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Serving the Dart Frog Community Since 2004...
Dart Den

Serving the Dart Frog Community Since 2004...

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FedEx tried to screw me!!
#1
Fellow froggers, keep a close eye on FedEx.
I have a FedEx account, I use their Ship manager program to get shipping charges and to book a shipment. I've not had problem using them, till now....

I shipped some frogs from FL to Seattle, WA on August 28th, 2013. I used the Ship manager to quote the buyer shipping costs of $62. I looked at my bank statement today to see that FedEx had charged me $93.69, and they had just billed me on Sept. 16th.
I called FedEx promptly to ask them WTF???
I was told that the difference in charges could be due to a number of different factors (no real answer) like pickup charges, the delivery is outside the normal drivers range (none of which is true since I drop off at the hub myself and have the frogs held at the destination hub) and that the Ship Manager was for "quotes" only. I was also told my account manager would be calling me within 24-48 hours for a more detailed explanation. I can't wait for this call.
In addition as I was on the phone talking to the FedEx customer service rep I received an email saying my shipment had been delivered. No shit Sherlock!?!?!? The buyer had emailed me the second he picked them up and said everything was great so I knew they had been picked up
However there is good news. Since I ship hub to hub the frogs should have arrived at the destination hub by 9 am, they actually arrived at 9:12 am and she promptly refunded me the entire $93.69
Jon
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#2
Is your own account less expensive than piggybacking off SYR ?
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#3
Philsuma Wrote:Is your own account less expensive than piggybacking off SYR ?

Yes it is cheaper to have your own account. Cheaper by at least a few dollars on every shipment, and of course the more you ship the better rates you get.
Jon
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#4
If you are a member of USAA and have a business account with FedEx you get bigger discounts...
Jon e-mail me a sample shipment with an address, dimensions and weight for comparison sake. We can post the differences in cost. I have been tossing around this vs SYR, the insurance is a plus but we can post the differences in price. The buyer pays for the shipping SYR is more expensive, would be curious on others thoughts.

Oops, sorry for the semi-hijack.
-Beth
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#5
BcsTx Wrote:If you are a member of USAA and have a business account with FedEx you get bigger discounts...
Jon e-mail me a sample shipment with an address, dimensions and weight for comparison sake. We can post the differences in cost. I have been tossing around this vs SYR, the insurance is a plus but we can post the differences in price. The buyer pays for the shipping SYR is more expensive, would be curious on others thoughts.

Oops, sorry for the semi-hijack.

First off, I will start by saying that all the carriers are known for things like this, and although it may not happen all the time, it will occasionally happen if you are shipping enough. I worked in logisitics sales for a few years and this stuff happens with all of the carriers. Re-weighs, measurment corrections, residential delvery fees, remote delivery fees, these can and do happen to people every day throughout the network.

I like FedEx the most as they seem to be the most reliable. When I do use fedEx, I use them through SYR who has worked with me to give me a pretty good discount. I suspect anyone doing 15-20+ shipments a year can work with their SYR rep to get a better rate. I would suggest setting up a UPS account too, working with that rep and using the two against eachother to negotiate a better rate. Then revisit that rate after a few months of shipping.

The best rates I could find are through UPS via a company called Worldwide Express, who my gf works for in a logistics sales role. The rates are pretty good and they offer an insurance policy that covers everything, late arrivals, DOA's, damages, losses, etc. One thing to note about SYR's insurance is that it only covers late/lost shipmnents. If your animals are on time but dead, then that is on you. I have found that UPS is slighlty less reliable than FedEx at making the 10am delivery deadline, but they have always delivered that day. USPS is the cheapest, but the insurance doesn't cover much and the tracking is mediocre, at best, so I only use USPS for plants and supplies. If you are close to an airport and its a big/expensive shipment, than Delta Dash is one of the best options as it delivers the same day, even West Caost to East Coast, but it costs more. But it does require a comparably lenghty sign-up process.
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#6
Delta no longer requires shippers to be "Approved" for live animal shipments. AVI is excluded. Go figure...

That being said, you have to choose your flights carefully and once it enters Atlanta....good luck! I can't tell you how many shipments they've misplaced! It's because they hire contract labor now.

cbreon Wrote:
BcsTx Wrote:If you are a member of USAA and have a business account with FedEx you get bigger discounts...
Jon e-mail me a sample shipment with an address, dimensions and weight for comparison sake. We can post the differences in cost. I have been tossing around this vs SYR, the insurance is a plus but we can post the differences in price. The buyer pays for the shipping SYR is more expensive, would be curious on others thoughts.

Oops, sorry for the semi-hijack.

First off, I will start by saying that all the carriers are known for things like this, and although it may not happen all the time, it will occasionally happen if you are shipping enough. I worked in logisitics sales for a few years and this stuff happens with all of the carriers. Re-weighs, measurment corrections, residential delvery fees, remote delivery fees, these can and do happen to people every day throughout the network.

