Let's talk about shipping
 

I for one usually do all of my ordering online for my quilting. I don't need to tell you that it can get to be quite expensive, so I try to shop for bargains and use coupons, watch for sales.

The the big day arrives when your long awaited or desperately needed order is finally delivered.

Really..... I just received a much awaited order today. Pretty expensive, needed it for the quilt I'm working on, plus I ordered enough to give me some for some other quilts I'll be making. Didn't go too bad at first, I was able to get it on sale, with lowered shipping, so I took advantage of it and ordered an extra one. The order was shipped out pretty much on the expected timeline, so no worries there, but then..... the shipper they used, had it marked on the truck for delivery for 5 days. Their excuse for not delivering it was weather.... ummmmm, the storm was three days past, but maybe they were behind for a day or two. But, come on - out for delivery on the truck for 5 days. um no!

So, I finally got it today. Unbelievable. The fabric, on bolts, was basically shrink wrapped in retail store shopping bag, like plastic, not even mailing envelope thickness, and then the 4 bolts were just taped together in the middle with moving tape (the clear - think scotch tape only wider). All of the plastic wrappings (all 4) were split open on one side, pretty much half the length of the bolts, along with other slits in the plastic covering. The tape holding them together was so loose, I surprised all 4 were still in the bundle, so they were flopping every which way. And the dirt on the fabric was a mixture of grease, and dirt from the truck, I'm thinking floor, as it was so dirty. Not to mention, the fabric on the bolts used to be snow white!!!!!

I called the retailer and got a full refund, and was told to trash the order. Which it is, trash that is, as it is totally non-useable, It would never be white again. And, it isn't just on the outer layers. Since the ends of the bolts were exposed as well, it is all through the fabric, every single layer. It also feels like it was wet at some point,

It was nice that I got a full refund, but they wouldn't replace it. Said I would need to reorder it myself. Honestly, I don't dare, with the way it arrived. I'm not naming names because the way I look at it, it is both the retailers fault for they way they packed it for shipping, and the shippers fault for part of the damage. (I'm thinking that if it hadn't been flipped around the truck for 5 days out for delivery, it might not have been quite as dirty/damaged) -- note when it is marked out for delivery that means it is on the truck and is expected to get delivered that day.

I am now faced with a set back on working on the quilt, yet again. Not to mention, that I also stepped in kitty throwup in my stocking feet, on the way to make the phone call to ask for my order to be replaced, which they refunded instead, -- at least that worked out in my favor without a hassle.

Anywho, I have reordered with a different retailer, scrubbed out my sock and put it in the wash, hugged the kitty who is feeling much better now that tummy is empty of hairball, and I'm drinking a soothing cup of hot tea, while I put the email saying I'm getting a refund in a side folder so I don't accidently delete it until my refund shows up.

So, tell me your shipping stories, over a cuppa and we will sigh together! :hug:

That sounds awful!!! I can't believe that's how they actually shipped it. Crazy. My youngest works for UPS and it's amazing how shoddily things are packaged for shipping. He's part of their hazmat spill response team. He's seen it all.

Here's my story. My dryer died. My son took it apart and determined that the drum needed to be replaced. I ordered it online. First, FedEx delivered it to the wrong house. They ALWAYS deliver to the wrong house, it drives us nuts. Our neighbor told us it was at his house, and he'd taken pictures of it for us before anyone touched it. That was foreshadowing! We got there and the box had basically disintegrated. The drum inside was broken and unusable. But when my son started taking a closer look at it, he realized that the damage was more than what FedEx had done. Someone had returned a broken drum to the company I'd purchased from, and they'd simply put it back on their shelf. When I ordered it, that's what they sent to me. I was mad. I called them, they told me they'd ship me a new one at no additional cost, and I could just throw the first one out. That was when I got furious. I told them who was going to pay the disposal bill? A dryer drum isn't something I can just put inside my garbage can!! We were going to have to drive to the waste transfer station and pay to dispose of it! It's not MY garbage, why should I have to pay?? Ooooooo I was so mad. They did agree to credit my card $15, which actually ended up being a little over what we paid. But the whole thing was absolutely infuriating and I told them I'd never do business with them again. I wish I could say the same about FedEx, but unfortunately when we order stuff we rarely get to choose the carrier.

