ira, you always make me laugh...
Sep 2nd, 2004, 04:08 PM
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ira, you always make me laugh...
and you wouldn't believe what happened today.
In the middle of preparing for the hurricane I drove to the Fed Ex place. I didn't want my mother's plane ticket hanging around the house in case something happened so I thought this would be a good time to get it out of here.
In the box I also placed a picture of my daughter and some cosmetics. Some were free and some she paid reduced price for. (I work for the company and this is expensive stuff.)
The woman asked me how I wanted it shipped and did I want insurance. I thought, now what would mom want? So I shipped it to arrive Tuesday and insured the package for $1,000.
I called my mom and left a message on her answering machine with the tracking number.
She called me back later in the day to complain that I should have sent the package next day air and not have purchased the insurance.
Her reason for this was that too many people would be handling the box, especially since it was a holiday weekend and that the fact that I insured it would signal to the workers that there was something of value in the box and they might steal it. She said my sister, who is in the diamond business always ships the gems without the shippers insurance so that people would not believe there was something valuable in the package.
She asked if it was too late to get the package back and change things around. So while I had her on the one phone I had the Fed Ex people on the other phone. A VERY VERY nice man listened to my tale of woe and tried to help me. He said the Fed EX office where I dropped the package off at had closed because of the hurricane and that the package was already on the truck to go to the airport. First he put a return to sender order on the package but that wasn't going to work. So then he changed it and allowed me to pay the difference between Tues delivery and next day delivery. We left the insurance on once he assured my mother through me that Fed Ex had never had anything stolen from the package by a Fed Ex worker. (hmmm.)
ALL OF THIS after the other day when I shipped another box of cosmetics to her via my store which handled the shipping. She got upset because the package was going to be delivered Fed Ex GROUND which is different than the other Fed Ex. Seems it all becomes a problem when things are shipped to the Fed Ex station for hold instead of to the person which is the way she likes to have thing sent. Anyway, she was on the phone to Fed Ex ground trying to have them throw it over her fence.
Oy vey, oy vey.
I guess it will be an interesting trip hunh?
In the middle of preparing for the hurricane I drove to the Fed Ex place. I didn't want my mother's plane ticket hanging around the house in case something happened so I thought this would be a good time to get it out of here.
In the box I also placed a picture of my daughter and some cosmetics. Some were free and some she paid reduced price for. (I work for the company and this is expensive stuff.)
The woman asked me how I wanted it shipped and did I want insurance. I thought, now what would mom want? So I shipped it to arrive Tuesday and insured the package for $1,000.
I called my mom and left a message on her answering machine with the tracking number.
She called me back later in the day to complain that I should have sent the package next day air and not have purchased the insurance.
Her reason for this was that too many people would be handling the box, especially since it was a holiday weekend and that the fact that I insured it would signal to the workers that there was something of value in the box and they might steal it. She said my sister, who is in the diamond business always ships the gems without the shippers insurance so that people would not believe there was something valuable in the package.
She asked if it was too late to get the package back and change things around. So while I had her on the one phone I had the Fed Ex people on the other phone. A VERY VERY nice man listened to my tale of woe and tried to help me. He said the Fed EX office where I dropped the package off at had closed because of the hurricane and that the package was already on the truck to go to the airport. First he put a return to sender order on the package but that wasn't going to work. So then he changed it and allowed me to pay the difference between Tues delivery and next day delivery. We left the insurance on once he assured my mother through me that Fed Ex had never had anything stolen from the package by a Fed Ex worker. (hmmm.)
ALL OF THIS after the other day when I shipped another box of cosmetics to her via my store which handled the shipping. She got upset because the package was going to be delivered Fed Ex GROUND which is different than the other Fed Ex. Seems it all becomes a problem when things are shipped to the Fed Ex station for hold instead of to the person which is the way she likes to have thing sent. Anyway, she was on the phone to Fed Ex ground trying to have them throw it over her fence.
Oy vey, oy vey.
I guess it will be an interesting trip hunh?
Sep 2nd, 2004, 05:16 PM
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I would have insured it.
I am always sending things to Japan and insure like crazy.
"They say" all kinds of things about thieves and the mail but I have never lost anything yet. UPS lost something of mine once, but that was automatically insured.
I am always sending things to Japan and insure like crazy.
"They say" all kinds of things about thieves and the mail but I have never lost anything yet. UPS lost something of mine once, but that was automatically insured.
Sep 2nd, 2004, 05:35 PM
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I'm starting to wonder if a free trip to Europe is worth it....yup.
I'm going to keep my mouth shut if it kills me. Of course I'll probably be biting my lip off at the same time.
I guess the snoring situation can be tackled later?
I'm going to keep my mouth shut if it kills me. Of course I'll probably be biting my lip off at the same time.
I guess the snoring situation can be tackled later?
Sep 2nd, 2004, 10:01 PM
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Well, PLMN, this post explains better than any other why you have been obsessing over every tiny detail for your trip (I have seen a lot of your posts because I am planning a trip to Italy next year)! I truly hope you have a great trip; you must be a saint to travel with people who seem to want to make every little thing a problem (even if they are your family!). Makes me appreciate even more how agreeable my parents are, and that's why we enjoy travelling with them. It will be interesting to read your trip report!
