Yummy or Crummy?

I am in a PISSED OFF mood. I recently ordered a new MacBook Pro — my first upgrade in 5 years. Needless to say, I was anxious to receive the package, so I tracked it everyday, almost obsessively. Everything seemed fine until yesterday, the day it was supposed to be delivered.

Apr 22, 2008 3:36 AM On FedEx vehicle for delivery

This made me think the package is loaded onto the truck, ready to go. I was out of the office on Tuesday, but I stopped by just so I could pick up my new shiny laptop. I immediately had a bad feeling when I didn’t see the package near the receptionist’s desk. So I called FedEx at 5:00 PM, and asked about it. The customer service rep told me that the drivers usually deliver to business addresses until 6 or so, and residential addresses until 7. I decided to wait at the office. Then about 20 minutes later, I saw this on the tracking website:

Apr 22, 2008 5:24 PM At local FedEx facility

Huh? So they went back? This didn’t make sense, as it wasn’t 6 PM yet. I began to suspect that the driver wanted to go home early, and decided to call it a day. But I wanted my computer badly, so I called FedEx again. This time, a different rep told me that there is something wrong with the package. I demanded to know what was wrong with it, and why they’re learning about this only now, 14 hours after it supposedly left the dock for delivery. The rep pleaded ignorance by telling me that there’s nobody left at the local facility to answer the phone, therefore he could get no more information. Super suspicious!

Wednesday afternoon — the day after the scheduled delivery date — the status is updated:

Apr 23, 2008 1:10 PM Shipment exception / Unable to deliver

Wow. So now I’m really disturbed. I called FedEx, and the rep tells me that the package is damaged, and they will not deliver it. I demanded more information, and she switched me to her manager. Ceci Watts at Cincinnati call center was absolutely 0% helpful. You could tell she handled this type of calls frequently. All she could repeat was the same stupid line no matter what I said or asked. This isn’t word for word, but it’s pretty much how it went:

Me: So was the package on the truck at 3:36 AM or not?
Ceci: It was a miscellaneous scan.
Me: What does that mean?
Ceci: It was a miscellaneous scan.
Me: So what does it mean? “On FedEx vehicle for delivery” sounds like it at least made it to the truck for delivery. I would like to know if the package made it to the truck, and when and where the package was damaged.
Ceci: That’s irrelevant.
Me: It’s relevant because I need to know why I don’t have my package.
Ceci: It’s irrelevant.
Me: So was it a lie? Are you saying the status was a lie? It never made it to the truck?
Ceci: It was a miscellaneous scan. It doesn’t matter.
Me: This is ridiculous.

Ceci insisted that there’s nothing they can do for me, even though they destroyed my package. My laptop was fine until it entered that mysterious 14-hour window on April 22. It was in FedEx’s hands, and it somehow got damaged, and who knows where it is now. The only option for me, Ceci said, was to contact Apple. So even though it’s almost impossible for anybody else to be responsible for the matter, they’re refusing to correct the situation or be helpful about it in any way. Now I have to take my own time to contact Apple, Apple would have to investigate it, then send me another computer.

I’ve also read some horror stories about FedEx employees and contractors. Drivers are often too lazy to deliver all the packages they’re supposed to, so they make up excuses and fake status updates or purposely leave packages on the dock. Based on this experience, I have to conclude that the status updates are meaningless until you actually get your package in your hands.

Update (Apr 24, 11:35 AM): I tipped Consumerist and they kindly posted about what happened. Some of the commenters suggested that I contact Apple. I actually did contact Apple, and they are supposed to give me an update on what they’re going to do about it soon. I like Apple, and the rep I talked to there was nice to deal with. So I have no beef with Apple so far.

Update (Apr 24, 1:40 PM): I called Apple again, as I hadn’t heard from them within 24 hours like I was supposed to. It was a similar experience as the first — the rep told me that I’d hear from them, this time within a couple of hours. She did say that I’ll hear from them when the returns department processes the order and sends me another MBP. I wish things were speedier with Apple, but I understand that they have to look into it to make sure that they’re not getting ripped off.

Update (Apr 24, 5:39 PM): No word from Apple yet. I’m starting to be a little worried. I’m going to contact them once today, and probably once tomorrow. Also I edited my post to remove some of the emotional comments I made in my fragile, enraged state.

Update (Apr 25, 7:50 PM): According to the order detail page, Apple seems prepared to ship me a new laptop, but they also seem to be waiting for the pending return to come through from FedEx. I’m skeptical that Apple will actually ship the laptop like they say they will on April 25, seeing that it’s almost 8 PM. Screenshot here.

Update (Much later): Apple did ship the new one on the 25th, and it arrived safely on the 29th. This story has a happy ending — I had ordered an older version of MBP because it was cheaper. But with the return, Apple shipped a newer one with multi-touch pad for no additional cost. And ironically, my daughter decided to be born earlier than expected, so I was way too busy attending to that and all that followed to care about my laptop anymore. In any case, now I’m making this update on my sweet new MBP, while my sweet new daughter peacefully sleeps!