Woodline customer service rant

[Doug Miller]

This company's customer service reps don't seem to be on the ball too well. I called them to ask what happened to an order I placed earlier this week; the guy who answered the phone said that the only person (!) who can look that up is busy helping someone else. Took my number and promised to call back.

1 hr 15 min later, he calls. Says it was shipped out on the 13th via Priority Mail. (I ordered it at 9:15 am on the 11th; the person who took the order said it would be shipped that afternoon, and I should *receive* it on the 13th. They're in Tennessee; I'm in Indiana; this is quite plausible.)

Asked him for the tracking number. He doesn't have it. He'll have to look it up and call me back.

30 min later he calls with the number.

So I visit the USPS web site... and it does not appear that anything was actually shipped:

Current Status

You entered 9101 xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx 62

The U.S. Postal Service was electronically notified by the shipper or shipping partner on April 13, 2005 to expect your package for mailing. Information, if available, is updated every evening. Please check again later. GRRRRRR. This is my first time doing business with this company. It might also be the last.

-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt. And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?

[DJ Delorie]

I have *never* gotten useful tracking information out of the USPS tracking site. I basically get the message you got, right up until the moment when I get the package (and often for a while afterwards too). The USPS online tracking system is a joke.

[Dave Hinz]

Yes, that matches my experience as well. UPS and Fedex have great racking, USPS you might as well pretend doesn't exist. A status that is several days behind reality is worse than useless.

[David]

Woodline makes the WORST router bits I've used. Brand new they cut as if they were dull. I've got a set of straight bits. I have to exert a lot more pressure than similar bits from Bosch and CMT. Plus they leave a more ragged edge. Have you used their bits before this order?

Dave

Doug Miller wrote:

[Lee Michaels]

"Dave Hinz" wrote

Their ovenight "express mail" also sucks.

I once sent an important package containing important, time sensitive documents by express mail to a location several hundred miles away. The package skipped and jumped all around the country for several days until it finally arrived at its proper distination. I spent hours each day trying to resolve the situation.

They told me that they would be happy to refund my money. Big deal.

It would have got there faster if I had sent it by runner or mule train.

Never again.

[George]

Deja-vu. Sent the pink slip for mom's old car out to a neighbor in CA so he could sell it. Registered, return receipt was what I chose, because of the tracking.

The envelope was delivered to the IRS at Fresno, rather than him in Marysville, though it had been there two days before I finally found it on the track. Called, got a number, then was told that the IRS employed an "opening" service, and that as soon as they actually got it letter, they'd forward it. Of course it was not listed as forwarded until two days after Ken got it.

[Doug Miller]

Our experiences differ considerably. The USPS online tracking isn't as good as United Parcel Service's, but it's IMO light-years ahead of FedEx Home Delivery. Most of the time, I've been able to get useful information from the USPS, although it's not as timely as what UPS provides. The USPS has one feature that both UPS and FedEx Home lack: they'll e-mail you every time the status of a shipment changes.

-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt. And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?

[Dave Hinz]

Which is great, _if_ those updates happen when the status of the package actually change, rather than "OK, your package has been loaded on the truck" as you're unpacking it post-delivery.

At least they're making an attempt, I suppose.

[Doug Miller]

No, never have. Before I ordered from them, I did Google the archives for comments on the quality of their products, and I realize that they're something of a crapshoot. Hopefully their shaper cutters are better than their router bits...

-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt. And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?

[Doug Miller]

Well, it's better than what the competition offers:

- UPS has, AFAIK, absolutely no capacity for emailing tracking information.

- FedEx will email you exactly the same information you see on the web page. If you want another email later, you have to visit the web page again and generate another email. Useful if I want to sent the tracking information to someone *else*, I suppose, but absolutely useless otherwise.

