One of the worst customer service experiences I have ever had.

[thecomputerguy]

Here's the visual.

I live in a small part of a small town. Think Adventureland in Disneyland. You are still a part of the small town but your "community" is separated from the rest of the town.

In our community we have a small shopping strip with a couple places to eat, a grocery store, a mail store etc. It makes it so that we often don't have to go to the main part of town to go to Target/Gas or whatever even though it's only 5 minutes away. My town is so small that you run into people all the time and chances are if you are doing business in town, you live here. There is ZERO reason to make a special trip here, and MUCH less reason to visit my small community (unless you are visiting family).

Anyways, I have to ship a return PSU to Dell from a server that died. Typical routine, Dell sends the part in a small box with a pre-paid return label and compression packing, you replace the PSU, insert the bad PSU in the compression packing and ship it back, no packing nuts needed. Dell typically works with FedEx in my area and it just so happens the Mail store in my "community" is an authorized FedEx shipping center.

I walk in with everything in the box, paperwork, packing label, etc. just to make sure the Mail Store sees and understands what I'm shipping back so that it get shipped correctly (I'm OCD). There are two people working there, one is busy with a customer, the other male is busy doing something but asks me if I need help without making eye contact... weird bro but OK.

I say, "Hello I have a pre-paid FedEx package I need shipped."

He lifts his head from what he's doing and says, "OK, that will be $2" then puts his head back down to his work.

I pause for a second, confused, and say, "I don't understand, this is a pre-paid label"

Again, he lifts his head, like I'm bothering him and says, "Yes it's $2 to pack it" and again puts his head back down.

I again pause, confused, and say, "Again, I don't understand, it's packed, I left it open so you could see what I was shipping. I just need you to put a piece of tape on the top, or I can do it if you have packing tape."

He looks me dead in the eye, obviously irritated now, and says, "Yes, that is $2 to pack it, or $6 for a roll of packing tape."

We stare at each other for a second and I say, "Ok See ya"

Needless to say I wont be going back there again. The reviews for the place all fall in line with my experience. I was thinking about leaving a review online but their reviews are already shot.

The thing that blows me away is that I will probably run into this guy again at some point in town at target or a grocery store or something. What a terrible way to conduct yourself in such a small local town. I feel like people go there only in cases that they HAVE to go there. The dude sucked.

In my eyes the way you handle this is you just tell the customer this is their policy, we will tape it for you this time, next time just please make sure the package is ready to be loaded on the truck. SURE no big deal! But now I don't have to worry because I wont be coming back. I'll just go out of my way to go to a different FedEx store in a different town.

It's like a client calling me and asking if I prefer Dell or Lenovo, I say Dell, then send them a bill.

 

[britechguy]

While I agree that this was abysmal service, you also don't ever need to leave a box open when shipping with a pre-paid return label.

I would never go back to that location, but I'd never show up to another without the box all taped up and ready to go, regardless of the location.

 

[phaZed]

I'd put in a report with FedEx - they don't take kindly to their affiliates not following their rules. They keep it up, they may not be a FedEx authorized shipper.

 

[britechguy]

I'd put in a report with FedEx - they don't take kindly to their affiliates not following their rules.

I had that thought, too, and would still do it. However, in this case, the shop could get off "on a technicality." Return shipments with prepaid labels are to be presented in fully "ready to ship" condition. That means that the shop needs to do nothing other than an acceptance scan. An open box, even if the fix is just a piece of tape, doesn't meet that criterion.

 

[Larry Sabo]

However, in this case, the shop could get off "on a technicality."

I disagree. There is no excuse for such abysmal treatment of their (prospective) customer. That employee is killing the business and deserves to be fired!

 

[britechguy]

I disagree. There is no excuse for such abysmal treatment of their (prospective) customer. That employee is killing the business and deserves to be fired!

Larry, I'm not disagreeing about the treatment. But I still disagree about the "getting off on a technicality." FedEx establishes rules for how prepaid packages are to be presented, and if they are not presented in that way, then it is up to the individual shop how they're going to handle it.

You also don't know that this was an employee. It could very well have been the owner of that FedEx franchised location.

There's no excuse for the boorishness of the behavior and I was not trying to justify that. But that's a completely separate issue from whether FedEx's own rules regarding how prepaid return shipments must be presented were followed. And if my supposition were to be correct, the idiot wins on that technicality.

 

[Porthos]

Those locations are there to provide a service at a cost. Tape and labor is a cost. If you did not want to pay the service fee the box should have been sealed and ready to go.

make sure the Mail Store sees and understands what I'm shipping back so that it get shipped correctly

Even if they taped the box for you then you have them on the hook for packing issues. Hence the service fee.

The shipping supplies and labor are how a business like that makes its money to operate.

 

[britechguy]

If you did not want to pay the service fee the box should have been sealed and ready to go.

And that's what it boils down to.

The counter guy may have been a complete prick (and it sounds like he was, to be honest), but expectation that a prepaid return shipment be presented in fully "ready to ship" condition is completely within reason. If it's not, then some service fee should be expected.

That doesn't mean that one cannot be a bit more "customer focused" in how one communicates that, but if you didn't bring it in "ready to go," then they are providing a service, even if it's taping a box shut, for which one might expect some small fee.

 

[thecomputerguy]

Ok I can kinda see both sides to this now. Still though I think for such a small local mail shop that accepts fedex drop-offs to act this way is pretty ridiculous. I can literally walk to this store from my house in 10 minutes ... that's how small time local it is.

