Fedex, didn't it used to mean Federal Express?

So that you'll know that all is not lost: I sent a set of speakers to my brother-in-law via FedEx Ground. I shipped on Thursday morning and they arrived on Saturday afternoon. We were all shocked, me especially since I'd told my BIL not to expect the speakers until Tuesday. We must have hit the truck schedule just right at each depot.

I have met approx 10 people in my life who had previously worked at UPS or Fedex as the people who load packages into planes or trucks off the conveyor belt. Not one of them ever want that job again, or were at all pleased to work there in that capacity. Think about it, they hate that job, they don't care what the item is, whether it states "Fragile" this side UP. They are trying to load the plane/truck as fast as possible in rain, snow, and have to overload the plane/truck to the hilt to get the most packages in vessel. They load your gear in these Igloos which are then precariously stacked in every direction. Just yesterday, I let the UPS driver pick up 2 monoblock amps weighing in at 84 lbs each, in triple walled boxes 27x25x14. I felt like I was in Vegas, gambling that they make it their destination in one piece. That pretty much is what it is, a Crapshoot.

Dnlyko, yours is a horror story. I too had to fight tooth and nail with the FedEx Ground claims dept to get them to pay the insurance I bought, and was CLEARLY marked and shown on the original shipping invoice, when the speakers i shipped from VA to TX were lost/stolen on buyer's doorstep. Despite having a good copy of my shipping form, the claims dept said they didn't see where i paid for insurance. I read down the invoice with them (IT IS THEIR INVOICE!!) until we got to the "insurance" line, and sure enough, the claims rep now saw that I had bought insurance for $4500. The claim was paid pretty quickly after that, but until I called and went over the invoice line by line w/that moron, they were just sitting on it. God forbid the speakers had been damaged rather than plain out lost. I doubt FedEx would ever have found a reason to pay out the claim. If you don't use original packaging, even if you had the item professionally packaged, they claim no liability. If you do use original packaging, but it is not very good or secure, they claim no liability. For instance, I used the original packaging (fairly lightweight styrofoam molds) to ship a pair of B&W Matrix 805s that arrived with the tweeters busted off the tops of the speakers. Ooops! Luckily, FedEx inspected the items at the buyer's residence, accepted liability, and paid the claim. I have no idea why FedEx required your buyer to ship the damaged amps yet again to some other facility where the inspection was still not done. I guess multiple detailed photographs and signed statements from delivery people should be gathered by anyone receiving damaged goods, before shipping the item off for "inspection," with the risk of false descriptions and representations by claims people at the other locations.

Yeh, Sarah. I had a UPS shipment never arrive at its destination, so they quickly paid the claim for the full amount. Since it appeared like internal theft, because it never even got to California from Maryland, they had no defense.

Fed Ex Ground used to be RPS, and when Fed EX bought them out they did keep most of the RPS employees. Fed Ex operates much differently than RPS did and getting these employees to learn the Fed Ex way has been frustrating at the least. There will always be horror stories from every carrier, that is no consolation to the person that it happens to, but there are millions of pkgs moving through these hubs every day and when you consider that, it is amazing that most pkgs do get to there destination on time and undamaged. If you have not guessed by now, I am a Fed Ex employee (Not Ground). I hate to hear about these "horror" stories because it reflects negatively on the company that I work for. There will always be bad employees on every job, be the majority of us take pride in our work and we are doing our best to serve you.