Long story ahead. I'm new here so I apologize if any of the questions I raise here have been answered in other threads. Though I've done a ton of Googling and my problem appears to be unusual.
I live in Los Angeles and a couple of weeks ago, I went to a FedEx store and had a package shipped to another address in LA. They asked me if I wanted a signature to be required for delivery (which costs extra) and I said yes, thinking it was just a good way of knowing that someone had accepted the package and that it wasn't left outside a door where someone else could snatch it.
A couple weeks later, confused that I never got a confirmation of the delivery, I called the FedEx phone number and found out that FedEx had repeatedly attempted to delivery my package but that nobody was ever there to sign for it. Yet instead of just leaving the package outside the address on the final attempt, FedEx decided -- for reasons I have been unable to clearly determine -- to send my package to their "overgoods" department... ALL THE WAY OVER IN MISSISSIPPI!!!!!
I don't understand why FedEx didn't just return the package to me, and I certainly don't understand why they sent it to the South, of all places, rather than an overgoods department in LA.
When I called FedEx to try to get my package out of the overgoods in Mississippi, they asked me for an "account number".
I don't have an account number. I went to the store where I shipped the package, and the clerks confirmed to me that *they're* the ones who used an account number to ship the package, and that the account number was based on the card that I used to pay for shipping.
But again, I don't have the account number. It's not even on my receipt.
The clerks at the store didn't want to give me their account number and advised me to call the number and let them know that somebody at FedEx made a mistake sending my package to Mississippi.
But the people on the phone started telling me that I still needed to give them an account number in order to get the package released from overgoods and sent back to me. When I asked why, they claimed that an account number would be used to pay for shipping.
I smelled extortion. I'd already paid FedEx for failing the deliver the package and now I guess they wanted me to pay them again to ship it back to me.
I started calling their number again because I wanted a refund. During one call, the guy on the other end of the line refused to give me a refund. I could barely understand him so I hung up. But I called again, a different person answered, she was sympathetic and she told me I'd get a refund (I haven't seen the money re-appear in my account yet but I'll provide an update if I do).
At this point I have given up any hope of recovering my package that's stuck in Mississippi. I don't necessarily need it back; it was just some documents which I have copies of anyway.
But does anyone here know what went wrong here? Should I just never let FedEx require a signature for a delivery? Why doesn't this sort of thing happen more often? Why did my package get sent way over to another state? Why was FedEx so hesitant to accept responsibility for their mistake? WHY?????
