Just informed TODAY by JCPenney.com that gift I ordered for @mob308 on 12/14 is no longer available. It took them 8 DAYS to figure this out?
9:15 AM Dec 22nd
I spent a day whining about there being a GIANT HOLE OF DISAPPOINTMENT IN MY CHRISTMAS to anyone who would listen. It didn't occur to me that there were tons of retailers offering free shipping upgrades on the 21st and 22nd and that maybe I could find a replacement elsewhere. In short, I was being an ass.
Yesterday morning, I went online and found a different item in the same genre, plus a sweet bonus gift (and something for myself) for less than the cost of the one item that JC Penney screwed me out of. They offered very reasonable 3-Day UPS Ground shipping, which meant that it wouldn't be here by Christmas, but that I would get it next week. That was fine with me! (The alternative - overnight shipping - was $20. Since it wasn't a "Santa" present for a small child, that wasn't going to be worth it to me.)
I came up with creative ways to package "future gifts" so that Scott would still have something to unwrap tomorrow. I came to the computer just now to do some creative photo editing, and went into my email to pull a picture from the original order. The package shipped yesterday afternoon, and I decided to check the shipping email and see whether it had really shipped, or if the company had done one of those "notified UPS to pick up package" things. Imagine my complete and utter elation when I saw the following:
Status: In Transit
Scheduled Delivery Date:
12/24/2009 (Updated)
12/30/2009 (Original)
What's completely shocking about this is that I've followed packages online before, and have seen a shipping company (I'm thinking FedEx) HOLD things in their local hub in order to not deliver before the promised date. To think that there was room on a truck and that UPS said, "hey - she didn't pay for the quickie shipping, but we have the space!" just absolutely blows my mind.
I'm not getting my hopes up too high... I'm betting that my package has the lowest priority on the delivery truck. But for now, I'm holding off on doing my creative packaging. I might not need it after all!
And so, I'd like to wish a VERY Merry Christmas to the UPS drivers and warehouse workers out there delivering Christmas to children (and grown-ups) everywhere! I'd also like to wish a Merry Christmas to the people at an internet retailer whose name I cannot reveal at this time. I'm a fan for life!
2 comments:
That's great! I think the recession is actually helping a lot of businesses get into the Christmas spirit. Actual service is making a comeback. (I'm not talking about you, JC Penny!)
I had a similar experience. I bought from a retailer in Hawaii (GUESS WHAT IT IS!!!) and paid for UPS Ground shipping - about $18. (Ground shipping from Hawaii confused me but hey, $18 bucks was cheap enough and I could wait the 8 days for delivery.) The retailer actually shipped it 2nd day air which cost them more than twice what I paid for shippig. That was a very nice Christmas surprise!
I've had similar experiences with FEDEX holding items at the local hub. Remember when companies took pride in overdelivering on service? UPS has delivered packages to me early before. I asked the delivery guy about it once and he said that if they have room on the truck they prefer to push out as many packages as early as they can because "it makes us look good and the customers appreciate it". Yep.
WAY cool ... so did it come on time for Christmas?
Post a Comment