Adventures with Fedex

The other day, I ordered a scanner from Woot (http://woot.com). Asked for shipping via Fedex. Figured I'd put my business address in there as I'm going to use it for work.

Checked the tracking today and realized they have tried to deliver the last 2 days but at 7:28 pm and 6:12 pm respectively. Well at that time, the building is locked. Also, I'm typically out the door at 5:30 pm. So I called today to ask if they could deliver during the day. The woman told me that they cannot change their route path. So I asked, "May I change the address to my home address then?" She said only the shipper could do that. I told her I ordered it online. So I asked what happens if they don't deliver before the building closes today and she said it would sit at Alexandria waiting for me to pick it up. Well that's 35 miles away from where I am. So I asked if there was any closer place they could leave it for me to pick it up and she said no.

She told me the reason for the late delivery is that it's set to 'home delivery' which is a different truck than commercial. I said, "Well the guy came here two nights in a row and I'm sure he can tell it's not a residence. Can't they just put it on the commercial truck?" She said no because the shipper pays a different rate for residential.

So I said, "Basically I'm out of luck and I can't get this package." And she said I could pick it up in Alexandria.

I think the most frustrating thing about issues like this is it's very clear what the problem is and I'm on the phone trying to solve it with absolutely no help from the shipper. They would rather just ship it back than solve the problem.