

I went through this recently also.  I escalated it through Heritage and their insurance policy won't allow redirecting packages.  It's so ridiculous because it's more secure to have it locked in a cage and have to show a photo ID than to drop it off with whoever answers the door.  You can sign a waiver and have them redirect it, but you have to sign the waiver before they ship, and when I did that they shipped it without notifying me that it shipped nor having FedEx call me so I never heard it was being held and it was returned to them a second time.  Plus you assume all the liability on behalf of the shipper, I wouldn't do that with anything pricey.  It's really a terrible policy.  

Thats just it- it's not the same as logging into FedEx and having a package sent to your listed shipping address redirected to your mom's house or your place of business, or a shady address across town if someone got wind of an inbound package and are deliberately trying to redirect it to another location if no signature is required to effectively steal the item. This is HOLDING the package at a FedEx facility to be picked up by the addressee showing a damn photo ID confirming they are the named addressee.  I'm going to to take this up with Joe M at HA, and see if they can see the gap in their logic behind this.

Edited December 10, 2019 by MYNAMEISLEGION

[buttock]

16 hours ago, MYNAMEISLEGION said:

Thats just it- it's not the same as logging into FedEx and having a package sent to your listed shipping address redirected to your mom's house or your place of business, or a shady address across town if someone got wind of an inbound package and are deliberately trying to redirect it to another location if no signature is required to effectively steal the item. This is HOLDING the package at a FedEx facility to be picked up by the addressee showing a damn photo ID confirming they are the named addressee.  I'm going to to take this up with Joe M at HA, and see if they can see the gap in their logic behind this.

Good luck.  I tried and they just said they have to do it because of their insurance policy.  Frankly it gives me pause to spend big dollars there.