Jan and John Maggs Antiques

The World (Sometimes) On Time

A client in New York City had called to arrange the repair a broken clasp on a strand of gold beads. We asked him to ship them to us, and he engaged FedEx. The two-day air shipment was guaranteed to arrive on Wednesday.

Around midmorning on Wednesday, as we were walking from the barn to the house, a FedEx delivery truck drove by. Being quite certain that the gold beads were on board, we waved to the driver, but he whizzed past, failing to notice us or the sign at road’s edge announcing to all that J&J Maggs lived at this address. Expecting that the driver might return, we kept an eye on our driveway for an hour or so, but by mid-afternoon we had stopped thinking about it.

Before we retired for the night, we checked our phone mail and discovered a message that had been left by neighbors at about 9:30 that evening. They had just discovered a package addressed to us on their porch and would drop it off in the morning.

Our street, Old Cricket Hill Road, begins at the tip of the common in front of our house. We are number 2, which is not only the first house on Old Cricket Hill Road, but the only one for about a quarter mile. Our package had been left on the porch of number 104. It is not clear how someone who delivers packages for living would not find it strange that, even in a rural setting, number 2 would be nowhere near the beginning of the road.

We were, to put it mildly, very upset. The object in the package was quite valuable in itself, and still more so to our client who had given it to his wife several years ago. We felt that the driver's negligence was inexcusable and needed at the very least to be reported. We went to the FedEx website, hoping to find a way to deliver our message to someone who might address our concern. As is fairly common, the FedEx website seems designed to prevent such contact. After a few minutes of following dead-end links, we gave up this approach, angrier than ever, and picked up the phone.

By the time we had dialed 1-800-FedEx, we were approaching the limit of our ability to be civil. After navigating through a series of menu options hardly more helpful than the website, we finally decided that “Claims” was our most promising option. And so, to “Claims” we went, and it is here that the complexion of this tale changes.

Contrary to our expectation, the woman who answered the phone was immediately sympathetic and understanding. When we explained what had happened, we could almost see her shaking her head. "No sir," she said, "this should not happen, and I'm going to get you your money back."

By the time we had hung up the phone, we were feeling quite a bit better. We had the package, thanks to the vigilance and consideration of a neighbor, and the full refund our client would receive would compensate him in a small way for the jeopardy in which his property was placed. Later in the day we received a second call from FedEx, this time from a manager, who apologized again for the error.

So our tale has a happy ending -- and a moral: Problems with FedEx? Visit “claims”. Or, perhaps, use UPS.

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