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Today, I have a story. I'm not sure I have an ending to my story yet, but this is still quite a story. As many of you might know, the power supply in my PC died a while back. I was kinda lazy in replacing it, but sudden job money made it acceptable to buy a really nice one. And I did - a 600 watt, from TigerDirect.
Now, TigerDirect has always been pretty good to me. They have a bit more selection than NewEgg, even though they're a little bit pricier. After reviews and headscratching, I was very happy with my purchase, which was on September 27th. Biggest problem, as I knew, was price - $69.99 was the retail price, but it had a $20 mail-in rebate if I purchased before September 31st. And $13 for shipping, even UPS Ground. No big deal, I wasn't in a hurry.
So, three days later I check my package, and I seet he following message: "AN INCORRECT ROUTING AT A UPS FACILITY CAUSED THIS DELAY / THE PACKAGE WAS MISSORTED AT THE HUB. IT HAS BEEN REROUTED TO THE CORRECT DESTINATION SITE" And I look closerm, and this message is displayed TWICE - one at 5am, and another at 5pm. With this in the middle: "FORWARDED TO THE FACILITY IN THE DESTINATION CITY"
Well, crap on a stick. Okay, no big deal, they'll get it to me eventually.
Until I check the next day. This message was posted at 2am on the 29th. "POSTAL CODE LISTED FOR THE RECEIVER IS INCORRECT. UPS IS ATTEMPTING TO OBTAIN CORRECT POSTAL CODE AND COMPLETE DELIVERY. / SHIPPER REQUESTED RETURN OF PACKAGE "
Huh? No way. Call up TigerDirect, those bums. And a few minutes later, a CSR has informed me that I wrote the zip code incorrectly. See, I had the billing address for White Plains, and the Shipping address for NYC... but wrote the WP zip code in the NYC shipping address. Duh. Okay, my fault, but I am assured that they will call UPS and get the address corrected and get the package turned around.
Which is looking pretty good the next day - departs Elmford UPS office, and then arrives in... wait, Parsippany? Isn't that in northern NJ? Isn't that further away? Hmm....
And then the next day... what do you MEAN it's on route to "MAUMEE,OH?" Wha? To TigerDirect again! And a CSR informs me that, oh, no, we're shipping it back to our warehouse in... Illinois? And they tell me that they're changing the address the instant it gets in, and I'll get it sent out again immediately. Well, I'm kinda annoyed, and try to get them to send me the power supply BEFORE they recieve the old one, and just put the one they shipped back into inventory. I'll get it like 3 days earlier. They tell me no, and make some crappy point about keeping their inventory straight. I try to weasle a way into free shipping, but the CSR is pretty confident since it's my mistake and not theirs. Understandable, but it still pisses me off. I insist that they call me when they're sending it out, and to send me a tracking number.
And two days later (this is 10/4, according to UPS records), it's been a day after the package was "RETURNED TO SHIPPER." And I have no email or phone call from TigerDirect. Suspicious, I call up again. And I'm told that, oh, no, we're not resending it to you, we're just issuing a full refund. What!? No, no, no. You're sending it back to me right now. And I'm informed that they have to do another charge on my credit card, and that the old one will come off "eventually" - I eventually got the date of 5 business days after pushing a bit. I demand they send me a new one, and he gives me free shipping without even a sliver of protest.
And then I look at the date. Hmm. 10/4. Wait, didn't that rebate expire at the end of September? Well, I'm still on the phone with the CSR (who is not QUITE to the point of entering in my credit card) and try to insist on a $20 discount due to the lost rebate. He tells me he won't do that, because the original invoice (which says "paid in full" on it) is still valid for getting that rebate from the manufacturer. I doubt this, and argue for a bit, but don't actually accomplish anything. I mean, it DOES say that, and there's a chance, but I really doubt it'll work.
Okay, well, I have my new order placed. Whoo!
The fourth, when I placed this order, was a Thursday, and so Friday hits, the package is headed OUT of "Maumee, Oh" and towards Elmsford, and I cheer and go home.
This is what I get for positive thinking. Monday October 8th, as many might have realized, is Columbus day. But that's okay, the office is open, and UPS still delivers. Which of course, makes me even madder when I check in at 10:30 and see this: "THE RECEIVER IS ON A HOLIDAY. DELIVERY WILL BE ATTEMPTED WHEN THE RECEIVER RETURNS / PACKAGE WILL BE DELIVERED NEXT BUSINESS DAY-NO SATURDAY GUARANTEE "
I call UPS really fast. Yes, I'm here, No, I'm not leaving. She sounds very forgiving and helpful. And they promise 1) a callback by the local facility, and 2) a delivery by the end of the day. Okay, could be worse.
