Package delivery service tracking

Lets say I ordered an item off of eBay. The seller decided to ship it through FedEx. The tracking number showed it was picked up, moved through 1 city and now, for the last 2 weeks, it hasn’t moved from the 2rd city listed (in Utah), nor has it arrived at my house several states away. The only response I get from FedEx is that they see the same information I do.

Am I wrong in thinking that in this day and age FedEx would have some sort of tracking system that highlights a tracking number that has not been delivered or shown any movement for 2 weeks, and shouldn’t they be investigating why? If some natural disaster occurred or the truck burned to the ground wouldn’t a list of packages (via tracking numbers) be available to at least contact the buyer/seller that the package was now undeliverable?

I placed this in factual questions as I am not looking for other people’s personal experiences, just whether these companies have a system to realize a package isn’t moving or being delivered.

Didn’t the response you received from FedEx indicate that, yes, they have a system to recognize that a package isn’t moving or being delivered?

They do know. Your package just isn’t a priority for them.

Which is based on how much the sender paid to have it delivered.

Was your estimated delivery date several weeks? They may just be waiting for it to get closer.

If it was supposed to arrive sooner, contact the seller and have them deal with it.

Packages do get lost or stolen or simply fall through the cracks from time to time. The seller can talk to FedEx about it on your behalf or send you another one.

They don’t. I had this problem with Fedex, and I’m not the only one. The tracking information indicates that the package has been lost or stolen. You will never get it, and FedEx has no customer service. They will make you work it out with the shipper, and it they aren’t cooperative you are SOL.

I bought a phone from Google, and they shipped it FedEx. The box arrived torn open and the item missing, and Google sent me another one. The tracking information for that one showed it sitting at the distribution center for 3 weeks before Google was willing to replace it again. They shipped that one UPS, and it arrived on time with no problem.

As far as FedEx is concerned they tke no responsibility. It’s up to you to work it out with the shipper, and it’s up to the shipper to make any complaints to FedEx. If the shipper doesn’t take action, FedEx won’t either.

Unfortunately for the seller they will end up refunding your money and eat the loss. If you make a claim on e-bay as “package not delivered” and enough time has gone by ebay gives you a refund.

When I had the same issue with FedEx with one of their trucks parked on the side of the road in Kansas for a week, I found out that you as the receiver pretty much have no power in the relationship since you are not the one that paid FedEx for the service.

Their response was “we see see the same tracking information as you do”. Does that mean they recognize there is a problem? I don’t know because I am sure it is a canned AI response.

I don’t think they will recognize there is a problem until someone reports there is a problem. That may need to be the shipper.

Knowing FedEx, it meant, “What do you want me to do about it?”

Ordered it on 9/3, shipped on 9/4. eBay said the arrival date would be 9/11 with a notation on the 9/11 saying the delivery was “Running Behind”. The eBay delivery time frame when ordered was 9/9-9/15.

FedEx’s site doesn’t give a delivery date, just that one will be provided “after the package starts moving”. It moved twice and stopped.

Have you contacted the shipper to report that you didn’t receive the package?

It’s just what everyone else said, then, unfortunately. FedEx won’t deal with you as a recipient. You need to either contact the seller to give them a chance to resolve it, or contact eBay directly and file a dispute.

To FedEx, you’re not a customer. Only the shipper, not the recipient, can deal with this situation. Probably the package is lost or stolen. The tracking info is not always accurate.

I have contacted the seller/shipper and they got the same response from FedEx. The seller has offered a refund, which I said I will wait another week and see if it moves before accepting.

Now, will the seller get a refund from FedEx if after a certain amount of time the package was never delivered?

It depends on how much insurance they bought. Every package includes some default insurance amount, or they can pay more to insure a higher value. It’s up to the seller to file a claim with FedEx.

PS Make sure you will still be within the seller’s dispute window in another week. If enough time passes and you don’t dispute it, and the seller changes their mind about the refund, you might be outta luck…

But hopefully it’s really just a lost package, and it sounds like the seller is willing to do right by you. Up to you if you want to wait longer. Chances are the package is gone forever, but sometimes they do get mysteriously found much later…

Whatever the value of the lost item, the shipper should certainly get a refund for the amount paid to FedEx.

OP, you can also try filing a claim with FedEx yourself and see what happens:

They say:

Recipients: Contact the merchant to request a replacement, ask them to file a claim for you, or file a claim on your own.

I don’t know what happens if you file the claim on your own.

Most credit cards have ways for you to dispute charges with the shipper if you never receive the item. This would be supported, in a case like the OP’s, by the information provided by FedEx.

As others have said, the shipper is the customer as far as FedEx is concerned*. FedEx’s risk is that their customers will choose a different carrier, if these incidents happen often enough. That’s why FedEx will pay attention to the shipper rather than to you.

*Even the tracking system delivery map (where they show how far away and how many stops for the truck to get to you) is apparently only available to the shipper, not to the receiver.

Right. The buyer aint paying FedEx, the seller does.

Yep.

The seller can get their money back from FedEx.

For the postage, yes, but it takes work to get the value of the goods from FedEx.

Nothing. You are SOL.