I recently sent two international express shipments by air using my FedEx account. Despite the rather hefty price tag, which is generally associated with its reliable service and reputation, one express shipment ended up being two days late and the second express shipment was three days late.
Having paid a premium, I contacted FedEx and was informed that because the billing cycle hadn’t run yet, I should wait 2-3 weeks and contact them again for a credit and refund. There was no dispute regarding the late deliveries.
I wondered why, when there is a clear service failure by the provider, it is the customer who has to call again rather than FedEx getting back to me, but I was told that’s how it works.
One thing led to the next, travel, being busy, so to make a long story short, I called FedEx this week to get the matter off the pending list.
After having gone through the byzantine telephone prompter, repeated loops and yelling at the mouthpiece—yes, I still use a landline phone when I am in the office—the software finally figured out I was beyond automated help and a representative came online.
I provided the tracking numbers, the respective records were located and I was asked to hold.
About five minutes later the polite agent informed me that despite a valid service failure, the FedEx policy requires that a claim be made within 45 days and referenced the small print on the reverse of the air waybill – Conditions of Contract.
I wasn’t shy about expressing my disbelief, outrage, surprise and disappointment that a corporation I previously held in high regard would employ such shenanigans and resort to tactics I would not have associated with a company of FedEx’s repute. I stand corrected.
To be factual, under “Claims for Loss, Damage, or Delay” it states “…all claims must be made in writing and within strict time limits.”
The only place the 45 days are mentioned is actually in a rather different context, namely, “Within 45 days after notification to us of the claim, it must be documented by sending to us all relevant information about it.” There should have been a record of my initial contact and claim, but that didn’t matter.
Furthermore, I pointed out that in the course of that initial conversation I was not made aware or informed that while I needed to follow the FedEx internal invoicing procedures and call back a couple of weeks later, there was a potential expiry date for such a claim.
It didn’t honestly occur to me to check the reverse side of the air waybill and having made the initial contact in good time, I doubt I would have been prompted to act differently after reading the instructions.
So here is the good old American system, a major corporation that can afford to employ a sizeable legal department to draft legal language for its protection, does not accord the same courtesy to its small business customers—quite the opposite. They win – you lose; it’s that simple.
I happen to live in a UPS town, something I mentioned to the polite FedEx customer service agent who took my ranting very calmly (I can only conclude they get superior training in shafting customers).
But now I will have to read the disclaimer first before I ship next time.
Oh, and yes, I closed my account with FedEx, which surely will have a huge impact on them. Source: Ted, FlyingTypers
Gravity always wins!