Based on the reviews and the attitude of the person I was dealing with I believe the person was the Owner or one of the Owners. There are MANY complaints about him online, and they physically describe the person I dealt with.

I still think the way this is handled is by allowing the customer to use a 16 inch strip of tape once, while telling them to make sure it's fully taped/shippable for the next time.

 

[thecomputerguy]

Those locations are there to provide a service at a cost. Tape and labor is a cost. If you did not want to pay the service fee the box should have been sealed and ready to go.

Even if they taped the box for you then you have them on the hook for packing issues. Hence the service fee.

The shipping supplies and labor are how a business like that makes its money to operate.

That makes sense.

 

[thecomputerguy]

I also get the feeling that it's possible that if the customer is bringing in a pre-paid FedEx package their profit on accepting the package is very little or nothing and that over time could wear on someone. Like people like me are freeloading on a service they provide. So no more freebies after that.

 

[phaZed]

Not disagreeing on any particular point - but would like to point out that while it may be a pre-paid label - the shipping company IS getting paid for that package. The package was simply already paid by the company getting the return. So, it's not like the shipper is out any money for their 12 inches of packing tape.

In order to be a FedEx authorized shipping center, there are a bunch of stipulations and incentives, such as:
Provide FedEx Express® packaging at no charge
Accept FedEx Express and FedEx Ground packages dropped off by FedEx account holders at no charge.

FedEx | System Down

Qualification | FASC Network

www.fascnet.com

At the very least, if the tape was the issue, the employee should have offered a roll of tape that the customer can keep. From the OP, it sounds like they were just going to charge $2 no matter what (That may not be the case, but sounds like it).. to ship it out. If so, that is a breach of FedEx and their shippers rules. The package is already paid for - and the shipper is already getting their due.

I've never been asked for any such thing - from a FedEx store or independent FedEx shipping places - of which I frequent both.

 

[britechguy]

I've never been asked for any such thing - from a FedEx store or independent FedEx shipping places - of which I frequent both.

Nor have I, on both counts. But I have also never showed up with a package that was not completely sealed and ready to go.

I have to believe that it's up to the discretion of the given store how they handle a return package that's "not quite ready for return." The shipping part is not the problem, the prep (or lack thereof) is.

I think, based on all available evidence, this guy is an SOB and is shooting himself in the foot. Making a big deal of trivialities like this, and being grumpy and nasty at the same time, is NOT good for repeat business. And since this sort of income, however small at the per package level, depends on volume, . . .

 

[Porthos]

I also get the feeling that it's possible that if the customer is bringing in a pre-paid FedEx package their profit on accepting the package is very little or nothing and that over time could wear on someone. Like people like me are freeloading on a service they provide. So no more freebies after that.

Exactly

the shipping company IS getting paid for that package.

Fed Ex is, Not a little independent location.

if the tape was the issue, the employee should have offered a roll of tape that the customer can keep.

They did for $6

 

[carmen617]

My local mail shop, the one that is closest to me, charges a $1.00 fee on ANY prepaid package dropped at his storefront for pickup, fully packed, taped, and labeled. He "says" that those prepaid packages cause work and he doesn't make any money off of them, so this is his "convenience fee". I have another mail shop a few miles away that doesn't charge for prepaid packages, so I find it more "convenient" to go to the less convenient store for any of my mailing or shipping needs. That type of nickel and dime BS just costs goodwill, I can't imagine he's making enough at a buck a package to make up for the number of people who will toss that dollar at him one time and never go back into his store.

 

[britechguy]

He "says" that those prepaid packages cause work and he doesn't make any money off of them, so this is his "convenience fee".

Then, in my opinion, the shop that does this should drop the service altogether. But if those fees are noted, clearly, for the public before they hand over their package, it isn't a surprise.

I definitely believe that these stores make something not only for being a drop-off point, but on a per-package basis. Mind you, though, what might be a money maker (no matter how small) in Staunton, VA, may not be in Boston, MA, if what the stores get paid by FedEx is exactly the same.

But I'd be willing to bet big bucks that those convenience fees violate the contract with FedEx. I have never encountered any FedEx or UPS drop-off venue that has charged such fees for prepaid returns.

 

[gadgetfixup]

Convenience costs money. Drive to a corporate store if you want free. Franchises operate on very slim margins and take a beating from customers every day.

 

[britechguy]

Convenience costs money. Drive to a corporate store if you want free. Franchises operate on very slim margins and take a beating from customers every day.

But if you are a franchisee, you had darned well better follow the rules imposed by the franchise grantor.

It is abundantly clear, if you look at the experiences just of those here, but of many others, that these franchisees are not supposed to be imposing fees of any kind for accepting prepaid return packages. If you can't make money doing that, then don't do it.

We all should be able to "drop and run" when it comes to prepaid returns taken to a corporate or franchised drop-off site.

 

[Markverhyden]

Again, he lifts his head, like I'm bothering him and says, "Yes it's $2 to pack it" and again puts his head back down.

Actually you'd be surprised how common that attitude is. They run a business just like anyone else running a business. Can't stay in business spending your time doing/giving away free stuff. Even though the carriers says it can't/shouldn't happen.

Anything I ship is pre-paid and sealed. Whether it's my label or the vendor includes it. But where I usually see it is shipping to a UPS store for pickup. If a vendor is sending something really expensive I want to "be there" to receive it. And that's when the UPS stores have charged. $10 if I remember correctly. I just pass it on to the vendor.