FedEx Fiasco

A week ago I sold a snake to a fellow in North Carolina. We set up a couple of different shipping days and one of them was June 13th. I am fortunate to live near the FedEx hub, which means i can drop overnight deliveries off up til 11:30 p.m.



This reduces the time that the snake is spent traveling inside an insulated cardboard box. So around 8 p.m. I prepare my snake. Package it, weigh it, print off the fedex label. I drop it off around 9 p.m. at the fedex station.



This snake was due to be delivered by 10:30 am on June 14th. However, when i checked my email, the buyer said the snake was in canada. My reply to him was, "What?!?!?!?"



As soon as i sent that email off, i checked the status, and sure enough, the snake was in canada. About that time, my phone rings, and wouldn't you know it, it's fedex! This is where the fun begins.



The fellow who bought the snake contacted fedex to let them know his package, a snake was in canada, when it should be on its way to North Carolina. The lady from fedex called to let me know that I had violated several laws, was eligible for fines and jail time, their legal team would be contacting me, and that the snake shipment would be stopped immediately and the animal would be confiscated by canadian official’s. Oh on top of all that, then i would have to deal with international animal regulations. All due to me not being a verified fedex shipper, and fedex misrouting the package.



So this was between 7-9 am. The nice lady who just informed me of all this great news also gave me the direct line to the fedex legal team and told me to contact them, but not to worry, because they would be contacting me. I explained to this lady, that I was indeed a verified shipper and that i had sent in the test package and it had came back accepted. Well at the moment, i couldn't find my paperwork, so i don't think it meant much to her.



So 10 am rolls around, and I call the Live animal desk. I talk to a really nice lady who informed me my name, nor my account was not on the verified shipping list. So I find my paperwork and see my inside account rep's name and give him a call to see what in the world went wrong. Well wouldn't you know, he is out of the office until June 18th. The live animal desk lady told not to worry about being charged with any violations, fines, etc at this moment, that would be dealt with later. but she did say that the snake was not going anywhere until I was on her list of verified shippers. Well with my inside account rep being out of the office, i get the name and number of his boss. But guess what, he is out of the office until june 18th too. Apparently they were both at a fedex sales meeting in, guess where? Canada!



So I call the nice lady at the live animal desk and explain the situation. Everyone is gone! She tells me i can call the legal department when they open, but she can't release the animal.



So in the mean time, while I am waiting to hear from the legal department I call another number on my paperwork. He tells me he sees snake boxes all the time and i got the impression it was not big deal. He told me he would make some calls and call me back. He also commented that since my inside guy was up in canada, he could just pick the snake up. I appreciated the comment and was willing to take any humor that could be interjected at that point.



So, I finally get a hold of the legal team. She says she is going to look into this matter and she has already been contacted by 2 or 3 sources about this very issue.



I tell her i was verified back in september of 2006 and i faxed her my paperwork. Then she inquires about my signed waiver. I say, "what waiver?" She tells me about the waiver, the other half of the requirement to become a verified shipper was not on record, hence me not being on the verified shipper list. I say, I never got a waiver, and my inside sales accountant told me the legal department would take care of the rest.



I asked about my snake being shipped either back to me, and i would drive it to north carolina like i had kinda planned, or ship it to north carolina. She said she had to do some checking but would get back to me.



She also informed me that I had done nothing wrong, and there was no reason, except the missing waiver, as to why i shouldn't be a verified shipper and that i had gone through half of the process but not all of it. That was the next piece of the puzzle, what happened to that waiver?



So a few hours later the legal lady calls me back and tells me that the snake would be in north carolina on the morning of june 15th. She also asked me not to ship any more snakes until they figure out what went wrong with the waiver.



This morning I checked the fedex tracking number and it.....was delivered. I called the recipient and he said the snake appeared fine and was going to give it time to settle in after its international travels.


Bottom Line: Become a verified shipper and make sure you are a verified shipper.

wow what a mess- Im glad everything turnout right though- what kind on snake was it-

WOOOOWWWWWWWWWWW.. I am so sorry you had to go thru all that!!!! I would have been going nutz. That just sounds like my luck too. ha ha ha..

And good to know. I plan to become certified some time fairly soon.. So I will be sure to have all that paperwork handy! a ha ha ah


Glad it worked out in the end though! And that the snake is well

Verified or not, WHY did that package go into Canada?

Sorry to hear of your adventures!

On top of the tip about making sure you get the waiver, I have to add another tip. Be sure you KEEP a copy of the waiver, and it doesn't hurt to keep a copy in your car or wallet. Big companies like FedEx have a habit of not communicating well within their own company.

One day I went to my local FedEx to drop off boxes of corns, as I had done for about a year. They decided they were not going to accept it that day because I was not in their computer as a verified shipper. If I didn't happen to have my copy of my waiver with me, I would have had to call all of my customers that day to delay shipment for another day.

Also, I believe I read a thread here on Fauna about somebody who lost their waiver, and so did FedEx. So they had to go through the whole process all over again. So make several copies and put at least one in a very safe place. I am on my 3rd FedEx rep, so don't rest easy just because you have a good rep who knows what is going on - that can change overnight.

The snake is a het albino blood, 2005 animal.

webslave - it went into canada due to fedex's mistake. they are not sure how it got up there and they are investigating what would have caused that to happen in indianapolis.

fedex has called me 2x to apologize over the incident.

Originally Posted by bigcountry

The snake is a het albino blood, 2005 animal.

webslave - it went into canada due to fedex's mistake. they are not sure how it got up there and they are investigating what would have caused that to happen in indianapolis.

fedex has called me 2x to apologize over the incident.

I'd see about getting them to send you something in writing stating that it was their fault the snake went to Canada, not yours. I can gaurantee you if some federal agency decides to knock on your door about this, whoever at Fedex "said" it wasn't your fault will be very hard to find again.

Also, is Fedex going to let you ship now?

Fed Ex has a habit of suddenly telling you that you are not verified once they screw up.

I had a package held at the depot because the driver was afraid to handle a box marked with the contents (a ball python). I was told they had no record of me being verified and that Fed Ex does not allow snakes to be shipped.

The claim they will ship snakes but there seems to be more and more issues with them screwing up and claiming to have "lost the information" regarding verified shippers.

the lady in charge of legal was suppose to copy me in on an email, but i have not got it yet. I am going to give her a call on monday just to touch base and give a friendly thank for getting it starightened out. I will inquire about the email and the waiver then.

they have called me 4x now to apologize.

I've had trouble with some facilities knowing Fed-ex ships~ while others loudly shout that they do not. Really sucks when a box is in route. Last time it happened I was instructed to photocopy my waiver and put it under the address label (just fold it in half and put it under the half sheet of paper that has all the delivery info on it)~ that way if there is any question at any point who ever has the box can simply lift the address label and view my waiver on the spot.