Midnight Freak-out

• email this story
• read comments (8)
• post a comment
• 
  
  

It hit me yesterday afternoon that I had left my passport in my bureau drawer. My flight to Paris leaves Monday at 1:45 pm, so I called Fed Ex and was relieved to hear they could deliver it to my Brooklyn address no later than 8:30 am that morning. So I called the guy who's staying in my place and left a message to please put the passport in an envelope with the Brooklyn address on it, and give it to a Fed Ex pick-up person who would be there between noon and 2 pm yesterday.

Except the guy didn't get the message in time (his phone had a drained battery), and therefore had no idea what the Fed Ex guy wanted when he arrived at 12:30 pm. The apartment-sitter guy finally called around 4 pm Eastern and said he'd do what I asked. So I called Fed Ex back and asked if they could please send someone back to the house between 4 pm and 6 pm. They said they would. They didn't.

The home guy waited until 9 pm Pacific to tell me that the passport hadn't been picked up, which meant I wouldn't be getting on tomorrow afternoon's plane. Panicked, I searched around for an emergency courier service that could pick up on Sunday morning and deliver to NYC the same day or early Monday, but nothing was turning up. The Fed Ex people, who obviously owed me because of their negligence, were amazingly unhelpful. Three people I talked to refused to pass along a referral of any kind. As I pleaded with these bozos, I imagined them roasting over a spit in deepest hell.

I finally found an operation called Action Messenger and a good guy named Jamal, who said they could pick up the passport this morning and get it to JFK for pickup this evening for $275 bucks. I obviously didn't like paying that, but what was I going to do? At least the issue is solved. Here's to Jamal and the professional people everywhere who stand up and do the job. I'll be getting on the A train to JFK around 6:30 this evening.

comment #1

vansmith says ...

your getting on the train to jfk this evening for a flight tomorrow afternoon?

comment #2

gruver1 says ...

Getting on a train this evening to pick up the passport. The courier is leaving it with American Airlines baggage retireval.

comment #3

storymark says ...

On the upside, panic has prompted you to use the traditional "am" instead of the annoying "ayem" for the first time in a log time.

Otherwise, hope it works out okay.

comment #4

lazespud says ...

So you arranged to have fedex at your apt between noon and 2, they show up within that time frame but you (or your apt. sitter) wasn't ready, and they left. Then you call them and they say that they can be there between 4 and 6, but they don't show up. Then you say Fedex "obviously owed me because of their negligence."

I think one could argue that you are even steven in the negligence dept, and it's not quite so obvious that they "owed you".

comment #5

gruver1 says ...

Wells to Lazespud: No, no, no. I called Fed Ex at 12:15 pm -- 15 minutes into the initial 12 to 2 pm pick-up period -- with the news that it had to be changed due to the house-sitter not getting back to me. They had plenty of time to page or call the driver and say "pick it up between 4 pm to 6 pm instead." Being the customer, I am of course incapable of being negligent -- that subject is off the boards. (I certainly didn't ask them to switch plans at the last minute.) They being the famous service providers who starred in Cast Away, it is on their head and their head alone. They were told of the delay as early as possible. Their failure to return between 4 pm and 6 pm is their fault -- period, totally, that's it. And on top of this they refuse three times to refer me to a reliable same-day or Sunday-to-Monday courier service? Tie 'em naked to a tree, cover them in honey and let the red ants do their stuff.

comment #6

lazespud says ...

Well I definately agree that regardless of what went on previously, if they agreed to be there between 4 and 6 they absolutely should have been there or bent over backwards to help you....

comment #7

halfamazing says ...

oh don't take the A train to JFK, that's entirely too long. take the LIRR from Penn Station non-stop to Jamaica and then hop on the airtrain. it's 30 minutes from penn station to your terminal. so damned easy.

comment #8

rr3333 says ...

fedex sucks. totally unreliable.

Post a Comment