IMO, FedEx Home Delivery is far and away the worst package delivery service it has ever been my misfortune to use. I'll *never* ship anything that way, and I ask shippers not to send anything to me via them either. Their tracking information is absolutely useless. Example: package shipped from SoCal to Indy... tracking information shows when it was shipped. No updates whatsoever for the next 2500 miles. No idea at all when the shipment will arrive - but I'm supposed to be home to help unload? Another example: package shipped from upstate NY to Indy. Again, no tracking information as it moves across the eastern third of the country. After five days, tracking info shows a failed delivery attempt at 6:30 pm. Liars - I was at home from 3pm onward. Next evening, it shows a *second* "failed delivery attempt" at 7pm. Again, I was at home. No attempt was made either time. More than once, I've had a "signature required" package just left there by FedEx Home... and the tracking information on the web shows it was "signed for" by Mr. F. Rontdoor. I hate 'em. *Much* rather use the USPS.

-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt. And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?

[Duane Bozarth]

Doug Miller wrote: ...

...

Doug, I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts/experiences regarding the shaper cutters...not that Delta stopped production of their line of cutters for 1/2" spindle shapers, I've been looking at alternative sources also.

Thanks, Duane

[Mark & Juanita]

I've had great luck with FedEx Home Delivery. The only problem I've ever encountered is that the package often appears 1 day before it's scheduled to be delivered

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ The absence of accidents does not mean the presence of safety Army General Richard Cody +--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

[Wilson Lamb]

[Ba r r y]

This is a regional thing all the way down to the individual route.

FedEx Ground (formerly known as RPS in my area) is a no-no on my Lee Valley account, as they destroyed 3 of 3 shipments over about a 6 month period. The last time, Lee Valley went as far as sending a call tag for the destroyed package, box and all, so that they could show it to the FedEx rep. This particular package arrived with the box shredded open, as a pile of crap in a plastic bag, and included some stuff that LV dosen't even sell. Even the stuff that wasn't mine was broken!

For years, I used UPS as a last resort only, after they destroyed one package after another. For the last few years, they've been perfect.

FedEx Not Ground, USPS, and Airborne (who uses USPS for the last mile), have always been excellent. My USPS service is GREAT!

Maybe my old UPS driver moved to your area.

Barry

[J. Clarke]

Uh, if you don't want people to enter your house, then you need to lock the door. I see no reason to be angry with FedEx over this.

If it's a neighborhood that is safe enough to leave your doors unlocked then what's the objection to his just leaving it on the doorstep?

[Wilson Lamb]

[Prometheus]

Agreed. When We got my wife her scroll saw from Grizzly, it came via FedEx, and they didn't arrive before I had to leave for work, so I left a note on the door asking them to slide it under the garage door. When we got home, it was sitting on top of my table saw in the basement. I live in a very small town with retired folks on all sides of me, so I don't generally bother to lock the basement door (you have to go through the garage to get to the sucker)- but evidently the delivery guy couldn't understand the conceptual difference between sliding a package under a door into the *garage* and coming inside my house and looking around a bit. Needless to say, that door is locked tightly every time I leave now. Might just have been a helpful fella who had to take a leak, and nothing was stolen- but it sure as hell made me mad. Now I have to worry that some random SOB knows exactly what I've got in my shop, and might decide to come back someday when he wants to suppliment his income a little. You'd think a "professional" would know better than to enter private property without permission.

Aut inveniam viam aut faciam

[Larry Jaques]

On Fri, 15 Apr 2005 20:03:43 -0700, the inscrutable Mark & Juanita spake:

I thought FedEx was the quickest but my LVT package just took 11 days to reach me. It was scheduled for Saturday delivery on the useless tracking site FedEX provides but didn't get here until TUESDAY.

UPS is the only one who has a decent tracking system where you can follow the package as it makes its way across country.

My choice of (inbound and outbound) shipper is USPS Priority Mail with (totally untrackable until after it's delivered) confirmation. Second (mostly for books) is Media Mail, where you can ship a nice Hernia Edition dictionary or McMasters catalog across the country for a mere couple of bucks.

------------------------------------------------------- "i" before "e", except after "c", what a weird society. ----

Dynamic Website Applications

[Doug Miller]

Will do - it did arrive yesterday afternoon, and I might be putting it to use as early as today. I'll post my opinions in a separate thread.

-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt. And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?

[Duane Bozarth]

That'd be good...I'll add what I learn about the various I've tried/have to try...