I feel your anger on this one! I recently purchased and item on ebay located in Canada, and wanted to have it shipped to my home in the US. Seller doesn't do International Shipping, so I said I'd take care of it. Went to UPS where now, most franchisees won't send someone across the border for a pickup as four different ones stated they experience too many illegal shipments at the border and 'don't like to deal with headaches'. Fuck, get out of the international shipping business then!
Turned to FedEx. Called the support line and they said they do it but you need to open a business account. Ok. You must do it at a commercial FedEx location in person. Ok. Not close by, but shit, if it's the only way, right? Drive there, buddy says 'You could have done that online at home.' I'm there so I say I'll do it there, and with the FedEx staff there, be sure to get the account open and the shipment set up with any risk of fucking it all up. They charge you 20 cents a min to use their public pc at their location! Fuck me! Finally get it all set up, including scheduling the pick up at the CDN location, and print off the shipping manifest and commercial invoice. Scan the docs and send them via email to buddy in Canada to attach to the parcel, and expect it all to go off without a hitch yesterday.
Buddy messages me at 11pm last night - FedEx never showed. Guy waited at home all day to do the hand-off for nothing and is understandably pissed. I call FedEx and they have no record of the TXN! I email them the docs and purchase receipt for the shipping service itself as proof, and they say 'Sorry, happens all the time with International Shipping. We don't really know why." He then redoes the whole thing over the phone for pick up today instead. No apology, no discount, no nothing. Just basically fuck off and hope your shit gets where it's going. Never again! Worst part is, it's an important Xmas gift for my kid. Would be nice to know it will arrive before Dec 25th at least! But even with 3 business day shipping paid for, the agent says they can't guarantee anything due to customs! The priority shipping costs are just a smoke and mirrors cash grab if you ask me. FML!