And they proved that it could be worse. 4:30 rolls around, and no package. I call 'em up again. Guy sounds harried and uncaring. "It didn't? Oh, well, I'll schedual you for a callback, and they still have... 26 minutes to show up before the end of the business day, and if they said they would be there, they will be."
5:01. No package. I'm at work till 6, so decide to call again anyway. She sounds liek she'll say anything to get me off the line. "Oh, it's on it's truck and on it's way. I'll schedual you for a callback." Uh-huh.
Well, 6:00 rolls around, and no package. Stupid UPS. But I had no doubts about this anyway, so I head home.
Tuesday morning. This is now nearly two weeks, mind you, since I ordered the original power supply. No package, of course. I call up UPS and get someone on the line. CSR sounds very forgiving. She says she'll call up the local facility herself and get me on the line with a supervisor. Oh goodie.
The supervisor, Claire, calls back when I'm away from my desk, but I call back, leave a message, and she's back on the line in less than 10 minutes. She seems very confused about my problem, as she never actually recieved any notices to call me, and was the one dealing with all of the local calls yesterday. And there were a lot of them, she explains. The particular facility I'm dealing with delivers mostly to all-business locations. And that most of those locations, being in the UN area of NYC, were in fact closed yesterday. This means, she says quickly, that chances are my package was on a truck that never went out. She was on the phone all of yesterday explaining that to people. She promises that my package will be delivered today, but cannot give me a time frame since they have nearly twice the packages they normally deal with.
Okay, very good explanation, and if she delivers, I'll leave it be. I didn't pay for shipping on the item (this time around, anyway) and I wasn't sure I could demand that they send me a check, or something, for the price of the shipping I didn't pay. I might be wrong though - any opinions?
At the moment, I'm still looking at my bank account - they recieved the PS back in their offices on 10/3, mind you, and it's 10/9 now - and the charge is still sitting there. I literally just got off the phone with them, and they're saying they cant refund it until it shows returned in their system, "Which generally takes up to five business days." Well, five business days is TODAY, so I'm kinda frustrated. That's $83.50, that I could have been earning interest on, in someone else's hands because they can't do their paperwork fast enough.
Like I said, this is a continuing story. I STILL have not recieved my power supply. I ALSO have been short $80 for the last week because of this. And to make matters worse, I don't know if the rebate will work. I might be forced to call TigerDirect and insist on $20 off, eventually.
Now, I'll be the first to admit that my mistake was the first step in this landslide - but in reality, should a zip code error cause the item to be returned? Zip codes are meant to expidite orders, by making them easier to read by computer. If there's a mistake, they're supposed to hand-check it, and send it to where it's supposed to go. Even if you don't write a zip code on your package, they'll figure it out. And TigerDirect had my contact information - why was I not contacted? And why did UPS refuse to contact me, as well? And what's with the whole return thing at TigerDirect? This entire issue snowballed due to massive errors on everyone's part, and I, for one, will probably not be ordering from TigerDirect again.
EDIT (2:40pm): I got an automatic electronic call from UPS. They announced that my package would be here tomorrow, Oct. 10th, between 8am and 7pm. I have called up UPS again. I couldn't get the local office at first, and talked to the general number where the girl sounded honestly flabergasted. She gave me a new local number, and I found Claire. She sounded sincere enough, but impatient this time. She hadn't called in that electronic message, didn't even know they had that device here, etc. The driver hadn't called back "because they're usually very busy out on the roads, especially with the holiday yesterday." I expressed clearly and calmly my frustration, and asked what else she could do to speed this along. She was going to call up the driver again. I'm giving her till 4pm to call back (that's about an hour and a half), and then I'm going to see if they'll send me that check.
Edit (6:05pm): I was all ready to call up UPS and yell again. In fact, I had the phone in my hand, and he was asking for the tracking number again. And I looked it up.... and it was labeled delivered. The girls simply hadn't brought it back to me.
I have a power supply. That's the biggest thing. Now all I need is about $100 that is rightfully mine back in my bank account. Those bastards won't get away with this!
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dragontologist's journal
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