In B-schools, when one hear of companies
like FedEx, one associates them with excellent performance, top tier companies,
who care for all the stakeholders including customers. FedEx was one such brand
in my mind until my recent disillusionment. Being an optimist, I would say they
forced me to come out of slumber to write on my blog again.
Let me take privilege to share my
experience in details. In mad rush of thanksgiving, I and my wife decided to
order lot of stuff online including a coffee table and a dinning set. Well, the
easiest part is to pay and then wait for package to come. Well it is that time
when excitement sometimes turns into anxiousness and making sure that you are
present so as not to miss a delivery ( Coming from developing country, I can
tell that you guys don’t know this excitement yet, Some poor courier guy will
call you to confirm if you are at home thus spoiling all the excitement) . On Monday
the 8th, while checking the status, I found that my coffee table
package (Tracking Id: 223979432699931)
is already delivered. Well, I didn’t know of invisible packaging till that
time. I checked all across, neighbors, leasing office but of no help. Finally,
I decided to call FedEx in the evening. Lady on the phone assured me that they
will ask driver to get in touch and asked to provide 2 day time period for
investigation on this. Well, I still believed, it was a minor mishap and
everything will be all right pretty soon.
9th was even more exciting day
for me. I was hoping that they will continue the mishap and probably I might
end up getting someone else’s more precious package. Well not so lucky and I can say that law of
averages is a fallacy. To my amusement, I found my package containing a dinning
set (Tracking ID: 625468687521) could not be delivered due to incomplete
address. I called up again and a smart agent checked the address. I gave it all
right, but someone somewhere missed something. I asked about first package as
well but the SLA was 2 days. Being in IT and an active user of SLA umbrella to
save in a mad corporate world, I had to shutup and wait for the godly driver to
call me. Day was about to end and no wonder optimist in me was much more
excited now than ever for next day.
10th was a better day
to start as my wife had a pot lunch planned at her friends place. She was
planning to propose next pot lunch at our house under the surmise that we will
receive the deliverables. I opened all the blinds so as not to miss Fedex guys.
In afternoon, I saw FedEx truck near my house. I was at the peak of excitement but
ended up disheartened once again. I called up multiple times and super-efficient
service desk of FedEx behaved like a beautiful self-obsessed lady and took 4
attempts to hear me out. I love service desks for this call drop feature. Fourth
time as soon as I got the agent, I gave her my number as I am a non-believer in
law of averages. She assured me once again. At times, I feel service desk
agents should be appointed to help mourners to cope with loss.
In the evening, when I finally
left hope, I heard a knock. It was the dinning set. In last few days, this
simple piece of furniture has become the reason of my existence. I almost pulled
it from the delivery guy. I never knew that FedEx can surprise me once again.
The package was improper, open from one side showing a peek of the broken table.
Well, it was enough to force me to write this blog. Anyways, I have reached to
the seller for return of the dinning set. Optimist in me is hopeful that probably
world famous fedex will learn something from competition and deliver my
packages - on time, all fine.
