Online shopping seems to be the way to go. Since I live in what most people deem the middle of nowhere (which is what I prefer) it’s much easier to purchase what I can from the comfort of my living room. However, there are disadvantages to this. Lack of communication being one of them.
On New Year’s Eve, Chris and I ordered a piece of exercise equipment. It was the last day to get a huge discount and we waited until late at night when no one was available by phone. To make it an even greater deal (and I love to save money), we got free delivery. I often tell Chris you get what you pay for—which would have been the perfect adage for this experience. Because we live in “the middle of nowhere” and don’t receive mail at our home, I used our post office box as a delivery address. Since a message didn’t pop up “we don’t deliver to P.O. Boxes,” I assumed I was good to go. NOT!
With the busyness of New Year’s and my focus being on the transition in Chris’s office, I didn’t give the ordered exercise equipment much thought. However, on Wednesday morning, I realized it was past the date I should have received it. I asked Chris to check at the post office on his way home from work, but it wasn’t there. So I did what any reasonable person would in this situation—I went onto my computer and tracked the package. It was delivered the day before, “dropped off at the door. No signature required.” Only problem was, it was in Sutter Creek and we live in Volcano.
I called FedEx, who was the shipper for this, and was told they don’t deliver to P.O. Boxes. Instead, someone along the way changed the address (where they got it, I had no idea) and dropped it off there. They would send the driver back to pick it up and deliver it to my house the next day. The reason I don’t have things delivered to our home is because it requires a sign be put on our neighborhood gate asking that it remain unlocked. If the vision of a “gated community” just popped into you head, let me set you straight. It’s a funky cattle gate with a combination lock that everyone and his brother has the combo to. I won’t go into the reasons we’re required to keep it locked—it has nothing to do with any of us who live here.
I made up our sign and asked Chris to post it on his way to work yesterday. Three hours later, I got ready to leave for Bible study then to Chris’s office to do some work when I received a phone call. It was FedEx. The driver would pick up the package and take it back to Sacramento and have someone else deliver it the next day, because they don’t deliver to Volcano from their station so, they had to take it to a different station. Seriously? Sutter Creek is 30 minutes from Volcano and Sacramento is 90. But whatever.
When I walked into Chris’s office at 12:30 yesterday afternoon, I found a package sitting on my desk. It was the package. “How…?” I looked at Chris. “You won’t believe it,” he said. Then went on to explain. The address in Sutter Creek where the package was delivered happened to be his ex-wife’s house. What are the chances? Of course, she recognized my name, took it to her office and left a message for Chris at his office which he never received. When the FedEx driver showed up at her home that morning to pick it up, she explained that she no longer had it and called the office again. One of Chris’s staff members took the call and collected the package for me.
A couple hours later, a FedEx employee called me to follow up on the missing package. She said it was the Quality Control office that changed the address because, “We don’t deliver to P.O. Boxes.” Quality Control? That’s what they call it? Somewhere in their database, they found this address (even though Chris’s ex-wife hasn’t had the same last name in ten years) and chose to drop the package off there. When I questioned the employee on the validity of their database, she told me that they get it right 99.9% of the time—I just happen to be that 0.1%
Can anyone say random?
Comments 1
It is quite amazing that you received the package at all. Maybe you could have your packages delivered to Chris’s office. At least it would get delivered.
I had a similar story, but it was Sears. I went to Sears store. I picked a dishwasher to be delivered to my home about 7 mile away. I talked to the sales lady who filled out my paperwork while I was standing there. When my dishwasher didn’t arrive on the date set, I called. It turned out that they took it to a warehouse in Texas from Tulsa. It took 3 more days for them to get it to my house. Sometimes you have to wonder.