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Anger, frustration, and looking for recommendations

Cor

Well-Known Member
Tarantula Club Member
Messages
219
Location
Florida
This will be long and mostly blowing off steam, but any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

For the past few days, I've been waiting for an overnight package with a tarantula inside. Tomorrow will be day four, and at this point, I would be surprised if the spider is alive. I know it's a risk from shipping during these months, but of the 5 overnight packages that I've been expecting over the course of the month, not one has shown up on time. So far, I've had 8 spiders arrive DOA due to excessive delays. Every seller has been absolutely fantastic during this whole process. There have been updates and attempts to get to the bottom of all this and get things sorted. FedEx, however, has been absolutely abysmal each and every time. Every attempt to contact someone to try and get to the bottom of the situation has been met with general indifference, tons of script reading and canned responses, and conflicting information at each step.

This latest package issue is draining my patience to zero. I've been told that it's left and will be arriving within a day. I've been told that it's in a truck instead of on an airplane. I've had the tracking information change from leaving Memphis this past Thursday to arriving in Memphis today. To further complicate the issue, I'll be traveling the early Monday morning for a funeral and won't be returning until later in the week. I have no way of picking up the tarantula until a week from today.

Do I have any recourse? Is there anything that can be done? I feel like I'm just getting crapped on by FedEx and keep getting stuck in a loop dealing with low level employees that have no ability to address the situation. I've been promised calls from people higher up the chain to get an idea of how to fix the situation. Nothing. No calls. Each call back to FedEx is like starting from square one. I honestly don't expect any of this to end well, but is there anything I may be missing that I can try to do anyway?
 

octanejunkie

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4,163
There may be recourse, but no resurrection.

FedEx, and all commercial shippers, have limited responsibility and like to call bets off citing delays due to weather, covid and acts of god as a viable reason not to "honor" their commitments. They also have a holiday ease period that runs from mid December to mid January where they use the "we're busy because of the holidays" excuse and can get away with it. They are F-ers for sure.

I ship with Reptiles Express, sort of a FedEx broker. They have negotiated rates and prescribed handling codes that are SUPPOSED to give priority to shipments through them, and specifically live animal shipments. Even with this added feature, claims often fall on deaf ears and pounding your head on the desk is more satisfying than calling ad infinitum to be lied to. We've all been there. At least they will do the advocating for you, which is a sanity saving feature.

Best thing to do is coordinate with the seller to watch the weather, watch the temps, check for delays, and time your shipments. It's often better to let the spiders chill with the seller (as long as they are not a non-keeping flipper) rather than risk shipping delays and death without little chance for recourse.

Sucks, man. I know.
 

DustyD

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1,181
Location
Maine
Sorry to hear about all the problems. Hopefully it will turn out OK.

Businesses like FedEx sure do tout their guaranteed delivery, but in the fine print there are plenty of loopholes.

I think all the carriers have problems from time to time and COVID certainly has made everything more difficult. I am not sure how to solve these problems or even if you can.

And I agree with Octanejunkie that timing can be everything.
 

Enn49

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10,891
Location
Malton, UK
I don't know if this is the same in the US as here in he UK but normally the seller will have more success in getting info from shipping companies than the buyer.
 
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