I like FedEx the most as they seem to be the most reliable. When I do use fedEx, I use them through SYR who has worked with me to give me a pretty good discount. I suspect anyone doing 15-20+ shipments a year can work with their SYR rep to get a better rate. I would suggest setting up a UPS account too, working with that rep and using the two against eachother to negotiate a better rate. Then revisit that rate after a few months of shipping.

The best rates I could find are through UPS via a company called Worldwide Express, who my gf works for in a logistics sales role. The rates are pretty good and they offer an insurance policy that covers everything, late arrivals, DOA's, damages, losses, etc. One thing to note about SYR's insurance is that it only covers late/lost shipmnents. If your animals are on time but dead, then that is on you. I have found that UPS is slighlty less reliable than FedEx at making the 10am delivery deadline, but they have always delivered that day. USPS is the cheapest, but the insurance doesn't cover much and the tracking is mediocre, at best, so I only use USPS for plants and supplies. If you are close to an airport and its a big/expensive shipment, than Delta Dash is one of the best options as it delivers the same day, even West Caost to East Coast, but it costs more. But it does require a comparably lenghty sign-up process.
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#7
BluePumilio Wrote:Delta no longer requires shippers to be "Approved" for live animal shipments. AVI is excluded. Go figure...

That being said, you have to choose your flights carefully and once it enters Atlanta....good luck! I can't tell you how many shipments they've misplaced! It's because they hire contract labor now.

Sadly this is the way most do it now.
I also have lost many a shipment in Atlanta.


bottom line... They all suck. Just try and find the one that sucks the least.

Any one ever had to pick up a shipment right next to a shipment of human remains? Yeah I really didn't like that.


-Byron
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#8
Oh where oh where do I start with shipping?
Beth , you don't have to be a member of any organization to get the FedEx 40% overnighting discount. You just have to have any 'business' and ask and get a "business account", which gives an across the board 40% discount from regular FedEx charges when you ship overnight .
FedEx , and I am sure every carrier out there has repetitively added charges after the fact to those of us with business accounts. I believe UPS recently went through a class action lawsuit over that mess.
What FedEx continually does is this;
Girl at counter has TWO and ONLY TWO things to physically measure, and in fact mechanically there are ONLY two things she can measure. By weight and linearly . They always measure both weight and dimensions and give you an "estimate". You pass that estimate along to your customer (sometimes, others I guess as best as possible before I ship) and FedEx MANY times seems to chose the wrong side of the coin when "estimating" and charges the higher rate of the two sides of the coin. They either charge by dimension OR weight.
I have often asked when I am constantly billed over my "estimate" and why it never happens that I was given a high" estimate" and charged less than my initial "estimate" but the person on the other line never seems to get my question. Until , that is, I bring up the class action lawsuit that UPS just went through...
Unfortunately I have also found FedEx to be the best out there.
When winter hits I plan to check out SYR options and see if they cover some of the issues that FedEx does not on their own.

I am glad that less and less I see people using USPS. I really don't like pulling up my pics of packages with FRAGILE!!! written on every single side of a box ...a box absolutely crushed with those FRAGILE!!! words barely readable.
Darts with parasites are analogous to mixed tanks, there are no known benefits to the frogs with either.


If tone is more important to you than content, you are at the wrong place.

My new email address is: rich.frye@icloud.com and new phone number is 773 577 3476
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#9
Yeah, I have a little insight on the boxes being crushed.....

My brother use to work at Dulles airport for a company that was contracted to unload planes. The stories he use to tell me would send chills down your spine. Punting packages to unload the plane. Dropping them out of the plane, etc

I would hate to imagine having live animals shipped and being treated this way but the way my bro put it... "they all get abused"

-Byron
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#10
Update.....
I spoke with my FedEx acct. exec. this morning and with their technical services. First off the package I sent from Ft. Myers to Seattle, WA was somehow duplicated in their system, meaning one package, with two identical tracking numbers. Because there were two tracking numbers I was double charged. One charge was $64 and change, the other charge was $93.69. Customer service had no clue how this happened. FedEx did say I would be refunded both charges because the actual package arrived 12 minutes late and the other one never existed in the first place.
I encourage everyone to get their own account with FedEx and use their Ship Manager software. These will give you the best rates and as long enter in the correct weight and dimensions you'll get accurate quotes. In addition, I was surprised to learn that there is an additional charge for packages being held at a FedEx hub for pickup. How could this be when the package is going there anyway and it's not being loaded onto a truck for delivery?
Here's a price breakdown for a 9x9x8 box, 3lbs, held at the hub for pickup
From 33908 to 98108 via FedEx my price is $67.10, with no declared value
From 33908 to 98108 via SYR my price is $69.03, and that does not include insurance
One more thing, I used to use SYR but I had a number of potential buyers balk at the price of SYR shipping so I switched to straight FedEx. Apparently froggers are misers, who knew? :wink:
Jon
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