I have been warned in previous posts not to use the very common nationwide fabric chain name in any posts.

Let's just say I had ordered a roll of batting that I wanted, it was on sale but I was unable to pick it up from or have it shipped to the store. I waited for weeks -- that was one of the years Texas flooded badly and there were delays. When I contacted the chain I was told they had no information on the status of my order -- other than yes I had ordered it, and that I would need to cancel the order and they could re-order at the sale price. And then they tried to hit me with a 15% restocking fee.

This was a roll of batting, it wasn't something small that could have been easily over looked. It wasn't "delivery denied by customer" it was "delivery never came".

Anyway... no more mail order from that chain and I only pay cash and don't use coupons if I absolutely positively have to buy thread or something quickly.

In the good news, it helps me with my fabric moratorium anti-shopping tactics that the closest store annoys me.

I don't buy a lot online, sometimes from Ebay. The last order, I bought on a Monday (it was a holiday though) and they didn't ship til Friday! I don't see any reason for that. When I sell something, I ship it the next day at the latest, sometimes the same day.
A very inexpensive poly mailer around the fabric would have protected it. No excuse for them to ship it "naked" like that, especially white fabric. Yikes.

I got a wrong package delivered to my house. I called the carrier who left it. Nope, the carrier said he had delivered to the right house. Well I had the package and I was the wrong house on the wrong street. Nope, the carrier said he had delivered to the right house. I called back three times, finally got someone who said. Well we will send someone to pick it up some time but the carrier has already gone home for the day. What! Well, I didn't want to leave the rather big package on my porch nor did I want to take it into my house as it wasn't mine and I did not know when they would be reappearing to pick it up. So, I did some sleuth work. Do you know how hard it is to track somebody down now that nobody has a listed number these days. Anyway, I googled the dude's name, found out he was a manager at a local business, so I called the business and asked if I could talk to him. I quizzed him and asked if he was expecting a package as I had one I believed was his. I then asked him who it was from. It matched the business on the package. He came to pick it up I did check his ID and gave him his package. I then called the carrier back and said that the package had been delivered. OK, I am nuts! Anyway, I should have demanded a couple of hours of pay!

I ordered a package that was shipped via the postal system. When my online account said the package was "handed directly to customer" and we had not received it, I did a little sleuthing with the help of my local post office. As I had a tracking number (from an international postal system), my local postmistress was able to internally determine it was hand delivered to a customer that day listed, but to a completely different town.... now, my country road is a very unusual name, and my first/last names are also very unusual... I want to know how a postal carrier can deliver a parcel to the wrong person, on the wrong street, in the wrong city????

What the heck????

Luckily, the retailer immediately credited my account, without question..

It is funny how much pressure it puts on one to receive a package that you did not order. I recently received one that seemed to have several torn- up labels on it with the top one being my name and address, although it looked different than the usual label. It turned out to be two very small items used for jewelry making which I don't do. I couldn't actually return in the usual manner because it didn't show up on my orders. I kept it for a few weeks, just in case and now have added it to my donation box. I would have been happy to give to the person who ordered it but there was no information. I fussed around about this quite a bit. Haha

Sad it was. One would think the retailers would package stuff to actually survive the shipping.

It's funny, but when I send one of my adult kids a package, I wrap it up so good that they have actually asked if I have used the entire roll of packing tape! Nope, nothing is getting into this bugger or out of it and it is going to arrive in one piece! :p

this thread reminds me of something that happened back in the 80's. We received a package with a crib quilt/baby bunting type thing in it. No idea where it came from. Return address was a Pack'N'Ship place in NY, in an area where I did not know anyone. I held on to it for a while, thinking someone would contact me about it, wanting to buy something similar or whatever. Never heard anything, finally got rid of it, I think I sold it at a yard sale.