Sep 2nd, 2004, 11:35 PM
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Thank you SusanP for your understanding.
I did recently realize that I am more like my mother than I like to admit. My poor father may not stand a chance.
His advancing age has made him more forgetful than ever and his attention span shorter than it used to be. (He is 79 yrs.)
I am DETERMINED to have FUN with my parents!
I will go with the flow man...breathe...ommmmm....
I did recently realize that I am more like my mother than I like to admit. My poor father may not stand a chance.
His advancing age has made him more forgetful than ever and his attention span shorter than it used to be. (He is 79 yrs.)
I am DETERMINED to have FUN with my parents!
I will go with the flow man...breathe...ommmmm....
Sep 3rd, 2004, 02:45 AM
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PS. I got to thinking that people opening and reading this thread may not understand why I started it. I was trying to let ira know that his comment to me on this thread about cameras:
http://fodors.com/forums/threadselect.jsp?fid=2
was amusing to me.
http://fodors.com/forums/threadselect.jsp?fid=2
was amusing to me.
Sep 3rd, 2004, 04:47 AM
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Hi PLMN,
Buy a nice bottle of Brandy.
Put some in your morning coffee.
Put some in your lunchtime fizzy water.
Have another with your afternoon aperitif.
Have another with your after-dinner coffee.
Buy another bottle of brandy.
>I guess the snoring situation can be tackled later?<
Oy, weg!
Buy a nice bottle of Brandy.
Put some in your morning coffee.
Put some in your lunchtime fizzy water.
Have another with your afternoon aperitif.
Have another with your after-dinner coffee.
Buy another bottle of brandy.
>I guess the snoring situation can be tackled later?<
Oy, weg!
Sep 4th, 2004, 03:41 AM
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Update on darn package-
(My husband bought some hard booze for the hurricane but I might have a sip or two while working on my trip.)
I guess Mom was right. She said she knew to expect a problem with the package and she was right.
The "VERY VERY nice man" forgot to input the address of the hold for pick-up station when he made the change to the shipping order from 3 day express to overnight. It seems that the Fed Ex computer systems are not as sophisticated as one might think. Perhaps a bit of operator error as well.
So when mom called to track the package she was told the package may not arrive until WED. because of the shippee address not being entered. Fed Ex told her it was also delayed due to the hurricane + holiday.
She seemed resigned to this.
I was ticked. When I took that package to Fed Ex it was before we closed everything down. The were happily accepting shipments and did not have any signs posted nor tell anyone that if we shipped our packages there might be a delay. I guess I could have asked. In addition to this when I spoke to the "nice man" and he accepted my credit card info for the additional fees for change to overnight delivery. He should have told me that due to the hurricane the package may not make it overnight. Fed Ex knew about the hurricane because that was one of the excuses they gave for the delays.
Anyway, not being able to take no for an answer
I called Fed Ex back and spoke to another rep who said they did not know where the package was. The I called back and another rep said the package was sitting on a ramp in Florida. Then I called back and was told they would investigate and call me back in 1 hour which they did not. So I called them back.
Then I was told the package definetely would not be delivered until WED. Then I got a call from Fed Ex late last night from a man who said the package was in Atlanta in a 3 day bin. The man was in San Fran and said he himself would check the bins for my package so that if it arrived today it would not sit around until Wed.
I can never do anything the easy way, oh well.
(My husband bought some hard booze for the hurricane but I might have a sip or two while working on my trip.)
I guess Mom was right. She said she knew to expect a problem with the package and she was right.
The "VERY VERY nice man" forgot to input the address of the hold for pick-up station when he made the change to the shipping order from 3 day express to overnight. It seems that the Fed Ex computer systems are not as sophisticated as one might think. Perhaps a bit of operator error as well.
So when mom called to track the package she was told the package may not arrive until WED. because of the shippee address not being entered. Fed Ex told her it was also delayed due to the hurricane + holiday.
She seemed resigned to this.
I was ticked. When I took that package to Fed Ex it was before we closed everything down. The were happily accepting shipments and did not have any signs posted nor tell anyone that if we shipped our packages there might be a delay. I guess I could have asked. In addition to this when I spoke to the "nice man" and he accepted my credit card info for the additional fees for change to overnight delivery. He should have told me that due to the hurricane the package may not make it overnight. Fed Ex knew about the hurricane because that was one of the excuses they gave for the delays.
Anyway, not being able to take no for an answer
I called Fed Ex back and spoke to another rep who said they did not know where the package was. The I called back and another rep said the package was sitting on a ramp in Florida. Then I called back and was told they would investigate and call me back in 1 hour which they did not. So I called them back.Then I was told the package definetely would not be delivered until WED. Then I got a call from Fed Ex late last night from a man who said the package was in Atlanta in a 3 day bin. The man was in San Fran and said he himself would check the bins for my package so that if it arrived today it would not sit around until Wed.
I can never do anything the easy way, oh well.
